“To me, resilience means pushing toward a problem and being brave,” shared fourth-grade student Smith Mallory in her podcast debut with partner Alyssa Bettin. In fourth grade, students paired up to create a podcast about resiliency.
The assignment was inspired by the novel Esperanza Rising by Pam Muñoz Ryan. The book tells the story of Esperanza Ortega, a young woman born to a wealthy family in Mexico whose family flees to California during the Great Depression. Esperanza must learn to accept, adapt, and work through the difficulties of her new life.
“One way Esperanza showed resilience was when she lost everything. I chose that example because she was able to adapt quickly,” observed Evie Song in a podcast with partner Francis Holman. “Although most children would have fallen apart, Esperanza stayed resilient.”
In the podcasts, students discussed challenging moments in their own lives, what resiliency means to them, and how Esperanza’s story exemplified resilience.
Not only were the students challenged to dig deep to develop content for their podcasts, but they also learned new technology to record and edit the podcasts on their own. The girls worked with North Campus Curriculum Director Jessica Lancaster to learn podcast software and editing techniques to enhance their podcast, including selecting music and creating sound loops.
Click the button below to listen to the impressive podcasts from all the fourth grade students.
- Lower School
