Lower School Launches Student Run Podcast
Beginning this year, an exciting new project will start in grade 4 at The Ellis School. Students will work with Kim Mechling, the Lower School Science teacher and Technology Integration Coordinator, and Tim Howard, Director of Educational Technology, to produce a weekly Lower School video podcast for other students and parents.
The podcast is intended to display the weekly happenings in the Lower School. Topics for the podcast may include special projects, field trips, welcoming a visitor to the classroom, or celebrating a special occasion.
Mrs. Mechling is looking forward to working with the girls on this podcast and hopes to expand it in the future to include guest reporters, pictures, and interviews. While the podcast will primarily focus on what is happening in Lower School classrooms, Mr. Howard hopes the girls will expand and reach out to other students and teachers in the Middle and Upper School.
Mr. Howard sees this podcast as “an opportunity for students to express their creativity and share what is going on in the greater community,” while still producing a “meaningful and professional podcast.”
Through working on this project, Lower School students have the opportunity to learn various skills, including video setup, public speaking, and effective ways to present information. These are all skills that they will use throughout their time at Ellis as well as in their future pursuits.
As Pittsburgh’s only age 3 - grade 12 independent girls’ school, The Ellis School is dedicated to helping girls build their self-confidence and public speaking skills at a young age. According to a study completed by the UCLA Graduate School of Education and Information Studies, girls graduating from independent girls’ schools consistently rate their confidence in their public speaking abilities higher than girls graduating from independent coeducational schools.
Through the Lower School podcast project, every student in grade 4 will have the opportunity to improve their self-confidence by taking the lead in managing and directing this project behind the scenes, as well as improving their public speaking abilities in front of the camera while they deliver the weekly podcast.
Envision Her at Ellis
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