Empathy to Impact: Student Voices on Global Citizenship Education & Community Engagement

Scott Jamieson (he/him): Good morning from

Scott Jamieson (he/him): the Netherlands. We are visiting Miss Melissa's class of grade 5, and we're going to be talking about a writing unit, and we have it's kind of a special podcast today cause, we have Miss Melissa's entire class. I think I have 20 students with me on the podcast today

Scott Jamieson (he/him): so really excited to connect and hear about what they've been up to with their writing. I wonder if we can get a couple of students to

Scott Jamieson (he/him): tell us a little bit. It's kind of a big picture overview of the writing unit that you've been working on just finished up.

melissa pritchard: My name is Hallie. One big overview of the unit is we are writing for impact. We looked at different metrics through different authors, and we got to choose our own genre and find a way that we were passionate about. So find something that we're passionate about and find a way to write about that.

Scott Jamieson (he/him): If anyone would like to add to that, go ahead. Maybe one or 2 others.

melissa pritchard: So we learned about different ways to create impactful meetings plus like Joy John books and like posters to see the different tech

melissa pritchard: we could use.

Scott Jamieson (he/him): That sounds awesome

Scott Jamieson (he/him): when you say impact.

Scott Jamieson (he/him): what do we mean by impact? We're thinking about how we might have an impact. Who would like to explain that for us.

melissa pritchard: So I'm Charlie Moore. And we make like impact like.

melissa pritchard: what do you mean? So by impacting like something that we can make different in the world that we see like a problem with, and that we can help somehow by writing a story, or like a letter.

melissa pritchard: or like a Powerpoint to show other people. And

melissa pritchard: there's like multiple ways to impact by emotion, changing perspective, connect

melissa pritchard: wonder, new learning and action.

Scott Jamieson (he/him): I really like that thinking about how we might raise awareness. People maybe aren't familiar and change a perspective. Maybe just those small changes that we can make with our audience can be so impactful. We think of some of these big issues in the world. And it's not one magic solution that's gonna fix those. It's millions and millions of small solutions. And that really starts with raising awareness and shifting perspectives. Just like you were just saying, so that sounds really amazing.

Scott Jamieson (he/him): I wonder you talked about some mentor texts and some different authors and some different styles of writing you were exploring what inspired you. How did you get kind of interested or kind of hooked into this unit

Scott Jamieson (he/him): that inspired your own work?

melissa pritchard: Kevin.

melissa pritchard: Hi! My name is Sib.

melissa pritchard: and I got inspired by the the Jewish own books.

melissa pritchard: and

melissa pritchard: how like his his way of writing and the

melissa pritchard: like. The way he lays, lays the pages out in his books.

melissa pritchard: also the measured message that it conveys through this writing.

Scott Jamieson (he/him): Awesome. So we have style of writing just the way the book is laid out, and the message any other inspirations.

melissa pritchard: One of the things that inspired me to do. A Powerpoint for new students was probably my own experience as a new student.

melissa pritchard: I felt like unprepared. I didn't have any information about what's happening, neither did my parents, so I thought it would be helpful, and my students feel more confident and like

melissa pritchard: feel more

melissa pritchard: like ready to go to the new school if they have something like that.

Scott Jamieson (he/him): I love that like taking your personal experience and the experiences you've had and sharing with other people who might have similar experiences. They maybe don't need to feel that same kind of level of challenge you did. I think that's a great way to connect and have an impact rate in our own community.

Scott Jamieson (he/him): Another.

melissa pritchard: So I got the voice like I got inspired by my teacher, actually, because, like, she was talking a lot about single use, plastic and like showing us the plastic in our bin. And that got me thinking, actually, like

melissa pritchard: we are an ecosystem. But we actually use so much single use plastic. So I decided to write a letter to parents about like

melissa pritchard: like the

melissa pritchard: like, the consequences of single use, plastic and like

melissa pritchard: I could do, instead of using single use, plastic.

Scott Jamieson (he/him): There are definitely, always areas for growth. And we're thinking about sustainability.

Scott Jamieson (he/him): We are certainly on a journey, and different places are on at different stages of that. And I think there's a lot of opportunities. You're right in our own school that we might be able to make a difference through our work as change makers.

