Teacher Guidelines
Aims:
To enable children to work collaboratively to produce a podcast & upload it onto the school blog.
Objectives:
To enable children to engage in the writing process while working collaboratively within their own class to produce a piece of writing, in this case a ‘Sports Report’ & a ‘Movie Review’
To enable children to use a piece of software called ‘Audacity’ to record their report & review, edit it & upload it onto the school blog.
Classes: 5th & 6th Classes (could be modified for other classes)
Success criteria:
- a good understanding of the structure of a sports reports. This can be developed by reading, discussing and summarising newspaper sports reports under the following headings Headline, Strap, Leading Sentence, Structure & Quotations.
- by listening to sports report podcasts from radio stations.
- a good understanding of the structure of a movie review. This can be developed using newspaper and/or magazine reviews under the headings Title, Actors / Characters, Summary of Plot, Possible theme/moral, Opinion of Movie, Score/Rating system.
- the ability to co-operate and work effectively in groups
- basic Wordprocessing skills.
- basic understanding of ‘Audacity
- basic understanding of School Blog & how to ‘post’ to it
Steps to creating a Podcast:
- Children in both classes work in groups. The children may choose to work in two different groups to produce the two pieces of writing.
- A variety of newspaper sports reports are read, discussed & summarised under the following headings Headline, Strap, Leading Sentence, Structure & Quotations.
- With the help of a ‘Report Template’ each group drafts a report based on a recent Soccer Match on Television.
- Each child in the group uses the Report Template created by his/her own group to write his/her own report. These are read, discussed and compared.
- Reports are revised, redrafted, edited and typed using a wordprocessing package or a desktop publishing package – i.e. ‘Open Office’, ‘Creative Writer’
- An IWB (Interactive White Board) may be used to work together on the revision of some reports while other groups do this work themselves.
- Completed collaborative reports are printed and displayed.
- The same process (Steps 2-7) is repeated for the ‘Movie Review’
- Children then use ‘Audacity’ to record their Podcast.
- Recording is then edited. Children can cut clips of recording or insert clips. (If they’re not happy can re-record clip, without having to re-record entire piece).
- Introductory music, background music, voice-overs, soundscapes etc. can all be added at this stage.
- When file is complete it is exported as wav. or MP3 file for uploading to school blog.
- Children write accompanying post on school blog & upload Podcast, leaving it open for comments & feedback.
Differentiation:
The learning needs of pupils of varying abilities can be addressed by using collaborative learning methodologies & assigning roles and tasks to individual children within the groups.
- Match Report / Movie Review is discussed orally ensuring the participation of everyone.
- all ideas are jotted down acknowledging contributions from everybody.
- Report / Review Template is an essential tool as it acts as a reminder or prompt for the less able child.
- More able pupils could help less able pupils with the editing, revising & redrafting of the report.
- All puils will be involved in the recording & editing of the podcast.
- All pupils are involved with uploading to the school blog – this can be done collectively on IWB.
Assessment:
English Writing
Work Samples –
- reports / reviews written by individual children
- podcasts
English Oral
- Oral Language discussions & language/vocabulary development.
Speech & Drama
- Children can articulate thoughts & ideas.
ICT Outcomes
- Teacher Observation Checklist
SPHE – Groupwork:
- Teacher Observation Checklist
Summary:
Children write a ‘Sports Report’ & a ‘Movie Review’ for this project.
- The children learn the skills necessary for ‘Report Writing’ & ‘Persuasive Writing’.
- The children learn how to create a Podcast using ‘Audacity’
- Podcast is uploaded on to school blog.
- Children, Parents & School Community, as well as other interested parties listen to Podcast & give feedback via ‘Comments’.
- Children will contribute to this Blog on a regular basis using skills learned to write Sports Reports & Movie Reviews.
- Their reports & reviews will be open for comments & feedback.
- Additional reports & reviews can be contributed by other schools & children by contacting the administrator of this blog at maryddns@gmail.com
- Children can publish & share their work, collaborate & receive feedback from their peers via the comments box.
