Create a Podcast: Draft a Podcast Script | EL Education Curriculum

You are here

Home › Our Curriculum › ELA 2019 Grade 7 › ELA 2019 G7:M2 › ELA 2019 G7:M2:U3 ›

ELA 2019 G7:M2:U3:L8

Create a Podcast: Draft a Podcast Script

In this Lesson

You are here:

Focus Standards: These are the standards the instruction addresses.

  • W.7.2, W.7.5, L.7.3a, L.7.4

Supporting Standards: These are the standards that are incidental—no direct instruction in this lesson, but practice of these standards occurs as a result of addressing the focus standards.

  • W.7.3, W.7.4, W.7.7, W.7.8, L.7.6
Download Materials

Daily Learning Targets

  • I can work with my peers to strengthen the narrative lead of my podcast script. (W.7.5)
  • I can choose language that expresses ideas precisely and concisely, recognizing and eliminating wordiness and redundancy. (L.7.3a)
  • I can write one section of a podcast script to convey ideas and information from my research. (W.7.2)

Ongoing Assessment

  • Opening A: Entrance Ticket: Unit 3, Lesson 8 (L.7.4)
  • Work Time A: Podcast script draft (W.7.2, W.7.5, L.7.3a)

Agenda

AgendaTeaching Notes

1. Opening

A. Engage the Learner - L.7.4 (5 minutes)

2. Work Time

A. Combine Narrative Leads - W.7.5 (15 minutes)

3. Closing and Assessment

A. Draft a Podcast Script - W.7.2 (25 minutes)

4. Homework

A. Revise Podcast Scripts: Students revise and edit their section of the podcast script for clarity and style in preparation for the next lesson, in which triad members combine their sections and present their full scripts to another triad in a Tuning protocol.

B. Independent Research Reading: Students read for at least 20 minutes in their independent research reading text. Then they select a prompt and write a response in their independent reading journal.

Alignment to Assessment Standards and Purpose of Lesson

  • L.7.4 – Opening A: On an entrance ticket, students use strategies to define unknown words and then paraphrase a standard. Then students use their new knowledge of the standard to identify parts of their narrative lead that need to be revised for precision, concision, wordiness, or redundancy.
  • W.7.5 – Work Time A: Students work in their triads to combine their narrative leads to create one strong narrative lead.
  • W.7.2 – Closing and Assessment A: Students divide the three remaining sections of their podcast script among their triad members and draft their section, conveying ideas, concepts, and information through the selection, organization, and analysis of relevant content from their research.
  • Students focus on working to become effective learners by collaborating to share their progress and work with their triad to make a better product and persevering independently on drafting their section of the podcast script. These activities also involve working to become ethical people as they practice compassion and respect listening to one another’s work.
  • If homework is not an option and they didn’t finish their narrative lead in the previous lesson, then in Work Time A they can work with their triad to finish a lead from their three partially completed leads. For this lesson’s homework, students can take time to revise their portion of their script in Lesson 9.

Opportunities to Extend Learning

  • Release more responsibility more quickly to students as they comprehend the tasks or concepts. For example:
    • Allow students who finish drafting early to begin researching tools that will help them record and produce the podcast.
    • Encourage those students who excel at writing to mentor peers.

How It Builds on Previous Work

  • In the previous lesson, students focused on analyzing a narrative lead in a model podcast script and drafting their own narrative lead. In this lesson, students use their narrative lead drafts to create one strong narrative lead for the triad podcast. Then they draw on their research from earlier in the unit to draft one section of the collaborative podcast script.

Support All Students

  • Students may need additional support drafting their section of the podcast scripts. Consider providing extra support by grouping these students together and working with them by providing scaffolding and supporting questions. ▲

Assessment Guidance

  • Review students’ drafts as they work on them. Ask students to compare their drafts to the Model Podcast Script and identify what elements they are missing or would like to change.

Down the Road

  • In the next lesson, students will work in their triads to piece together their sections of the podcast script to make a complete script. Students then present their scripts to another triad in a Tuning protocol focused on the content of the scripts.

In Advance

  • Ensure there is a copy of Entrance Ticket: Unit 3, Lesson 8 at each student’s workspace.
  • Determine whether students will choose the section of the podcast script they will each write or whether they will be assigned a section. Note that the message section is likely the easiest to write, as it is the shortest and simplest. Therefore, it may be necessary to assign this section to students who need more support with writing. ▲
  • Post the learning targets and applicable anchor charts (see Materials list).

