Student Reporting Labs and my students work

If I've learned one thing in the decades I've been a teacher, it's that our students have powerful voices that need to be heard. Given the public discourse that's happening these days, it's more important than ever that our students have a say. The PBS NewsHour Student Reporting Labs provides a platform to accomplish these goals, with programs for teachers as well as students. Below are some of the resources from today's presentation at UCET 2016.

Programs for students and teachers

A great opportunity for your aspiring journalists is the all-expense paid, week-long SRL Academy each summer in Washington D.C. Although the application deadline for this year's Academy has passed, look for applications next winter. Judge student Alex Maxwell participated in this program in the summer of 2015. Also keep an eye out for the SRL Apprenticeship Program, which Judge student Mary Oliver will be attending this summer.

2015-16 Student Reporting Labs at Judge Memorial

I highly recommend the Summer Teacher Boot Camp in Washington DC, which I attended in 2014. Teachers can apply for that in the spring of each year.

Student videos

This past fall, the Outside the Box series looked at how preconcieved notions of gender and affect the lives of middle and high school students. My students contribution - Let's Dance

In the fall of 2014, Student Reporting Labs from around the country produced stories of teens who make a difference in their community. This feature by students at Judge Memorial, Serving Those who have Served, was featured on the 2014 Christmas Day PBS NewsHour show.

Last spring another SRL school was a Winner of White House Film Festival; my students video received an Honorable Mention in that same contest.

How will you incorporate the 2016 U.S. elections in your teaching?

American flag by Delaney Barnett

How will you incorporate the 2016 elections into your curriculum?

I'm putting together resources around the 2016 election, like I did for the 2012 elections. This fall the books I'll teach are Julius Caesar, 1984 and Unspun: Finding Facts in a World of Disinformation. Although Unspun was written about ten years ago, the concepts are still relevant today. For example this year I had students update Unspun with examples from 2015. Here's a link to the assignment.

As far as social annotation goes, my students will participate in "annotatathons" hosted by Hypothes.is like these great speeches by previous American presidents. We'll also analyze the rhetoric of great American documents like the Declaration of Independence. Finally a project that I'm involved in is the Letters to the Next President 2.0 initiative sponsored by the National Writing Project and others.

That's what I've got so far. I'd like to see what others are thinking.