Grades 3 and 4 podcasters share their learning about Jordan’s Principle.
As part of a school-wide community learning fair for Bear Witness Day, two Grades 3 and 4 classes collaborated to create a six-episode podcast series to share their learning with their school community.
For the learning fair, each grade level team was assigned a topic to research, present, and share. The Grades 3 and 4 team was assigned Jordan’s Principle as their topic.
The classroom teachers and the teacher-librarian worked together to provide learners with information and resources about Jordan River Anderson and Jordan’s Principle. Learners explored picture books, non-fiction books, websites, and videos, and connected with the divisional Jordan’s Principle coordinator via Microsoft Teams. Learners created a list of questions for the coordinator, set up a time to meet online, and conducted an interview to support their research.
Throughout their research, learners made connections to prior learning about human rights and the 94 Calls to Action, and they drew on their learning about Bear Witness Day from previous years.
After thoroughly researching their topic and sharing their learning with one another, learners were challenged to design a way to share their learning with the school community. They brainstormed a list of ways to share that included art, writing, posters, presentations, and more. One learner suggested a podcast, and the group was unanimously in favour.
The classroom teachers then shared many different podcasts with their classes. Learners noticed that podcast series follow a similar format for each episode, and they began to design a format for their podcast. They decided that they would create six episodes in small groups. The topics for their episodes included three episodes that shared their new learning about Jordan’s Principle, Jordan River Anderson, and the interview with the divisional Jordan’s Principle coordinator, as well as three episodes that connected to prior learning about Bear Witness Day, the 94 Calls to Action, and human rights.
Learners worked in small groups to consolidate their learning about their episode topic, and to prepare a script that followed the format for the show. The classroom teachers and teacher-librarian supported learners in ensuring that their information was accurate and in editing their scripts.
Learners recorded and edited their episodes with support from the teacher-librarian and chose theme music from Pixabay for the show. As a class, they discussed the necessary elements and criteria to support clarity in communication and audience engagement when creating a podcast.
A small group of learners also helped to design a logo for the show and QR code cards and posters to share at the learning fair. The teacher-librarian uploaded the episodes and created QR codes for the school community to scan and listen to the show.
Learners then realized that they didn’t have a tangible product to display at the learning fair, other than their QR code posters. As a group they decided to create a “listening lounge” where learners and families could sit to listen to their podcast and learn about Jordan’s Principle and what it means to Bear Witness.
First Nations Child & Family Caring Society. Home page. Accessed 17 Oct. 2024.
Pixabay. Home page. Accessed 17 Oct. 2024.