Scott Jamieson (he/him): Now, I wanna kind of imagine as writers. Now, you kind of putting on your writers hat. We are kind of thinking like a writer.

Scott Jamieson (he/him): What were some techniques or ways that you used in your own writing

Scott Jamieson (he/him): to help engage your audience, help them to care about what you care about, and maybe inspire them to take action, to make our community a little bit better.

melissa pritchard: Okay. So my name is Guru in the jury, John. Books we read there was always like easy vocabulary for the younger audience to understand.

melissa pritchard: and like the easy dialogue, so the reader could connect better to the story. And so in my book I also included, like specific vocabulary.

melissa pritchard: so younger students

melissa pritchard: could understand and just

melissa pritchard: be able to connect to the story and characters.

Scott Jamieson (he/him): Those are 2 really important things thinking about our word choice, and that building that vocabulary around sustainability, but also thinking about our audience.

Scott Jamieson (he/him): who's our audience, that our target audience for this work and making sure that our writing is accessible to them? I love that.

Scott Jamieson (he/him): What else did we do.

melissa pritchard: So I'm Palma. I made sure that I had to. I use good vocabulary. So then, like people take me more seriously as a like my opinion more seriously

melissa pritchard: about it.

Scott Jamieson (he/him): It all depends on our audience, doesn't it? You know, if we're looking at a younger audience who might choose different vocabulary? Maybe if we're looking at making kind of a more professional piece of writing that we're sort of

Scott Jamieson (he/him): directing towards an adult audience. We're definitely gonna use different word choice. I think that's really important.

Scott Jamieson (he/him): Yes, go ahead.

melissa pritchard: My name is Josh, and I think I uses

melissa pritchard: 18 dialogue. My story

melissa pritchard: ended up on Singh.

melissa pritchard: Try to strengthen.

Scott Jamieson (he/him): Can I pause you right there? Can you just come a little bit closer to the screen and say that one more time to me.

melissa pritchard: So my techniques I use is a motion and using engaging guide like my story, my story is about to use the plastic and

melissa pritchard: the genre I use is fiction.

Scott Jamieson (he/him): Can I just stick around for 1 s? Quick, follow up question.

Scott Jamieson (he/him): I love the idea of using fiction cause. We can be so creative with that genre.

Scott Jamieson (he/him): How did you do that and engage the emotions of your audience? Can you just explain that just a little bit further.

melissa pritchard: So I did. Animals at the end of the forest. And

melissa pritchard: yeah, people came and destroyed

melissa pritchard: make like that.

Scott Jamieson (he/him): For sure, we think about a story like that. And as an someone in the audience, you know, we feel a little bit sad, and we think, Oh, that's a terrible thing to do, and it might inspire us to think about how we might advocate for making sure that we're taking care of animals, habitats, and not destroying those, for you know, human or economic use. I think that's really great. Thank you so much.

melissa pritchard: So I'm

melissa pritchard: so I am Phillip and I. Inspired by jury, June

melissa pritchard: Joy, John. And after read all his book, I think about little kids that they will. They understand it. And I write

melissa pritchard: actually, yes, it's a little kissable.

melissa pritchard: Yeah. And.

Scott Jamieson (he/him): Fantastic.

melissa pritchard: Parents me, because

melissa pritchard: the his book is not so long, and it's have strong emotions.

Scott Jamieson (he/him): I think it's also really important to kind of engage a younger audience and have them thinking about these important topics like global citizenship and sustainability. And the sooner we kind of plant those seeds right? We're developing a culture of services change making within our school. I think that's really amazing. So that's a fantastic job.

Scott Jamieson (he/him): Any other thoughts.

melissa pritchard: Hi, my name is Ava. So what I wrote is also about plastic

melissa pritchard: and basically about our campus, even though we're an Eco school. So I decided to make like a presentation and

melissa pritchard: make it in a fun way. Also, I'd like to make this as simple as possible for the yogurt years.

melissa pritchard: but also use strong words to get the action and get the moving

melissa pritchard: and good. So.

