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- August 3rd, 2011
1st Class Kidz Digital: The Radio station in the teacher’s cupboard 1/5
- Derek Robertson
- Comments: 2 Comments »Tags: Aberdeenshire, cfe, cross-curricular
One of the most exciting and rewarding aspects of teaching is being able to bring your own talents and interests to the fore to help drive learning. Chris Mier from Hatton Cruden PS in Aberdeesnhire has done just that this year when he decided to bring the skills and experience he had honed in working in radio and DJing on the internet to the life and learning of his P.7 class. This interest of his was the catalyst for a project that crossed all curricular boundaries and made so many connections across learning. This series of 5 posts will hopefully give you a flavour of this exciting project and yet another illustration of the standards that children can achieve when the bar of aspiration and expectation is raised.
In the teacher’s cupboard in Mr Mier’s room is a cupboard. You know the type - the ones where books, paints, resources etc are kept. However, this cupboard is a little bit different from most. Have a look to see what is inside this one:
This range of resources that includes the cutting edge DJ equipment Tracktor was the resource that enabled Mr Mier to establish a whole class enterprise project based on a radio broadcasting business. 1st Class Kidz Digital radio company became a real enterprise over the course of the second half of last year in this P.7 class. My discussion with Mr Mier about this project can be heard here:
Getting started
Mr Mier created 25 jobs in 1st Class Kidz Digital that needed to filled. This meant that the perfect opportunity to teach the children about letter writing, CVs, interview techniques within a purposeful and relevant context was established. The children then had to apply for the jobs and were then interviewed for these jobs by some of the parents of the children. Their decisions were then fed back to Mr Mier who posted the newly filled positions on the class Glow site. Once the elation and disappointment of success or other wise had settled it was down to work and to start getting the radio shows produced!
The range of jobs
A radio station needs DJs of course but what else does it require? Well, a station manager was appointed and she was in essence the boss. She held weekly whole class meetings where she was given updates on progress from the DJs, scriptwriters, jingle creators, news reporters, weather reporters, sport reporters, advertising team, art & design team and the class blogger. Each ‘employee’ had to ensure that they were on task and that all necessary work was completed by an agreed due date.
Impact on learning
Mr Mier talked about the success that this enterprising approach to learning had had on his pupils and in particular he talked about his perceptions of:
- how the confidence levels had grown in the children over the course of the project. He attributed this to the ownership and responsibility that was afforded to the children and the way in which they embraced this. He also talked of the reality of the learning experience and how it was relevant, purposeful and important to the children
- how his pupils had engaged with and completed tasks to a very high standard and at times way beyond what was expected of them. This was particularly evident in areas such as writing and music making.
- how the social dynamic of the class was enhanced as a result of the project and the way in which the children took responsibility for their individual and collective tasks. The programme and the business was run with minimal input by Mr Mier with the children really owning 1st Class Kidz Digital.
Having spent an afternoon with the team at 1st Class Kidz Digital I have to say how impressed I was with their industry, creativity and maturity. I think that this shows how Curriculum for Excellence can work so well when a teacher uses specific skills that they have to create purposeful learning experiences for children; experiences that make them want to come to school, to learn, to achieve and to show us just what they can do.
Thank you to all at Hatton Cruden PS and 1st Class Kidz Digital for making me so welcome.
Categories Aberdeenshire, Curriculum for Excellence, Glow, Parents
I found this report an inspiration for any teacher who loves his/her job. To be able to motivate an entire class into this breadth and depth of learning must have been very rewarding.It’s a pity we don’t witness more of it in our classrooms.
Thank you for your positive feedback Barbara. It was a delight to see such enthusiasm and focus on display in this class. The posts attempt to share what I witnessed but to have seen it actually happening was something else.