Tech and Multimedia

  • Work Time A: Students may use a document-sharing platform (such as http://eled.org/0158) to share and combine their narrative leads.
  • Continue to use the technology tools recommended throughout previous modules to create anchor charts to share with families; to record students as they participate in discussions and protocols to review with students later and to share with families; and for students to listen to and annotate text, record ideas on note-catchers, and word-process writing.

Supporting English Language Learners

Supports guided in part by CA ELD Standards 7.I.A.1, 7.I.B.5, 7.I.C.10, 7.I.C.12, 7.II.B.5, 7.II.C.6, and 7.II.C.7.

Important Points in the Lesson Itself

  • To support ELLs, this lesson provides students with the opportunity to collaborate on revision to ensure comprehension of and success on the task.
  • ELLs may find it challenging to draft another portion of the podcast script. In addition to the suggestions below, assign sections according to students' language abilities. Newcomers or beginning students can work in pairs on the message section, as it requires the least amount of language but still allows students to stretch their cognitive abilities by determining the lessons learned from the epidemic.

Vocabulary

  • concisely, eliminating, precisely, redundancy, wordiness (A)

Key

(A): Academic Vocabulary

(DS): Domain-Specific Vocabulary

Materials from Previous Lessons

Teacher

Student

  • Academic word wall (one for display; from Module 1, Unit 1, Lesson 1, Opening A)
  • Narrative Writing checklist (one for display; from Module 2, Unit 3, Lesson 7, Work Time A)
  • Epidemic Research note-catcher (example for teacher reference) (from Module 2, Unit 3, Lesson 2, Work Time C)
  • Work to Become Effective Learners anchor chart (one for display; from Module 1, Unit 1, Lesson 5, Work Time A)
  • Work to Become Ethical People anchor chart (one for display; from Module 1, Unit 1, Lesson 2, Opening B)
  • Model Podcast Script: "Story of the Epidemic of 1994" (for teacher reference) (from Module 2, Unit 3, Lesson 2, Work Time A)
  • Narrative lead for the podcast script (student-generated; from Module 2, Unit 3, Lesson 7, Work Time B)
  • Epidemic Research note-catcher (one per student; from Module 2, Unit 3, Lesson 2, Work Time C)
  • Narrative Writing checklist (one per student; from Module 2, Unit 3, Lesson 2, Work Time A)
  • Model Podcast Script: "Story of the Epidemic of 1994" (one per student; from Module 2, Unit 3, Lesson 2, Work Time A)
  • Independent reading journal (one per student; begun in Module 1, Unit 1, Lesson 6, Work Time B)

New Materials

Teacher

Student

  • Entrance Ticket: Unit 3, Lesson 8 (answers for teacher reference)
  • Entrance Ticket: Unit 3, Lesson 8 (one per student)

Assessment

Each unit in the 6-8 Language Arts Curriculum has two standards-based assessments built in, one mid-unit assessment and one end of unit assessment. The module concludes with a performance task at the end of Unit 3 to synthesize students' understanding of what they accomplished through supported, standards-based writing.

Opening

OpeningLevels of Support

A. Engage the Learner - L.7.3 (5 minutes)

  • Repeated routine: students respond to questions on Entrance Ticket: Unit 3, Lesson 8.
  • Once students have completed their entrance tickets, use a total participation technique to review their responses to items 1 and 2. Note that students will review their responses to item 3 in Work Time A. Then add precisely, concisely, eliminating, wordiness, and redundancy to the academic word wall with translations in home languages where appropriate. Consult the Entrance Ticket: Unit 3, Lesson 8 (answers for teacher reference) for sample definitions. Invite students to add the words to their vocabulary logs.
  • Repeated routine: follow the same routine as with the previous lessons to review learning targets and the purpose of the lesson, reminding students of any learning targets that are similar or the same as in previous lessons.

For Lighter Support

  • On the entrance ticket, challenge students to first grapple to try defining the vocabulary from the context of revision and using word parts. Then they can use a dictionary to confirm their guesses.

For Heavier Support

  • On the entrance ticket, encourage students to use ELL or translation dictionaries to define the words and work in pairs to share their understanding of the meanings. Doing so will ensure comprehension and allow for oral language practice.

Work Time

Work TimeLevels of Support

A. Combine Narrative Leads - W.7.5 (15 minutes)

  • Review the appropriate learning targets relevant to the work to be completed in this section of the lesson:

"I can work with my peers to strengthen the narrative lead of my podcast script."

"I can choose language that expresses ideas precisely and concisely, recognizing and eliminating wordiness and redundancy."

