About the Project
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Project Overview & Description
WAMC’s Student Town Meetings provide teachers and students with (1) a structured process that prepares young people to critically analyze and articulately discuss social and political issues affecting them with recognized specialists in the community, and (2) an authentic product – a one-hour radio program, recorded and broadcast on public radio. The project is readily adaptable and integrated into existing secondary social studies, English language arts and media classes.
The town meeting format is at the heart of the democratic process: people directly affected by issues and events assemble to discuss problems and often-times courses of action with community leaders, issue experts, and elected officials. WAMC Public Radio’s Student Town Meetings extend this opportunity to high school students in urban and rural districts, who discuss and record live, one-hour radio programs based on an issue important to them. Working directly with WAMC production staff for 4-6 weeks in preparation, they determine a focused topic, research text and visual media for pertinent information, identify potential panelists, write position papers and develop relevant questions in preparation for face-to-face dialogue. In the process, students and teachers explore media and popular culture as they interpret the complex role of media in shaping public opinion and in their lives. The program connects literacy and critical thinking skills with students’ worlds in a meaningful way.
Through Student Town Meetings, educational programs involving urban or rural high school students in New York State’s Capital Region form a unique partnership with public radio personnel. Planning and development result in instructional units of study, lesson plans and activities for implementation within existing high school courses. In the classroom, WAMC news and production staff offer students real-world perspectives that reinforce academic content and the writing process. Students critically analyze and evaluate multiple viewpoints as well as formulate and articulate their own, based on evidence, as they prepare to publicly discuss their selected topic, and reflect on the process and product following the taped program. In this way the project increases media literacy; fosters thoughtful public debate; and encourages adolescents to become part of the public radio audience.
Student Town Meetings are taped at the WAMC Performing Arts Studio in Albany, New York, for later broadcast on WAMC’s daily radio show The Speakers’ Corner. Compact disc recordings of the broadcast are provided to the participating schools and teachers.
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