Classroom Connection, Shirley (10-15 min)
Shirley wanted to share a connection from her life to something we’ve learned in class.
The 2nd Semi-Annual ENG 2150 Podcast Awards Where All the Stars Come Out! (30-45 min)
All the stars are out today. Let’s scan the crowd. Wow! Powerful podcast producers such as Pedro Camelo, David Yankovich, Gilayne Reyes, Amira Gregory, Jocelyn Aucapina, Roy Rusengo, Yoon Eain are in the crowd!
What’s this? Amazing! The voices themselves. The talent. The performers! Incredible! We have Erica Lin, Alice Cirkot, Suleidy Hernandez, Ammar Alsabri, Aidan Paik, Fati Kabore, and Mark Ramcharan.
These episodes don’t just exist but require talented writers like Minyi Cai, André Reque Yaipen, Michelle Aguilar Santiago, Ziyan Liu, Sarah Angus, Charles Beyer, and Shirley Mexca
And of course, none of this works at all without the detailed and expert work of audio editors like Khaz Amonov, Benny Chen, Jhosanna Jimenez-Corporan, Luke Plantin, Milo Sedarat, and Julia Zheng
What a star-studded event!
Podcast listeners across campus, the country, the world…they’ve been waiting, anxiously, to see who rakes in awards this semester. Who will it be? Well, let’s get to it.
- First up, the Award for Using Research Effectively goes to…
- The Award for Introducing Sources goes to…
- The Award for Integrating and Analyzing Interviews goes to…
- The Award for Interview Question Follow Ups goes to…
- The Award for Interview Question Writing goes to…
- The Award for Previewing the Episode goes to…
- The Award for Explaining Technical Concept goes to…
- The Award for Pacing of Episode via Narration and Script goes to…
- The Award for Conversational Storytelling goes to…
- The Award for Use of Music and Transitions goes to…
- The Award for Cold Open goes to…
- The Award for Musical and Sound Variety goes to…
- The Award for Figurative Language goes to…
- The Award for Most Organized goes to…
Things to consider:
- Using music and sound for theme and for transitions rather than omnipresent sound throughout episode
- Avoid listing lots of stuff. Focus on a few things and pace yourself while doing it. Writing is better for big lists. Hard to hold in head for audio
- Use interviews in smaller chunks with narration cutting in to help focus attention.
- Consider cutting things. You can! Focus on what moves the story you are telling and lose what doesn’t contribute much. Do not need to be exhaustive
- Refer to where you are getting your information from in the audio itself. Not a full reference in MLA format or something. Episode 2 of the MTA podcast does a good job of this.
- Use pauses to your advantage. For instance, Episode 3 of EC cost podcast does a good job pausing, announcing term of financial stress they are going to define, define it simply and then more pausing before moving on
- Ask follow-up questions in interviews! Don’t worry about getting to next question. Do a quick 1-second, “do I get what they mean? Could they say more?” and if you need more, ask for more.
- Synthesize, synthesize, synthesize. The “so what” needs to be asked periodically. Connect pieces together and leave your audience with something, especially as you get further into an episode
Genre, Mode, Medium Reflections (30 min)
I will come around to give you credit for your journal as you work in groups
Try to put podcast episode in writing (genre, mostly outline…one passage of one part written though). What is gained? What is lost?
- Article in newspaper or academic journal article instead. Lose a lot: wouldn’t feel certain things as well like to enhance experience. Hearing sounds of subway doesn’t get you in mindset.
- Helps keep attention, engaging
- Personal narrative and with evidence. Tones in voice make it more dramatic and adds character to it. Get more information through tone of voice, information that is more emotive
- Harder to retain factual information; writing has advantage through slower pace of reading as needed or going back to re-read
- Can elaborate more in writing in ways that are harder to do in audio
How did writing help create the podcast?
