[Danielle Balocca]: Hey listeners, this is Danielle. And Shelley. Shelley is a radical Dravidian and racial equity activist.
[Chelli Keshavan]: And Danielle is a community mobilizer and changemaker. And this is the Medford Bites podcast. Every two weeks, we chew on the issues facing Medford and deliver bites of information about the city by lifting the expertise of our guests.
[Danielle Balocca]: Join us in discussion about what you hope for the future of Medford. And as always, tell us where you like to eat. Hey, thank you for joining me today. If you could start just by having you introduce yourself, your name, pronouns, and just a bit about who you are.
[SPEAKER_01]: Absolutely. My name is Amelia Whalen. My pronouns are she, her. I'm a teacher at the Andrews Middle School. I teach eighth grade ELA. I have been teaching in the district for five years. I taught over at the McGlynn. As a sixth grade ELA teacher for two years, I got switched over here during 2020, like with all the teacher shuffling, and I've been here ever since. Great. Thank you.
[Danielle Balocca]: So before we get into talking more about your work, I was wondering if you could answer the question that we ask everyone, which is your favorite place to eat in Medford and what you like to eat there.
[SPEAKER_01]: Oh, I really like going to Ronnie's and they have these little like garlic, garlic bites that are very, very yummy. The Parmesan garlic bites I think is what they are. They're very good.
[Danielle Balocca]: I've had those for sure.
[SPEAKER_01]: They're delicious.
[Danielle Balocca]: They're delightful. Thank you. So we've met each other because you do a project in your class where you have the kids do their own podcast. So I want to talk about that a little bit, but also I would love to hear from you kind of what got you into teaching, how you got here.
[SPEAKER_01]: So both my parents are teachers and growing up, I always said I did not want to be a teacher because of that. I just, I didn't want to be a teacher because both my parents were teachers. And then it was probably around junior year of high school, I realized that I loved working with kids. I did speech and debate in high school and we coached middle schoolers as high schoolers. And I just, I loved seeing them grow and develop their skills. And I love also seeing them kind of blossom into who they were as people. And that was kind of my first exposure at working with a middle school kind of demographic. And then I just, I knew that that's what I wanted to do outside of college. So I began working as a pre-K teacher and then I transitioned into middle school and I just, I love, I love seeing kids become the best version of who they are and I love I love talking to them about books and stories, that's why I love doing English because I think there's a safety in fiction and in literature where they can play out hypothetical scenarios and I think they can figure out how they would respond in a situation and try to kind of gauge who they could be or would be in kind of extraordinary circumstances. And I love the power of language and the ability to communicate your ideas and the power of your voice. And that's one of the reasons that I love doing the podcast project, because it's something that shows students and children of any ages that their voice, be it like a written voice or a spoken voice, their voice has meaning, their voice has weight, their voice has power, and their voice is important.
[Danielle Balocca]: Yeah, one of the things I was like really impressed with when we met last year was the topic that your students chose around the dress code and the hats and hoods. And I was thinking as you were talking about that idea of like seeing kids like kind of realize their best selves. And I could personally say that in eighth grade I was probably the worst version of myself, but probably because that was like there's a lot of sort of like questioning things and like challenging. And that project to me was kind of like the best way to use that aspect of like an eighth grader, right? They're challenging something that I think on its face, lots of teachers might be like, well, this is the policy. It is what it is. And like that project to me was really like, well, let's hear, let's hear why, why, like what, what you're coming up with, with why this is not a policy that. And in talking to those students, it seemed like that's what they were expecting. It was like, oh, teachers are just going to say, like, this is just the way it is. But it seemed like a really unique opportunity to really engage them in, like, something that they were passionate about.
