How's School

"How's School?"

The question adults reflexively ask, and kids hate to answer. 

Issues that impact young people, for the people who care about them.


Listen to the trailer

The truth is, we care about our young people, dare we say, even worry about them. But staying connected to their world and all the complexity they navigate can be a real challenge. The issues we look at include education, health, and psychology, but at the core is their well-being. And our ability to face things that impact them without losing heart.

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Meet Your Hosts

Joe Riina-Ferrie, wearing glasses, on a white background
Joe Riina-Ferrie
Associate Director of Educational Media for DFI
Jen Lee in an orange shirt on white background
Jen Lee
Media Producer for DFI

Trailer Transcript

[upbeat music plays in the background]

Jen Lee: Hey everyone, we’re announcing “How’s School?”, a new podcast coming this fall. It’s about things that impact young people, for the people who worry about them. 

We’re your hosts - Jen Lee,

Joe Riina-Ferrie: and Joe Riina-Ferrie, and we’re part of the Digital Futures Institute at Teachers College. I’m a researcher, and I use audio and video to try to bring ideas beyond academic circles. I like to use tools like podcasting to ask questions in a way that all of us can understand, so that we can all be part of the conversation.

Jen: I started recording audio stories online 13 years ago, and I’ve told stories lots of other ways since then. On stage, and in films–but podcasts are still the place I go when I want to understand something or learn more, or just when I want good company in a quiet moment of the day.

Joe: We think you might be like us. Sometimes we have to read the news through the cracks between our fingers. We want to know, and we also don’t want to know - not because we don’t care – we care so much about the things that impact not just us, but the young people in our world, that it can make us feel overwhelmed, frozen.

Jen: “How’s School?” is a question that adults automatically ask kids, even though it’s generally the last thing they want to talk about. But it’s really a placeholder, because we don’t know how else to say, “I care about what’s happening in your world, and I want to know you.” We don’t know how else to say: We care.

Joe: This podcast will be a place where it’s safe to care, a place where we can face issues that matter. We’ll talk to people who study these things, and ask them to break it down for us in plain language. We’ll bring our fears and worries with us, and together we’ll look for something that will help–not in a way that minimizes problems, but in a way that allows us to take a breath and find a next step.

Jen: We’ll start this fall, and in the meantime you can subscribe on your favorite podcast platform to receive updates. More soon.

[music fades]

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