Godwin Heights — Seniors Kiera Stimoff, Jackie Yanez and ninth-grader Liannelyse Martel reminisced about their junior years.
They talked about friends, grade levels, and changing schools, sharing memories of being much younger students.
It might have sounded like a casual conversation, but the microphone they passed back and forth was a clue that it was more than that. Students participate in one of the newest high school electives: podcasting.
In the semester-long course, students learn to put together a podcast from start to finish. They choose the subject, choose the format, record and edit the final piece.
“I feel like you’re getting a behind-the-scenes look at how podcasting works,” Kiera said. “It’s not an easy job as you have to think about the themes and put the script and the elements together. You definitely get a better understanding of what it’s all about.”
More options for exploring interests
The podcast course, along with a young adult literature class and a film history class, are among several new and returning electives added to the high school this year. The goal of adding the courses was to provide students with opportunities to expand their skills and knowledge while giving them the opportunity to explore different areas of interest, Principal Chad Conklin said.
“We thought it was really important to have relevant courses to improve our students’ achievement and increase student engagement and participation in the classroom setting,” he said.
The process of adding classes began last year with multicultural literacy and food science, which explores chemistry through cooking.
Based on these, the high school conducted two surveys last spring, one for students about what electives they would be interested in and one for teachers about what they would like to teach. The goal was to align courses with curriculum standards and capture student interests, Conklin said.
The survey showed that students also want back courses that have been removed from the curriculum. That led to the addition of theater and career and college readiness, Conklin said.
The response to the availability of new options has been positive from students and teachers, Conklin said. Most courses filled up quickly and teachers expressed that they liked having a say in what they were going to teach.
More than speaking into the microphone
In the podcast class, senior Da’Naja Brown and sophomore Shani Valdez planned their final podcast. They decided to compare and contrast how they celebrate different holidays. Shani’s family has a secret gift exchange from Santa on New Year’s Eve.
“Everybody gets two presents at Christmas, so for New Year’s… it’s just to keep us entertained,” Shani said. “It’s just a fun thing we’ve been doing for the last few years.”
Putting together the final episode comes after a lot of research and practice. Students begin by analyzing other podcasts to learn about style, script, and other details. By the end of the semester, they had created their own podcast by choosing a topic, writing a script and recording and editing three episodes, Panela said.
Along with technical skills, students learn organization, creativity, communication, teamwork and public speaking, Panella said. In fact, senior Diego Revolorio said he felt the class taught him to speak more clearly while staying focused on the podcast topic and its discussion.
Da’Naja, who has listened to podcasts, said the behind-the-scenes look at what goes into creating, recording and maintaining a podcast is interesting.
“I think the one thing that surprised me was how much planning and scripting goes into a podcast,” he added.
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