Connecting with Community: Creating Weekly (WNHS)

Journalism teacher – Mrs. Plankey ([email protected])

Students will: 1. Learn about student-produced podcasts. 2. Review and critique podcasts produced by other students as a basis for creating their own segments. 3. Create beats, brainstorm topics and create scripts. 4. Reflect on the process and experience of preparing and sharing information with the world via podcasts.

Big Picture: We create the script for the weekly WNHS . (Discuss format, news value, expectations and deadlines).

If you could broadcast news or information from this school to the world, what subjects, issues, current events or opinions would you choose?

Be creative and think big.

• Participate in a quick news quiz. Can you match the lead story to the magazine cover? Measure your news savvy! • Next, write down one story idea, which is specific to your school. Please write an idea for your next podcast and include the name of your school. Respond yes or no: Can you get video footage with this story? Collect. • Get started with the background • Step one = Understand podcasting. Podcasting derives from blending “broadcasting” and “iPod.” It evolved as collaboration between an MTV VJ (Adam Curry) and a software entrepreneur () over the summer of 2004. A podcast is a kind of audio/video recording that anyone with a computer, connection and software programs can create. The subjects run the gamut from debates to lively reviews to conversations. The quality also ranges from sophisticated production to a barely audible soliloquy. Podcasting fans have praised the new phenomenon for democratizing radio productions. Liked to TiVo for radio, people can pause, fast-forward and rewind, since it isn’t live. People can listen or view whenever they want. And unlike traditional radio, individual podcasts are not subject to government regulation, time limits or interrupted by commercials.

Source: Harper, Liz. “Podcasting Power for the People.” Online Newshour Extra 23 Feb. 2005.

• Step two = Review. Begin research by reviewing WNHS

(http://moodle.neenah.k12.wi.us/groups/wnhs/blog or

Search for WNHS on iTunes or http://neenah.k12.wi.us/nhs

Click on WNHS under Student Publications and other schools’ podcasts. SchoolTube.com is a solid resource. View 2 or 3 segments preferably from different schools. Record your answers to stay focused.

What were the topics?

How long was the segment?

Who were the presenters?

How did they present?

What, if anything, did you learn from it?

How would you describe the quality of the information?

How would you describe the quality of the presentation?

What visual or audio devices were used, if any? Were these devices used to support the information, add color to the presentation or to serve some other purpose?

After reviewing several podcasts, share feedback.

Helpful tips: Be clear: make sure you stay on topic. Be creative: how will you get viewers’ attention and keep them watching/listening? Be thorough: are you telling them everything they need to know? Be concise: keep it short, no longer than 2 minutes per segment. Be accurate: check and double-check your facts. Be careful: edit your work to say what you want it to say, the way you want to say it. Be professional: share your work with your group and promote quality. Be genuine: appeal to your student body, your community and your world.

WNHS podcast What is your group’s beat this week? What do you want your viewers to learn? How will you present your information? How long will your segment be? What information is the most important to convey during your limited broadcast time? What information will each person in your group contribute and how? What visuals, audio or other devices will you use to bring interest to your piece.

Group responsibilities What will each person need to do in order to complete the segment? What will each person research and write? How will you be sure that your final presentation is cohesive? What tool, props or other devices will you need for your segment? What can you do individually to promote group/class success?

Sample beats:

Beats for WNHS

Directions: Working with a partner, you will be responsible to cover beats for WNHS’s weekly broadcast. Deadlines are Wednesdays at the end of Mod. 5. Partnerships will move down the beat list with the goal of covering all beats. Editors will use news judgment to determine priority and write transitions. Editors will submit the final script to Mrs. Plankey Thursday morning before school in room 134. Production is Friday morning.

Expectations: One page per beat (30-60 seconds of reading). It must include a source. 1. School News 2. Sports 3. Clubs - Extracurricular 4. Technology / Green Focus 5. Classroom 6. Profiles - Interviews 7. Fashion / Trends 8. Reviews / Entertainment 9. World/ National /Local Links 10. Numbers / Cheap fun

Editors

School News

Sports

Clubs / Extracurricular

Technology / Green Focus

Classroom

Profiles – Interviews

Fashion / Trends

Reviews / Entertainment

World/ National/ Local Links

Numbers/ Cheap FUN