• Project Overview & Description
• Project Goals & Objectives
• Alignment with NYS Learning Standards
• How It Works in the Classroom
• Index of Topics Discussed
• What People Are Saying about This Project
• Meet WAMC’s President, Alan Chartock
• Meet WAMC’s Education Director, Maryanne Malecki

 

 

Project Overview & Description:

WAMC’s Youth Media Project: 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 Youth Media Project: 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 Youth Media Project: 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.

Youth Media Project: Student TownMeetings 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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Alignment with NYS Learning Standards:

Activities in the project support the following skills and learning outcomes outlined in the NYS Learning Standards for Social Studies and English Language Arts:

Social Studies

Standard 5: Civics, Citizenship, and Government

Key Idea 4: The study of civics and citizenship requires the ability to probe ideas and assumptions, ask and answer analytical questions, take a skeptical attitude toward questionable arguments, evaluate evidence, formulate rational conclusions, and develop and refine participatory skills.

Performance Indicators: Students will…

• Take, defend and evaluate positions about attitudes that facilitate thoughtful and effective participation in public affairs
• Consider the need to respect others’ points of view
• Participate in school/classroom/community activities that focus on an issue or problem
• Prepare a plan of action that defines an issue or problem, suggests alternative solutions or courses of action, evaluates the consequences for each…and proposes an action plan to address the issue or to resolve the problem

English Language Arts

Standard 3: Students will read, write, listen, and speak for critical analysis and evaluation.

Performance Indicators: Students will …

• Recognize and acknowledge various perspectives on issues of local, national and world concern
• Determine points of view, clarify positions, make judgments, and form opinions
• Use the perspectives of other individuals, groups, recognized experts, and prior knowledge to analyze and evaluate presentations
• Evaluate the expertise and possible bias of the speaker in order to judge the validity of the content
• Recognize the use of protocols and traditional practices of debating, public speaking, interviewing
• Evaluate impact of medium on the message
• Express opinions or make judgments about ideas, information, experience, and issues in articles, public documents, and advertisements
• Articulate personal opinions to clarify stated positions, persuade or influence groups, or state preferences about topics
• Present content that is clearly organized and based on knowledge of audience needs and interests
• Present reasons, examples, and details from sources cited to defend opinions or judgments
• Present arguments from different perspectives
• Modify content and presentation strategies based on audience response during presentation
• Speak extemporaneously to clarify or elaborate
• Ask and respond to questions to seek clarity or to suggest different perspectives

The project requires students to: connect current events to wider frames of reference, including enduring Constitutional issues; construct focused research questions to guide investigation; identify potential panelists and community experts related to issue under study; analyze text, audio and visual media for information; write, revise and polish personal position papers; develop effective listening, note-taking and questioning techniques; and use social studies and language arts knowledge and skills in a real-world radio production

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How It Works in the Classroom:

Total Instructional Days – approximately 20 (40 minute periods)

• WAMC Education Director works with students in the classroom to formulate focus questions and identify the issue for discussion (1-2 days). Based on material studied as part of their current course of study, students are asked to identify particular events, statements, information or concerns they may have (“Quotes”) or questions that have arisen as a result of their study or comments (“Questions”), Their responses are recorded on the board in a T-chart with the headings “Questions” and “Quotes”; students are encouraged to use this format to record information in their notebooks. This note-taking format will be used by students to encourage active listening and organization during all information gathering, discussions and presentations throughout the unit, including the actual taping of the program. Teachers can use student notes to assess participation and understanding. Concept webs may also be used to determine how events connect to broader topics, how course content is reflected in current events, and where the strongest connections exist.
• Using the student responses, teacher(s), WAMC Education Director and students identify a focused issue, framed as a question to be answered or problem to be solved, set within a situational framework, and determine how this issue is connected to the media. Information is compiled into a Position Outline that guides research, selection of community experts, classroom discussion, writing, and Town Meeting discussion.
• Teacher(s), WAMC Education Director and students research identified issue on electronic databases such as EBSCO and LexisNexis Academic Universe; select relevant newspaper articles for use in class; discuss potential community experts to serve as panelists
• Position Outline and articles are duplicated and disseminated to students.
• Students read articles, discuss various aspects of issue in class (4-7 days).
• Using Writing a Personal Position Statement format/organizer, students individually identify their positions on the issue, gather supporting evidence, and develop alternative solutions to the problem at hand (1-2 days)
• Students write, edit, and revise draft of Personal Position Statement (1-2 days).
• Students use Personal Position Statement Scoring Guide for self-editing and peer review of statements. (1 day)
• Students read aloud position statements in class, facilitated by teacher and WAMC Education Director. Students use listening and note-taking techniques to develop additional questions and information re issue. Students themselves volunteer to be panelists at taping. (2 days)
• Students write, edit, revise final copy of position statement; to be submitted to teacher for grade (1-2 days – this may occur after taping date)
• Teacher works with students to develop and refine Questioning Techniques in preparation for rehearsal.(1-2 days)
• Using the actual script developed for the program, WAMC Education Director conducts rehearsal at school with student panelists and student/staff audience members. School personnel serve as “community experts.” (90 minutes).

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Meet WAMC's President, Alan Chartock:

Dr. Alan Chartock is President and CEO of WAMC/Northeast Public Radio. He is also Professor Emeritus at the University at Albany. He is Executive Publisher and Project Director of the Legislative Gazette, the newspaper of state government. He hosts the weekly Capitol Connection series, heard on public radio stations around New York. The program for almost twelve years, highlighted interviews with Governor Mario Cuomo and now continues with conversations with state political leaders. Dr. Chartock also appears each week on The Media Project on WAMC and offers commentary on other WAMC programs such as Midday Magazine. He is executive producer of WAMC's National Programming. Alan's syndicated column on politics appears in newspapers throughout New York State. A second column, I Publius, appears in The Berkshire Eagle each Saturday.

Alan Chartock has won numerous awards at SUNY including the Chancellor's Award for Excellence in Teaching and The SUNY Council for University Affairs and Development Award for Educational Achievement. He was one of the first recipients of the SUNY Award for Excellence. He is the author of Me and Mario Cuomo: Conversations in Candor, published by Barricade Books.

Alan's latest effort his online blog, where he regularly shares his thoughts on issues of the day.

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Meet our Education Director Maryanne Malecki:

Maryanne Malecki is an educator with extensive experience helping teachers and students enjoy research, writing, and New York State and American history. She has been a teacher and/or administrator in residential treatment centers, public and private education (K-12), arts-in-education programs, migrant education, and teacher preparatory courses at the graduate and undergraduate levels. The University at Albany has honored Maryanne for her work with pre-service teachers, and the Daughters of the

American Revolution named her New York State American History Teacher of the Year in 1995. The American School Boards Association recognized her program, Critical Choices – Town Meetings, Elementary Style, as one of their One Hundred Outstanding Curriculum Ideas for 1990. She has written and developed instructional materials based on documents, objects, artifacts and primary sources for The New York Times, The New York Newspaper Project, Albany County Hall of Records, McDougal Littell, New-York Historical Society, The Nelson A. Rockefeller Institute of Government, and New York Lottery’s mobile exhibits. In addition to her responsibilities at WAMC, she currently serves as an adjunct faculty member in the Department of Developmental Studies, Continuing Education Division, Schenectady County Community College.

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