Giving Voice to Students Through "This I Believe" Podcasts

According to the National Public Radio website, the "This I Believe" series is "a national media project engaging people in writing, sharing, and discussing the core values and beliefs that guide their daily lives." In this lesson, students participate by writing and recording their own essays. Students first complete a series of activities designed to get them thinking and writing about their experiences. They then write, read, and record their essays for a class blog. The final activity has students comment on each other's work. Designed specifically for disabled students, the lesson also includes suggestions for use in inclusive classrooms.

Featured Resources

• The Top 10 Lessons I Learned From Charlie Brown: Students will find this handout inspiring and thought-provoking as they examine their own personal experiences to use in their essays.

From Theory to Practice

There are many reasons for "extending ideas about literacy and for teaching with new technologies and mass media" including the "prevalence of electronic media and popular culture in students' lives," the importance of making home—school connections, and also simply the fact that these extensions can make both learning and teaching more fun and interesting.

Common Core Standards

This resource has been aligned to the Common Core State Standards for states in which they have been adopted. If a state does not appear in the drop-down, CCSS alignments are forthcoming.

State Standards

This lesson has been aligned to standards in the following states. If a state does not appear in the drop-down, standard alignments are not currently available for that state.

NCTE/IRA National Standards for the English Language Arts

• 1. Students read a wide range of print and nonprint texts to build an understanding of texts, of themselves, and of the cultures of the United States and the world; to acquire new information; to respond to the needs and demands of society and the workplace; and for personal fulfillment. Among these texts are fiction and nonfiction, classic and contemporary works.
• 3. Students apply a wide range of strategies to comprehend, interpret, evaluate, and appreciate texts. They draw on their prior experience, their interactions with other readers and writers, their knowledge of word meaning and of other texts, their word identification strategies, and their understanding of textual features (e.g., sound-letter correspondence, sentence structure, context, graphics).
• 4. Students adjust their use of spoken, written, and visual language (e.g., conventions, style, vocabulary) to communicate effectively with a variety of audiences and for different purposes.
• 5. Students employ a wide range of strategies as they write and use different writing process elements appropriately to communicate with different audiences for a variety of purposes.
• 6. Students apply knowledge of language structure, language conventions (e.g., spelling and punctuation), media techniques, figurative language, and genre to create, critique, and discuss print and nonprint texts.
• 7. Students conduct research on issues and interests by generating ideas and questions, and by posing problems. They gather, evaluate, and synthesize data from a variety of sources (e.g., print and nonprint texts, artifacts, people) to communicate their discoveries in ways that suit their purpose and audience.
• 8. Students use a variety of technological and information resources (e.g., libraries, databases, computer networks, video) to gather and synthesize information and to create and communicate knowledge.
• 11. Students participate as knowledgeable, reflective, creative, and critical members of a variety of literacy communities.
• 12. Students use spoken, written, and visual language to accomplish their own purposes (e.g., for learning, enjoyment, persuasion, and the exchange of information).

Materials and Technology

• Computers with Internet access

Printouts

Websites

Preparation

I like having a disability.

Student Objectives

Interpret their own experiences by responding to a series of statements and writing prompts designed to get them thinking about what they believe

Session 1

Before class starts, use signs to label one side of the room Agree and the other side Disagree. Move furniture so that students can easily group around the signs.

Modification for integrated classrooms
Follow the same steps for this session using the statements from page 14 of the This I Believe in the Classroom curriculum dowload.

Session 2

Can you give an example of how this statement relates to your life or that of someone you know?

Modification for integrated classrooms
This session can be followed as it is written with the exception of Step 4, which should be left open-ended instead of referring to disabilities.

Session 3

Which belief means the most to you? Why?

Modification for integrated classrooms
Have students think about things that they strongly believe. You can leave this session open ended or narrow it by having students think about what they believe about being a high school student in today’s society.

Session 4

Homework (Due at the beginning of Session 5): Students should return signed Blog Permission Slips.

Session 5

Using a computer with speakers, share the examples of Basic English podcasts you have selected (see Preparation, Step 2). If you have printed copies of the essays, distribute them to students to read aloud.

After each one, have students share items that they thought made the essay strong (e.g., clear examples to support ideas, powerful verbs; you can guide their responses based on the writing skills you are working on) and what made it weak. Write their responses on a T chart.

Have students return to their Two Belief Statements handouts, and share their statements and reasons with a partner to help select the most engaging and coherent belief statement. If they need help in narrowing the statements, have them talk with a partner about what each statement means to them and the story behind the statement. Explain to them that they probably want to choose the statement about which they have the most to say.

Post the T chart from this session and the previous one where students can see them. Have students take their strongest belief to begin crafting an essay that is similar to the ones they have been listening to and reading. They should start the essay with the words I Believe.

Give students time to finish a draft of their essay. If necessary, assign it for homework.

Modification for integrated classrooms
You may choose to have students look at and listen to more “This I Believe” podcasts or have them look at and listen to podcasts written by students that do not focus on disabilities, such as those found at Digital Voices.

Sessions 6 to 9

Provide feedback on student’s essays before the start of this session. You might have students e-mail the drafts to you on a Friday so that you have time over the weekend to respond. Use the class-created T charts from Sessions 4 and 5 as anchors for your feedback.

From here your students will work at different paces. The work will not neatly fall into sessions, but should take approximately three class sessions to complete. See the Creating, Editing, and Posting Podcasts handout for a detailed explanation of the steps you should be taking to make the podcasts while students continue working on their essays.

Students whose parents have asked that they not post on the blog should complete Steps 1 to 4. When they finish their essay, you can have them read it aloud to the class.

Session 10

By the start of this session, all podcasts should be posted to your class blog. Note that you may send out a link to the blog to colleagues or parents, allowing them to post comments before this discussion. Students will appreciate seeing this feedback the first time they look at the blog.

Note: If you are the only one who has access to the blog, you can use an LCD projector to show students the blog and listen to the podcasts. Ask students to volunteer feedback for each one. Talk with students about the content of the feedback, if they feel it was helpful or not, if it was accurate or beneficial. You may also choose to have the author of the essay respond to comments.

Extensions

• Have students continue to keep digital journals that revolve around the belief shared in their essay.

Student Assessment / Reflections

• Informally observe students’ abilities to think critically and respond to the work of others during classroom discussions about the essays they listen to and read and while they are working to narrow down their belief statements.

This activity works best after students have had a day or two to visit the blog and read the feedback that their podcasts generated. Modify the prompts as necessary for an integrated classroom.

• Use the “This I Believe” Podcast Rubric to assess students’ essays and recordings and to assess students’ abilities to think critically, apply criteria to the work of others, and participate in an online community.

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