Literary Tour of California via podcast

Students in my California Literature class will take listeners on a Literary Tour of California via podcasts. Students will work alone or in pairs to research various California authors, learning about their life, family, work, places they lived or visited, and discuss some of their more prominent work, etc. Once the research is done the students will create a podcast that walks the listener through the life of the author from the authors' points of view. All authors will be an author that was either born in California or who lived here and did some of their writing here. Students will insert music and background noise for their podcast to make it appear that they are on location and make the podcast more pleasing to listen to.

Objectives:
By the end of this project, students will be able to:
-fully explain their author's life
-create a script sharing the author's information as told by the author's point of view
-create a podcast detailing their author's life, history and works and their connection to California.
-Create a digital image for display with the podcast that shows where the author is located in California and/or map out the author's California journey.

Activities:
-Students will choose an author from a list of California authors and, working in pairs or individually, will research the author (approx 3 months) Information will be gathered from the internet, books, magazines, journals, etc.

Students will script a biography of the author in an autobiographical format, from the author's point of view, hilighting the author's life, works, and location in California. (for example: John Steinbeck and his life in Salinas/Monterey) (1 month)

Students will research sounds and music to add with their scripts. They will then record the script and add in the sounds and music. Podcasts will be edited to to final draft quality. (1 month)

Students will create a digital image representing their author to be added to the podcast. It will have images representing the author and their works along with a map of California and the location of their author. (1 month)

Once images and final editing are done, final podcasts will be published (culminating activity)


California State Standards addressed: (there are too many to list every point, so I have condensed the list)

Grades 9/10
1.0 Writing Strategies
Students write coherent and focused essays that convey a well-defined perspective and tightly reasoned argument. The writing demonstrates students' awareness of the audience and purpose. Students progress through the stages of the writing process as needed.
Organization and Focus
1.1 through 1.9
2.0 through 2.3 Writing Applications
Listening and Speaking

1.0 Listening and Speaking Strategies
Students formulate adroit judgments about oral communication. They deliver focused and coherent presentations of their own that convey clear and distinct perspectives and solid reasoning. They use gestures, tone, and vocabulary tailored to the audience and purpose.
1.1 through 1.14

2.0 Speaking Applications
Students deliver polished formal and extemporaneous presentations that combine the traditional rhetorical strategies of narration, exposition, persuasion, and description. Student speaking demonstrates a command of standard American English and the organizational and delivery strategies outlined in Listening and Speaking Standard 1.0.
Using the speaking strategies of grades nine and ten outlined in Listening and Speaking Standard 1.0
2.1 through 2.3

Grades 11/12
Writing
1.0 Writing Strategies
Students write coherent and focused texts that convey a well-defined perspective and tightly reasoned argument. The writing demonstrates students' awareness of the audience and purpose and progression through the stages of the writing process.
Organization and Focus
1.1 through 1.9

2.0 Writing Applications (Genres and Their Characteristics)
Students combine the rhetorical strategies of narration, exposition, persuasion, and description to produce texts of at least 1,500 words each. Student writing demonstrates a command of standard American English and the research, organizational, and drafting strategies outlined in Writing Standard 1.0.
2.1 through 2.6

1.0 Written and Oral English Language Conventions
Students write and speak with a command of standard English conventions.
1.1through1.3

Listening & Speaking
1.0 Listening and Speaking Strategies
Students formulate adroit judgments about oral communication. They deliver focused and coherent presentations that convey clear and distinct perspectives and demonstrate solid reasoning. They use gestures, tone, and vocabulary tailored to the audience and purpose.
1.1 through 1.14

2.0 Speaking Applications (Genres and Their Characteristics)
Students deliver polished formal and extemporaneous presentations that combine traditional rhetorical strategies of narration, exposition, persuasion, and description. Student speaking demonstrates a command of standard American English and the organizational and delivery strategies outlined in Listening and Speaking Standard 1.0.
2.1-2.4