Poetry and Podcasting in Arizona

Got an email yesterday about Red Clay Writing Project teacher Denise Heagle who’s now working in Arizona. She shared a recent project entitled “Poetry and Podcasting” from her ELL classroom (English Language Learners) in which students created “I Am” poems and recorded themselves reading the poems. Her class includes Somalis, Sudanese and Liberians, and a large number of her students have been living in refugee camps for the last ten years. Though many don’t have family photos, they found images online to accompany their written poetry and used the application Photo Story to put it all together. Look under “Language Program Poem #1 or #2” on her school’s preliminary website to view some of the student work (http://amphipodcast.podomatic.com). Many of these students were at the first grade reading level with their English skills. Denise wrote, “It was amazing how it took on a life of its own and the students were SO invested in it.”

I’m excited about these types of projects, and what makes kids, as Denise said, “so invested.” There’s this one phrase I’ve been carrying around with me since NWP’s Tech Matters Institute—compelling communication. After viewing the photo stories, I’m imagining Denise’s students were experiencing a compelling type of communication, one that allowed them to make meaning with images in addition to words, to explore new digital tools, and to share their texts (and get some comments) with others outside their classrooms.

Two questions come to mind: 1) What types of conversations are teachers having with students about publicly sharing their work (and their personal lives) online? and 2) How might other teachers gain from the thinking and planning behind Denise’s “Poetry and Podcasting”? I’m still thinking about the way Red Cedar Writing Project shared their tech camp plans via a wiki. I’m guessing there are some databases online for teachers to share their literacy/tech activity plans, etc., I just haven’t found them yet.

Thanks for sharing this Denise, and we miss you around here.