This is Jennifer Gonzalez welcoming you to episode 160 of the Cult of Pedagogy Podcast.

In this episode we're going to talk about how to do an activism campaign project with your students.

I think every teacher would love to have a thick file of lesson plans that are all home runs.

Each one guaranteed to engage students, encourage collaboration, teach our curriculum in a rich and relevant way,

and develop our students into lifelong learners who can take what they learn and use it in a way that benefits the world.

And because my job here is to help you do your work better, when I come across lessons that fit that description,

especially if they would fit in a lot of subject areas in grade levels, I'd like to share them with you.

And that's what I'm doing today.

My guest is Jane Carell, a primary teacher who currently works with nine and ten year olds in the UK.

Recently, Carell had her students do a project that ended up really hitting the nail on the head,

an interdisciplinary unit where students studied a fictional place called Alchemy Island.

After they'd studied the geography of the island and analyzed the materials found there,

Carell had them work on an environmental campaign to stop a project that would result in the deforestation of a portion of the land.

Unlike a more traditional persuasive writing assignment, this task had more relevance and more tangible consequences,

and Carell's students were hooked, engaging thoughtfully in the work and collaborating in a way that Carell hadn't seen before.

We're at a time in history when it's absolutely vital for students to speak up about the things they believe in,

and to understand how a powerful voice can make real change happen.

Today, we'll look at how Carell taught her students to do this and how you can do the same with any topic in your own classroom.

Before we start, I'd like to thank Listenwise for sponsoring this episode.

Listenwise is an award-winning online listening curriculum that brings NPR podcast lessons into your classroom for grades 2-12.

Teach listening skills while building content knowledge using engaging and relevant nonfiction podcasts.

Listenwise is great for addressing the listening and speaking standards on your ELA state assessments, like the Smarter Balance Test.

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