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Class Podcast with The Moth as Inspiration
Details
Activity Description
Preparation
- Check the website to ensure it is not blocked at your site.
- Read through the lesson plan.
- Print and make copies of any handouts.
- Decide how students will record their written narratives and prepare a tutorial/print instructions.
- Select the podcast edtech tool(s) to be used and find or create video or print tutorials.
- Select one The Moth episode from either the website or the YouTube channel for modeling. Ensure that it has either a transcript or captions in order to be accessible to all students. You can also see Moth's Storytelling School (link listed in "More Ways" in this lesson plan).
- Decide how students will share their written narrative scripts for feedback and how they will record their voices and share their recordings. See "How To" section for free tech tools. For the podcasting or recording tool you select, become familiar with it so that you will be able to demonstrate it for students.
How-To
There are numerous podcasting / hosting sites. Here are some free options:
- Podbean - Upload 5 Hours Total, 5 Hours Total Storage Space 100GB Monthly Bandwidth - see Podbean How-to Videos on the Podbean YouTube Channel
- Podomatic - 500 MG of storage, 15 MG bandwidth; see video tutorials on the Podomatic YouTube channel
- Padlet - create a free Padlet teacher account, create a wall, share the link with students, and allow them to upload their audio files or record in the wall. See the Padlet Help page on Post Audio on a Padlet.
Other options are to post students' recordings (with their permission) along with their written scripts in a page of an LMS (such as Canvas), or on a website such as Google Sites (save all files to a Google Drive folder and ensure that sharing for all files is set to anyone can access).
For students to record their voices, there are several free options:
- Voice memo or other app on cell phones
- The voice recording options in an LMS (such as Canvas's media recorder in the editor and Canvas Studio)
- 123 Apps Online Voice Recorder
- SpeakPipe
- Vocaroo
Teacher Tips
You can choose from other Podcasts or allow students to share their own favorite episodes from storytelling podcasts such as the following:
- StoryCorps
- NPR's This American Life - see Recommended List
- University of Minnesota's Immigrant Stories
More Ways
See Storytelling School on The Moth website for short lesson activities, which include transcripts of talks and some videos.
See The Moth Education Program Teachers Page, which includes opportunities include professional development, curriculum partnership, and a teacher's guide to go along with the book All These Wonders, a compilation of Moth talk scripts.
Program Areas
- ABE: Adult Basic Education
- ESL: English as a Second Language
Levels
- Intermediate
- High
- Intermediate High
- Advanced
Lesson Plan
Ask students about the last good story they heard. Ask students what makes a story good. List their ideas.
Tell students that they are going to write a personal story from their lives to preserve it with their voices in the form of a podcast. Ask students if they ever listen to podcasts, and if so, which ones. This can be an opportunity to share with students that podcasts are a good way to build their listening comprehension and vocabulary. You can later provide a list of ESL-specific podcasts for students to practice outside of class.
Use one podcast episode from The Moth that will appeal to your learners. Prepare students for their listening by pre-teaching any unfamiliar vocabulary used in the episode and activate any prior knowledge with selected images discussion questions related to the story or the theme.
Have students listen to the podcast episode. Provide a transcript or if the episode is from the YouTube channel, include the captions. You may choose to have students listen again outside of class, in order to differentiate learning for students whose listening skills are at a lower level.
Then model writing a 20-word gist of the episode. Elicit from students words they would use to describe the story.
Using the attached handout, explain to students what a personal narrative is.
Have them complete the vocabulary section in small groups. (Note: depending on your students' level of English proficiency, you may want to change the vocabulary words to suit their level). Go over the vocabulary after students have completed it with pronunciation feedback. Elicit explanations for words students do already know. For those words students do not already know, be prepared to provide definitions and/or examples.
Now assign students to select a podcast episode from the site or the YouTube channel. You may want to pre-select a list for them to choose from. They will work individually or in pairs to complete the handout to write a word to describe the episode and a 20-word summary.
Have volunteers share their summaries with the class or have students share in small groups.
Now go over the written assignment. Have students free select some of the topics listed on the handout and freewrite. Then help students to draft their narrative scripts for their podcast episode. Have them choose a topic, write a title, work on a hook, chronologically tell their story, and include some sort of conclusion, such as a lesson learned, a tie back to the hook, etc. Give feedback along the way, focusing first on meaning and the storytelling and later on mechanics (spelling, grammar, punctuation).
After students' written drafts are revised and edited, have them practice reading aloud with each other or you or tutors. Provide feedback on prosody, emotion, stress, pacing, pausing, intonation, etc. Optionally, as time permits, they can record their scripts with you giving oral feedback to work on volume, stress, intonation, pausing, prosody, and pronunciation.
Show students how to use whichever audio recording tool you select and how to share their audio files for posting to the podcast hosting (or other) site you select. Include the script to accompany the audio recording to the site you post. As a reminder, ensure that you have students' permission to post. Optionally and depending on the hosting platform you select, allow students to include a photo or image with their episodes. You may want to have students sign your agency's permissions release. Some students may choose not to share their stories with others if they are personal.
In a "podcast reveal listening party," play students' podcast episodes as a whole class or assign students to listen to their classmates' oral narratives and give feedback.
Ask for group feedback: What stood out? What did you learn about your classmates?
Include a student reflection activity. For instance, students can be asked to talk or write in response to this question: What did you learn about storytelling and yourself?
Use a rubric or checklist to give final summative feedback on students' work.
Students will be able to understand the structure and elements of a compelling personal narrative, develop and revise their own story, and improve language, pronunciation, and delivery/prosody.
Documents
- Narrative Writing - Podcast Assignment.docx - Lesson Handout
Subjects
- Reasoning Through Language Arts
- Mechanics (Capitalization, Punctuation, Spelling)
- Writing
- Basic Sentences
- Mechanics (Capitalization, Punctuation, Spelling)
- Paragraph Skills
Standards
- Writing
- CCR Anchor 3 - Write narratives to develop real or imagined experiences or events using effective technique, well-chosen details and well-structured event sequences.
- CCR Anchor 4 - Produce clear and coherent writing in which the development, organization, and style are appropriate to task, purpose, and audience.
- CCR Anchor 5 - Develop and strengthen writing as needed by planning, revising, editing, rewriting, or trying a new approach.
- CCR Anchor 6 - Use technology, including the Internet, to produce and publish writing and to interact and collaborate with others.
- CCR Anchor 9 - Draw evidence from literary or informational texts to support analysis, reflection, and research.
- Speaking and Listening
- CCR Anchor 2 - Integrate and evaluate information presented in diverse media and formats, including visually, quantitatively, and orally.
- CCR Anchor 3 - Evaluate a speaker’s point of view, reasoning, and use of evidence and rhetoric.
- CCR Anchor 5 - Make strategic use of digital media and visual displays of data to express information and enhance understanding of presentations.
- CCR Anchor 6 - Adapt speech to a variety of contexts and communicative tasks, demonstrating command of formal English when indicated or appropriate.
- Language
- CCR Anchor 1 - Demonstrate command of the conventions of English grammar and usage when writing or speaking.
- CCR Anchor 2 - Demonstrate command of the conventions of English capitalization, punctuation, and spelling when writing.
- CCR Anchor 3 - Apply knowledge of language to understand how language functions in different contexts, to make effective choices for meaning or style, and to comprehend more fully when reading or listening.
- CCR Anchor 4 - Determine or clarify the meaning of unknown and multiple-meaning words and phrases by using context clues, analyzing meaningful word parts, and consulting general and specialized reference materials, as appropriate.
- CCR Anchor 5 - Demonstrate understanding of figurative language, word relationships, and nuances in word meanings.