Listen up: Student Podcasts!

This year, Monticello’s Education & Visitor Programs department partnered with the Miller School of Albemarle on a special internship that culminated in the creation of five original student-made podcasts.  The podcasts, which were written with fellow student audiences in mind, present the stories behind a handful of Jefferson’s most intriguing and beloved objects.

To create the podcasts, students spent time at Monticello every other week between September and May touring the house, experiencing the museum galleries, and becoming familiar with historic Jefferson objects and stories.  They then chose podcast subjects that related to their own lives and experiences and set about weaving their life stories with Jefferson’s.  The International Center for Jefferson Studies library provided a wealth of resources for the student research, as did Monticello.org.   We were very impressed with the podcasts the students created and are thrilled to share them with you here.

Congratulations, Anastassia, Andre, Bill, Sara and Thea, and thanks to the Miller School of Albemarle for supporting this experience!

Listen to each student-made podcast and read along with the script by clicking on the links below:

• The Declaration of Independence
  Podcast written and recorded by Anastassia, 11^th grade
• The Jefferson Bible
  Podcast written and recorded by Andre, 9^th grade
• Martha's Harpsichord
  Podcast written and recorded by Bill, 11^th grade
• Reclining Ariadne
  Podcast written and recorded by Sara, 11^th grade
• Jefferson's Cabinet
  Podcast written and recorded by Thea, 8^th grade

Psssst, teachers! Creating podcasts is a great way to get students engaged with a topic.  We had loads of fun with this collaborative project and, as eager as we are to share our finished podcasts with you, we’re just as excited to see what your students can do with the idea.  If you’d like to write and record a Monticello podcast of your own, check out the photos and research available on our digital classroom, classroom.monticello.org.  There are so many stories waiting to be told!