Listen below or in your favorite podcast app.
Thursday, February 28, 2019
Was Germany Treated Fairly in the Versailles Peace Treaty?
In this first student episode of Vox Historia, sophomores Emmanuel Gonzalez and Jayden Marquis discuss the Versailles Peace Treaty that ended the First World War and whether or not Germany was treated fairly in the details.
Listen below or in your favorite podcast app.
Listen below or in your favorite podcast app.
Sunday, February 17, 2019
The Battalion of Death
Maria Bochkareva was a soldier, fighting for Russia during the First World War. This episode was written and produced by Elk Grove High School World History teacher, Bruce Janu. This episode is designed to demonstrate how a podcast can be used to tell history---by telling the story of the Battalion of Death.
Future episodes of Vox Historia will be researched, written and produced by students in World History class.
Sources
"Women’s Battalion of Death: First World War All-Female Forces From Russia" by Holly Godbey from War History Online.
Yashka: My Life as Peasant, Exile and Soldier by Maria Bochkareva, published in 1919 accessed via Google Books.
"Overlooked No More: Maria Bochkareva, Who Led Women Into Battle in WWI" by Elisabeth Goodridge, New York Times April 25, 2018.
"Maria Bochkareva" Spartacus Educational.
Future episodes of Vox Historia will be researched, written and produced by students in World History class.
Sources
"Women’s Battalion of Death: First World War All-Female Forces From Russia" by Holly Godbey from War History Online.
Yashka: My Life as Peasant, Exile and Soldier by Maria Bochkareva, published in 1919 accessed via Google Books.
"Overlooked No More: Maria Bochkareva, Who Led Women Into Battle in WWI" by Elisabeth Goodridge, New York Times April 25, 2018.
"Maria Bochkareva" Spartacus Educational.
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| Maria Bochkareva |
Saturday, February 16, 2019
Introducing Vox Historia
What is Vox Historia? Listen as Bruce Janu explains the root of the project and how students in his World History class will be writing and producing upcoming episodes.
This week, an episode produced by Bruce Janu will drop. Then, Jayden and Emmanuel will post their episode about the Versailles Peace Treaty.
In the coming weeks, other students will be given the opportunity to produce episodes as well.
Vox Historia is hosted on Anchor.fm. It will be available soon on other platforms as well. Check back for more information.
This week, an episode produced by Bruce Janu will drop. Then, Jayden and Emmanuel will post their episode about the Versailles Peace Treaty.
In the coming weeks, other students will be given the opportunity to produce episodes as well.
Vox Historia is hosted on Anchor.fm. It will be available soon on other platforms as well. Check back for more information.
 |
| World History students Emmanuel and Jayden try out the podcasting equipment as they get ready to produce their first episode of Vox Historia. |
Friday, February 15, 2019
Welcome to Vox Historia: The Voices of History
My name is Bruce Janu. I have been teaching history for 27 years. I am basically a traditional teacher: I like to lecture and tell the stories of history. Human beings have been telling stories long before they started to write them down. And I love it when I can hook a student through the power of storytelling. I have found that students are most attentive when history is presented as a story. Consequently, my classroom has been very "teacher-centered." Not that this is bad thing. I love telling stories. I love getting students interested in history.
However, students become complacent. They want to be given the information that they can then simply regurgitate on tests. And then it is forgotten. They become too comfortable in this sedentary, passive environment.
This year, a bunch of us at Elk Grove High School watched the documentary Most Likely to Succeed. That film highlighted a non-traditional school outside of San Diego called High Tech High School. This school is student-centered and focuses on project-based, interdisciplinary learning. While watching the film, I was reminded of the times in my career when I felt that I was truly getting the kids engaged in learning. My best teaching moments have always been in an interdisciplinary environment, whether it was with another teacher or working on problem-based activities that spanned multiple disciplines.
And that got me thinking: What if I could create, in a traditional classroom, opportunities for students to not only choose what they wanted to learn, but demonstrate what they have learned through storytelling?
And so Vox Historia: The Voices of History was born.
On this podcast, students choose to complete an alternative assignment. In lieu of a test or other traditional classwork, students pick a topic, research that topic and then write and produce a podcast about that topic. In other words, they become the storyteller--the "Vox Historia."
This project is still in its infancy.
Currently, I have a couple of students who have made the decision to forgo the traditional--and comfortable--classroom work to engage themselves in a conversation directly with history. They completed some background research on the unit. They then picked a topic from the unit.
In the next week or so, they will present their topic in podcast form.
This is not the easy way out. By choosing to do a podcast, these kids are putting their product out into the world. I am not the only one who will be judging their podcast. Anyone with an internet connection will be able to listen to these students. This realization that their work will be beyond the walls of our comfortable classroom for all to see, adds a seriousness to project and is the best motivator for truly getting things right.
I am not sure how this is going to turn out. I am hopeful. I am optimistic.
In the end, the product will speak for itself. And, succeed or fail, these students will have done more self-directed work, learned more about a unit of history, than they would have sitting in my classroom quietly taking notes and memorizing facts that will appear on a test.
Stay tuned for some exciting content. I will be presenting an example of Vox Historia soon. Then, you will hear from the students.
However, students become complacent. They want to be given the information that they can then simply regurgitate on tests. And then it is forgotten. They become too comfortable in this sedentary, passive environment.
This year, a bunch of us at Elk Grove High School watched the documentary Most Likely to Succeed. That film highlighted a non-traditional school outside of San Diego called High Tech High School. This school is student-centered and focuses on project-based, interdisciplinary learning. While watching the film, I was reminded of the times in my career when I felt that I was truly getting the kids engaged in learning. My best teaching moments have always been in an interdisciplinary environment, whether it was with another teacher or working on problem-based activities that spanned multiple disciplines.
And that got me thinking: What if I could create, in a traditional classroom, opportunities for students to not only choose what they wanted to learn, but demonstrate what they have learned through storytelling?
And so Vox Historia: The Voices of History was born.
On this podcast, students choose to complete an alternative assignment. In lieu of a test or other traditional classwork, students pick a topic, research that topic and then write and produce a podcast about that topic. In other words, they become the storyteller--the "Vox Historia."
This project is still in its infancy.
Currently, I have a couple of students who have made the decision to forgo the traditional--and comfortable--classroom work to engage themselves in a conversation directly with history. They completed some background research on the unit. They then picked a topic from the unit.
In the next week or so, they will present their topic in podcast form.
This is not the easy way out. By choosing to do a podcast, these kids are putting their product out into the world. I am not the only one who will be judging their podcast. Anyone with an internet connection will be able to listen to these students. This realization that their work will be beyond the walls of our comfortable classroom for all to see, adds a seriousness to project and is the best motivator for truly getting things right.
I am not sure how this is going to turn out. I am hopeful. I am optimistic.
In the end, the product will speak for itself. And, succeed or fail, these students will have done more self-directed work, learned more about a unit of history, than they would have sitting in my classroom quietly taking notes and memorizing facts that will appear on a test.
Stay tuned for some exciting content. I will be presenting an example of Vox Historia soon. Then, you will hear from the students.
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