Multiliteracies in Action: How Podcasting is Revolutionizing the Way We Learn

 

Not Just Students, PODCASTERS! Sharing Our Learning One Episode at a Time

What do you hear when you listen to student created podcasts in Mrs. Webster’s class? Excitement, love of reading, love of writing, kindness, empathy, teamwork,  student ownership, laughter, different personalities. Mrs. Webster’s student podcast hosts have EXCEEDED expectations as they make their voice, passions, and learning come to life on a regular basis. Mrs. Webster quotes it best, “These students are meeting the expected standards of learning without even realizing how much thought and work they are putting into it. They just think it’s fun!" She adds, “These pod-casters are writing, coming up with their own plan, reading, summarizing, reflecting and creating.  I feel like they are truly owning their own learning.”

An Ongoing Routine: 

Mrs. Webster's Podcast Wall 

At the beginning of the year, Mrs. Webster had all of her students set up their own Padlet wall as a platform to house podcast episodes. She also had each student include their podcast on a class podcast wall to mimic a Podcast app where listeners can access different podcasts at any given time. Students started the year reviewing podcast expectations and best practices. “When we first started, I would assign a reflection or give students an idea for a book recommendation podcast. Now, students are coming up with their own topics. Mrs. Webster adds, “Along with requesting to review books, some students have even created their own podcasts based on discussing friendships, positive vibes, and funny times.”

Mrs. Webster doesn’t grade podcasts or require a certain number of episodes. This is why seeing that some students have 10-15 episodes is so powerful. Mrs. Webster has also equipped her students to be quality control for the episodes. “As a class, we listen to each other and give feedback on the planning, pausing, summarizing, pacing, etc.” In regards to making time for podcasting, podcast reflections have become a part of Mrs. Webster's afternoon ELA stations. If some students are unable to get to the podcast station, they make time for them to complete the next morning first thing.

Emery, Claire, Nick, and Henry have especially enjoyed their podcasting journey. Emery states, “I love being a podcaster because I get to tell people how I feel, what I’ve been working on, and what I’ve learned.” Henry adds, “I like that I get to work with a partner and choose what my podcast is about.” Claire’s favorite part of podcasting is interviewing other people to see what they’ve read and how they’re doing. Nick loves that they get to work and have fun at the same time.

SEL (Relationship Skills and Social Awareness)

Emery and Claire Working Together to Record an Episode

“Podcasting is a process,” says Emery. “You have to stay focused. If you get too funny, the people listening won’t understand what you’re saying. Claire and I have to work together to make our podcast come to life. We’ve learned that we can’t interrupt each other and need a clear written plan” Emery and Claire talk about resolving conflict when they have had hard times deciding who was going to get to share certain parts of their episode. It’s neat to hear how podcasting has helped Claire become aware of other’s feelings. “Sometimes we just have to pause and talk if we start to argue,” she says. “We’ve learned each other’s strengths.” Emery adds, “for example, Claire is really good at explaining characters and how they act.”

Nick has realized that through his podcasts, he has the opportunity to encourage others. He states, “If someone is sad, we might be able to cheer them up. We try to be really positive. My favorite episode is number eight when I’m talking about my friendship with Henry.” In this episode Nick and Henry talk about their similarities and differences, but how they’ve remained friends regardless of their differences.

Making Connections

Not only have these students learned to collaborate together and think about their partner and audience, they’ve also learned to apply character traits and feelings to their own lives. After recording an episode about Jory Jones’ Book, "The Bad Seed," Claire points out, “This book teaches you how people have their own personalities,” she adds “If you don’t like how someone acts, the lesson is to be kind and make sure people feel welcome.” On this episode, Emery asks, “ Is there anything in this book that relates to you?” Claire responds by talking about her ornery brother and how she should be kind even when it's hard

• Emery Interviews Claire About "The Bad Seed" by Jory Jon

"Knowing that we're going to record a podcast over the books we've read, makes reading even more purposeful." Claire adds, "Podcasting makes me more excited about what I’m reading. It makes me think about how the characters are feeling and how characters change, so I can talk about it on the podcast." Emery points out, "We go back to our books to remember how characters were feeling. Their actions show how they’re feeling."

In addition to recording episodes about books they've read, students have written their own stories and fairy tales! They’ve enjoyed interviewing each other as authors. Emery recorded an episode over a story that Claire wrote, titled, “Lucky Puppy.” On the episode Claire states, “This book really has a connection to me and my life when I was little.”

• Henry Interviews Nick About Nick's Fairy Tale "Humpty Lucky" 

Mrs. Webster states, "I love all of the episodes, but some of my favorites are when the students make connections with the books they have read and discuss how a book may have impacted them deeply. There seems to be something magical that happens within the physical act of talking it out for them on a podcast. When students are recording in a smaller group, they tend to express deeper thoughts than maybe they would have written down or shared in a whole group setting. At times, they can get really deep and other times they can get really silly, but overall, they feel completely safe in sharing their unique personalities and creative ways throughout the podcast, and this I absolutely LOVE with all my heart!"

Next Steps: 

Sharing Our Podcasts at Expo 2020

These students got to share about their podcasting journey last Thursday at Expo 2020. It was a powerful presentation as these students shared an ongoing routine that means so much to them.

