Teachers' Voices
Honoring Teachers' Contributions through Listening
Teachers' Voices wants your stories! Modeled after NPR's StoryCorps, this weekly, year-long series produced by NPR affiliate, Arizona Public Media, will feature two individuals interviewing one another on some aspect of education. The bulk of the conversations will include teachers, but we are also interested in other individuals involved in education. For example, one segment will include a former member of the Board of Regents, Fred Boice, talking with new regent, Rick Myers.
The series is being underwritten by the UA College of Education and Wells Fargo.
TVT is committed to changing the conversation about teachers in our region by furthering public awareness of the enormous role teachers play in the educational, economic and civic success of the region. TVT's Teacher Advisory Group has shared the fact that teachers, who are secluded each day inside classrooms, do not feel part of the public dialogue and are rarely asked about their first-hand experience of the teacher-student relationship. In short, teachers do not feel their opinions are valued, and they do not feel heard.
Teachers' Voices can help change that by widely broadcasting the stories that are shaped each day in classrooms throughout the region. Although TVT is precluded from lobbying, the hope is that by spreading teacher voices and providing a human dimension to their daily interactions with our children, we can have some impact on legislative and voter opinion.
Description of Series: The year-long series will consist of two to four minute pieces modeled after the highly successful NPR StoryCorps. These conversational segments will feature teachers, students, superintendents and parents in any combination. Teachers will tell us their stories: what teaching means, how it impacts lives, about daily interactions in the classroom. In short, these stories will capture the alchemy of teaching–that special magic that takes place in classrooms every day between teachers and students.
Executive Producer: Peter Michaels, director of news and information at Arizona Public Media will oversee production of the series. Michaels was with NPR in Washington, DC for fifteen years where he served as director of newscasts, executive producer of acquired programs and executive producer of NPR's Talk of the Nation.
Audience Size and Demographics: The series of radio programs will broadcast weekly on KUAZ on Arizona Spotlight, which airs within NPR's Morning Edition at 6:30AM and 8:30AM. Morning Edition is the most listened-to radio program on Arizona Public Media with a weekly audience of about 180,000. Arizona Spotlight re-broadcasts on Fridays at 6PM and Saturdays at 7PM on KUAZ radio (89.1 FM/1550 AM). The coverage area reaches all of Pima county, and parts of Cochise and Santa Cruz counties. In addition, all segments will be featured on the Arizona Public Media website with pictures of the participants. Segments will also be featured on the Tucson Values Teachers Facebook page, which has nearly 1000 fans.
Interested: Contact Jacquelyn Jackson, executive director of Tucson Values Teachers at 520-327-7619 or jjackson@tucsonvaluesteachers.org.
