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On a whim - well actually the day before - I thought it would be a great opportunity for my students to dive in and attempt a podcast.
They had been investigating the Amazon Rainforest and the land use conflict there. I thought this presented a good opportunity for them to pause and process the basic understandings that they had acquired to this point.
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Student participants had no script and referred to notes on the computers to help
them along. A student computer picked up the audio using white microphone in
the middle of the table. This link is to their podcast:
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So, I threw out the idea to the students….and they were on board.
I briefly explained that the format is like a talk show...a conversation...a Socratic seminar (which they had just done in ELA). And, of course, we would make an audio recording and share it with the world.
The class discussed how the topic would be introduced, how the conversation would flow, and general prompts that could be used to encourage the flow of conversation. We quickly outlined this on the board so they could have a visual reference, asked for volunteers, pushed the tables together, and set up the microphone on a computer.
Most who participated eagerly volunteered while others reluctantly did so. But we had seven volunteers, including our host/moderator.
Those who were not participating were given a very special task - listening. Their responsibility was to identify arguments/points made in favor of an idea or position and arguments/points made against an idea or position within a T-chart.
I helped our student host connect with Vocaroo to record the podcast. Then the host clicked record, and off we went.
Each of my classes did a fantastic job. I was please how the conversation flowed and how the students were able to both share information and respond to one another. Each of the classes sustained the conversation for nearly 10 minutes. Of course there were some glitches and confusion - they had never had a “formal” conversation like this with such little pointed preparation - but they performed admirably. (The biggest glitch was the misstep in one class that did not get the technology to record their conversation - that may have been the best one of the day, too.)
Afterward, students were smiling and were “reliving” their participation.
We followed up with a discussion of the points speakers made against an idea or position. The participants joined in with those taking notes, recalling others’ counterpoints to what they had said.
Both the conversation and listening focus served as a meaningful opportunity to process information and review for the students. They were also better able to see connections between ideas by having others respond to what they were saying. By recording it, they also have the opportunity to go back to the conversation, hear it again, and reinforce understandings.
Having now exposed all my students to podcasts, I love the idea of letting them loose to create their own as an option for them to express their knowledge in a meaningful way.
If you have had students create podcasts, or if this post has generated some thoughts of your own, please share in the comments. I would appreciate hearing from you.
