EDUCATIONAL FOCUS
Mission
Our
mission is to use interactive radio and related technologies to
foster understanding among children from diverse backgrounds and
empower them to consider different perspectives and examine the
impact of choices before acting.
Talk
It Out Kids provides a unique opportunity for children around
the country to discuss age appropriate dilemmas depicted in radio
skits. Our live interactive radio format encourages children to
listen carefully to one another and to express varied points of
view respectfully. Discussion on the air and via our website sparks
understanding as children discover what they have in common with
others as well as the value in exploring differences. By giving
children the opportunity to communicate in a public forum and
think together about how words and actions might affect others,
we believe that we not only serve our mission, but also:
•Encourage creative problem solving among peers
•Foster confidence and self esteem
•Promote civil behavior
•Help children create peaceful solutions to problems
top
Expected
Outcomes
Our radio skits,
discussions, and program materials all work towards the following
learning outcomes.
By participating in the Talk It Out Kids project, students will
increase their ability to:
1. Effectively express ideas in public forums by:
a) sharing ideas and opinions aloud on the air, in the
classroom, and on the Talk It Out Kids website
b) articulating ideas and opinions clearly and succinctly, orally
and in writing
c) using respectful, non-judgmental language when responding to
others’ ideas/opinions/ comments
2. Identify and describe different ways to think about
the same problem/dilemma
3. Compare potential solutions to a problem/dilemma and
explain how the various solutions may affect the people involved
and why some solutions may be preferable to others
4. Demonstrate empathy for others by:
a) explaining why various characters in a drama may have acted
the way they did
b) explaining what it might feel like to be various characters
in a drama
Additionally, Talk It Out Kids addresses Language Arts, Health,
and Instructional Technology Learning Standards. Following is
a list of Massachusetts Curriculum Frameworks addressed by Talk
It Out Kids. Educators outside Massachusetts will find similar
corresponding standards within their states’ curriculum
frameworks.
top
Massachusetts
Curriculum Frameworks Learning Standards Addressed
The
Talk It Out Kids Project addresses the following Health
Learning Standards:
Learning
Standard 1, #11
“Students will describe effective communication skills
for resolving potentially violent conflicts.”
Learning Standard 3, # 6
“Students will observe and describe how peer pressure
affects health-related behaviors.”
Learning Standard 5, # 6
“Students will identify ways to gain support from others
in changing problem behaviors and maintaining healthful behaviors.”
Learning Standard 6, #4
“Students will identify barriers to and supports for
making health-enhancing decisions.”
Learning Standard 6, #5
“Students will develop proactive strategies for managing
peer pressure.”
Learning Standard 7, #7
“Students will identify and demonstrate strategies for
resolving conflict and building positive relationships.”
Language
Arts Learning Standards Addressed
in Classroom and Webcast Discussions:
Learning Standard 1
“Students will use agreed upon rules for informal and
formal discussions in small and large groups.”
Learning Standard 2
“Students will pose questions, listen to the ideas of
others, and contribute their own information or ideas in group
discussions and interviews in order to acquire new knowledge.”
Learning Standard 3
“Students will make oral presentations that demonstrate
appropriate consideration of audience, purpose, and the information
to be conveyed.”
Learning Standard 9
“Students will identify basic facts and essential ideas
in what they have heard, read, or viewed.”
Language
Arts Learning Standards Addressed
Via Suggested Follow-up Activities:
Learning Standard 10
“Students will identify, analyze, and apply knowledge
of the characteristics of different genres.”
Learning Standard 15
“Students will identify and analyze how an author’s
choice of words appeals to the senses, creates imagery, suggests
mood, and sets tone.”
Learning Standard 18
“Students will plan and present effective dramatic readings,
recitations, and performances that demonstrate consideration of
audience and purpose.”
Learning Standard 21
“Students will select and use appropriate genre, modes
of reasoning, and speaking styles when writing for different audiences
and rhetorical purposes.”
Instructional
Technology Standards
Addressed:
Learning Standard 2
Demonstrate responsible use of technology and an understanding
of ethics and safety issues in using electronic media.
