PoeCast

Podcast Project

About the Author

Amanda Fox

Amanda Fox is an award-winning teacher who has previously taught film, english, and social studies in the STEM setting and is author of Teachingland: A Teacher's Survival guide to the Classroom Apocalypse and Zom-Be A Design Thinker. She is currently the Creative Director of STEAMPunksEdu, an after school and summer camp program that originated in Louisville, KY. Amanda speaks internationally on the power of EdTech integration, problem based learning, STEM education, and the power of video. She offers professional development to her staff and schools all over the world. Amanda is an Apple Educator, PBS Digital Innovator, ISTE Emerging Leader, and her favorite classroom tool is the iPad.

Connect with Amanda on Twitter: @AmandaFoxSTEM

www.steampunksedu.com

Project Overview

With digital media becoming a more prominent form of communicating with the world, media production is a necessary skill in today’s society and podcasting naturally lends itself to interdisciplinary connections. The purpose of this project is to write a narrative confessional in the style of Edgar Allan Poe, paying close attention to developing theme, mood, and creating a logical sequence of events through the lens of an unreliable narrator. Students will then leverage the power of podcasting and develop a basic understanding of podcast production, distribution, and communication skills, specifically for the purpose of drama and entertainment. Podcasting focuses on the act of disseminating information through storytelling in an audio format. As students write narratives with logical sequences, plan, record, and mix audio, they will learn the technical side of producing and publishing a podcast, while being cognizant of the new format and audience they are producing for.

Summary: Leveraging design thinking, and the four C’S of STEM--creativity, collaboration, critical thinking, and communication, students will work together to publish a podcast for the purpose of entertainment.

English Language Arts Common Core standards are a perfect alignment with digital media projects. Each podcast episode will have unique elements that can be tailored to fit specific content areas. Editing sound visually using waves and peaks can be connected to science curriculum, while the STEM career component can be tied to any subject depending on which professionals are chosen.

Additionally, students go through the writing process and design thinking process, both iterative and dependent on revision, in conjunction with the production process. As they venture through this design process they have to collaborate with peers, think critically about elements of podcasting, leverage creativity to edit and mix their audio, and communicate with their peers on a production plan and schedule.

This podcast lesson is created for students in grades 6th-12th. Teachers can customize the lesson for younger students, and create a podcast as a class.

In pairs students will write confessional narratives in the style of Edgar Allan Poe focusing on theme, mood, and the sequence of events as told through the perspective of first person unreliable narrator. They will become familiar with a podcast format and the anchor.fm editing and publishing platform. They will record and edit their podcasts, and include music, sound effects, and publish their podcast.