Garden City High School social studies teachers transform learning through history and government podcasts
Garden City High School social studies teachers Mr. Mike Zagari, Mr. Kevin O’Hagan and Ms. Michele DeCollibus created their own history and government podcasts to engage students by bringing historical events and political discussions to life through dynamic storytelling and student involvement.
Mr. Zagari founded the U.S. History Underground podcast during the COVID pandemic as a means to engage students during remote learning. With the rising popularity of podcasts, students found them enjoyable and helpful for reviewing U.S. history topics. The podcast has since expanded to include a diverse range of series, such as the notable “APUSH on the Road,” which documents the historical landmarks the pair has visited. The U.S. History Underground podcast also features "Jam on History," which presents American history through the lens of music while aligning with the curriculum for the American History Soundtrack elective.
Mr. Zagari and Mr. O’Hagan write scripts together and aim to record and edit one podcast episode for each unit through Adobe Podcast and Canva. They brainstorm ideas and conduct research to create 8-15-minute episodes structured similarly to how students would approach a Document-Based Question by incorporating context about the historical period, primary and secondary sources and supplementary information beyond the documents utilized.
“Podcasting has been a great way to interact with students and provide resource material in the digital age,” said Mr. Zagari.
The success of the U.S. History Underground podcast led to the creation of other social studies podcasts for various classes such as government and criminal justice. Mr. O'Hagan and Ms. DeCollibus began recording podcast episodes with students for their AP Government classes earlier in the year to prepare for the 2024 election.
While sharing informational resources with students prior to the election, the pair realized that many students were still struggling to understand the issues and electoral process, so they decided a series of informative podcasts would be a great addition to the work produced by the summer curriculum writing team. They wanted their podcasts to include student voices, so they tapped into the best resource, the AP Government students.
Mr. O’Hagan and Ms. DeCollibus asked six students to do preliminary research based on guiding questions and wrote a basic script for the podcast to provide context, leaving large blocks of time open for the students to report their findings. This gave the podcast a “roundtable interview" impression, similar to one seen on a Sunday morning news program where experts are brought in to comment on the events of the day.
The initial podcast was a major success and continued with several more episodes over the following months, with each topic changing as the election approached. For the fifth episode, the students and teachers participated in a post-election debrief, and upcoming podcasts will focus on the current administration and Congress.
Podcasts are shared with all high school students through posts on their social studies class's Google Classrooms and through a QR code posted in the social studies hallway.
All student participants have enjoyed the experience, and it has given them greater ownership and knowledge over topics discussed. Mr. O’Hagan and Ms. DeCollibus hope this experience reminds them that “being an informed citizen is not just a privilege that one has living in an open and democratic society, but it's also an obligation if we expect it to remain open and democratic.”
“I've been so pleased to see how even students who tend to be more reserved in class have been able to find their voice by participating in these podcasts,” said Mr. O’Hagan. “I love how the reading, writing, editing and speaking skills that we are always trying to develop in our students are strengthened through this very modern approach to communication.”
“Participating in these podcasts over the past few months has made me hopeful for the future,” said Ms. DeCollibus. “Our students have been so incredibly respectful towards one another and the level of discourse, even among students with differing points of view, which is a powerful lesson for us all.”