MMS+Pod-suasive+Assured+Experience

Task Title : Pod-suasive (Record to revise)  English Language Arts   Abstract: Using Audacity, students created a podcast of their persuasive letter to a company executive for purposes of revising and editing. Once the letter was complete, students sent them to corporations and received responses. Some students felt empowered when they heard from the CEO/corporation and were told that their ideas were good ones, and would be considered.  Students are used to reading out loud multiple times during the writing process for the purposes of revising and editing. Since they are motivated by technology, the use of Audacity will not only aid in their revision/editing, but it will make, what they often feel is a mundane task, be fun for them at the same time. 

Lesson / Unit

· Lesson objective

Student will use persuasive writing mode to demonstrate understanding of: awareness of audience point of view Goals: Student will: speak and write using standard language structures and diction appropriate to audience and task recognize the difference between use of standard and non-standard English in composing and revising written text Student will: demonstrate understanding of the effective processes of podcasting

Objectives: Student will use persuasive writing mode to demonstrate understanding of: awareness of audience point of view tone elaboration fluency voice proper mechanics usage spelling proofreading editing Student will communicate a message using oral language with: clarity voice fluency Student will present work appropriate to: audience, purpose task Students will demonstrate an understanding of the effective processes of podcasting.  Curriculum Frameworks Connecticut PK- 8 English Language Art Curriculum Standards Student will: 4.2 speak and write using standard language structures and diction appropriate to audience and task 4.3 recognize the difference between use of standard and non-standard English in composing and revising written text  National Educational Technology Standards for Students (NETS*S, 2007) Student will: 2a. interact, collaborate, and publish with peers, experts, or others employing a variety of digital environments and media. 2b. communicate information and ideas effectively to multiple audiences using a variety of media and formats.
 * Task description: Students first brainstorm topics and then choose one to research. Then they will compose a persuasive letter to be mailed to an executive/corporation. Typical topics include animal testing, steroids in baseball, school improvement, and global warming. Typical audiences include Commissioner of Baseball, CEO of Johnson and Johnson, President Barack Obama, and school principals. After some research, students will plan their persuasive letter and compose the first draft. Next students should revise (multiple times as usually done in Language Arts classes) and edit. Before sending the letter, students will create a podcast of the letter. Students should listen to their podcast for fluency, organization, and persuasiveness during the recording and playback and make corrections as needed. The letters are ready to mail when students make their final revisions/edits.
 * Context within which the work was produced: Students completed this work during heterogeneous seventh grade Language Arts classes as well as on their own during school (X block) or at home.
 * Prior learning required: Students should know the writing process for the persuasive mode. They also need to know how to use Audacity and basic technology skills like saving, word processing, accessing common files and folders, etc.
 * Types of groupings used in this task: This task should be done individually except for the brainstorming, planning, or instruction with Audacity. Some revision may be done with partners, but the actual task of podcasting and correcting is done independently.
 * Any differentiated strategies used in this task: Teachers will have to give some students more scaffolding during the writing process as well as with the use of Audacity depending on their ability level and comfort with the Audacity program. Students differentiate their own choices for topics and audiences as well.

 Use state persuasive rubric to assess persuasive letters. See copy of state rubric below. Teachers can listen to podcasts to assess student completion and quality. [|Click here to hear student podcasts]…

Students were very motivated by the new technology piece and were anxious to get to their podcasts. Although I was concerned that they might rush through the writing to get to the podcast, my worries were allayed when I observed most students making multiple revisions and edits. The most beneficial part of the process was watching students bring a new level of concern to what they usually consider the mundane task of writing persuasively. It was as if they forgot that they do care for this type of writing. Another positive outcome of having them prepare for their letter with so much attention to detail was their enthusiasm while they awaited a response from the CEO or organization they wrote to. Each time a different student received a letter, they read the response to the rest of the class. Some were critical of the truthfulness or accuracy of items in the letter, and others were appalled by the spelling and grammar mistakes. They were taking their skill of editing to new level! Some of the difficulties I encountered were: at times students got distracted by other students speaking into their microphones at close range. I fixed this by sending some to another room with computers or the computer lab. If too many students were ready to podcast at the same time, I did not have enough microphones or headphones. I received headsets from our computer lab when this occurred but there was a problem with the quality of the headsets. Some broke after one use. This distraction made the process of writing/revising more frenzied at times, but when I evaluated the quality of their persuasive writing, I felt it was worth it. The “fun” they had working with Audacity and writing to an actual person/company, from which they expected a response, produced higher quality persuasive pieces. It was **essential to have access to a technology person** in the building while in the midst of this project.  Resources: You will need computers with word processing, a CT state writing rubric, Internet access, printers, microphones, headsets, Audacity and LAME Encoder, paper, envelopes, and postage.


 * Audacity: [] - Audacity is audio editing software that allows you to create podcasts.
 * LAME Encoder __:__  []  - This is a separate download that works with Audacity so that you can export the audio file as an MP3 file to be played on your choice of machine.
 * Microsoft Word