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, 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 gave this assignment to my ninth graders towards the middle of this semester and they really embraced the opportunity. I wanted the Honors kids to complete the assignment as well. After having them listen to my other ninth graders as well as listening and reading examples from online, they podcasted their own work.
What is so intriguing to me about this assignment is that these kids wanted to not just complete it, but to share the things they believed in with the world. They wanted to be in-charge of letting others hear what is important to them, what mattered to them.
Please listen to what matters to these kids...what is it they believe in? Feel free to leave constructive feedback for them, but please keep in mind that this is their first try as well as their teacher's. They are putting themselves out there. They are our future. Hear what they have to say.
Note: Click and drag on the scroll bar in the player below to see all the podcasts. It only displays eight at a time, but there are more if you scroll. You can't click above or below the scroll bar to move it up or down, you must click and drag on the scroll bar itself.
The Odeo Player only displays the first 20 podcasts - so here's a second player for the additional ones.
