Big Title
Podcast Project
In the last few weeks of class my group and I worked on a podcast to answer the question: How do Disney films contribute to the construction of gender values?
We had zoom meetings to discuss about our podcast and decided to focus on the gender roles of princesses in Disney Fairy Tale films. I used my previous assignments and readings that I have worked on since the beginning of the quarter to help me develop an answer for the class question.
​
Follow along as I take you through my experience and process of producing a podcast and microsite which has helped me with the achievement of the class objecective.
Pre-Production: Preparation and Planning
In week 1, I learned about the term social construction from watching a video by Gwen Sharp and Lisa Wade. Watching and writing about the video helped establish a base about the concept for the class question. It also helped me appy my reading skills to various kinds of texts like a video​​. While watching the video I was acetvetly listening and taking so to better understand it.
This assignment was from close reading practice during week 2 where we read an article written by Lynda Haas and Shaina Trapedo about the impact Disney films have on the princess genre. I annotated experts about gender roles within princess films. Reading and annotating articles has helped me develop habits for engaged reading. Looking back, close reading practice helped me when I was researching about my segment of the podcast. I picked up new habits that helped me become an engaged reader.
Throughout the first few week's of the quarter, we did some exploratory writing about Disney films. During week 5, we focused on the Disney Superheroes. I decided to analyze and annotate the Spider-Man film, Far from Home. Through this assignment, I was able to practice my communication skills and practice the convention of academic writing in discussion post as I communicated to the rest of my class the gender norms/roles that are represented by the characters in the movie. This practice helped me while I was watching Frozen.
Production: Process of Podcast/Microsite
The screenshot is a messages from our group chat in which I sent a recap of our breakout room discussion. While we were all discussing about our roles for the first time during our class zoom meeting, I took the responsibility to take notes and then send them group chat so we would all remember what we talked about.
The other image is a section from my blog of the pre-production zoom meeting summary we had outside outside of class. In the meeting, we talked about the structure/segments of our podcast.
It shows
During our rehearsal meeting, I worked more closely with one of my partners, Lincong. I was going to be part of his segment and vice versa. We worked together to talk about our segments and how we would transition from one to the other. We were not only able to work together, but also help each other during the creation of our script by giving feedback and advice. Looking back, I am able to notice the good collaboration and communication I had with my group.
I helped edit our podcast website by structuring the site, include out pictures and bios, and writing a short summary about our podcast. I found myself enjoying the site editing and tried to get creative with the Wix setting and make it look presentable.
Looking Ahead
Learning from my mistakes
When I first wrote my pitch for my segment piece, I got feedback from the instructor. It helped me realize I was guiding away from the question, so I went back and tried to organize my thoughts to better answer the class question. It made me notice how important feedback is.
After working with my group, I was able to notice the importance of collaboration and communication. I noticed that I like to talk and get us going. I would make myself more flexible because I knew some of my groupmates did not live in the same time zone as me, so I would be open to meeting at a later time.
Now that I am reflecting back on the whole podcast process, I am able to see the importance of having a process when composing a podcast and website. There are many steps to take such as researching, communicating, and collaborating. Also, the first few weeks have been a great practice and guide. After exploratory writing and peer reviews, I am able to further develop my reading and writing skills.