Learning Standard 3
Demonstrate ability to use technology for research, problem-solving,
and communication. Students locate, evaluate, collect, and process
information from a variety of electronic sources. Students use
telecommunications and other media to interact or collaborate
with peers, experts, and other audiences.
top
ASAP
DETAILS
The
following details are critical in helping your students participate
maximally during webcasts.
1.
Permission Slips
Please distribute
“Program Announcements and Permission Slips” (copies
provided in your Teacher's Guide) to your students as soon as
possible. Students must have a signed permission slip on file
in order to speak on the air.
2.
Equipment
•COMPUTER
WITH INTERNET CONNECTION:
Follow
these steps to test your computer and Internet connection.
• Log on to the Talk It Out Kids website. www.talkitoutkids.org
• Click on the “LISTEN TO Talk It Out Kids”
button at the top right on the home page. Then click on the link
“Click here to listen to Talk It Out Kids live!”
Please
allow a couple of minutes for the connection to complete.
If you can't hear a live webcast, check the volume controls
on your computer, or you may need to download one of the audio
plugins (links provided).
NOTE:
Testing the listen live feature when Talk It Out Kids is not
on the air will connect you to whatever webcast is live at
that moment on the Talking Information Channel.
•
Make
sure the computer can be heard well throughout the room.
• You
may hear the program better with external speakers.
•You may need to plan alternate seating so everyone can hear.
This might include grouping children around several computers.
• There is a time delay on Internet
radio. The student on the telephone will be listening
to Talk It Out Kids in "real" time. The students listening
via the Internet will hear the program in "delayed" time.
• Place
the student on the phone as far away from the computer speakers
as possible to avoid confusion with the time delay.
• Have a student listening on the telephone at all times during
the show. (See the LOGISTICS section of Technical Set-Up For Webcasts.)
Prior
to the first live webcast we will contact you to discuss how to
avoid confusion about the time delay.
•PHONE:
• Make
arrangements to use a corded telephone that allows you to make
calls out of the school.
• If a corded phone is not available or will not work with
your logistics, you may plan to use a portable or cell phone.
If so, well before the first webcast, test for a strong signal
and clear reception in the exact location the phone will be used
during the show. Please make sure your phone is completely charged
prior to each live webcast.
3.
Technical Set-up for Webcasts
Review the
“Technical Set-Up For Broadcasts” information below
—“Logistics”, “Phone Connection”,
and “Organizing Students for Maximal Participation.”
Plan the optimal logistics for your students, space and equipment.
Help
Available!
Clear Internet
radio sound and a good phone connection are critical! When testing
your equipment, should you have any trouble with the computer
access via the “Listen Live” feature, with phone reception,
or for additional “Technical Set-Up, Logistics” ideas,
please call 1-617-524-4946, for help. Enlisting
assistance well before the series begins will help prevent problems.
SYNCHRONOUS
and ASYNCHRONOUS DISCUSSIONS
An
Interactive Technology Feature
The
General Concept
We encourage you to have students join our “synchronous”
and “asynchronous” discussions. This interactive feature
offers students additional opportunities for sharing their ideas
during each webcast and between shows. Here’s an overview.
When your class is on the air, in addition to talking live, students
can also participate in the discussion via email during the webcast
(“synchronous” discussion). The co-hosts will read
some of the emailed contributions on the air. Within a day or
two of the live webcast, we will post all emailed comments to
the “Continue the Conversation” section of the Student
Corner page on the Talk It Out Kids website.
* Please note that
Talk It Out Kids staff will review all written comments and reserve
the right to omit comments judged inappropriate.
Visiting “Continue the Conversation” between webcasts,
students may read all the comments emailed during the webcast
and respond to additional questions we will post there (“asynchronous”
discussion). Talk It Out Kids staff will post all new student
comments and continue facilitating discussion. We hope your students
will keep the conversation going by emailing Talk It Out Kids
between webcasts. These “synchronous” and “asynchronous
discussions” give more children the opportunity to participate
and share their views in a public forum.
top
HOW
TO PARTICIPATE
Synchronous
Discussion (Emailing
During the Webcast)
SET
UP:
• You will need at least one additional computer with
an Internet connection and an email account. Be sure to check
that you can send an email from the school computer(s) that
you will be using during the webcast. (We have found that many
schools need to use an adult’s email account.)
