A Principal, Two Teachers and their Class Walk into a Bar

By Kory Schaefer & Elizabeth O’Connor
Kindergarten and First Grade Teachers
Franklin Elementary School
West Allis, Wisconsin 

Yes, you read that right.  A bar. We took our kindergarten and first grade students to a bar. Let us explain why, and where our story began. 

Imagine the best concert you have ever attended. The musicians are on stage furiously shredding their guitars and you are rocking out in the audience, but want more than anything to rush on stage to join them. That was us. Our colleagues were the rockstars, teaching in a way that inspired us, and we sat in the audience, watching as students who were excited and engaged in their learning. We saw their success, and we wanted to join in too. Rather than being an audience member, we wanted in. 

West Allis, Wisconsin is the place our kids call home and where we are lucky enough to teach. Here, learning that works matters.  It might look messy, it might feel chaotic, but that’s alright. A group of teachers at our school had taken the lead and had attended a training in Project Based Learning. However, wanting more than to just be a groupie, we attempted what we thought was PBL (without any real training).  Picture this: a green screen, scrap fabric from the art room, and a little background knowledge on the Revolutionary War. (Insert headshake). This wasn’t project based learning. This was just a project. Needless to say we were off-key.  But like any aspiring rock stars, we dusted off our guitars and kept strumming.  In the summer of 2019 we attended a training with PBLWorks. We developed our first project, focusing on authentic teaching and learning. We strived to create an experience for our kids where they could impact their community. 

Our project tied into our city's rebranding initiative, That’s Why West Allis.  Our driving question was: “How can we convince others to visit West Allis?” Our students wrote opinion pieces and made commercials, created promotional materials, interviewed city and district leaders, and went public with their products at the city's farmers market. We have never in all of our 9 years co-teaching together ever seen such engagement and motivation.  

In our District everyone helps and pushes each other further. Our administration found a student-led podcast and passed it along to us.  We loved the idea and wanted to put our own twist on it. However, we had no idea what we were doing, how to get started, or what we even needed.  We were completely clueless. This was how Stories from 86th was formed. For this, our second project, our driving question was: “What’s your story?”  Through narrative writing, our forty-two 5, 6, and 7 year-olds created their own podcast series about experiences that they have had in their city.  Some stories were two sentences long while others were 4 pages long.  From beginning to end, this podcast was completely run by our kids.  

We launched this project by taking the kids to a radio station. Yes. You read that right too.  We took 42 kids to a radio station. Energetic? Yes. Authentic? Absolutely! Here they got tips on how to get their audience’s attention, speak into a microphone, and even recorded an introduction to one of the DJ’s podcasts. After this we investigated other podcasts either made by kids or for kids.  We listened, asked questions, and made a list of need-to-knows to be successful with our own podcast. While diving into some inquiry we were also learning about narrative writing and would skype with other K/1’s to get feedback.  

Our next milestone was learning how to podcast and use the equipment. We had an expert come into our class to further their research.  The kids then came up with different jobs that would be needed to run a podcast series. These jobs included hosts, equipment managers, directors of sales and marketing (the kids designed and made buttons to sell to fund their podcast), sound engineers, music directors, and videographers to document the process. Each student applied and interviewed for the job that they wanted and would be able to bring their own strengths to. We were very open with our kids that this was new to us as well and we were going to be figuring out and learning right alongside them.  

During Writer’s Workshop, we really got down to podcasting business. This was the time in our day when our kids would write their narratives, give and receive feedback (thank goodness for Kanban boards to monitor all the moving parts), work on their storyteller voices, write scripts, and actually run the podcast.  The first episode took the longest as we were all trying to figure out the software, understand what all the buttons meant, and unravel why the microphone’s light kept blinking. Turns out the microphone was on mute the entire time during our first attempt at episode one. (insert another headshake).  

Student collaboration was crucial for this project.  We started with setting up group norms that the students came up with themselves.  We asked them what teamwork would look like, sound, and feel like. We also asked them what they needed in their team to be successful.    When it was time to podcast we would call over equipment management to set up the microphone, grab the computer, attach the foam windscreen to the table (yeah, we didn’t know what this was either), and attach the cords.  After that the sound engineers would come over and get the software ready to go. This took a few attempts and a lot of on the job training to get right.

 As these students were gearing up our hosts would be over at a table practicing their lines.  We would include pictures by words when needed to meet everyone’s needs. Once the equipment was set up and the sound was ready then the hosts would begin.  After they would give their introductions the storytellers for each episode would come over with their narrative writing and record their stories. They had a choice if they wanted to work with a partner or record independently for each episode.  While one teacher was with a group podcasting, the other teacher was running Writer’s Workshop-business as usual. After all the stories for the episode were recorded, the music directors would come over and choose the background music. Once we thought we had an episode complete we would all gather around to listen to it and go through a PQP (praise, question, polish) protocol.  When it was finalized we would upload it to our hosting website. We went through this process with all 8 of our students’ episodes. It turned out, our not knowing anything about podcasting was one of the best things, because our kids got to see our struggle and how we worked through it and this helped them to be risk takers themselves.  

Now, let’s get back to the bar. Our kids went public by hosting a Promo Party for the community at the local establishment Station No. 06 located right down the street from our school.  We chose this place because it is run by a young lifelong resident who is a graduate of our West Allis West Milwaukee School District. He was also the expert that came into our classroom to tell his story and to teach us about podcasting.  During this Promo Party their podcast played loud and proud through the speakers, photographs were shown across big screens. Students ran a podcasting station to interview community members and ask what their story is. There was an “ask me” booth for guests to come ask our kids questions about their project. “I want people to hear our stories and know that we worked very hard.  It’s so exciting!” announced Sorayah, one of our hosts. Our kids love to talk about their learning.  Aaliyah, our equipment manager explains, “We learned how to do narrative writing, and podcast, and use the equipment!  The promo party was the best. It was loud, but I was so happy to be there. It was exciting to be there with all my friends. I was so proud.” That’s why we do what we do. Teaching this way is for our kids.  Well, and of course, so we can have a little fun too. 

So take the lead, be on stage, continue your story.  Rock on.