📚 The State of Education: K-12
📚 The State of Education: K-12
Sounds Like Impact: A newsletter for audio and action - Vol. 18
Welcome to Sounds Like Impact!
To all of those who are new here, welcome! And if last week was your first edition, I want to officially say hello to you too! I know that was an off-week.
Speaking of last week, a special thank you to Arielle T and Melissa M for your donations! And shoutout to Andreea C. and Jenna C. for pitching podcast interviews and guest curations! Keep all of it coming :-)
On that note, we are still on the road to 500 subscribers and are currently at 448. Would you consider helping out by sharing this newsletter with at least one person you know? And especially if you know any educators, this edition and the next are right up their alley!
Announcements:
📓As this newsletter and the next are related to education, I want to share this quick poll because I read this article about the impact of using podcasts as an engagement tool in schools:
If you respond to the poll, I—and I’m sure others—would love to hear more. Please leave a comment with additional info, and whether you are a K-12 instructor or in higher education.
💲Also before jumping in, want to share some opportunities I’ve come across:
Equitable Cities Reporting Fellowship for Reparations Narratives - For early career folks interested in a multi-platform, 1-year fellowship based in Richmond, Virginia
Freelance part-time podcast producer role with Arcana Audio
🙌 Keeping the faith: 60% of Ecuadorians voted against continued oil drilling in Critical Yasuni Amazon Biosphere! That’s good news for people and planet.
Read more from Good News Network.
🎧 #AudioForAction Theme of the Week
The State of Education: K-12
There are so many issues facing parents, educators, kids and society at-large around education. And while there is so much to unpack, key themes that I kept coming across (particularly in the U.S.) were around the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, how LGBTQIA+ identities and race should (or should not) be addressed in schools, economic inequality and trans kids in sports. The curation below provides some episodes to get you up to speed or dig further into what’s happening.
And I really want to stress that even if you do not have kids or are not planning on having kids, these issues very much affect you. Listen to understand why.
Public Health On Call, 648 - Pandemic Learning Loss Will Take Years to Reverse
The important mention here is that this has implications for everyone; so no, you don’t need to have kids to be concerned. You can also supplement with this study, “How COVID-19 caused a global learning crisis.”
Beyond the Scenes from The Daily Show, Why Are Books Being Banned Across America?
These are standalone episodes so you don’t have to have watched the show, and the calls-to-action are excellent. After this, you can learn more about specific banned books with the show Rogue Librarians.
Left Over: How Corporations and Politicians Are Milking the American School Lunch, The Paradox of Plenty Amid Hunger
This 6-part series was listed on the Best of Impactful Podcasts 2023…So Far.
Some of My Best Friends Are, Critical Race Theory in the Classroom
This episode is from 2021, but provides context for a lot of what is ongoing today, especially with increasing rhetoric around banning books and attacks on DEI programs. Follow-up with this episode, How Textbooks Made America Not So Great
Roughhousing, Part 1: Hell Week
Would be remiss if we didn’t talk about school sports. This podcast series goes deep into the culture of hazing in high school sports.
🚨 Calls to Action
Read:
Review: The resource guides from Left Over podcast.
Watch: Changing the Game - a documentary about transgender high school athletes. And you should also listen to this episode “Trans Kids: The Misinformation Battle” from Science Vs.
Participate: In Banned Books Week (ALL YEAR! but next official week is 10/1-10/7) and learn how you can get involved locally in confronting these issues. Project Censored and English Pen have more global scopes.
Support: The ACLU is actively fighting in court against book banning, inequality and more in education.
📣 Spotlight
👋🏾 Meet Jaime Albright from Freeway Phantom
I am originally from San Jose, California. My husband, children and I reside in Atlanta, GA. I earned my Bachelor of Sociology from Kennesaw State University in 2013 and my Master of Social work from Valdosta State University in 2018. I started my career in victim advocacy in 2014 and became a trained forensic interviewer later that year. I transitioned to the field of podcasting at Tenderfoot TV 4 years ago. I am passionate about providing individuals with a safe place to share their story. As content creators, I believe that we have a responsibility to reduce harm, shed light on stories of underserved populations and provide listeners with a call to action that can lead to change.
It was a pleasure to talk to Jaime, even about an unpleasant topic. I highly recommend checking out her guest curation, Missing, Murdered and Forgotten and listening in or reading our conversation, especially about ethical practices in true crime and the problem with the “perfect victim” narrative that is often perpetuated.
Also, Jaime shouted out the recently released Tenderfoot TV podcast Dear Alana, so make sure to check that out as well!
Obviously, someone's allowing me to share everything they tell me, but if they say, well, don't share this, I won't share it. There's a lot of things we left out of Freeway because while they would have sounded really juicy, it would have harmed the family members more so than it would have to give people information that was pertinent to them helping with possibly identifying the killer.
Learn more about Jaime’s thoughts on ethical and trauma-informed practices.
🌟 Classifieds
Nothing to promote but still want to support? You can donate here.
⏭ Coming Up
Next week we continue the focus on education, but at the higher education level. And I interview Jessica Terrell from Left Over podcast!
🤗 An act of joy: I saw the movie Theater Camp last week and 10/10 would recommend. If you like mockumentaries (e.g. The Office, Superstore, etc) you’ll enjoy this.
🙌 How to Support this Work
Sounds Like Impact is written and curated by Ayo Oti. Please consider several ways you can contribute to this important mission – providing a platform for social change through audio storytelling and calls to action for the change-maker that lives within all of us.
In addition to the Subscribe, Share, Like and Comment CTAs on this platform, there are other options: Donate | Tell Me About Yourself | Advertise
This work is made possible by your support, however it comes. Thanks for being part of the community and reading this far. Take care!