Love this idea! What a great way to get students engaged in the content and be creative! Thanks for sharing.
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Guess Who? Biography Podcast
Learning Objective/Intention + Success Criteria
Students will research an individual and find information that is key to who the figure is and how they became the impactful person that history remembers.
The Process
This activity allows students to create a podcast in which they research and tell a biography of historical figures. Students will tell the story of the individual without using their name. They will slowly build and reveal key events until it becomes more and more obvious who the individual is.
The ‘guest” on the podcast is trying to determine the chosen individual's identity. They will engage in a question and answer session at the end to allow the guest to work through identifying the subject of the biography.
Sample Information Gathering Graphic Organizer
Reflection
As a facilitator, you can help by providing resources at the beginning of the project. Graphic organizers, Rubrics, research materials are all very beneficial. Check out the Everyone Can Create Project Rubrics in the Learning Center.
Tips and Tricks
- It would help to record this in three parts:
- An introduction with the host and the guest, as well as the title of the podcast
- The actual biography- Recording this separately will allow for the addition of sound effects and other production tools (This would be recorded before the parts with the guest)
- The question and answer session/Outro)
- When telling the story, try not to give too much away, it will add to the mystery.
- Use time-specific information, nicknames/pseudonyms, and lesser know stories/facts to describe the individual.
- Don’t leave out key events, but describe them in vague ways that can be put together to make sense at the end.
- Using a graphic organizer to list facts to include in the story is an excellent idea in the early stages of this project.
- Adjust the sound effects' volume level to ensure they don’t overwhelm the narration.
The Q&A/discussion at the end would be a great place to incorporate some SEL topics. Think through how the events in our lives have lasting impacts on us, the others around us, and sometimes the entire world. Having the students think about the figure on a human level can lead to this focus quite naturally.
Lesson Recap
Check out the ToyBox Sound Pack!
This is a great project for History, Language Arts, or Storytelling. The Toy Box sound pack can also be really helpful with ambiance and mood during the storytelling section. By nature, this is a great project to approach as a multi-day venture incorporating research, development, and revision - allowing for students to really invest and take ownership in the project. Enjoy the process; that is where the learning takes place!
Learn how, and explore more Everyone Can Create Projects >
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All Comments
Thanks for sharing this. I love that you also put in the learning intentions and success criteria. We are transitioning to using these more explicitly at my school, so it is great to have examples of these.
I agree, I love this idea and will use it in my history classes!
Chuck, this is a fantastic resource. Well done! I can't wait to get started - thank you for the step by step approach and hot tips, including the LI and SC, as Victoria has mentioned. I hope to apply to some scientists!
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Posted on August 14, 2023
Super fun for social studies learners! A very creative way to learn about historical figures and this would work across many grade levels. Thanks Chuck for the tips and tricks!