•
You may use as many computers as are available to you for the
synchronous discussion. Some sites participate from their technology
rooms during the webcast. The more computer stations you set
up, the more children will be able to participate. It is helpful
to arrange for an adult (e.g. parent, volunteer, classroom aide)
to be available to help the children at the computer. You may
wish to have “designated typists” (students who
keyboard well) and have slower typists dictate responses to
them.
•
Before the program begins, connect the second computer (or additional
computers) to the email account you will be using.
DURING
THE WEBCAST:
•
Type the email address contact@talkitoutkids.org
in the "To" line. Type your school's name and town
in the "Subject" line.
• When a student has a comment they want to contribute
to the conversation, they can type a message and hit “send.”
Please remind students to identify themselves by first name
only.
•
As soon as the message has been sent, click "compose email"
and fill in the "To" and "Subject" lines
as outlined above. You may want to have several new message
windows open with the “To” and “Subject”
lines already filled in.
•
We will receive these messages in our studio during the live
radio webcast. Hosts will read some email comments during the
discussion, or read several of the comments before the discussion
break.
A
DAY OR TWO AFTER THE SHOW:
•
Students will be able to read all the emailed comments by clicking
on “Student Corner”
on the Talk It Out Kids website home page, and scrolling down
to “Continue the Conversation.”
top
Asynchronous
Discussion (Emailing
Between Webcasts)
This
discussion feature, "Continue
the Converstion" will happen between webcasts.
The process for sending comments will be the same as for the synchronous
discussion.
•
Using a computer(s) with an Internet connection and an email
account, students wishing to continue discussing the radio skit
between webcasts may send an email to: contact@talkitoutkids.org.
Please remind students to identify themselves
by first name only and to include their school name and town
in the email.
•
You may want to post the Talk It Out Kids website and email
address in the classroom so that students can "Continue
the Conversation" from home.
• You may want to have your students read "Continue
the Conversation" during the week to see
how their peers have responded and to check for new conversation
prompts.
• Talk It Out Kids staff will read these email comments
and post them on the “Continue
the Conversation.” section of the "Student
Corner" page on the Talk It Out Kids website.
Students from all participating schools may then view comments
by clicking on “Student Corner” on the Talk It Out
Kids website home page, and scrolling down to “Continue
the Conversation.” Talk It Out Kids staff will continue
monitoring and posting student comments and will interject questions
to facilitate further thought. It is our hope that this opportunity
for additional discussion will help children expand their thinking.
top
PREPARATION
FOR LIVE WEBCASTS
Technical
Set-Up for Webcasts
LOGISTICS
•
Double check the “Listen Live” feature on the Talk
It Out Kids website home page to make sure the connection is
working. (See page one of “ASAP Details” for reminders
of how to do this.)
• Make sure
the computer volume is loud enough for all to hear and the phone
is far enough away from the computer so a child listening on
the phone will not be confused by simultaneously hearing “real”
time over the phone and “delayed” time via the Internet.
(You will have determined computer and phone placement previously,
as per ASAP details.)
• Arrange
students so they can hear the webcast via the Internet and get
to the phone quickly.
• Have a
student listening to the program in “real” time
through the telephone receiver throughout the webcast.
•When
you call in and establish a connection, put the first child
on the phone, having her remain on the phone as the webcast
begins and until she has had her turn speaking. Remember the
child on the phone will be listening to the program in “real”
time through the telephone receiver and will hear the program
begin before others hear it via the Internet.
•
This child continues listening on the phone until called upon
to speak on the air.
• When this child finishes speaking on the air, she should
immediately pass the phone to the second child who then begins
listening in “real” time until asked to speak on
the air.
• After speaking, the second child should pass the phone
to the next child.
• Continue this process throughout the entire webcast.
•
Demonstrate/explain how a student speaking on
the phone should:
• Listen and respond to what’s heard over the phone
vs. what’s heard via the Internet. (Remember, the child
on the phone is hearing the program in “real” time
through the telephone receiver.)
• Speak loudly, clearly, and directly into the phone receiver.
•If
possible during the webcast, have an adult (teacher, aide, volunteer)
near the phone, available to communicate with the webcast producer
if a problem arises.
