Building a technological foundation for your students can be a tall task if you don’t know where to start. In some cases, educators may assume that students have more knowledge about technology than they actually have. However, it can be very beneficial to introduce students to the more social aspects of tech at an early age. In this case, podcasting can help to bridge the gap between in-class curriculum, technology education, and real-world applications.
Tequilla Richardson, technology coach at Annistown Elementary School of Gwinnett County Public Schools in Georgia, and Lorna Elizabeth Baldwin, also a technology coach and teacher at Annistown Elementary, discuss how they put together their podcast programs for their students, the obstacles they faced in doing so, and how the podcast program has impacted the students overall.
Elementary Students to Podcast Hosts
Creating a podcast at any stage can be a tough task. Coming up with the format of the show, knowing what your topics will be, understanding pacing and cadence, lining up guests, production and publishing…the list can go on and on.
Doing this with elementary students can then seem almost impossible. However, given the right coaching, they can become podcast hosts with a lot to say. As Baldwin points out, dividing a podcast format into simpler parts can help ease the process, leading to great conversations.
“It’s hard as an elementary school to have kids talk like they’re radio personalities,” says Baldwin. “They have no clue what’s going on. So I had to break it down into three separate entities at my school. We talk about social studies, events happening in the community with our school, and then we have this thing called ‘portrait of a graduate.’ It’s our theme for this year. [We talk about that and] how it impacts our school.”
What does an actual podcast episode look like?
“[We would say] let’s do a three- or four-minute podcast talking about what it means to be a leader, and they would talk about it,” says Baldwin. “Then [Tequilla and I] did one cross schools on empathy, what it means to be empathetic. We took about six of our third-grade students and they spoke to each other. We had the webcam up, it was being recorded for the podcast.”
Not all topics are predetermined. Students are encouraged to present their own as well.
“I tell the kids that if they have an idea they want to talk about, turn it in,” says Baldwin. “We’ll write a script for you, and then we’ll go ahead and produce it.”
Students and teachers collaborate on an impactful project that helps students talk about what they know in a relatively stress-free environment and under the guidance of their educators. In this way, they are being introduced to the finer points of technology while also enhancing their communication skills and learning more about themselves, one another, and the world around them.
How You Can Create a Podcast Program
Putting together a podcast program can sound daunting, with equipment to purchase (if you don’t already have it available), a time element to figure out (when to rehearse, when to edit), and the question of how to get students on board and involved. If you’re interested in creating a podcast program that will engage your students, Richardson advises that you seek someone who has already started one.
“I actually had another IT coach come and visit me,” she says. ‘She knows I have a podcast. She’s heard Lorna’s, and she [wanted to do this]. She came to see me and pick my brain in terms of things to think about, the purpose of [the podcast], the equipment to use, that sort of thing. So I think it really just starts with reaching out to someone that’s already doing it successfully and seeing what it entails.”
Baldwin also points out that in making a podcast, helping students get a grasp on the format can make a world of difference.
“From the student perspective, learning that it’s a conversation and not a [rapid fire summary is important],” says Baldwin. “What Tequilla and I strive to have the students understand is to forget the microphones are there and to talk to each other as if you’re talking to your friend. I think the kids get stuck on [coming with their scripts] and they just want to read their part.”
It can be difficult to get an organic reaction from an elementary school student when put into an unfamiliar situation (or that they get a lot of coaching through). With the right approach, students can better understand how to be in the moment and embrace conversation.
In regard to the programs used, Richardson and Baldwin keep it relatively simple.
“Riverside is the editing piece where you put the episode together with your music and all the things,” says Richardson. “Then it gets published on Spotify. So it’s a real deal live thing, just like a Spotify radio station, you could search it up and follow us and the kids get a chance to leave their mark on the real world.”