Scott Jamieson (he/him): Sir, go ahead! Bye.

melissa pritchard: Is outdoor learning has. And so

melissa pritchard: that's more like about learning about nature stuff like that. And so

melissa pritchard: I noticed that there was plastic also there, and like crash litter everything. So I decided that that's I mean, that is our

melissa pritchard: outer learning class. So it's

melissa pritchard: nature. So technically.

melissa pritchard: we were learning how to litter on our campus, not not really learning, but

melissa pritchard: like seeing it is. What's

melissa pritchard: that's like

melissa pritchard: hurting and like.

Scott Jamieson (he/him): I think that's really important. Kinda look at that through that different lens like we look at something through the lens of sustainability. We might see some new things. And I think that's really important. You guys have had a really diverse

Scott Jamieson (he/him): amount of topics connected to sustainability. Here we're talking about plastic which I wouldn't. Nature, we're talking about all these different topics.

Scott Jamieson (he/him): How did you choose a topic that really kind of connected to you.

Scott Jamieson (he/him): and sort of connected to what you care about.

Scott Jamieson (he/him): How did you pick a topic when you're thinking about your writing for this unit?

melissa pritchard: So I picked a topic when I saw that attack was left on in the back room, and I heard about the

melissa pritchard: problems with water in many of our country. So I decided, why not buy about water waste? Then people can understand how they can save water. So then other people can use it when they're exactly.

Scott Jamieson (he/him): It's interesting how inspiration strikes us, you know, sometimes, just seeing that tap left on you like, wow! What a waste of water! I bet we could do something about that. And a lot of these actions aren't huge. Right? We can just take these small actions and have such a big impact when everybody is on board and doing that together.

Scott Jamieson (he/him): Go ahead.

melissa pritchard: Hello! My name is one. I'm a photographer. I need

Scott Jamieson (he/him): Sorry. Just stop a sec. Can you introduce yourself one more time, just a little bit closer and a little bit louder.

melissa pritchard: Hello! My name is Pawn, and I really like football, and my impact writing is about breaking down ginger stereotypes.

melissa pritchard: I made this because you don't have to judge a person by how he looks or by how he is, and you also, and you always have to be inclusive to defend kids until new kids.

Scott Jamieson (he/him): I love that I love, how you connected something that you really love

Scott Jamieson (he/him): football with a big issue like gender stereotypes, and made that connection and use your writing to have a positive impact. I think this is a fabulous example.

melissa pritchard: Hello! My name is.

Scott Jamieson (he/him): To interrupt you again, a little bit closer, a little bit louder.

Scott Jamieson (he/him): See your name.

melissa pritchard: Hello! My name is Kai. It's an unmute so, and I need to describe whatever you see. And I made a poster about benefits of doing my renewal, because so then I can encourage people. Guide me to the school

melissa pritchard: to to learn language. Thanks.

Scott Jamieson (he/him): I think being bilingual is like a superpower. I am so envious. I have tried many times to learn a few different languages, and I have little bits and pieces from all over the world. But people who can switch just back and forth between 2 or 3 or more languages. I think that's such an amazing superpower and something that we definitely need to be encouraging. So that's so cool that you were able to advocate for that at your school.

melissa pritchard: Hello! My name is Kaya, and I decided to make a story of being yourself is not to care about. Like all the bad things say to you, and like

melissa pritchard: to make sure that you feel the warmth in your heart of being like being cared about, because in in my story I've got a girl that's being bullied, but is by her race because she's Asian and I

melissa pritchard: Well, I was inspired to write this story, because sometimes anywhere, I see people like being bullied. And I really don't think that is nice. It really hurts me to see that. And I really want that to stop completely. So I decided to make that story to make sure that people that that people know what's really happening and decide that we time that this and decides it's time to eliminate bullying and racism.

Scott Jamieson (he/him): Can you give me an example of one of the strategies that a character in your writing used

Scott Jamieson (he/him): to help turn things around in their in their experience.

melissa pritchard: So well in

melissa pritchard: I decided to make people feel emotion. And I'm a change of perspective, because some people like some people believe people by their looks, by their race, by anything that they have.

melissa pritchard: And I wanted to make sure that people that decide to switch that around and be inclusive to everyone.

Scott Jamieson (he/him): That sounds fantastic. It sounds like a really cool community and a community. I think we'd all like to be a part of one that's more inclusive and celebrative of diversity. I think that sounds amazing.

