The Change Makers Podcast allowed students to explore topics that have impacted their lives. Students chose between COVID 19, Responding to Racism and Black Lives Matter, or Climate Change. After conducting research students created a podcast for their community, sharing their research and inspiring those in their community with a call to action.
Teacher: Bernadette DeSario
Students: Students at T.C. Williams High School taking U.S./Virginia History
Driving Question: How can we share how current issues are impacting students at TC Williams, and inspire others to take action?
Standards of Learning:
SOL 1.1: Students will demonstrate skills for historical thinking, geographical analysis, economic decision making and responsible citizenship by: synthesizing evidence from primary and secondary sources and comparing and contrasting perspectives in history.
The 5Cs:
- Critical Thinking: The students started their podcast with a reflection on how this issue impacts them, their families, or their community.
- Creative Thinking: Part of their research was to investigate the history of their issue, students identified what solutions were done in the past and if those solutions were effective.
- Communication: Students were taught to know their audience in the creation of their podcast, developing a hook and call to action that would be appropriate for the community they were targeting.
- Collaboration: Students were able to value the process of creating their own podcast by working through multiple revisions. They worked on the project weekly through the course of the year, with each step feedback was provided and revisions made.
- Citizenship: By identifying a call to action, or an immediate response to an issue that impacts them, the students were able to demonstrate caring and responsibility and caring. In addition students also researched the historical aspects of their issue and were able to draw connections from what has happened in our history to what is happening today.
Examples of Student Projects: