Over the course of two months, students at Jefferson Elementary School in DeKalb signed up for the project to create two podcast episodes. It’s part of WNIJ’s youth media literacy project through Report for America.
One student, Peyton, didn’t expect very much from the project.
“I thought that it would be a lot less organized, knowing us,” he said.
But he was pleased with the outcome.
“It's been really exciting," Peyton said. "I've never done anything like this before. I've never been in a podcast. I don't even think I knew what a podcast was.”
This project is also a collaborative effort with the DeKalb County History Center. Executive Director Michelle Donahoe says that kids are often left out of our understanding of history.
“For so long, history [was] just names and dates and people who don't look like you," Donahoe said. "But when you have a story with someone that's your age or that you can identify with, you feel seen.”
The DeKalb County History Center says only a handful of their artifacts, like diaries, are from the perspectives of children.
That’s why Donahoe said is was important for the students to take the lead role for this collaboration.
Their teacher, Selena Kweder, describes her students fondly. Kweder is in her fifth year teaching fifth graders in DeKalb.
“This year, they're a riot," she said. "They've got attitude, but in a good way, not in a mean way. But they have such a big personality. They all get along so well.”
Kweder also said there's value in this project beyond the deliverable.
"Kids are going to be our future leaders one day," she said. "They have an opinion, and they need to be able to know that they need to research their own opinions. A lot of the time they take what their parents say. But there's a lot of them who are realizing their own morals. They're just trying to figure out themselves right now.”
10- and 11- years olds are at a unique developmental stage. Nina Mounts is a child psychologist and professor at Northern Illinois University. She said this age group is starting to look at the world differently.
"They're at the beginning of starting to critique the world and not just take it at face value," she said.
Mounts also said they’re thinking more deeply about the world around them.
“You also have the beginning of some cognitive changes where kids can think more abstractly about the world," she said. "[They're] thinking about friendships, thinking about concepts like honesty or loyalty or trust that they may not be able to think about as young children.”
Mounts says making assumptions about this age group can lead to misunderstanding.
“I think we have to be careful as an adult when we try to interpret how children see the world," she said. "And I think that's a danger that a lot of people fall into— that we just assume that we understand it.”
Jefferson Elementary fifth-grader Peyton agrees that including kids his age in the conversation is a big deal.
“I think it's important because you actually get their perspective," he said. "And it's not just having the adults [say] 'This is only what we're focusing on.' You let the kids actually have a say in what they think is happening around them."
While they loved the "slang" episode during our listening and editing session, they also had pretty profound things to say for the "life lessons" episode.
"Don't let anyone like tell you what who you are, because you know who you are," said one of the students.
The project also sparked some students to go beyond the original assignment.
Jefferson Elementary is redistricting next year, which means they’re going to be welcoming new students to the school. One student from the project, Ja Liyah, saw an opportunity to prepare these new students. She created a video project, interviewing her peers about their favorite things about Jefferson, and advice for the incoming students. Her principal, Melanie Bickley, says the inspiration for the video came from this media literacy project.
"She's taking it on herself," Bickley said. "She's creating this whole video. She conducted the interviews and she's really run with it. But I think this project then enabled kids to kind of see themselves in a different way and become those storytellers themselves.”
At our last meeting, Ja Liyah said she’s looking ahead to what comes next.
“I feel like it prepares me for opportunities when I get older," she said. "And it kind of helps out what I can do in my future.”
Slang 101
You can hear the full podcast here:
Hello! We’re Wyatt and Nola, and this is "Interview of the Decade: 2025 Style." We’re experts in slang, and we’re going to talk to you – the adults – about what it all means.
We picked this topic because we think adults should know what’s going on in our world today and so other kids don’t have to explain.
So, what are some of the slang words we use?
Lots of these words have pretty basic meanings:
Some words mean things aren’t going so well:
"I usually say 'I'm cooked,' or 'we're cooked...'"
