Module 7

When I learned that we would be doing a podcast for this class, I have to admit, I was a little worried. I do not consider myself a hand-waver, but I had never worked with this technology before and knew very little about the world of podcasting. I know it has become relatively big in this day and age, but it was something that had never really grasped my interest.

The assignment would be to record a podcast of us promoting a young adult novel. We could basically do whatever we wanted and, honestly, this overwhelmed me. I am used to receiving very specific instructions with little room for creativity. Frankly, the fact that I was feeling this way made me sad that my past educational experiences have been so inept. 

We read an article in class titled, "The Book Report, Version 2.0: Podcasting on Young Adult Novels" and this definitely helped calm my nerves as it provided more direction to this assignment with analysis and examples. One point that struck me in the article talked about the literary idea of perspective and how podcasting forced students to consider the options. Whether the viewpoint be as outsiders to the story, as the characters themselves, or both, this was important to take into account before recording.

For our podcast we decided to do the Great Gatsby, as it was a book we were all familiar with. We listened to a few podcasts and decided to go with an interview format where the host would ask a book critic questions regarding the plot, themes, and symbolism. Trying to pinpoint the main ideas proved to be challenging as there were many provided in our research, but we did our best to pick ideas that promoted the book. 

Prior to the recording process, Aimee and I were very confident in our script, but as soon as the little red light went on, we could barely speak. Eventually, we got more comfortable and, after a few, tries, successfully recorded the podcast. We all agreed that the research process was a majority of the work, while the recording was fairly simple. Overall, I really enjoyed this unit and it has definitely sparked my interest with podcasting.