Scott Jamieson (he/him): I wanna switch up a little bit and think about the learning in this unit as you guys are working on your writing.

Scott Jamieson (he/him): What were some writing strategies or writing techniques that you learned as part of this unit that helped you share your message, and also something that you might take with you when you go on to sixth grade and going into the Myp.

melissa pritchard: We learned how to use engaging dialogue.

melissa pritchard: more descriptive words.

melissa pritchard: to engage the people and change their perspective of

melissa pritchard: the topic we're using.

Scott Jamieson (he/him): Fantastic.

Scott Jamieson (he/him): Anyone else want to share some techniques in the writing that you guys were able to grow in your writing as writers through this unit.

melissa pritchard: So.

melissa pritchard: I think it's important that we learn these techniques to take with us, because it's something that we can always use. Like

melissa pritchard: writing always has the purpose of being able to be able to connect with someone or share story and message with someone. So I think, being able to have the techniques, strategies, and skills that we learned in the students specifically to take with us won't be helpful in almost any piece of writing we do, no matter what grade or age level we're in.

Scott Jamieson (he/him): I, 100% agree, I think, in building these skills along with sharing a message that we care about is such a great way to learn how to improve our writing, but also to help us kind of on our change maker journey, as we're working to help make our community better.

melissa pritchard: So I use tech a technique which is like kind of

melissa pritchard: learning a lot about the topic. So I like researched a lot. I decided also to use like I will look for words that would fit like

melissa pritchard: like the audience which was parents. So then, like.

melissa pritchard: then it seems like I'm knowledgeable about this topic, and I know what I'm talking about.

Scott Jamieson (he/him): That's important, I think is making sure. Yeah, we've done our research. And again, it depends on our audience, right? But we definitely wanna come from that position where we're sharing some information with people. And like you say, knowing what we're talking about, I think that sounds great.

Scott Jamieson (he/him): Being a change Maker is not easy work. It requires a lot of hard work. It requires resilience and perseverance.

Scott Jamieson (he/him): So I'm wondering what

Scott Jamieson (he/him): challenges did you face in this unit as you were using your writing to make a change and have an impact in your community.

melissa pritchard: I'm sorry. Who's been?

melissa pritchard: I'm a jeweler, Kaya Howie.

melissa pritchard: Well, I actually found it a bit hard to stay motivated on the task I was doing. I often found myself switching in and out, and I needed, and I had to go mind myself that I wanted to finish this, and that I needed to walk hard to.

melissa pritchard: It's really going.

Scott Jamieson (he/him): And can I ask a follow up question?

Scott Jamieson (he/him): What helped you to stay motivated on a project like this?

melissa pritchard: Well, I just thought about people that didn't know this. And I was like, Oh, well, how else are they? Gonna learn? I need to be there until I teach them.

Scott Jamieson (he/him): That's awesome, you think, hey, this is something that's really important and not everybody knows about it. I can do something about that. I think that's really empowering. That sounds awesome. So thank you for sharing.

melissa pritchard: No problem.

melissa pritchard: So another problem I myself faced with was finding a good genre for my topic and my issue, because there were a lot of like different things I could choose from like I could write a small like essay.

melissa pritchard: or I can write a letter. But then I thought like usually be like this problem of discrimin like leaving out other kids. So discrimination is like, it happens like all around us. And but when I look, it's usually little kids who like leave out other friends. So I decided to make a short like little kid story, so people could read it and understand.

Scott Jamieson (he/him): I love how you identify that need in your community, you know. Do you see some things that are happening right in your community? How people are being excluded in some of the younger grades and sign. Okay, I can write a story. I can use my writing to maybe have a positive impact. There, I think that sounds amazing.

melissa pritchard: So one another. One of the challenges that I faced is like keeping on the same like on this, like keeping on the same problem like, I have one problem that I want to write to change it. And sometimes I have trouble keeping to that like, for example, like you already know my story. It's to help to stop bullying. But sometimes I find other problems like waste and pollution, and then sometimes I sort of get

melissa pritchard: I sort of get mixed between between those 2, and it's hard to stay on task with that.