Henry would like his next episode to be about a current favorite book of his, "Flames of The Tiger" by John Wilson. I'm sure there are many more podcast episodes to come from Webster's 3rd grade class. They are also interested in sharing their episodes outside the walls of their classroom, possibly with one of their favorite authors.

Explore Claire's Podcast and the Writing Template Students Used to Prepare: 

Google Doc Planning Resource

Podcasting: The Chronicles of the Gifted & Talented

Students in Mrs. Flores’ 7th grade GT ELA class ended their spring semester reflecting on the learning and growing that occurred throughout their year together. As an outlet for sharing their reflections with others, the class delved into the world of producing podcasts. It proved to be an excellent opportunity for students to let their creative and fun personalities shine.

Podcasts are being used to educate others on a particular topic, to entertain an audience through storytelling, or even just to share about personal experiences. With a wide range of topics available, it seems as if there is literally something for everyone. Podcasts are definitely growing in popularity across all generations. Even knowing this, Mrs. Flores was unsure how many of her students had personal experience with podcasts. To ensure the project’s success, her first plan of action was to provide her students with age appropriate podcast episodes that might peak their interest. From the list she provided, she encouraged them to listen to a variety of episodes paying special attention to their format, music, and special sound effects.

As a class, it was decided the name of the podcast would be The Chronicles of the Gifted and Talented. Each student was then responsible for contributing an episode. In thinking about the content/topic for their episode, Mrs. Flores encouraged students to think about their accomplishments from the year. What elements stood out? What reflections from that learning can be shared with others? 

“I think one of the things I liked most about the project was the amount of freedom we had. Sure we could only use the topics that we covered in class, but the topics were so broad that it wasn't very constricting.” Ella was not alone in this thinking. Students were very excited about choosing their episode idea. Topics were selected and more intentional planning and deeper thinking occurred to help generate content. Careful consideration to following questions was encouraged:

• How has this aspect of our class made a positive impact on you?
• How will you use this topic to inspire or entertain your audience?
• How can you share an interesting perspective or a unique “take” on this topic?
• What will the tone of your episode be?
• How will you create that tone?
• What resources & information will you need to write your script?

It was also important for students to think about their listeners. While current and future students were the target audience, the likelihood principals, teachers all over the district, and other administrators would take a listen was high. For the podcast to gain the attraction of others, they would need to be carefully planned and thought out. Catchy titles, attention grabbing introductions, and sharing the why behind the chosen topic definitely helped. Some students even chose to create advertisements for relatable sponsors to be endorsed during their episode.

Although individuals were responsible for contributing their own episode, students were working with their peers throughout the entire process. It was during that collaboration phase that they were able to give and receive feedback on each other’s episodes. Many of the students also helped co-host a peer’s show. Natalie said it best, “I really enjoyed applying what I learned throughout the school year, and being able to review the year in a fun and creative way. I loved seeing my friends projects and participating in them.” Final podcast were edited using Beautiful Audio Editor and then exported to Google Drive, where they would ultimately be shared with the class. Students had a bank of resources for royalty free music and sound effects they utilized throughout the project as well.

And, now for the moment you’ve all been waiting for… explore some of the class podcasts linked to the images below. If you are interested in finding podcasts that may be appropriate for your students or yourself, be sure to explore the Best Podcasts for Kids resource. Check it out, there is something for everyone!

       

   

ELA Podcasting

Students in Mrs. Bush’s 8th Language Arts at Chisholm Trail MS class have recently discovered the wonderful world of podcasting. Before actually creating their own podcasts, students learned a lot about the process that leads up to being ready to record: research, script writing, editing, recording, publishing. Part of the process included finding and listening to podcasts for inspiration.

For this project, Mrs. Bush had students individually brainstorm a list of hobbies and interests they would feel confident talking about. Students then shared and discussed the topics on their cards with their peers and were able to partner up as they found commonalities among interest and hobbies. These partners became teams that would collaborate on the podcast. They created a title for their podcast and began scripting their first episode. Partners worked with Google Docs to collaboratively write their podcasting scripts. Their scripts were shared with Mrs. Bush for feedback along the way. When it was time to record, students used Audacity and shared their recordings on a Google Site.

Canaan and Asia partnered up due to their passion for debate. It was decided their podcasts would center around various topics of their choosing that the two would choose a side and debate it out. Their first episode was a debate over which era of music was better, the 80’s or 90’s. Canaan had never heard of podcasts before this project. “I enjoyed having the voice in my writing actually be heard. Pen and paper writing can cause your voice to be lost and the reader to not truly understand that you are saying.” Both students agreed that their communication and writing skills were strengthened through this project. 

These students also had the opportunity to present their podcast at this year’s Techno Expo. Asia said, “It was so much fun presenting our work and such a different experience. Having an audience made us feel like people really cared about the work we were doing”. Receiving feedback from their audience at Expo provided them with possible topic ideas for future podcasts, as well as suggestions for ways to improve their next episode. 

Mrs. Bush hopes to continue using podcasts throughout the year. She would like to see her students eventually begin creating podcasts in response to books they have chosen to read for the campus 25 book challenge. Because of this project, both Canaan and Asia have expressed an interest in joining their future high school debate teams. Stay tuned!