This I Believe - AHS Version

Anne has her freshmen creating podcasts in the style of NPR's This I Believe.

Last year a colleague had me listen to a segment on National Public Radio called "This I Believe". After hearing and reading some of the submissions as well as researching the history behind the segment, I was intrigued. I wanted to challenge my students to submit their own essays to NPR spending time writing rough drafts, editing, peer editing, parent editing, and then finally submitting their polished draft to the station. I thought, how powerful for one of them to have their work published nationally. How powerful for all of them to know that their voices matter.

I told the class my goals for the assignment and had them listen and read a few examples. After the class listened to some, THEY decided they would like to podcast their own essays so they could be heard on the web just like those on NPR.

We have seven podcasts up so far, but we'll be adding more as the students get a chance to record their essays (they're coming in and doing it on their unscheduled hours). As you would expect, they vary in quality - both in terms of the writing and the narrating - but overall I think they are very good and you can hear some of their voices (in the literary sense) loud and clear. Of the seven so far, I think Zoe Y. and Phil H.'s voices come through particularly well and you get a clear feeling for what they believe (whether you agree or not). So head over to their blog and take a listen, and then take a moment to comment and give them some feedback (constructive feedback on their writing and narrating only, please).

Tags:

• podcasts
• read_write_web