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=**Podcasting Lesson Plan for High School English Class** = What is on your "My Top Rated" playlist on your iPod? What about your students' playlists? What do your favorite songs say about YOU? What about playlists for the characters your students "meet" in novels, plays, or films? Hidden away in an attic for two years before being discovered by the Nazis, what sort of songs would Anne Frank select? What lyrics could best express the emotions of the star-crossed lovers Romeo and Juliet? Or Mr. Darcy in Pride and Prejudice? Huckleberry Finn, the archetypal innocent who helped his friend Jim escape slavery - surely his playlist would reflect his lifestyle as a poor vagabond who is able to do the right thing in spite of what most Southerners believed. //Music is the international language that has been used for centuries to express meaning and emotions. Music is also a great way to engage students in podcasting. Our lesson will provide some broad guidelines that can be tweaked for many different content areas and topics. // **Unit Topic**: Literature - Characterization **Subject Area**: English **Grade Level**: 9 through 12 **Prior Knowledge**: Students have read enough of the text in order to determine characteristics and motivations of main characters. Depending on the form of literature, this could be at the middle, climax, or end of the text. **Objectives**: To use information gleaned from the text to select a minimum of eight appropriate songs for XYZ* based on his/her character traits, motivations, the setting in which he/she lived, and his/her experiences. Students will also justify song choices by explaining the connection between each song and the character(XYZ) chosen by referencing a minimum of two passages from the text. Students will listen to the podcasts of peers and provide specific feedback. *XYZ can be replaced by any character in a novel, short story, play, or film, or historical event.

 **Logistics** (time required per day and/or days):
 * Standards Addressed for Language Arts **
 * 1) Students apply a wide range of strategies to comprehend, interpret, evaluate, and appreciate texts. They draw on their prior experience, their interactions with other readers and writers, their knowledge of word meaning and of other texts, their word identification strategies, and their understanding of textual features (e.g., sound-letter correspondence, sentence structure, context, graphics).
 * 2) Students adjust their use of spoken, written, and visual language (e.g., conventions, style, vocabulary) to communicate effectively with a variety of audiences and for different purposes.
 * 3) Students employ a wide range of strategies as they write and use different writing process elements appropriately to communicate with different audiences for a variety of purposes.
 * 4) <span style="color: #000080; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 110%;">Students apply knowledge of language structure, language conventions (e.g., spelling and punctuation), media techniques, figurative language, and genre to create, critique, and discuss print and non-print texts.
 * 5) <span style="color: #000080; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 110%;">Students conduct research on issues and interests by generating ideas and questions, and by posing problems. They gather, evaluate, and synthesize data from a variety of sources (e.g., print and non-print texts, artifacts, people) to communicate their discoveries in ways that suit their purpose and audience.
 * 6) <span style="color: #000080; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 110%;">Students use a variety of technological and information resources (e.g., libraries, databases, computer networks, video) to gather and synthesize information and to create and communicate knowledge
 * <span style="color: #000080; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 110%;">Students will have three class periods to work on this project.
 * <span style="color: #000080; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 110%;">They will work in pairs.

<span style="color: #000080; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 110%;">**Classroom Environment and Supplies (**required space, supplies, technology tools, etc.):
 * <span style="color: #000080; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 110%;">Each student will have a copy of the text that they have been reading in class.
 * <span style="color: #000080; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 110%;">They will also be permitted to use their iPods, iPads, laptops, or other mobile devices while working on this project.

<span style="color: #000080; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 110%;">**Procedure**:
 * <span style="color: #000080; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 110%;">Each pair will select eight songs for their character's playlist, and create a podcast.
 * <span style="color: #000080; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 110%;">The podcast will include the eight songs and the justification for choosing each song. Students' rationale for each song should refer to at least 2 passages from the text and the song lyrics if applicable.
 * <span style="color: #000080; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 110%;">Each student must record half of the podcast. Students will use the open-source program [|Audacity] to record their podcasts. They can create their own music via Garageband, download music from their personal music library, and/or download [|free music].
 * <span style="color: #000080; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 110%;">When students have completed their podcast, they will upload it to the class blog or class wiki.
 * <span style="color: #000080; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 110%;">Students will be given an additional class period to listen to their classmates' podcasts. Each student must react to at least 3 other podcasts on the class blog or wiki. Reactions must be a least 2 sentences long and give specific feedback regarding aspects such as the appropirateness of song selections and observations made about the characters.

<span style="color: #000080; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 110%;">**Assessment**: <span style="color: #000080; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 110%;">The following rubric can be used to assess this assignment.


 * < 3 ||< 2 ||< 1 ||< 0 ||
 * Students have selected 8 songs. || Students have selected 6 or 7 songs. || Students have selected 4 or 5 songs. || Students have selected 1 to 3 songs. ||
 * All songs are well justified and clearly connected to the chosen character. || Most songs are well justified and clearly connected to the chosen character. || A few songs are well justified and clearly connected to the chosen character. || No songs are well justified or clearly connected to the chosen character. ||
 * Students have referenced 2 appropriate text passages as part of the justification for song choices. || Students have referenced 2 text passages, but only one is appropriate as part of the justification for the song choices. || Students have referenced two text passages, but neither appropriately support song choices. || Students have not referenced two text passages. ||
 * < Students have provided reactions with specific feedback for three other teams. ||< Students have provided reactions with specific feedback for two other teams. ||< Students have provided reactions with specific feedback for one other team. ||< Students have not provided reactions with specific feedback for any other teams. ||
 * < Students have provided reactions with specific feedback for three other teams. ||< Students have provided reactions with specific feedback for two other teams. ||< Students have provided reactions with specific feedback for one other team. ||< Students have not provided reactions with specific feedback for any other teams. ||

**<span style="color: #000080; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 110%;">Podcasting Legal Guide: **
<span style="color: #000080; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 110%;">If a podcast includes all, or even part of a recording of a copyrighted song, you must have express permission from the rightsholders, in writing, giving permission for you to use their work. Otherwise, you can be held liable for copyright infringement each and every time that someone listens to and downloads your podcast. The //Fair Use Copyright Law// does apply to podcasts for a limited and transformative purpose; examples include criticizing, commenting, parodying, news reporting, teaching the copyrighted work. Under the U.S. copyright laws, fair use “is not an infringement of copyright.” For additional information concerning Fair Usage and the ever-growing Read Write Web, refer to the following: Fair Use Podcasting and Fair Use Law


 * Examples:**

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<span class="wiki_link_new">Click here for how this lesson can be adapted for a world language class

Click here for adapting to other subject areas