- Research notes to incorporate into script
- Script writing, usually conversational kinds of writing
- Emails and WhatsApp: progress checks, reminders, clarification questions about materials, planning
- Notes for narrator to supplement script
- Task schedules from producers
- Team charter about how you would collaborate
- Podcast Posts and comments on Brightspace
What did you learn from the above kind of logistical/collaborative/”getting stuff done” writing above?
- Knowing your audience and adjusting
- Consistent check-ins
- Being honest about where you are at in progress. This helps with backup plan so group doesn’t fall behind.
- Watching tone: formal and light. Re-read what you write to make sure it is communicating right tone.
- Be concise when asking for things
- Ask for specifics
- Be clear you are confident in each other, don’t want to overdo it. Treat each other as adults
- Time: when you send writing
How does writing function as something to help you get work done?
How do you do that kind of writing compared to the writing you did for your rhetorical analysis or your research project?
How is audio editing like writing? How is talking and planning the organization of the podcast like writing?
Let’s rewind. What is all the writing we did this semester? What would you call each type? What about writing in other classes that was different? Let’s rank them according to usefulness for: learning, what you imagine will be helpful in your career, what you think is helpful for your personal life. Etc. Complete this Google Form I just made.
- Reaction posts on Brightspace
- Rhetorical analysis essay
- Research project essay
- Peer review letters
- Journal entries (private writing)
- Cover letters for revision
- Podcast Posts
- Study sheets for exams
- Podcast script
- WhatsApp writing for podcast
- Email for podcast
- Reflective writing
- Annotations for readings
- Reminders on calendar or notes app
- Schedule
- Notes for research
- team charter for podcast
- Search engine searches to find information
- Citations for essays
- Speeches
- Presentation slides
- Notes for narration for podcast
- Resume/CV
- Excel sheets: charts, models for analyzing data
- Cover letters for jobs
- Lab report
- Analytical writing
- Case studies for law
- Memo for business class
- Contract for law class
- Text friends for stuff
- Social media bio
- Social media comments, descriptions of videos
- Creative writing: short stories
- Direct messages on social media
- Facebook Marketplace
- Class notes (paper or app)
- Taxes
- Elevator pitch notes
- Higher level math
- Notes app
- Grocery shopping
- Cooking
- Letters to Grandma
- Writing emails or texts to landlords about problems or bills
- Writing letters to members of military
What writing did you learn the most from (to learn about something)?
What writing did you learn the most about (to learn how to do that kind of writing)?
Fill out this survey: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLScqskXHOEIsfM5i9lz-KjSbUgWyetRlFgk5Ezw4-C6KL48b0Q/viewform?usp=sharing
Grade and Grade Boost Check-in (10 min)
Sent you all notes about your grade status. This assumes you do all final assignments in timely fashion and meet expectations I set for these assignments.
Clarification: “participation” relates to absences only. I decided not to penalize for lateness to class except if you came to class super late. See grading contract for absences, ability to make them up, and if they can’t be made up.
Each semester there are things that come up for people. I always want to make sure I’m not penalizing people because they have serious health issues, they have a death in the family, life crises, etc. If you missed work for legitimate reasons, I am willing to have you make up work. If you are not sure if what happened to you “counts” as legitimate, don’t worry about it. Just come talk to me after class or by email. If you are missing a bunch of work, I’m open to allowing you to make it up in some way though it might not be for full credit it can be points you wouldn’t have otherwise.
Podcast-related grade boosts are due May 12 for Benny, Ammar, Sarah, Aidan, Luke
Peer Review letters are only possible at this point if they are helpful to another writer. If you get them in after the point at which another writer can use them to revise, I cannot accept them. Be sure to coordinate with the person you are writing for. It might not work out, especially if you are not prioritizing getting this done.
Any questions?
Next Time (5 min)
Talk to: MTA podcast episode 3 team (Khaz, David, Fati, Mark, Sarah), anyone else who had questions related to turning in work
Work on Podcast Contribution Narrative due May 14
Another journal will also be due May 14 (our last one!)
Final Reflection is due by May 21
Any grade boosts that are still allowed to be completed are due by May 21