PHONE
CONNECTION
For
the 1:00 pm EST and 4:00 pm EST webcasts:
Call the toll-free telephone number listed in your Teacher's
Guide at 5 minutes before the hour (12:55 or 3:55 pm EST)
to get and maintain a connection for the rest of the program.
You will remain on the line (though not yet “live”
on air) until the show begins at 1:00 pm EST or 4:00 pm EST. Your
phone line will not be “live” on air all the time,
only when your students are asked to respond.
For
the 1:30 pm and 4:30 pm EST webcasts:
Call the
toll-free telephone number listed in your Teacher's Guide
just before the half hour (at 1:30 pm and 4:40 pm EST)
to get and maintain a connection for the rest of the program.
Please remember that clocks may vary slightly. If you get a
busy signal, keep trying. As soon as the first show participants
hang up, you will be connected. You will remain on
the line (though not yet “live” on air) until the
show begins at 1:30 pm EST or 4:30 pm EST. Your phone line will
not be “live” on air all the time, only when your
students are asked to respond.
NOTE:
Sometimes we get disconnected - nobody's fault, it just happens.
If this occurs, just call back quickly to reconnect and continue
participating in the webcast.
ORGANIZING
STUDENTS FOR MAXIMAL PARTICIPATION
There are many
ways to organize a class so that as many children as possible
participate. Below are a few of the successful ideas teachers
have shared with Talk It Out Kids staff. We welcome new ideas
you may develop.
•
Assign specific children to speak ahead of time and have them
sit together (on the floor, at a table). Have a second group
of assigned “speakers” trade places with them during
the brief break. Assign different children as “speakers”
for each live webcast.
•
Assign some children to sit near an additional computer(s) and
email their ideas during the webcast (synchronous discussion).
Assign a second group of students to email ideas during the
second discussion segment. Have slower typists dictate responses
to “designated typists” (students who keyboard well
or adults).
•
Divide the class into three groups and assign lead responsibility
for the on-air discussion for a specific webcast.
•
Encourage students to work on the Idea Chart, either individually
or in small groups, as they listen to the webcast. Students'
charts might then be used as a tool to take to the phone or
computer or to further discussion later in the classroom or
via "Continue the Conversation" on the website.
•
For larger classes, try dividing children into four to six groups.
Each group chooses two people to be their spokespersons each week,
selecting two different children every week. Each group sits together
and sends up their appointed “speakers” to the phone
when directed by teacher. (This system encourages discussion among
groups and gives many children a chance to speak on air during
the three week series.)
To
help encourage optimal participation, we ask that you prepare
your students by previewing each week’s pre-recorded radio
skit and the general webcast format.
PREVIEW
THE SKIT:
We have found
children have an easier time sharing their ideas on air if they
have previewed each week’s radio skit ahead of time. We
will send you a CD of the radio skits with the Teacher's Guide.
Written scripts and information about the on air discussion
format follow. Please use the materials in whatever way you
wish to prepare students. Here are just a few ideas from previous
Talk It Out Kids participants to help you get started.
• Have
your class listen to the CD of the skit or read the scripts
aloud and have a class discussion about the problem(s). Students
may find the idea chart (or something similar) helpful as they
listen and discuss.
•
Create a visual aid (sketch, chart, or map) that shows the relationship
among characters in the radio skit. Children might brainstorm
ways to remember character names and relationships. Posting
this visual aid during webcasts can be very helpful.
•
Have your class split into small groups, in which each small
group reads the scripts aloud (different children read different
parts) and discusses the situation, sharing later with the whole
class.
•
Ask your students to read the script for homework and write
suggestions about what various characters could do differently.
Have a class discussion about how different actions/words from
some characters might impact other characters.
•
Help students develop key words for some of the ideas they discuss
(e.g. “be a leader,” “prejudice,” “take
a chance”). Discuss individual characters and help students
develop a list of key descriptors for each one.
•
Divide the class into three groups and give each group “lead
responsibility” for one script. Have each group spend
extra time discussing and preparing for its turn in the lead.
(See the third bullet under “Organizing Students for Maximal
Participation,” in the Technical Set-Up Section of ASAP
Details.)
PREVIEW
THE WEBCAST FORMAT:
Before the
first webcast please help your students learn about the webcast
format and procedure.
