For schoolsSeminars · courses · partnerships
Bring civic storytelling to your school
Since 2007 I have consulted with school districts and municipalities on media programs that serve both students and their towns. Every format below has been taught before.
instituteforcivicmedia.orginstituteforcivicmedia.com
Formats
Start small and grow. A seminar can become a course; a course can become a service the community depends on.
Petoskey, 2009
Two-day seminar
Grades 6–8. Students tape interviews and edit community stories in two days.
Community High, Ann Arbor, 2016–17
Semester course
Grades 9–12. Students produce history tours, videos and a public exhibit.
Food Stories, 2012
One-week flipped workshop
Online lessons and face-to-face practice for teachers or community members.
Mount Clemens, 1992–2006
School–city partnership
A long-term plan in which the school produces programs the city uses and helps fund.
“I have found that community leaders quickly realize that high school students, honestly struggling to tell a community story with maturing confidence and humor, are more powerful storytellers than a professional actor delivering a scripted message with polish.”John Kotarski, School-Based Community Television (2008), p. 64
What a school needs to begin
- A teacher willing to try it. At Mount Clemens the first teacher was a drama teacher with no video experience.
- School-owned equipment. Michigan now bans phones in class, so plan on cameras, recorders and laptops the school controls.
- Releases and a publishing policy. Permission from everyone on camera, and clear rules on who approves what is published.
- A community partner. A library, museum, city office, historical society or local news outlet that will show the work.
Get in touch
Tell me about your school or community and what you would like students to produce.
john@civicstorytelling.comSet up this address as a free GoDaddy email forward before launch.
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