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah. I mean, this started for those particular students. And just for context, the students, they wanted to challenge the policy that our district had on wearing hats and hoods in schools. And this started in their civics class with Mr. Tremonti. They were coming up with rules for their class's constitution and they wanted to challenge that rule. And he talked them through the process of kind of understanding where a rule came from and why the rule was there and how the rule was made, as well as the process that they needed to go through if they wanted that reformation and change and It just bridged into this classroom and it was really, really cool to see them connecting ideas across different subjects because that's something that we often talk about with them in their classes. Like we do CERs in English class, they do CERs in science class. We write about claim evidence reasoning and when they can bridge the gap between two different subjects, it's really fun to see that happen. to see them take an idea they had in civics, bring it into ELA, and then push it outside of the school setting and go to a city councilor. No, sorry, not a city councilor, a school committee member to try and make a change. That was really, it was really inspiring. And it was, it, it was something that brought me a lot of joy and brought me a lot of pride, and it made me very excited about what they can do in the future.
[Danielle Balocca]: Yeah, and not only did they do that, they helped kind of implement policy change, changing the handbook. I remember them getting a shout out in the actual school committee meeting. But also their podcast was entered in the NPR Student Podcast Challenge, and they were runner-up.
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, so they were top 10 in the nation for middle schoolers. We as a class have done this project now for five years. So my first year teaching in Medford, Medford, Medford was the first year that they ran this competition through NPR and we had kids submit for a podcast the first year, I want to say. And one, one group got an honorable mention and it was their podcast on Dr. Seuss. So we did a little podcast about his life, his impact, and they interviewed kids, they interviewed teachers. It was really fun. And then the next year the pandemic hit, so we didn't really get to do anything with that. The year after we had another student receive an honorable mention for her podcast called COVID Conversations, where she talked about connectivity throughout the pandemic and how it's really important to kind of maintain relationships, even if it's in a digital sense, like over the phone. And then last year we had students submit a podcast about wearing hats and hoods in school and they were selected as finalists, which was really beyond what I ever thought could have been accomplished. I just, I, you just think about like statistically, it wouldn't necessarily have your kids make it that far. And when they did, it was really exciting. It was very exciting. I was very happy for them.
[Danielle Balocca]: Yeah. A national competition.
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah. I remember.
[Danielle Balocca]: I think the winner was like Texas.
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah. So they did one. It was like the worlds we create. And they did this huge deep dive into how social media affects I want to say that they were trying to figure out how it affects teens and their mental health and their perception of reality. But they also went as far to do some experiments with how different political parties will target certain people on social media or how ads will target certain people. And it was very interesting. I'm constantly impressed with what middle schoolers are thinking of and focused on. One of the groups they talked about the modeling industry and the pressures it puts on young children, not just girls, but boys or anyone really, the pressure to look a certain way. one person was talking about, like, even though she has a disability, how she's still very much engaged in dance and dance makes her feel beautiful, even though she's not considered beautiful by like those, again, model industry standards that another podcast had talked about. It's just, it's amazing to me what the youth in our classrooms today are focused on and what they are consumed by and I am constantly in awe of what they have to say about the world we live in.
[Danielle Balocca]: Yeah. No, I thought that their project, the dress code was really interesting in terms of like gender, also race and all the things that, all the components that they brought into their argument. So it was like very impressive.
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah.
[Danielle Balocca]: Better than any podcast.
[SPEAKER_01]: No, no, no. I wouldn't say that. No, it's a fun project. We've done it now in this class. This is the fifth year doing it and each class kind of requires different things. So like some classes, they require a little bit more hand-holding and they require a lot of structure and it's usually me up at the computer listening to what they're saying, typing it all out. And then in other classes, students take the lead and they're the ones running the class and creating the project. But it's really at the heart of it, their project. It's their idea, it's their work, it's their words, it's their voice.
[Danielle Balocca]: And so the class comes up with like several different options, then they present them and they vote on which one they'll make into a podcast?
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah. So usually we do a little brainstorm session. We come up with anywhere from four to six ideas as a class, and then they go into little committees and then they try to persuade the rest of the class that they're proposed idea is the one that we should do. They get to vote. And then whichever one wins is the one that we move forward with for the project. And then we start doing research, drafting, outlining, editing, recording, in whatever capacity that is. Sometimes it's them going out and doing interviews. Sometimes it's them just reporting here in the classroom. And then we synthesize the whole thing together and we submit.
