During the 2019-20 school year, the department of technology ran a pilot with Soundtrap focused primarily on supporting foundational literacy skills and amplifying student voice through podcasting. What follows is a snapshot of the Soundtrap pilot's impact on teaching and learning in SFUSD.
Book Review Podcasts
Jefferson Elementary School - 4th / 5th Grade English Language Arts
Learning Objective: Students will learn how to write a persuasive book review and record it as a podcast to share with others.
"Using SoundTrap, I had almost 95% project completion in a shorter time frame compared to the past 4 years of doing podcasts with 4th and 5th graders at my school. I was amazed to listen to a podcast from a selective mute* student for the first time ever." - Sarah Cahuas, Jefferson Elementary School Teacher Librarian
*Selectively mute students suffer a complex childhood anxiety disorder characterized by a child's inability to speak and communicate effectively in select social settings, such as school. These children are able to speak and communicate in settings where they are comfortable, secure, and relaxed.
Listen to student podcasts on Jefferson Elementary's Student Podcast Webpage
Career & Life Skills; Creativity
Read the project overview to learn more about this project.
Humanizing Oral Histories
SOTA - 9th Grade Ethnic Studies
Project Description: Students were asked to interview an elder in their community about a topic of their choice. Conversations included immigration, interracial relationships, feminism, art, and activism. They then transformed the interviews into a podcast. Students learned how to conduct an interview, synthesize information, and edit audio.
Essential Questions: How does narrative work to (de)humanize individuals and/or groups of people in society? What role do counter narratives play in challenging dehumanization?
"Students felt empowered telling their own stories and getting to choose whom to interview. Students were able to humanize people and stories that are often demonized by mainstream media and the current right-wing administration." - Bruna Lee, 9th Grade Ethnic Studies teacher at SOTA
Listen to student podcasts on SOTA's 9th Grade Ethnic Studies class podcast webpage.
Sense of Purpose, Sense of Self; Global, Local, & Digital Identity; Creativity
Read the project overview to learn more about this project.
Power to the People Project
Presidio Middle School - English Language Arts
Project Overview: In this project, students researched one of seven problems that our society is facing today: gender inequality, racial injustice, homelessness crisis in San Francisco, water crisis in Flint, Michigan, detention centers, the Dakota Access Pipeline, and climate change.
Students used their research findings to create a public product- a podcast or a "TED Talk". Upon completing their research and project, students share their findings with their school community in a science-fair style.
Listen to a student podcast about climate change.
Career & Life Skills; Content Knowledge
To learn more about this project, visit the teacher's portfolio page presented at the Initiate Wonder PBL Exhibition.
Contando Cuentos - Consturyendo Puentes de Empatia
James Lick Middle School - Multilingual Pathways / Social Studies
Project Overview: This project helps to bridge the differences between us by highlighting the experiences, struggles, and triumphs of diverse individuals. Through this project we will explore the common threads of humanity and how building empathy is a powerful weapon against systems of oppression. They will understand the power of a compelling story to shift perspectives, bridge distance, and combat assumptions. They will know their stories matter. They will know that literature and history is what they speak, write, and do.
Learning Outcomes: Students participated in writer's workshop to craft complex narratives, moving through the steps of outlining, drafting, revising, editing, and publishing. They researched & analyzed multiple sources of credible information; explored the concept of empathy, provided meaningful feedback and critique, and produced podcasts that considered the tone, content and audience of their message.
"This work was inspiring and powerful. It is an excellent complement to any social justice curriculum as it facilitates student confidence, creativity, and voice." - Heidi Smith, Spanish Immersion teacher at James Lick MS
Listen to student podcasts here: student podcast 1 and student podcast 2
Sense of Purpose, Sense of Self; Global, Local, & Digital Identity; Creativity; Content Knowledge
Visit the teacher's portfolio page presented at the Initiate Wonder PBL Exhibition to learn more about this project.
Fourteen out of fifteen teachers observed marginal to significant growth for historically underserved students.
"I really loved the way that students were able to have so much choice -- in their topic, in who they interviewed, in how they structured their podcast and used music or not. I think that kind of ownership over something creative and interdisciplinary supports students who do not often see themselves or connect to Eurocentric curriculum and the traditional values of US schools." - Emily Efland, Ethnic Studies teacher at Wallenberg High School
"Since students were interviewing their family members, they were much more interested in researching the events that had a direct impact on their interviewees. They also learned about their roots and how their family member overcame adversity in life, invaluable lessons that would never be found in a history book." - Connie So, Ethnic Studies teacher at Lincoln High School
"Students' ability to read informational text, draw important evidence to support their arguments, and synthesize multiple texts into one cohesive argument was evident. Student engagement with the content through participation in academic discourse protocols, increasing complexity of elaboration on the theme in formative assessments (both formal and informal writing) showed significant growth. The maturation of their arguments was evident as they accumulated vocabulary and content knowledge to discuss the importance and impact of empathy on community narratives. The ability to read and comprehend complex texts was measurable throughout the unit. This was particularly evident for my Latino students, students with IEP's, and historically underserved students. Many students who previously abstained from taking leadership roles in class discussions, produced some of the most impactful narratives in their podcast production, engaging with topics such as separation from parents due to immigration, domestic violence, and border crossing experiences." - Heidi Smith, Spanish Immersion teacher at James Lick MS
Will you use Soundtrap with your students again in 2020-21 if you have access?
"Using SoundTrap and its ease of coordination with Google Classroom was the highlight of distance learning for me this semester. It was awesome! It also allowed for collaboration with another teacher in a much easier way than before when I used GarageBand and iPads in the past. I was very happy with the application." - Sarah Cahuass, Teacher Librarian at Jefferson Elementary
Additional pilot assessment data can be viewed on this Google Form
Credits:
Created with images by Jason Rosewell - "untitled image" • Aaron Burden - "untitled image" • Matt Botsford - "LATE NIGHT" • israel palacio - "Sing your Heart out!" • Markus Spiske - "ONE WORLD. Global climate change protest demonstration strike - No Planet B - 09-20-2019"