Andrew Marone

Marone’s innovative teaching idea, “Global Voices Studio,” is a dedicated podcasting and recording lab, allowing students to produce broadcast-quality audio, interview international peers he knows through his work as a Fulbright fellow and publish their work to an authentic global audience, transforming a classroom assignment into a community resource. Weston Middle School is currently piloting “The Museum of Human Rights,” an interdisciplinary project where 7th grade students analyze diverse literature and curate historical artifacts. While the curriculum is robust, the student voice component has been limited by a lack of technology. Students have attempted to record “audio tours” and narratives using standard Chromebooks in noisy classrooms, but the results have been poor-quality media that does not fully highlight their authentic voices. The Voya grant will help fund a professional “Global Voices Studio” for the project work and assist extracurricular offerings by providing students across grade-levels access to the same resources.