Scott Jamieson (he/him): I think so, too. I think there's a lot of big issues that kind of face our community, and some things they probably make us a little bit anxious and thinking. But we have to do something, and yeah, picking one and sticking with it, you know, takes a lot of perseverance, so I am proud you were able to do that.

melissa pritchard: So I think

melissa pritchard: 2 of the challenges that I faced, 2 of the main ones that I faced was the problem of

melissa pritchard: my friend said, choosing the right genre for the topic that I wanted to do, and then also, like

melissa pritchard: I, when I ended up doing the Powerpoint, I came up with right for me, and I ended up being doing a Powerpoint.

melissa pritchard: I I needed a way to convey information that wasn't. That was going to be engaging. Because if you're gonna have multiple side all of the school that just had big blocks of text.

melissa pritchard: nobody's gonna want to read that. So I needed to find a way that I could convey all the information I needed to in an effective way that would make the reader feel engaged and want to keep.

Scott Jamieson (he/him): That is such an important message. You know sometimes how we convey our message is as important as what our message is. You know we need to think about how we're sharing this information, and that'll determine how well is received. So speaking of that.

Scott Jamieson (he/him): I would like to know how important was it to you to have that choice in how you share your message, how you express your writing, and how you engage with your audience? How important was it for you to be able to have some choice in how you were able to come up with that final product.

melissa pritchard: It was really important for me like to have the choice of what like type

melissa pritchard: be like genre we can write in, because, like some people work better with fiction stories. Some people work better with non fiction things. So I think it was really good that we could choose, because then we could also find what we match with. And we know how we can make impact with these kind of techniques, because all of us have also different techniques to like make a impact.

Scott Jamieson (he/him): I love that. Would anyone like to add to that a little bit.

melissa pritchard: So I thought it was very important to like show, more because it like makes us express ourselves, but also supported because it helps us find what we like to do as like the students, and how we can better work things out in the future. Because if we're writing our own store from scratch or poster. Then we find when we have problems we face, that others don't. So we need to figure out ways to solve them ourselves, and that I feel like that's really helpful.

Scott Jamieson (he/him): I think so, too. I think that's really helpful. And yeah, to be able to kind of make those connections being how just like we were talking about before. How are is the what is the best way to express what we're trying to express to our audience and help engage them engage their emotions and help them think about how they might want to make a change.

Scott Jamieson (he/him): Yes, go ahead.

melissa pritchard: So to add on to my friends

melissa pritchard: like, I really think that that a choice is like very important, because I get to express. I get express everything in my own unique way to make, and also makes the reader experience something new makes it think about the entire thing even more. And basically, well.

melissa pritchard: yeah, it's very important that you get to express yourself like in your own way, in your own unique way, so that others can also like, understand. And you they can also like

melissa pritchard: They also experience something new when you're writing. Every time you read, every time you read a sentence, you learn something new. You experience something new.

Scott Jamieson (he/him): I love how you say that every time you read you learn something new, and experience something new, and I, personally am an avid reader and I, 100% agree. It's just you can really kind of dive into a book. And you're always experiencing new things and learning new things. I think that's so important, even when you're old like me.

melissa pritchard: So I think it's important to choose, because, like, if you can choose, and you're forced to write about one specific, like topic or genre. Then I feel like, if you

melissa pritchard: don't necessarily like it, then you can't like, express yourself fully and

melissa pritchard: write what you want to. I want it to write.

Scott Jamieson (he/him): I think that's important. You wanna find something that's a good fit, almost like a pair of shoes. You wanna find that genre and that format and that style and those techniques that fit with you and also fit with your message. And what you're trying to convey. I think that's absolutely brilliant. So thank you for that.

Scott Jamieson (he/him): I wanna fast forward towards the end. Now we've been working hard on this unit for a number of weeks. We've got our finished product.

Scott Jamieson (he/him): How did we wrap up this unit? Do we have? What was our celebration and reflection at the end? A bit like, what does that look like? What does that sound like? What does that feel like when we got to the end of this unit?

melissa pritchard: So at the end of the unit, we decided to scale with people from different classes

melissa pritchard: to see their perspective on it, and what they thought about

melissa pritchard: and how, and then we compared it to what we, what we wanted to do, to what they saw as like a veto, and it gave me a bit of closure, knowing that I did well enough. So then they'd be similar enough to each other.

melissa pritchard: Pass this.

melissa pritchard: do it on to Palmer. So we did also like

melissa pritchard: like like share, like with other people.

melissa pritchard: to see if, like our writing like made sense, and how other people also understood our work.

melissa pritchard: It was also cool to see, like how

melissa pritchard: like other people

melissa pritchard: like

melissa pritchard: like understood our work, and what we intended

melissa pritchard: on like

melissa pritchard: communicating.

