Wednesday 1st December

Today’s session was intense and really challenging for both us and the children.  The children worked in small self selected groups to plan and record their first section of the radio broadcast.  The morning was spent researching information to go in their sections and the children used their knowledge of each genre effectively.  Some children worked really well and started recording in the morning session, while for others the process took longer. 

One group worked on a celebrity gossip feature.  Lots of time was spent finding the right stories and they found it quite hard to keep to deadlines and work under pressure.  Another factor in this group’s difficulties may have been the size of the group; they worked in a four whereas other groups were pairs.     Some groups had more straight forward genres to work with, for example news and sport.  The children persevered and all groups finally finished their planning and recording for their first sections today.   

Some of the difficulties for the day were:

-          Failure of some recording equipment;

-          Finding quiet space to record;

-          Working together; and

-          Confidence to record and listen to their own voices.

We tried to overcome these difficulties, for example, by adapting to the equipment that we did have available and changing our initial plans.  We all got a bit stressed and it tested our team work skills as teachers.  This definitely gives us things to contemplate for the next session to ensure that we minimise any problems next time. 

Despite the struggles of the day, it ended well with a preview of the final podcast.  We listened to B + G’s news section and it sounds really professional.  We are all very impressed!!

Here is a section of the girls' celebrity gossip script that they planned and researched:

Headline:  One Direction's Harry Styles' has new model girlfriend

One Direction star Harry Styles is reportedly dating an older woman - a 23-year-old model called Syanne Patterson, who he met backstage on The X Factor.

One Direction hunk Harry Styles, 16, is said to have been spotted snogging 23-year-old model Syanne Patterson for several weeks after they met backstage on The X Factor.

The pair have kept their fledgling romance a secret until producers of the show caught them in a clinch last week.

A source said: "They've been seeing each other really hush-hush for a bit but producers started asking questions.

"He's completely smitten."

Only last week, Harry was linked to fellow contestant Cher Lloyd - though she has been linked to a lot of X Factor people, all seemingly false.

Will Simon Cowell want to nip this romance in the bud so he can concentrate on the band...?

To view the lesson plan click here.
To view the powerpoint click here.
To view the writing frame used click here.
To view the time line used click here. 

© Sophia Koiston, Oliver Hughes and Helen Goodall 2010