What a ride! It took longer than expected, we encountered some hicks recording, uploading, etc. But we did it! Let me introduce you to Gator Greatness, a podcast made by kids that are trying to figure out what makes their school special.
Students came up with ideas about what makes our school unique, and they will search for the Gator essence. So far we have four topics: Running Club, Battle of the Books, Hackathon and Destination Imagination. Students choose assignments to interview teachers and students. During this process, it was amazing to see how they took ownership of the project and even used their recess time to complete the recordings. It is fantastic to hear their voices sound with confidence, and witness how proud they are when they heard the final product. Yes, a little embarrassed too. 😊
Since we only had four weeks, we couldn't edit or record the four programs so they'll carry on to the next round. Three students decided to stay in the program for another session to help finish them. They will help with scripting and editing the audio. We used Garage Band to edit and we published it through Anchor.fm. This platform allows us to be in Spotify, Google Podcasts, Radio Public and others. Our first episode is about Running Club.
This project gave students the opportunity to use their creativity and voice to articulate and explore ideas. They learned to use technology to bring forth a message to a real audience. It gave them confidence and made them solve problems, think critically and also have fun.
We may only have a few listeners, but hey, we are Gator Proud!