AHS Offers New Intro to Podcasting Class
Megan Jones
CORRESPONDANT
Michael Scarfo, one of the ELA teachers at Andover High School, will be teaching a new elective course, Introduction to Podcasting, this upcoming year.
The course will be a half year course that is available for 10th to 12th grades. It will allow students to practice different styles of public speaking while simultaneously being able to follow their own interests. Furthermore, the class will give students the ability to pick a topic that they care about and base their podcast on it. Once the podcast is created, the episode will be posted on a host site.
Not only will students be creating their own podcasts, but they will get the chance to analyze and critique other podcasts. Scarfo said, “you can see a lot of parallels with poetry” because both subjects look at the way in which you say something and the delivery of certain words.
Scarfo has said that he wants to utilize this class to “build a tighter school community” because of the collaborative aspect with other writing classes. For example, in an audio essay project, a student who takes the podcasting class can work with a creative writing student whom they have never met before. So, this class can also be a way to build a more well-rounded school community.
Scarfo hosts the podcast Turntable Teachers, where he interviews musicians and reviews music. Joanna Ganci, the school’s ELA program director, presented Scarfo with the opportunity to teach his own podcasting class in the school. Originally, he wanted to keep this passion separate from his school life, but when students found his podcast, they loved it.
The logo of Michael Scarfo’s podcast, Turntable Teachers
Even though Scarfo doesn’t enjoy singing or playing an instrument, he loves listening to music. Scarfo aimed to further his passion with a podcast all about music. His podcast allows singers, producers, etc. to have a free flowing conversation about whatever they are passionate about. Scarfo has always learned so much from all of the interviews he has done with musicians like Jasmine Ortiz, Roc Kartel and Amanda Shea.
Podcasts are a new and creative way to learn something about a topic that was never known before. Scarfo also noted that podcasting could be a way for his students “to use their voice for whatever issues or passions that they want to raise awareness for.”
