Become a Creator today!Start creating today - Share your story with the world!
Start for free
00:00:00
00:00:01
The Heaviest Lift and Biggest Reward with Kora Moore
45 Plays1 year ago
Continuing our conversation with Kora! She talks about which phase of a journalistic learning project was the most demanding of her as an educator but was also the most rewarding and led to “one of those inspirational teacher moments.”
Kora Moore teaches 6th, 7th, and 8th grade ELA at Lighthouse Middle School in Coos Bay Oregon. This is her second year leading a journalistic learning project in her classroom across the three grades she teaches.
Links:
Webinar: Connect Students to Their Community Using Journalistic Learning and In-Class Interviews
Recommended
Transcript
Introduction to the Podcast
00:00:13
Speaker
Welcome to JLI's Journalistic Learning Podcast, where we talk with teachers who are leading journalistic learning projects in their classrooms.
What is Journalistic Learning?
00:00:21
Speaker
For those who don't know, journalistic learning is a systemic approach that infuses journalistic strategies into required ELA courses and engages students in self-directed learning and project-based storytelling.
00:00:34
Speaker
Hey there, I'm your host Beau Brusco, a former ELA teacher myself and multimedia journalist.
Meet Cora Moore, ELA Teacher
00:00:39
Speaker
Today we'll be continuing our conversation with Cora Moore.
00:00:42
Speaker
It was like one of those beautiful inspirational teacher moments.
00:00:46
Speaker
An ELA teacher at a charter school in Coos Bay, Oregon, who is currently leading a journalistic learning project with her sixth, seventh, and eighth graders.
00:00:55
Speaker
Let's jump back into it.
00:01:05
Speaker
I know we've talked a little bit about some stories, but is there any like one story or experience for better or for worse, or maybe a learning experience?
00:01:15
Speaker
Was there something that was really challenging that you learned from that you'd like to share with your fellow teachers?
Overcoming Interview Challenges
00:01:22
Speaker
I think the part of the project that stood out the most to me last year was doing interviews with people.
00:01:29
Speaker
And it was the part of the project that took me as a teacher the most out of my comfort zone.
00:01:38
Speaker
I had to call people.
00:01:40
Speaker
I had to email people.
00:01:42
Speaker
I had to try to make all these connections.
00:01:45
Speaker
And I just wanted to stay in my bubble.
00:01:47
Speaker
And then I had to have all those people come into my classroom.
00:01:51
Speaker
And so it was really very much uncomfortable.
00:01:55
Speaker
But it ended up being the most rewarding thing.
00:01:58
Speaker
It was like one of those beautiful, inspirational teacher moments that we all wish that we would have.
00:02:05
Speaker
And so it was really, really worth the hard work that went into it.
00:02:10
Speaker
because I was teaching middle school, I really, I didn't want my kids out there like cold calling people and I didn't want them emailing strangers and things like that yet.
00:02:21
Speaker
I think that some of that might be more appropriate at the high school level.
00:02:24
Speaker
So I had my tech person set up a journalism email address for our school.
00:02:30
Speaker
And so the students were able to forward me their email or a phone number.
00:02:36
Speaker
And we were able to kind of
00:02:38
Speaker
communicate with their people they wanted to interview through that medium.
00:02:43
Speaker
And so I felt that was a little bit safer just for our age group.
00:02:47
Speaker
But it did put a lot of work on me.
00:02:50
Speaker
And then, of course, they all had dreams of interviewing like Barack Obama and the governor.
00:02:55
Speaker
Yeah.
00:02:57
Speaker
They've got big aspirations, which I loved.
00:03:01
Speaker
But bringing it back down to who do we, who can we actually connect with got pretty challenging.
00:03:07
Speaker
And some people that we kind of cold contacted responded and they came and it was wonderful.
00:03:14
Speaker
In the end, it was like, I've got four or five groups of kids that don't have someone to interview.
00:03:20
Speaker
What are we going to do
Importance of Community Connections
00:03:21
Speaker
about it?
00:03:21
Speaker
And so I
00:03:23
Speaker
At that point, I think it was really important to really lean into our school community.
00:03:29
Speaker
So I had one parent who was a city, like a city counselor.
00:03:35
Speaker
And so he knew a lot of people.
00:03:37
Speaker
So I kind of got in touch and said, do you know some people that might be willing to talk with us about X, Y, or Z issue?
00:03:43
Speaker
The office staff know everybody.
00:03:45
Speaker
So I gave them my list and I was like, why did I not ask them at the very beginning?
00:03:51
Speaker
Because they were like,
00:03:53
Speaker
oh, so-and-so's parents and activists for, you know, the beaches and so-and-so's parent owns a restaurant and, you know, so-and-so, they work at a gas station down the road.
00:04:04
Speaker
So it was just leaning into the community and who do we know was, I think, really important.
00:04:12
Speaker
Yeah.
00:04:14
Speaker
Because I was I feel like a really important part of the project as well, just making connections with our
Ethics in Student Journalism
00:04:19
Speaker
community.
00:04:19
Speaker
And some of the kids were like, isn't that, you know, unethical to like interview somebody we know?
00:04:25
Speaker
And I was like, you know, that's a really important question.
00:04:28
Speaker
You know, as a journalist, you want to be thoughtful, I think, about who you.
00:04:34
Speaker
choose to interview, but we're also in the sixth grade and it's probably okay if we interview the third graders parent about their job.
00:04:44
Speaker
And, and so that really brought, I think our school community closer together.