  • Tell students that they will now work in their triads to share and combine their narrative leads to produce one strong lead for their podcast script. Ask students to retrieve their copies of the narrative leads that they wrote in the previous lesson as well as their Epidemic Research note-catcher and Narrative Writing checklist to help guide their decisions about how to combine their leads. Offer some strategies for using their drafts to create a strong narrative lead for the group's podcast. They may want to use the hook or opening of one lead, the middle of another lead, and the ending of another lead. They may want to try to knit together the "best parts" students shared with one another in the previous lesson. Or they may want to use one triad member's lead as the base and add sentences from the other two members' leads. Explain that they will each be writing another section of the podcast, so they will have other opportunities to contribute to the podcast as well.
  • Focus students on the Work to Become Effective Learners and Work to Become Ethical People anchor charts, specifically: collaboration, respect, empathy, and compassion. Remind students that since they will be working together to create one lead out of their three leads, they must collaborate and keep in mind respect and the feelings of their triad-mates when they share their written work.
  • Invite students to join with their triad and begin sharing and combining their leads. Circulate to support students as they work, making suggestions on how they can create the strongest lead from their three drafts. When students have finished, invite them to edit the collaborative draft, recognizing and eliminating wordiness and redundancy.
  • Repeated routine: invite students to reflect on their progress toward the relevant learning targets.

For Lighter Support

  • In Work Time A, challenge students to model revising for precision, concision, wordiness, or redundancy by sharing a before and after sentence, explaining why they made the changes.

For Heavier Support

  • In Work Time A, students may be reluctant to share their narrative leads with their triad. Encourage them to reread their leads and choose a best sentence or section that they feel comfortable sharing. Or, if time allows, work with students to edit a sentence or section to ensure they have a best sentence they feel comfortable sharing.

Closing & Assessments

ClosingLevels of Support

A. Draft a Podcast Script – W.7.2 (25 minutes)

  • Review the appropriate learning target relevant to the work to be completed in this section of the lesson:

“I can write one section of a podcast script to convey ideas and information from my research.”

  • Inform students that, together, they will now draft the other three sections of their podcast script: the scientific and social effects or ideas section, the tools/mindset/character section, and the message section. Remind students that they researched information for each of these sections. Explain that each member of the triad will use this information to write and present one section of the podcast script. As needed, assign the sections or allow several minutes for triads to assign responsibility for each section. Then ask students to retrieve their Epidemic Research note-catcher and begin drafting their section. If students need more support, encourage them to orally rehearse with a partner what they will write in their section. ▲
  • Circulate and provide support as needed, directing them to the research questions and answers on their Epidemic Research note-catcher as well as the language and structures used in the same section of the Model Podcast Script.
  • Invite students to reflect on the learning target and habits of character focus in this lesson, discussing what went well and what could be improved next time.

For Lighter Support

  • Encourage students to orally rehearse their ideas for their section with their triad to allow students to generate ideas and solidify language use.
  • Also as they write their section of the podcast script, challenge students to include one example of an adverbial phrase with the word like to make a comparison, as they learned in the Language Dive from Lessons 5-6.

For Heavier Support

  • Encourage students to use the corresponding section of the Model Podcast script as a template for their own writing. Students can use sentence frames from the model script to form the sentences of their own script. As necessary, work with students to identify which sentences would work in their own script, or provide sentence frames such as the following:
    • Scientific and Social Ideas Section:
      • During this epidemic, many people believed . . . because . . .
      • These beliefs caused people to . . . , which led to . . .
    • Tools/Mindset/Character Section:
      • To solve the epidemic, scientists/researchers/the government . . .
      • Doing this helped . . .
      • During the epidemic, _____ had the mindset/habit of character . . .
      • _____ showed this mindset/habit of character when . . .
      • This mindset/habit of character helped . . .
    •  Message Section:
      • From this epidemic, we learned . . .
      • From this epidemic, people learned . . .
      • During epidemics like this, people should . . .
      • If we do this, then . . .

Homework

Homework

A. Revise Podcast Scripts

  • Students revise and edit their section of the podcast script for clarity and style in preparation for the next lesson, in which triad members combine their sections and present their full scripts to another triad in a Tuning protocol.

B. Independent Research Reading

  • Students read for at least 20 minutes in their independent research reading text. Then they select a prompt and write a response in their independent reading journal.

Copyright © 2013-2024 by EL Education, New York, NY.

Get updates about our new K-5 curriculum as new materials and tools debut.

Sign Up

Help us improve our curriculum.

Tell us what’s going well, share your concerns and feedback.

Terms of use. To learn more about EL Education, visit eleducation.org

Leave feedback