Former Volunteer of the Month Ryan Howard taught a three-week literature workshop on Hemingway at Argo Park. In it, students discussed The Nick Adams Stories, Hemingway, sexism, machismo, and also went hiking, canoeing, and had a picnic. Michigan Radio’s Jennifer Guerra featured the workshop in a piece that aired on NPR. Hear it here!

 
Wednesday, April 16, 2008 – Feature of the Month: The 826michigan Gazette

Journalist Erik Gable heads up the crew of the 826michigan Gazette. The culminating project of a workshop we’d like to offer every semester, you can check out the first issue here (686KB PDF).

 
Sunday, March 2, 2008 – Feature of the Month: Willow Run Radio Play!

This past fall/winter, stellar volunteer Chris Greene spent eight weeks working with third, fourth, and fifth graders from Willow Run Community Schools. Twelve students participated in this afterschool program in which Peter Pan was adapted for the radio. This program was part of the Bright Futures grant through Eastern Michigan University, and we were terribly excited to help the students write, record, and produce the final play.

We’ll be honest: we had high hopes for this program, but even we didn’t expect the finished product to be so good, so clever, so funny, and so well put together. Many thanks, pats on the back, and high fives to our one and only Chris Greene!

Press play above to listen to the play (7:56)
Or click here to download the mp3 (7.3 MB)

 
Friday, February 1, 2008 – Feature of the Month: Mitchell Elementary Radio Plays!

Last fall we sent a team of our best and brightest into Mitchell Elementary to work with a wonderful group of second graders and their teacher, Mrs. Babcock, whom we can only describe as divine. Jared, Jessi, Amanda, and Sydney spent about a month and a half working with small groups of reaaaaalllly energetic students adapting fairy tales, nursery rhymes, fables, and other famous children’s stories into radio plays.

At the end of the project, we had a big listening party that included a potluck of foods from around the world, international music, dancing, and a presentation to thank 826michigan. Have you ever had a group of second graders and their divine teacher give a big speech about how you helped stir up their creativity and then present you with a wooden spoon? Have you ever seen second graders get up, one by one, and say something really thoughtful and sweet, and then thank you and hand you a wooden spoon? Have you ever held a wooden spoon in your hand, rubbing your thumb along the smooth inside of it, and tried not to burst into tears in front of a classroom of second graders? We have. And all we can say about it is: Holy cow, it is something else.

Please enjoy these radio plays!

Press play above to listen to the plays (17:59)
Or click here to download the mp3 (12.4 MB)

 
Thursday, December 6, 2007 – Things You Wish You Could've Done When You Were in Middle School

This fall, Michigan Radio’s Jennifer Guerra taught a four-week workshop for us in which middle school students put together their own radio documentaries. These students interviewed people, wrote up scripts, and went into the studio at Michigan Radio to record their pieces. The final product? This awesome documentary, which, if you must know, made me cry when it played on WCBN a few weeks back:

Press play above to listen to the documentary (17:47)
Or click here to download the mp3 (16.3 MB)

Many thanks to Jennifer Guerra, who promised to teach this for us again next fall. (Now that I’ve put it up here, she’s got no choice!) Thanks also to Angi Stevens, who always helps out a lot, but who helped out an extra super lot with this one.