Scott Jamieson (he/him): So what did it feel like?

Scott Jamieson (he/him): When we're getting that feedback? We're sometimes it's a little bit scary to share our work.

Scott Jamieson (he/him): What did it feel like when you're getting that feedback. And you know, hearing what the audience how they reacted to your writing piece.

melissa pritchard: So wait. Basically, it felt like, really nice. So that people get to so that people gets to like,

melissa pritchard: basically know the problem, and they try to fix it. They actually take

melissa pritchard: the problem in their own hands. And they really, really, really try to fix it. And also I also learn something new, because my, because my intentions are sometimes not the same as my readers. So so I also get to learn something new that I can prepare for my next writing.

Scott Jamieson (he/him): That's awesome. Anyone else have something to add to that.

Scott Jamieson (he/him): How do we feel when we're getting that feedback?

Scott Jamieson (he/him): Oh, yeah.

melissa pritchard: It feels nice, just

melissa pritchard: well, it's nice. But we'll basically share what you're thinking, like.

melissa pritchard: deep inside, like, what's your opinion

melissa pritchard: and like share it. But then, also, like helping helping, and

melissa pritchard: your opinion, you get the feeling that your opinion hopes cause it actually does.

melissa pritchard: which I double my

melissa pritchard: My writing was about later, and so my opinion was not as strong that we should stop as soon as possible, because it's getting worse and worse every time.

melissa pritchard: So I decided to

melissa pritchard: use my opinion and put it in.

melissa pritchard: Just make it a bit more gentle, for like the younger kids, but

melissa pritchard: use also strong words just to get them up on a couch and just do something.

Scott Jamieson (he/him): Right. We have to inspire them to take action. And it's really empowering when we see that message being received in a positive way.

Scott Jamieson (he/him): go ahead.

melissa pritchard: It was really lovely to see all the people's ideas and different types of perspectives on different units.

melissa pritchard: It was really lovely.

melissa pritchard: Everyone's was really unique and special. And it was overall just

melissa pritchard: oh, wow!

Scott Jamieson (he/him): That does sound like, Oh, wow! It just sounds amazing. I just kind of feel the energy in the room. Okay, we want more.

melissa pritchard: So. What are the celebration of our

melissa pritchard: of our unit was that now we are trying to find ways that students can go down and read their stories to the early years, or, for example, People's Powerpoints can get sent out to my Powerpoint could get sent out to new students to help them, or any of those Powerpoint can get sent out.

melissa pritchard: In the newsletter to families about their litter waste, so is showing on his litter and find ways to not only show that our writing was successful through our our year 6

melissa pritchard: this great community, but also find a way to really

melissa pritchard: give it to our target audience.

Scott Jamieson (he/him): Yeah, I think it's amazing when we can use what we're learning to reach a larger audience for that message. And it gets really important, and I love the ideas you have about going down to the early years sharing some of your writing or sharing that out through your schools. You know media channels and allowing parents and other students kind of engage with this as well.

Scott Jamieson (he/him): If let's kind of. And let me say that again, this is where we're not live.

Scott Jamieson (he/him): Let's imagine that you are moving on to sixth grade makes. We don't have to imagine, because that's happening. Not that long for now, but you run into some fourth graders who are going to be in Miss Melissa's class next year.

Scott Jamieson (he/him): What are some things you would tell them about this unit.

melissa pritchard: I would tell them that it's very fun. And and they it's very. And you need to.

melissa pritchard: It's it's just very fine in general and interesting to have your own like to be able to finally like, create your own story about any like guidelines like you have to do this, or you have to do that instead to get your own possible, your own opinion that that you can write about assets for impacts.

melissa pritchard: oops

melissa pritchard: for Adam to Palmer I would also say that it's like a very

melissa pritchard: one unit, because you can make a difference. But then, in your own unique way, you can express your opinions, and you can show that to the world, and you feel like you're making a difference. But in like a way that you want to do it as well. So you can also like express yourself better, because then you probably can

melissa pritchard: show like what you really mean.

melissa pritchard: I was told, as I said, fourth gradient. And it's a very fun user speaks into our genre like fiction fiction. Anything.

