S1E11 - Project Essentials: in XONR8, 11th graders are helping the California Innocence Project to free wrongfully-convicted prisoners

Episode Notes In this episode, Alec talks to Mackenzie King, a teacher at High Tech High Chula Vista whose students are screening applications to the California Innocence Project from prisoners who say they were wrongfully convicted and want the Innocence Project to take their case. To see if there's an organization like the California Innocence Project near you, visit www.innocencenetwork.org Table of Contents 1:29 What the California Innocence Project does, and how XONR8 helps them 2:17 XONR8: the project in a nutshell 3:31 XONR8: Origins (how Mackenzie came up with the idea for it) 5:15 How XONR8 starts: deciphering autopsy reports 6:17 Gavin & Sofia on figuring out the autopsy reports 7:48 Step 2: the whole class looks at a case file together 8:23 Step 3: the students get assigned a real case file 9:38 How Mackenzie makes groups and decides how to assign cases 10:40 Gavin and Sofia on how it felt to get their case files 12:04 Structures for project-management within groups 12:58 Sofia and Gavin on how well their groups worked together 14:09 The low point of the project for Sofia and Gavin 15:43 The verdict that Gavin's group reached 16:07 The verdict that Sofia's group reached 16:54 Preparing to present to the Innocence Project lawyers 17:27 Giving the presentations 19:26 High Tech High students are better prepared and better presenters than the law students 20:13 Differentiating for kids who struggle with reading 20:59 The other part of the project: Reading "Just Mercy" by Brian Stevenson Learn more about the High Tech High Graduate School of Education