A mission of Jenison Public Schools is to encourage and enable our students to gain a lifelong love of reading. The month of March has been designated National Reading Month and it’s something all of our Wildcats love to celebrate. This national movement is also meant to motivate family and community members of all ages to read every day as reading regularly has been linked to development of positive mental health throughout our lives. No matter your age, we believe that readers are leaders!
March is particularly fun for reading as students spend time finding new and interesting things to read, through goal setting and special projects. Sadly, with the current school year changing due to the COVID-19 closure, students didn’t get to complete many of their reading programs with their classes.
As National Reading Month kicked off this year, Jenison International Academy students had just put the finishing touches on a really neat project. JIA English and Language Arts instructor, Cameron Kuiper, tasked the 9th grade students with a new project to create Reading Radio Dramas. Radio drama is a dramatized, acoustic performance with dialogue, music and sound effects to relay a story. The objective of their work was to connect with younger classmates and share exciting literary moments to get them potentially hooked on a new book. Working individually or in a group, students chose tell a story using one of several classic Roald Dahl books.
Many of the 9th grade students are familiar with technology and this is a great opportunity for them to apply it further while learning additional life skills such as working in a virtual group. Another unique component of this English assignment is working with awareness of digital creative copyright claims and finding available resources in the public domain. The Radio Drama production process required work on the script, sound effects, recording and editing. Some students even ‘managed a cast’ while they recruited family members and friends to add more diverse character voices.
While originally intended for the younger JIA students, I’m excited to share this unique project more broadly for you all to enjoy! Each Radio Drama provides a glimpse into an enchanting Roald Dahl book for a few minutes. Maybe it will be enough to get you interested in picking up a copy and reading more!
Gather your family around the ‘radio’ (or other device) and enjoy the performances of the JIA Students in JIA RADIO DRAMAS. Maybe you’ll get hooked on a new book too!
The platform used for the Reading Radio Dramas is called Anchor.fm. Check it out, maybe you and your family would like to learn about producing a story or podcast!
