Day One: 

Task Statement:

There is a strong and growing demand in this community for quality after school courses. This demand is partially in recognition of the good that after school programs can do for students of the South Orangetown School District(SOCSD), but it is also a direct result of fundamental changes and interests that have taken place in American families over time.

The proportion of single-parent families and families with two parents working outside the home has grown dramatically in the last few decades. According to 2016 Bureau of Labor Statistics, 34.2 million families included children under age 18, about two-fifths of all families. Among married-couple families with children, 96.8 percent had at least one employed parent, and 61.1 percent had both parents employed. These families need supervision for their children beyond the hours of the traditional school day, and particularly between the hours of 3:00 p.m., when dismissal occurs, and 6:00 p.m., when most parents arrive home from work.

The Tappan Zee High School is looking for enrichment programs presented and run by students. The TZHS administration is considering hiring any senior that can present a unique topic and guarantee enrollment of 8-12 students. 

Solution- Your task is to persuade students and parents of William O. Schaefer(WOS), Cottage Lane Elementary(CLE), South Orangetown Middle School(SOMS) and Tappan Zee High School(TZHS) to enroll in your course of interest.

In order to garner that possible prestige, you must advertise your course by creating a podcast (with a written version submitted to the BOE) and sharing it with the community at large.

Use the rubric below to build your podcast.

If you are anything like me, you will have trouble narrowing down all of your interests to a single topic. An interest survey or inventory could help evaluate and measure the preference you have for one topic over another. Here is the link to a quick interest survey: http://www.slvboces.org/view/135.pdf

After completing the survey, turn and talk with a partner about your results.

Day Two: 

When deciding on a topic, there are a few things that you will need to do: brainstorm for ideas. Try to brainstorm all of the words or concepts you can that might be related to that topic (and write them down!). For example, if your topic is “guitars” you might think of the following words and topics in association: songs, chords, notes, genres, instrument type and strings. 

Resources that can help you develop your topic:

Sample writing piece: 

Sample Podcast:

Here is an example of how much can be said in less than 5 minutes.

Day Three: 

Resources that can help you develop your Podcast:

If will be using your smartphone as your  recording device, make sure you review the following basics:

  •  You need a sound recording app. On Android, you can download a free voice recording app like “RecForge II” or “Audio Recorder.” For iPhones, in the extras folder, find the “Voice Memos” app.
  • Make sure you know where the microphone is on your phone.
  • When recording, find a reasonably quiet space.
  • To begin recording, start by pressing the “Record” button or a red square. To finish, press the same button again.
  • Make sure to position the microphone about six inches away from your  mouth.
  • Check your audio, preferably with a pair of headphones. It should be free of background sound and loud enough to hear, but not so loud that it crackles. Record for 10 seconds and then play it back; adjust microphone position based on your findings.
  • After you finish, make sure to enter a title for the recording and save it.
  • To get the file to your computer so you can edit it later on, use AirDrop, Bluetooth transfer, email or Google Drive upload.

Watch the How to make a Podcast using Anchor video below or see the Anchor directions HERE.

Read the SOCSD district News article about our podcasting HERE

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