[Danielle Balocca]: There's so many different skills and different things that you're putting into that project. Well, I mentioned this to say, like, I think, you know, we're hearing a lot about teachers these days, especially in Medford, and it's just really nice to hear, like, all the creativity and, like, sort of the extra mile that you're going. I'm sure the students appreciate it. I wonder, though, like, in that greater context, like, how, what the emotional experience is for you right now with everything going on with the teacher contract.
[SPEAKER_01]: It's, it's, it's emotional. It's a great way to describe it. Emotional. It's very tiring. It can be frustrating at times, but Coming into a classroom and seeing kids get excited about something like this, it kind of, it like recharges my battery a little bit because something I love about this project in particular is that every single kid is very excited about it. Even the kids who don't like writing, they're really excited about it. Even the kids who don't like speaking out loud, they're really excited about it because they get to participate and they get to do something and create something that is entirely their own and it's something unlike anything they've been able to create before. When I think about everything that's happening outside of school that still has to do with schools and that kind of gets me down or gets me disappointed or discouraged, I then think about what I'm able to do with the kids in here and it makes my heart very happy. It makes my heart smile a lot. Yeah.
[Danielle Balocca]: Anything else that you want folks to know about your class or your work?
[SPEAKER_01]: I just, I'm so impressed and inspired by the children in my classroom. I think it's really hard being a middle schooler and I say this to my middle schoolers all the time that when they tell me that this is the biggest thing that's ever happened to them, not necessarily like what's going on in my classroom, but if they come to me and there's a problem or they come to me and there's There's some drama, and they sing, this is the worst day of my life, or this is the biggest thing that's ever happened to me. You have to take that with a grain of salt, because they're only 13, 14 years old. Their library of events in their life, it's much smaller than mine is, and it really might be the biggest thing that's happened to them. And the fact that they have been able to navigate middle school through so many different learning models and make the transition from elementary school to middle school during a pandemic and given everything going on in the world, I just, I'm constantly amazed and inspired by their strength, their resilience, their ferocity with everything they do. I just, I'm a better teacher because of them. They make me the teacher that I am.
[Danielle Balocca]: I'm sure that they would love to hear that.
[SPEAKER_01]: I hope they know that. I think that there's just as much I have to learn from them that I hope that they will learn from me.
[Danielle Balocca]: Anything else that you're looking forward to for the coming school year?
[SPEAKER_01]: The coming school year? Well, I'm very excited for them to submit their podcasts to competition. I'm excited for... I don't even know. I'm excited for... I have so many different ideas and we were thinking about trying to do more with our Romeo and Juliet unit, trying to do more acting with other princesses in the building. I know that we do a lot of fun. projects with the giver and learning about dystopian novels and dystopian societies.
[Danielle Balocca]: A little real these days.
[SPEAKER_01]: It's very real these days. A lot of kids, they would look at, they would look at examples of propaganda in the book and they'd say, propaganda, I know what that's like. And I guess like they would cite certain things that are, that were being said in the news. I really, I enjoy teaching that unit. Yeah, I mean, I'm still, I'm still finding my footing in eighth grade, so still trying to figure out what projects work and don't work. We just did this huge debate with the McGlynn, actually, for The Outsiders. So the kids read The Outsiders in eighth grade, and they dressed up as greasers and soches, and they had a rumble, a metaphorical rumble. Yeah, we would have heard about that. Yeah, in the auditorium, and they debated who was at fault for the events of the novel, and it was really, cool to see eighth graders from different schools coming together, especially because they're going to go be together at the high school. And we got to dress up, which was really fun. And they worked really hard on the preparation. And that was really fun. So trying to figure out more cross school events would be really Exciting, I think. Yeah.
[Danielle Balocca]: I imagine as things sort of like go back to more of a normal school situation after COVID or from COVID that there's, there are like options that are returning that like this.
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah. Yeah. And then, I mean, they got to go to a dance last week, which was fun. And they have, these eighth graders, they'd never been to a middle school dance before, which was really fun for them. And it was really cool. And we got to last year, we got to take the kids to Canopy Lake Park, which was really fun. So it was like, we are getting to do things. that are slightly more, quote, normal.