00:04:48
Speaker
And it was really fun to share our final project, knowing that so many people in our school community had contributed in different ways, not just our students.
00:04:56
Speaker
Yeah.
00:04:56
Speaker
You know, I can only imagine like how,
00:05:00
Speaker
incredibly impactful that experience was for your students to have not just an interview with a community member, but to be respected and seen and heard in a professional kind of like environment.
Building Confidence Through Interviews
00:05:15
Speaker
Yeah.
00:05:15
Speaker
Do you want to just share the sort of impact you saw in your kids from the interview experience?
00:05:24
Speaker
Well, they all showed up dressed nicely.
00:05:27
Speaker
They were all so nervous.
00:05:29
Speaker
There was a couple groups with students that like genuinely don't talk with people.
00:05:35
Speaker
And they sat and they recorded and they were able to be part of it that way.
00:05:41
Speaker
So I just feel like everybody was really was included and everybody got to practice.
00:05:46
Speaker
And I saw kids that are very shy.
00:05:49
Speaker
coming out of that.
00:05:52
Speaker
And I know I've got a couple of students that were saying, you know, we're nervous about this year, but it went okay last year.
00:06:00
Speaker
And so knowing that that's something that they can do and that it's applicable to life outside of school was really, really valuable.
00:06:09
Speaker
Yeah.
00:06:10
Speaker
I think one of my favorite interviews last year was the animal shelter director.
00:06:18
Speaker
The kids emailed her.
00:06:20
Speaker
We didn't know her at all.
00:06:22
Speaker
And she agreed to come.
00:06:24
Speaker
And as interview day came up, she emailed me a couple of times.
00:06:28
Speaker
And she's like, are you sure you don't want me to bring an animal?
00:06:31
Speaker
And I was like, no.
00:06:32
Speaker
No, it's not that kind of a project.
00:06:35
Speaker
Yeah, yeah.
00:06:36
Speaker
It's not like a, we're not going to let like an iguana crawl across the kid's laps.
00:06:40
Speaker
That's not what this is.
00:06:42
Speaker
Right, right.
00:06:43
Speaker
And so she came and the kids asked her like all these really thoughtful questions and like deep questions about her job and like,
00:06:53
Speaker
philosophically, like, what are we doing to take care of these animals?
00:06:56
Speaker
And like, what happens if they have to be euthanized?
00:07:00
Speaker
And I mean, just the, it was a great interview.
00:07:03
Speaker
And my office staff came up to me later and said, they heard this lady kind of muttering as she walked out the door.
00:07:11
Speaker
Like, that was not what I expected.
00:07:15
Speaker
Oh, but like in like a really good way.
00:07:17
Speaker
Yeah, good way.
00:07:19
Speaker
Yeah.
00:07:20
Speaker
I bet I bet that really I bet that really had impact on her too.
00:07:24
Speaker
That's really sweet.
00:07:25
Speaker
Yeah.
00:07:26
Speaker
So that was a really, a really sweet moment that I thought was meaningful.
00:07:32
Speaker
Yeah, it was really good.
00:07:34
Speaker
Wow.
Reflecting on Project Impact
00:07:36
Speaker
That's incredible.
00:07:36
Speaker
Well, so to kind of bring it full circle, I know for you, especially because you were kind of overseeing the cold emails and stuff like that, and it was heavy lifting on your part, definitely.
00:07:50
Speaker
Would you say it was worth it, though, for the experience for the kids?
00:07:54
Speaker
Well, I'm doing it again this year, so yes.
00:07:58
Speaker
I absolutely feel like it was so very much worth it.
00:08:03
Speaker
I have limited myself to one inspirational teaching moment per term because that's about all I can do.
00:08:12
Speaker
But it really was worth it.
00:08:14
Speaker
And I think it's the part that they most remembered from the previous year.
00:08:20
Speaker
And I think it's probably something that they'll take forward with them as well.
00:08:25
Speaker
That's it for today's episode.
Resources and Further Learning
00:08:27
Speaker
If you're interested in learning more about leading a journalistic learning project in your class, visit journalisticlearning.org for more information.
00:08:34
Speaker
Also, Cora talked a lot about guiding students through the interview process in this episode, and we actually have a whole webinar about doing just that.
00:08:43
Speaker
And I'll put a link to it in the comments below or in the description below if you want to check that out.
00:08:49
Speaker
But before signing off today, here's a quick tidbit of news.
Educational News and Conclusion
00:08:52
Speaker
At the beginning of this year, the Biden administration announced its Improving Student Achievement Agenda for 2024.
00:08:57
Speaker
The plan identifies three strategies proven to improve student learning, including reducing absenteeism, intensifying tutoring, and expanding after-school and summer learning programs.
00:09:09
Speaker
Just to zoom in on one of these strategies, absenteeism is a real struggle right now for public education.
00:09:16
Speaker
Absenteeism rates have doubled since the 2018-2019 school year.
00:09:21
Speaker
Today, around 28% of students are missing more than 18 days of class in a year.
00:09:27
Speaker
And as the White House's agenda points out, how can students learn if they're not in school?
00:09:32
Speaker
If you want to learn more about the agenda and what it might mean for your school, you can find a link to the announcement from the White House in the description of this podcast.
00:09:40
Speaker
Thank you for tuning in to the Journalistic Learning Podcast.
00:09:43
Speaker
I am Beau Brusco.
00:09:44
Speaker
We'll see you next time.