JenkinsThoughtsLH

The nature of the project involved civic engagement as the students were podcasting about social justice issues related to literacy in all 3 podcasts. The third graders developed artistically over the school year as they learned what podcasts could sound like.
 * Traits of PC's ||  ||
 * Low barriers to artistic expression and civic engagement || 3rd graders PC: Students became more creative over time, including more dramatic scripts and confident voices. They used more expression while reading, created more skits, and included their own sound effects.

Cross age PC: The third graders were engaged with the high schoolers during the first round of podcasts on the banned books. They created the first podcast and the high schoolers picked up many themes and lines from their podcast and integrated these into their own podcast about book banning. The third graders were surprised to hear their comments used by the older students. "I said that!" several yelled out during the listening session. They also loved the ways the high schoolers used music and skits and wanted to do the same with the next podcast. In the next 2 podcasts, we weren't as engaged in a mutual project. For one, the high schoolers sent their podcasts first, and we listened to it, but I did not have the students pick out themes or favorite lines to integrate into our next project. Also, with the first podcast, students of both ages came together around favorite books, esp. Harry Potter. This reading connection brought a sense of solidarity, since the third graders felt that the high schoolers not only liked the same books, but the older kids supported them as readers who should have reading choices. || In addition to sharing with the high schoolers, we tried to share our creations with people in our school and district. Third graders made flyers for third graders in other schools, advertising the podcast. They also made signs for the hallways, advertising the podcast. They also sent letters to all other classrooms, asking people to listen to their podcasts. ||
 * Strong support for creating and sharing one's creations with others || 3rd graders: Students did support one another in their podcasting efforts. This group of third graders was very tight knit. Their teacher and I noted each time the podcast was played that kids would respond to each other with comments like, "Great job, Cody," or "That was really good, Nick."
 * Informal mentorship || Songs and music in the highschoolers first podcast were eye opening for the 3rd graders. They sang the Harry Potter song frequently after learning it from the high schoolers. They learned that podcasts could be and probably should be, entertaining for audiences. They also liked when the high schoolers responded to specific comments they made in their podcast. The first group used actual lines from the 3rd graders in their podcast. As they listened, third graders would remark, "I said that!" That first pair seemed to be the one with most trading of ideas or podcasting techniques? I think I thought it would happen like that more naturally, but it didn't. In future podcasts, we will work on borrowing ideas from each other? ||
 * Members believe their contributions matter || The third graders did feel that the high schoolers liked their podcast. They were always thrilled to read so many positive comments about their work. The high schoolers were specific about what they liked about the podcast and they were kind about varying their comments and recognizing all the kids by name or by their segments. The third graders became more involved with the editing of the podcast as I let them become part of the recording. On the first try, I zipped them in and out of the room quickly. On the second try, I took more time and I edited their segments right in front of them. I also let them pick a goofy sound effect to go after their segment. On the third podcast, the kiddos would stop if they didn't like how they were reading and say, "Let's record that again." This was kind of annoying for me because the recording took way longer. Almost every kid forced me to re-record. Many made up their own sound effects this time. Most of the 3rd podcast contained dramatic scripts, there was much more collaboration about the scripts. The kids practiced many more times together before reading. Their teacher also remarked on this. ||

Our thoughts on Importance of teaching Media Literacy:

Participation Gap: Third graders had never heard of podcasts when we started this project. Most do not have computers in their homes. Two students who told me they did have computers complained that their parents were unable to hear the podcasts because of slow connections. My proficiency in creating a podcast improved over the course of the school year. The first podcast, a friend helped me record the pieces. We later edited them together and published the podcast on the blog. By the second podcast, I learned it was faster to record and then edit immediately after recording. Kids watched me with this editing. By the third podcast, the third graders knew enough that they would stop recording if they didn't like the quality of their segment and would say, "I want to record that again." This slowed me down considerably, but I was encouraged that they felt their segments really mattered and wanted them to be a certain way. If we had done a fourth podcast, they would have been able to do much of the work themselves. **teaching the kids to be media creators makes them able to engage in participatory culture. If they don't learn to create media, some people (like Nichole Pinkard from Henry Jenkins' MacArthur Foundation Digital Learning group) say that they will be effectively illiterate when they get older. I also think making the media COULD let them reflect a second time on their readings and then revise to be more critical. Wouldn't that be neat? They maybe could hear the missing narratives if they listened and then edited again with the 4-dimensions. Am I getting off task??**

There's also a participation gap between students who take up a critical stance and those who don't. That's problematic in a project that's focused on fostering critical literacy through technology. With the third graders, we used the 4 dimensions of CL to plan the podcasts, but didn't use it as a way to examine with the students the impact our podcasts had on us and could have on our audiences.

Transparency Problems: Jenkins talks about the importance of developing a vocabulary of critique about media production. At both our sites, we discouraged the students from critiquing the podcasts. For the third grade podcasts, I had the kids listen to them and jot down things they liked about the podcast and things they would like to do differently for the next podcast. But when we commented on the high schoolers' podcasts, I asked the students to be very positive. There were times with the second and third podcasts that the third graders could barely understand due to volume or unclear content. I would stop the podcast and explain some of the ideas or repeat ideas that were barely audible. But I didn't allow the third graders to write comments critiquing the podcasts in any way. I could have done a lot to teach the third graders how to critique the high schoolers podcast and their own. In my mind there's something about a "finished product" that kept me from doing that. Even though I was very interactive during production, once the text is published, I focus on "celebrating" it. But that's not productive when working with media because it reduced the sense of partnership. We were there to give compliments, but not give honest feedback, and so we weren't using the podcasts as a resource for future work together. Developing a vocabulary of critique with the podcasters in both cities could have been a way to bring the groups together as a pc and for both groups to see themselves as mentors. Developing procedures for reviewing podcasts for content, and for production values, could be helpful in future for kids to understand how to make xxx stronger? podcasts.

Ethics Challenges Story of Community College Similar things happened with general statements about people in other countries, by both the third graders and the high schoolers. KC's audience activity should probably be done before any of the podcasts are aired. How are people going to hear this?


 * Conclusions/Implications/ Next Steps**