The Scripted Limbo: How I Ditch the Script with Podcasting

Hey there!

This time of year is my most and least favorite. Spring fever is in full swing. My exhaustion is high, and my patience is low with some behavior because hello? It's March, and the expectations have not changed since August. The days are absolutely gorgeous here at this time of year, but testing is right around the corner. By the time I come home at the end of the day, all I want is a nap. (And that's why I have started and not finished half a dozen blog posts in the past three weeks). 

But let's get back to it...

I have one rule that applies to multiple areas of my life: ask forgiveness not permission. This is especially true in my teaching career. Have I gotten myself into trouble with this motto a time or two? I cannot confirm or deny. 

If you are like me, you are stuck with a scripted, dry reading/English curriculum, and sometimes selling curriculum that is not your original content to a classroom of teens is simply not the vibe. THAT is where the "ask forgiveness" mantra comes in. I am incredibly passionate about effective technology integration in the classroom, but being chained to a curriculum that utilizes texts and a workbook filled with graphic organizers does not lend itself to the type of tech integration I want to see. My goal in each of my lessons is to meet the goal of the standard(s) I am teaching utilizing most of the materials required but maybe slightly changing how students express their learning.  

I recently did a presentation on this very topic a couple weeks ago. My fellow Louisiana English teachers are struggling with technology integration, which is why I share. I know how hard it is to re-imagine a script that feels boxed in. I try to use the ISTE Standards for Students  to guide any technology integration I utilize in the classroom. Some things I do with students are text-based scavenger hunts, podcasting, and using PowerPoint/Google Slides for student creations. As someone new to blogging, I'd love to make this a series. 

I teach three grade levels of ELA, and I also coach/teach a competitive robotics program. I definitely have areas where I can improve, but when things are good, I love to share that!

Podcasting

So many of my students are obsessed with podcasts, and in the age of creators, I want to teach my students to be creators in the classroom. In seventh grade, we read the very dense nonfiction text Written in Bone. The text is centered on the ways that forensic anthropologists used science to uncover the identities of the European settlers and indentured servants/enslaved Africans buried in the Jamestown, Virginia/Chesapeake, Maryland colonial areas. This is our very first unit for the year in seventh grade, and at the beginning of this year, I was low on creativity because I was drowning. I kept finding myself of Murder, Mystery, and Make-up Tok when suddenly it dawned on me: why would I not utilize this medium (maybe minus the makeup) to help make my content a little more engaging? So, that's what I set out to do.

In my curriculum, one lesson asked students to choose one claim from the text, then write a paragraph explaining how the author supports that claim with evidence in the text. They needed to include one piece of direct text evidence in their response. If I had given my seventh graders this assignment, they would've relentlessly roasted me. I'm not boring, and I get personally offended when students tell me my class is boring. Is the content boring at times? Sure! But being bored in my class is not allowed. So, how did I revamp it?

We listened to an example podcast of a forensic anthropologist. I wish I could remember who it was, but September feels like a lifetime ago at this point. Anyways, I revamped the entire prompt and asked students to record a podcast using the video-recording tool Flip. I adore Flip because it gives students options in how they showcase themselves, their voice, and even their face. Some students opt to go all-in and record with no problem while others may only voice record or screen record. I leave that choice for my students. My revamp assignment description looked like this:

Forensic anthropologists are solvers of mysteries, and sometimes they host podcasts to share about the mysteries they've solved. Today, you will work with a partner to host a podcast episode. Choose one of the two Jamestown settlers who have been excavated in the first chapters of Written in Bone.



In your podcast episode, you need to do the following:

○Introduce yourself and your co-host, as well as the excavation site.

○Describe the age and gender of the settler who was found. Don't forget to include how those details were determined (aka TEXT EVIDENCE).

○Describe how the date of death was determined.

○Include any information about the settler's health.

○Describe who the settler was in the historical record and how this was determined.



It may be helpful to write a script with the supporting details BEFORE you record. :) Remember, this is a grade, so while you definitely need to be creative, make sure you include all of the needed information first.



I did model with students to show them what an example might look like (screen snip from my Flip). I also wanted to take a moment for the hair and the glasses. I felt like I was the moment. I have amazing students on any given day of the week, but the engagement and enthusiasm that went into this assignment blew me away. Of course, I did have a couple that asked if they could just do a traditional writing, which was fine with me, but the vast majority were so excited to do this. I wish I could share their end results with you, but student privacy is important. 

I utilized a very similar podcast with the short story "Flowers for Algernon," which I read with my eighth graders. My eighth grade group is extremely quirky and so creative, and when I give them a task like this, they take it and run with it. In the original assignment, students had to select a quotation or describe an event from Progress Reports 5-8. They then had to write a 2-3 sentence summary that reveals the shift in Charlie's understanding of what it means to be smart. Once again, I could have assigned this assignment mostly as is, but I know the effort I would have received would not be what they're most capable of doing. 

I flipped this task very similarly to my task for Written in Bone. I explained that research and the sharing of the research is extremely important in the medical field. Charlie's surgery would have been ground breaking, so I asked my students to take on the role of Charlie's team of doctors to describe the changes in Charlie before and after his surgery. This takes on more of a narrative approach at this point, but the same basic question is answered: "How has Charlie changed?" Some of the end products were absolutely amazing and hilarious. Students engaged with the text much more than they would have if I'd given them the original prompt. 

Bonus: Flip for Character Confessionals

An idea I had very recently what using a character confessional during our seventh grade unit on The Giver while making inferences. I thought about shows like The Office, Parks and Recreation, and any number of reality TV shows. After a scene, there is someone talking to a camera. I found a way to incorporate this Ron Swanson clip into my lesson, and any day I can feature Ron Swanson in my classroom is a good day. 

We had just read Chapters 13 and 14 of The Giver, which is where we as the reader get a tiny glimpse into the fact that the Giver does not think highly of the way the community is run. Student were tasked with answering the following question:

"What inference can you make about The Giver's perspective on his community based on his dialogue and demeanor in Chapter 13? Cite evidence from the text in your response."

Once again, I did not love this prompt, and I knew some of my students would be less enthusiastic about answering this question. The revised prompt I provided in the Flip topic follows:

In this assignment, use what you know about the GIver to make an inference about his true thoughts and feelings after reading his dialogue with Jonas in Chapter 13. As you plan your video, think:

 - What emotions and feelings are expressed by the Giver's demeanor in this section of text?

- What does his dialogue reveal about his perspective? Why? 

This is another example of students thinking much deeper and writing more in this assignment than they would have utilizing the original assignment. I have not changed the intent of the lesson because students are still making inferences about the character. Instead, I shifted the outcome by allowing students to express their creativity. Once again, I had a couple students, including my own daughter who is in my seventh grade class, who asked if they could write a script but skip the recording. I frequently try to offer an option because student choice is important.

I am by no means the most creative or even a perfect teacher, but I do hope something I share here resonated with you. Feeling boxed in with curriculum and not having a ton of room for creativity is one of my biggest complaints as an educator. I hope you found something here you can take back and apply to your own classrooms.

Thanks for being here,