Description:

Youth Radio: The Fourth R

Are you looking for a unique way to bring an awareness of the outside world into your classroom? Would your students like to hear from other young people about issues of pressing relevance to their own lives and studies?

Youth Radio, an award-winning producer of youth voices, has released a new curriculum resource called The Fourth R, which adds radio to our traditional line-up of reading, 'riting and 'rithmetic. Radio produced by young people contains powerful opportunities for students to develop new literacies, build critical thinking skills, experiment with digital technologies, and express important ideas about the most pressing social and cultural issues we face today.

On the first Tuesday of each month, the Fourth R releases an on-line News Break, providing free lesson plan suggestions and standards alignment linked to a radio story written and produced by youth. Stories featured in the Fourth R series have aired on some of our nation's most influential public media outlets, and they are sure to engage your students in lively discussion and debate, just as they have for tens of millions of radio listeners. Each News Break includes:

1. How teachers can align the Youth Radio story to National Standards in the classroom.
2. Suggestions for lesson plans that link the story's content to your classroom's themes and subject areas.
3. Suggestions for lesson plans that explore media literacy, using the story to re-read mainstream media.
4. Bios of the Youth Radio reporters who produced the story.
5. A list of resources and further research related to the story's themes.
6. Links to Youth Radio's media production techniques as guides and inspiration for your students' creative media-making projects.

Fourth R content applies to a range of school subject areas, including English, social studies, and health classes. The stories also address a range of issues driving community organizing efforts and positive youth development projects taking place beyond classroom walls. Written transcripts and audio links for each Fourth R story are included in every News Break. These materials are especially helpful for struggling readers and English Language Learners. The Fourth R is a great curriculum resource regardless of whether your students are using high-end computers or pencils and paper.

We are currently piloting this program in the San Francisco Bay Area and look forward to launching nationally in the fall of 2006. We'll be inviting teachers using the Fourth R to submit their students' stories to Youth Radio's website, so the project is an exciting way to connect your students to real audiences and publishing opportunities.

If you have any questions or would like us to add your contact information to our database, please send your name and email address to: Lissa Soep at lissa@youthradio.org and Dawn Williams at dawnw@uclink.berkeley.edu.