[Danielle Balocca]: Yeah, no, and I was talking to one of the students and earlier they were saying like that COVID was like kind of happening as they were transitioning to sixth grade. I just can't imagine that, like, you know, what they missed in sort of that like social process.
[SPEAKER_01]: I was talking with a teacher this morning as we were standing outside. before we came in, and they were saying that this group of eighth graders, they only saw them 50% of the time in sixth grade because they were in the building half of the time if they were one of the students that chose to come into the building. And sometimes they were here, sometimes they weren't. And these eighth graders, this is really their first kind of typical, and you couldn't even say that that's totally typical year of middle school. And then they're off to the high school, and it's definitely been interesting. Even as a teacher have found it to be interesting because I've literally had a different year every single year since I've been teaching at Medford. My first year was my standard typical year, and then my second year we went to basically quarantine in March, and then we had hybrid, HyFlex my third year, and then last year was I guess I, last year was kind of similar to this year, but they're so very different in so many different ways. So.
[Danielle Balocca]: Well, like you were saying before, like you're approaching that as like an adult with what you said, like your library of experiences where these students, like these are, these are things that they haven't, like they have never had to navigate sixth grade. Never had to navigate it in this specific way.
[SPEAKER_01]: No. And I think about, I mean, we were even just discussing what our middle school experiences were like. And I'm thinking to myself, wow, as a middle schooler, I had this what used to be considered normal experience, like I went to school, I had my friends, we had social drama and we had academic drama, but we didn't have anything like huge disruption of like academic learning processes in the same way that these students. I'm sure there's a far more eloquent way to describe what I just did than what I actually said. They have a completely redefined experience because of what has happened in the world. And I think that we all have to take that in consideration as we move forward because the kids that I'm going to have next year, they've had a slightly more like normalized experience of middle school because last year was their first year and we were back in the building full time. And then. This year, again, back in building full time, it might start to feel a little bit more normal, but then I'm sure we're going to get a group of kids in a few years who had a very different kindergarten experience or first grade experience, and that's going to have completely formed how they interact with academics and with school.
[Danielle Balocca]: With each other.
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah. No, it's a constant learning process, but that's one of the things that we as educators do. We adapt, we assess the situation, and we move forward.
[Danielle Balocca]: Yeah, I was going to say it's a big job that you have there, right? And part of that also being preparing students for the next step, right? Like taking in all of this, all of it that they're dealing with. It sounds like ELA is not just like, you know, reading and writing, but also these other things like forming arguments, like being able to like kind of think critically and then also like your social emotional well-being, right?
[SPEAKER_01]: A lot of it is where we're not just trying to teach them 8th grade, we're trying to get them ready for 9th grade. We're trying to get them ready for their next step because high school is a really big time for them because they get to have more freedom in terms of not only their day, but just like they have to take more ownership over their learning than they do in middle school because they're expected to take on more responsibilities. It's a shift away from the parents and the guardians and the grownups at home to being more about what they are doing and what is important to them. And they also then have twice the number of classmates than they did before. And they're in a very large series of buildings and they are making decisions about what they want to do with the rest of their lives because they might be considering a vocational trade, they might be considering going to college, and it's very hard to navigate that. So we're trying to make sure that they are as successful as they can be and just give them the steps and the support that we can.
[Danielle Balocca]: Well, thank you. Thank you for all that you're doing.
[SPEAKER_01]: Thank you for having me, and thank you for coming to our class today. I don't know if anyone knows this, but Danielle's been doing a presentation for the kids about making podcasts and what it is to do a podcast, and they have been having so much fun. They are thrilled to have her here, so it's been very special for us too. Special for me too. Thanks for having me. Thank you.
[Danielle Balocca]: Thanks so much for listening to today's episode. The Medford Bites podcast is produced and moderated by Danielle Balacca and Shelly Keshaman. Music is made by Hendrik Idonis. We'd love to hear what you think about the podcast. You can reach out to us by email at medfordpod at gmail.com, or you can rate and review the podcast on Apple Podcasts. Thanks so much for listening. Guys, what's the name of the podcast? Never Bites. Never Bites. Good job.