| What
is Talk It Out Kids?
Talk It Out Kids is a production of the Van Go Project, Inc., a non-profit
educational corporation based in Massachusetts.
What
makes Talk It Out Kids unique is that it is interactive! Students
listen via the Internet and interact via telephone with the program
hosts and their peers in schools and after-school settings around
the country. Students may also email their ideas during the live
webcast and continue the conversation via email between webcasts.
What
is the content of the program?
In
keeping with the tradition of the bygone days of radio drama, we
use dramatic skits to depict conflicts encountered by children in
school and in the community. These skits provide a jumping off point
for discussion among the students at the participating sites. The
Talk It Out Kids hosts invite the students to examine the conflicts
presented in the drama. The hosts' job is not to garner a "right"
or "wrong" answer, but to encourage students to articulate
their thoughts and feelings and to try to understand different points
of view by examining the motives and reactions of the parties in
the conflict. Students are sometimes asked to take on the role of
the characters in the scene and to predict what courses of action
they might take.
At
the end of each program, the hosts pose a relevant question for
further discussion. Some responses are shared on-air the following
week. All responses are posted on the "What If?" page
on our website.
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What
are the topics discussed?
The
topics for the dramatic skits, suggested by children themselves,
speak to dilemmas that cut across economic, racial, ethnic, gender
and geographic lines in a thought-provoking way. Issues raised in
the dramas include...
- Teasing
and bullying
- Prejudice
- Situations
of inclusion and exclusion
- Respect
for oneself and others
- Peer
pressure
- Friendship
- Gossiping
- Cheating
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How
can you participate?
As
many as four sites may participate live on the telephone on each
show, with an occasional in-studio or school-site audience. We also
invite students to email their comments during the webcast and some
of these comments are read on air. All email comments are posted
to the Student Corner page of the Talk It Out Kids website where
students can continue the conversation between webcasts.
Students
comments received between shows are regularly aired at the beginning
of each program. All "What If?" responses are posted on
our website.
We encourage teachers to continue
conversations about the topics "off-air" with their students
in order to deepen their understanding. If you send us your students'
work, we will post it on the Student Gallery on our website.
Students may also participate by suggesting
"conflict situation" ideas, and writing or acting in the
dramatic skits.
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What
do you need to participate?
- Access
to Internet connection during the live program
- A
telephone with access to an outside line
- An
email connection (optional)
What
is supplied to you?
-
Internet radio website
- Download
of free audio plug-ins (if you do not have an audio program on
your computer)
- Toll
free telephone number (for on-air sites)
- CD
and written scripts of the dramatic skits
- Teacher
Guide with rules, procedures, suggested discussion questions and
follow-up activities
- Technical
and logistical assistance
- Talk It Out Kids website to access information about the program and Teacher
Guide
- An
opportunity to post your students work on the Student Corner page
of the Talk It Out Kids website
What
does it cost?
Nothing! There is
NO COST to schools
associated with this project.
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When
are webcasts aired?
Fridays
from 1:00-1:30 pm, EST
and 1:30-2:00 pm, EST.
Each series is comprised of three half-hour Internet radio programs
webcast on consecutive Friday afternoons. Sites choose a 1:00 or1:30
Eastern Standard Time webcast. Sites participate live in all three
sessions of the series.
In
order to accommodate the time difference on the west coast and to
include after-school programs,
we have added later programming times to our webcast roster.
In
Series #2 and #4 you can register for 4:00-4:30
pm and
4:30-5:00 pm EST timeslots.
Talk
It Out Kids '06-'07 Webcast Schedule
Series
#1: September 29, October 6, 13
Series
#2: October 20, 27, November 3
Series
#3: February 2, 9, 16
Series #4: March 2, 9,16
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Talk It Out Kids, The Van Go Project, Inc.
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