Students Create Podcasts
Teacher Emily Blackburn wanted to do something a little different with her US Speech and Debate class this quarter.
Instead of doing traditional stand and deliver speeches that many of her students have done since middle school, she decided to bring technology into the lesson plan.
A huge fan of podcasts, she created an assignment where her students would create a podcast around a common theme. “I wanted to see how speech and debate are used in the modern world, and podcasts are everywhere,” says Blackburn. “Doing a podcast, they’re speaking into a microphone, and I get a good oral picture of how they sound.”
After listening to several podcasts, the students built a common theme titled Owl Podcasts: Our World Legitimized. Blackburn wanted the students to explore topics that were meaningful to them. Students broke up into groups and each was responsible for creating three episodes within each topic. Austin M. ’19 was part of a group that analyzed student sleep patterns. He says students and faculty supported the project with information and interviews.
“Overlakers are always receptive to helping others so feel that we got honest answers,” says Austin. “We talked to students in free block and noticed that they would drop everything to do interviews and help us out.”
Blackburn acknowledges that she will tweak some parts of the lesson plan by putting more of an emphasis using technology in creating podcasts. Overall, she is satisfied with the results, but impressed by her students’ work. “They had to analyze information, apply it to themselves, and then make it fit their theme. It was a win-win for the entire class,” says Blackburn.
The result is a series of podcasts about life as an Overlake teenager. Click on the links below to listen to all the podcasts.
Episode 1: Too Much School Too Little Sleep
Episode 2: A Heavy Load vs a Healthy Load