Podcast (TT #8) - "Waiting for Superman"

For TT #8 I chose to watch the documentary recommended by Jennifer Dyck-Sprout, "Waiting for Superman" as opposed to listening to a podcast. The idea of Charter Schools was mentioned by Jennifer last week in her presentation to our class, and is the theme of the film.

The documentary outlines the failed public school systems in NewYork and Los Angeles and follows children of varying ages on their path to escape the public school system and dreams of winning a lottery that would gain them entrance into a Charter School, schools that have a higher quality of education and greater success rates without cost to the parents.

What is most sad about the documentary is the lengths these parents, who are mostly low income families, will go to provide a quality education for their children, but no matter the lengths these parts are willing to go, such as waking up at 5am and riding a train across New York City to get to school by 7:45, the hopes of the parents and students are held in the hands of a lottery.

The film portrays the concept of Charter Schools both as a positive and negative. On one side it is great that parents who cannot afford to spend thousands of dollars on private school have the chance to send their child to a school that can provide them with a proper education, and possibly a future at a post secondary institution. On the other it is sad how schools across the United States have become "drop out factories" with students seeing very little chance at success.

It is a frightening reality that students as young as k-2 already have their academic future mapped out for them. The chances of attending a post secondary institution without attending a Charter or Private school are almost impossible. Hopefully Canada does not follow the path of our southern neighbours.

As for using podcasts in the classroom I can see how the would be great in an English setting, in particular using them in a Lit Circle format. By having students in Lit Circles create a podcast as opposed to talking without any type of moderation, the students are more likely to take the process seriously and less likely to get off track due to the teacher being able to listen to the podcast after. It would act as a classroom management strategy. The podcast would also act as a way for students to track the progression of their reading.  Creating a podcast would also act as a great summative assessment much like the final projects in this class.