Scott Jamieson (he/him): Sorry I'm gonna get you to start again just a little bit louder for me.

melissa pritchard: So you can take your own genre, and you can see like fiction, non fiction, like anything you want in in unique ways. And you can make your own story about like

melissa pritchard: greater water waste

melissa pritchard: solutions.

melissa pritchard: So basically, along with the choice of genre, you also get to like, it's like, you also get to like, become an extra at what? As at what you're telling people to like fix. And also I was. Another thing that I would tell them is that that they have the chance to create something new, to make a better world, and I, and that I think that they should seize that chance that they should provoke.

melissa pritchard: and they they should provoke their audience, and that they should also fix global problems.

melissa pritchard: I think it's

melissa pritchard: singing

melissa pritchard: while we don't.

melissa pritchard: I think I would tell the the this is a unit that is really, I I think, a game changer for writing, because you can find your passion for what you do, and then use it to explain that in a way that nobody can tell you what to do, because this is a writing that you can focus on. This is how you connect with your leader. And with this.

melissa pritchard: like not being like a set topic, you get to like, help yourself like, help yourself in a way that there is

melissa pritchard: like, this is focused around you. And you continue, you feel will help impact the major. And so it's nice and I think

melissa pritchard: so. I also wanna add on to my friends. It's it's very convenient, because when you get to express yourself in a good way, and you you use your person like you use your opinion. And then, like Kaya, was writing about being unique and being yourself.

melissa pritchard: and then others were just writing about same water. I don't know. And then

melissa pritchard: I think it's it's a strong thing, and it's very impactful, and it's good for ourselves. But also we have a lot of fun designing it. And it's just well, it's very fun just to design it. Basically.

Scott Jamieson (he/him): I think that's so amazing when we have that choice and agency with our learning, and we sort of shift things over to students and allow them to find their voice, and they can be so engaging. And I loved how you were able to connect what you're learning and writing. Learn about some of these different genres, different techniques and different ways to express yourself, but to focus that on an issue that you care about

Scott Jamieson (he/him): and look to have an impact in your community through your writing. I think that's just such powerful learning. I think it's just so amazing. And I'm feeling so inspired after having this amazing conversation with all of you. So I just wanna say, thank you to all of you for taking some time on a Friday morning to connect with me on the empty impact and share your story about how

Scott Jamieson (he/him): how we might turn a writing unit into something that connects to what we truly care about

Scott Jamieson (he/him): and leads to a positive impact in with our audience. So thank you all so much for being such fabulous podcast guests.

Scott Jamieson (he/him): And

Scott Jamieson (he/him): I just want to just say thank you to Miss Melissa and to all of you for just the fabulous work you did on this. So thank you very much.

Scott Jamieson (he/him): Alright, we're gonna do one more quick thing before we go.

melissa pritchard: Also.

Scott Jamieson (he/him): I want altogether. I want you to say thank you for a minute. I'll I'll count you in. We're gonna say.

Scott Jamieson (he/him): thank you for listening to the empathy to impact podcast

Scott Jamieson (he/him): alright. So account 1, 2, 3, and then we're gonna try to do it all together. Are we ready

Scott Jamieson (he/him): at

Scott Jamieson (he/him): alright? Thank you for listening to the empathy to impact podcasts. Here we go. 1, 2, 3,

Scott Jamieson (he/him): oh, like that was good. That was a good first try, that was a good first try.

melissa pritchard: Yeah, Podcast.

Scott Jamieson (he/him): It was a good first try. Here we go.

melissa pritchard: We'll wait.

Scott Jamieson (he/him): Time, one more time.

melissa pritchard: Not a big, thank you. Just altogether.

Scott Jamieson (he/him): One more time, 1, 2, 3.

melissa pritchard: Thank you that podcast.

Scott Jamieson (he/him): You guys are fantastic. Thank you so much.

melissa pritchard: No problem, no problem. Thank you.