Brooklyn Theatre Arts High School (BTAHS) is a new high school in Canarsie, Brooklyn.  Radio Rootz is excited to be a part of BTAHS from its beginning.

BTAHS is in its first year and has only 9th grade students, with plans to add on a grade each year through 12th grade.   Our Rootz class has 27 students; our largest class ever.  We're teaching a combination of media literacy and radio production as we always do, but we've added a special emphasis on theater.  We're planning a radio drama and have been experimenting with classroom acting exercises to illustrate the roles of editors and media decision-makers.

The school is housed at South Shore High School, one of the largest schools in New York City.   South Shore has historically faced serious disciplinary and academic challenges and is slated to close in 2010, to be replaced by small schools like BTAHS.  The school atmosphere is sometimes difficult for our students and Rootz teachers alike, but we and our colleagues at BTAHS work hard to keep our students engaged and on track.  Students created stories on issues that are important to the school such as security and metal detectors, as well as stories about why students can't bring cell phones to school, why kids tell lies, and much more.  We also looked at the 2008 elections and their relevance (or lack thereof) to youth.