Weekly Current Events Podcasts

As a beginning journalism student assignment, student pairs create a podcast of weekly current events. Following a script/basic storyboard, students spend the first part of the week, outside of regular class meeting time, gathering news and choosing their sources. They also spend time outside of class experimenting with sound effects and choosing snips-its of appropriate music for this educational experience.

By Thursday morning the script is approved by the classroom teacher and recording can begin. Sources are brought to the journalism lab for live interviews and recording, or the dedicated laptop and microphone are taken to the source.

The final product is recorded and edited by the first bell on Friday morning so that the project can be broadcast on the public address system. The weekly shows are also re-broadcast during the class period for critique and commentary.

In advance of the project, students presented their plan to the administration to receive permission to spend five minutes of every Friday's activity or homeroom period on their weekly news show.

Students are evaluated a bit more critically as the year progresses and they hear the feedback and public response to each week's program. A rubric is distributed with details such as:
at least five distinct voices heard and identified = A
only one distinct voice (a student reporter) heard and identified = F

at least three appropriate in content and quality sound effects are heard = A
no sound effects are present, the show is just voices = F

at least five story ideas are presented, including school news, school sports, school activities, community news and entertainment = A
fewer than three story ideas are presented without prior approval for a specialized content program = F

With proper equipment, the audio podcast project could be easily adapted to a video podcast project.