SYN Media

SYN’s Schools on Air ‘‘Detention’‘ program is a one hour weekly live radio program made by students from schools across Victoria. Every Term up to 25 schools prepare, produce and present ‘‘Detention’’ live on SYN from 10 am to 3 pm. There is no one kind of school that participates in SYN’s ‘Detention’ Live Radio Program and every school finds something unique that their students can get out of the SYN experience. The Island is a program run by Collingwood College for young people who have experienced some kind of interruption to their learning and often have difficulties with classroom-based learning. In early 2009, Michele Giordano, the VCAL teacher at The Island contacted SYN to see if he could get his students involved in our on-air ‘‘Detention’’ program.

Michele is a dedicated teacher who works closely with his students. When he contacted SYN he was looking for new ways to engage his students. After one term of ‘‘Detention’’, Michele and his students were hooked on radio. Michele found what many teachers find when their students get involved in radio – that students are generally excited to read, write and present their ideas out loud through radio, despite a reluctance to do so in the classroom. Participation in ‘Detention’ at SYN has improved learning outcomes for the students by providing them with a vehicle to explore their capacity to collaborate, communicate and be responsible for their weekly program. Likewise, SYN ‘Detention’ has improved Michele Giordano’s capacity as a teacher through SYN’s teacher support offerings, as well as having found new ways to communicate and motivate his students.

Have a listen to Lane, Jason (aka Slippers) and John from The Island talking about school and why The Island works for them.

In this segment John interviews Lane and Jason. Although some of the discussion is adlibbed, the basic framework of the interview was discussed and planned out before going into the studio. Working together is important to making a good ‘Detention’ radio program. Students work together in small groups to organize the ideas for their program as well as working together on air, making sure that the show runs smoothly. The process of putting together a media product gives students a chance to present their own ideas, listen to those of others and view their own roles and responsibilities in relation to the overall team goal. According to Michele, working together to present their ‘Detention’ show has enabled students to “focus on developing some critical personal development skills which validates the learning experience and will facilitate their general learning program.”

For students in The Island’s VCAL program SYN ‘Detention’ has provided a new source of motivation and engagement with the VCAL curriculum. Michele reports that students who have participated in ‘Detention’ since the start of term two feel as thought they have a stake in the program. Being able to participate in ‘Detention’ every week provides students with motivation to achieve other outcomes during the rest of the week. Likewise, students have been able to connect their enjoyment of making the radio show to their commitment to The Island. From Michele’s perspective, since starting ‘Detention’ at SYN, “they are enjoying a more positive and regular participation experience at The Island and developing key skills for broader involvement in the community”.

Michele also writes “the main barriers facing some of our difficult students it their lack of opportunity in a having a voice…SYN has certainly provided them with that”. In this next segment, The Island presents an MC Battle between Jamie (aka Fat Boy) and Michele. Jamie is one of the students who found a voice through ‘Detention’. This segment demonstrates a number of key learning improvements that ‘Detention’ has fostered. In particular, students respected the broadcast codes and for the most part spoke respectfully on the radio. Perhaps this is a given for most schools, but according to Michele this was a huge success for his class. Another success that can be heard in this segment is the rapport between the students and their teacher and the potential for teacher and student to communicate on a less hierarchical platform. You can also hear at the end of the show, that the students thank the school and their families. Most of the students’ families listen to them each week when they are on ‘Detention’. This is a pretty big deal and provides the students with a strong sense of validation that not only are they speaking on a public platform, but that in fact their voices are being heard in their communities.

Teacher Michele Giordano’s capacity to teach has also been improved through participating in SYN’s ‘Detention’ Live Radio. Before starting ‘Detention’ with his students, Michele had no experience with audio recording, podcasting or uploading content onto the web. Michele has tried his hand at podcasting at our Teacher Professional Learning Workshop. He has also used some of the teacher resources from the SYN Teacher’s ‘Detention’ Kit available on the SYN Edublog. As well as having learned new technical skills Michele Giordano’s involvement with ‘Detention’ has developed a greater capacity for motivating students in other areas of their VCAL program through their enthusiasm and commitment to their radio program.

By providing a platform for students to express themselves, SYN ‘Detention’ has also provided an opportunity for students at The Island to learn in an environment that validates their voice and gives them the opportunity to learn and develop skills on their own terms. Likewise for their teacher Michele Giordano, SYN’s ‘Detention’ Live Radio has provided him with new skills and new avenues through which he can engage with his students. The Island have come back to SYN for ‘Detention’ in Term 3, tune in Tuesdays at 3 pm to hear their unique perspective and freestyle rhymes.