Which can be used in desperate, dire times:
“If you need to finish your homework, but you don't have enough time, you could say 'Oh, I'm cooked because I don't have any more time, and I can't finish my homework.'”
While others have different meanings entirely:
And there are some words, like "skibidi toilet" that don’t even really have a direct translation at all:
Slang trends move pretty quickly. Some are already out:
"Ohio was popular, but I don't think it's that popular anymore. Ohio was like, 'This is so weird.' Then people just took it too far, and now Ohio is getting bullied for all of eternity.”
While some just became popular:
"We're cooked just came out in 2025.”
So, now that you know what lots of these slang words mean, we’re going to talk about some unspoken rules of slang.
Our parents don’t really know what they mean.
“When I use slang around my parents, and I talk to my brother in slang, they don't understand what I mean. If I say a bad word that's a slang word, my parents won't understand it. They'll just be like, 'What does that mean?' I'll just say, 'Oh, it's like, you're very nice.'”
And our teachers don’t always understand it either.
“[I use it] whenever I'm at school because my friends understand it. If I say something [and] teachers don't understand what I'm saying, that's the best part.”
And sometimes we have to explain it to them.
“Sometimes, if my mom doesn't understand a slang word or something, I would say the meaning in Arabic or English.”
And other times, [our parents] use slang against us.
“My dad still says them, because he just likes to annoy me.”
Even though we love talking in slang and use it all the time, this secret language can have some pretty serious consequences, especially for the next generation.
“[There was this kid who] was in kindergarten and and he was talking to his friends, and I didn't even think he knew how to speak, because he was just saying the 'brain rot' words.”
We’re talking VERY serious consequences.
“All of civilization died the moment it hit the newborn's brain cells, because now those newborns are gonna be our leaders in some time, and all they're gonna know is 'skibidi skibidi toilet,' and it's just gonna be a wreck.”
What’s next with slang? Are we going to keep using it even though it might destroy civilization? Probably...
Life Lessons in 2025
Hello! We are Everett and Grace, and this is "Interview of the Decade: 2025 Style," a podcast about what’s important to us.
We are 10 and 11. Most of what we learn about in history and in the news is about adults. It’s also from the perspective of adults. For this episode, we interviewed each other about what’s important to us now, and what will be remembered in the future.
We thought about artifacts from our lives in 2025 that would belong in a time capsule:
- “A list of slang words too so that kids in the future can know what slang we used back then.”
- “I would put famous quotes a lot of people might understand. [They would] probably be [about] awareness of racism and what's actually going on in my life today.”
- “I'm definitely not putting any electronics in there, but I would put a charger. If we were doing makeup products, I would say anything from Charlotte Tilbury or Tower 28.”
We thought about lessons we’ve learned so far from the world around us:
- “People are on their phones a lot, because technology is very addictive and entertaining. And there's a lot of stuff on a phone that you should not be listening to or like watching, but you just get addicted to it. I don't like that a lot of technology is like starting to take over. But I like that even in these crazy times, some kids still have an open mind enough to like do other things than just be on their phones.”
Finally, we’re going to leave you with some advice:
- “You should just stay out of 'girl drama,' because it's not good for you and it won't help you with anything. You can have something going on, and with all this girl drama that you can continually be in, it can actually mess up your chances.”
- “Don't let bullies get to your head, because there are a lot of bullies. People think that it's really cool to bully someone, but honestly, it's not the best thing, because it's just gonna ruin your reputation. So, probably not to be quiet, but mind your own business.”
- “A lot of people judge you on how you look. There are a lot of fake friends. I think that is just good to let people like in the future know that [you should] know who you are. Don't let anyone tell you who you are, because you know who you are.”
It’s important to listen to kids and hear about their experiences because it helps other people to understand our perspective.
We're still young and have a lot of growing to do still, but we hope we left you with some important ideas and good advice.
You can hear the series Tuesday, May 6 and Wednesday, May 7 at 6:45 a.m., 8:45 a.m., and 3:45 p.m. on WNIJ.