As the spring semester gets underway, I tend to take a moment to reset and take inventory, if you will, of where we are and where we still need to go. If you are like me, you battle the overwhelming curricular interruptions of second semester. There seem to be never ending pep rallies, spirit weeks, assemblies, various push ins. You name it – it seems to interrupt classroom time. These activities, while vital for students, presenting opportunities for social and emotional health and well being, memories, and time for fellowship, only amplify the mounting pressure to also have them “ready” to leave our classrooms and/or take the course exam and often turn us into curmudgeons even the Grinch would envy.

I spend a lot of time on rhetorical analysis. In fact, my first semester is almost solely focused on those skills, though I do begin to discuss argument as we near winter break in a way that connects the skills of analyzing someone else’s argument to student’s crafting their own. As I prepared for this school year, however, I knew I needed to rethink how I introduce argumentation, and more importantly, how I provide opportunities for students to practice and engage with those skills. A look at my own instructional report from last year’s exam takers as well as my anecdotal experience at the AP Reading told me that argument was becoming an increasingly difficult task for my kids. It seems that we, as a teaching community, are really doing a great job of (perhaps slowly) engaging students in authentic analysis, moving away from clumsy, device driven responses and challenging them to think about the full rhetorical situation instead when reading and responding to a passage. However, while this is totally just my personal opinion and experience, it seems that students have significant gaps in knowledge and experience, a necessary component for evidence in argumentative essays. In essence, it seems Q3 is becoming the new Q2 in terms of challenge to students.

I have had a sign hanging for years in my classroom that reads “We are drowning in information, but starved for knowledge” and I can’t help but reflect on its relevance now more than ever. Everywhere we, and our students, turn there is information – and misinformation – but alas, that’s a different post. Various social media platforms make it easier than ever to receive bite sized content. But as a Gen X-er, and perhaps as a practiced reader and researcher, I intuitively dissect and synthesize the abundance of content coming my way. My students, however, do not have the benefit of an analog childhood, or years of dinner in front of the evening news to fill their little brain filing cabinets. And besides – I have a suspicion that my FYP (For You Page) is curated a bit differently than that of the teens in my classes.

So, I spent last semester brainstorming how I might increase student knowledge in authentic and engaging ways. I already use the first bit of class, while I wait for the bell to ring, take attendance, etc to have intentional but informal conversation. (“OMG, that new Bad Bunny album… how cool is it, and so different than what he’s created in the past!”, “Did you SEE what happened at that game last weekend?”, “The Demi Moore speech last night was chef’s kiss – did you see it? Dude – let me tell you about it”… you get the picture). As I thought about ways students might increase background knowledge in a transferable way, I decided to give podcasts a try. For a generation of learners who more and more frequently interact with visual and auditory platforms and who tend to *try* multitasking, perhaps podcasts are a great first step.

I have put together a podcast analysis project that will take students through the next few months and will engage them in a number of course skills. They will not only increase knowledge and build an evidence bank useful for argumentative essays, but will continue practicing rhetorical analysis skills learned in the first semester as well as begin synthesizing information as they make connections between multiple podcast episodes and classroom material and outside knowledge they may have. I am one hundred percent certain that there will be updates and tweaks to this for next year, but for now, I am hopeful that this will help equip my students with evidence and confidence.

Cheers to a great week in the classroom, y’all!