Creatively Connecting Curriculum to the Digital Learner
Message From the Executive Director
Welcome to Meridian Stories’ first bi-weekly newsletter. As we enter our ninth year, Meridian Stories is expanding. In celebration of our expanded audience and Digital Storytelling offerings – still unique in the world of secondary education – our newsletters will offer (all free) one Digital Storytelling Project and one Meridian Stories Digital Resource, for use in your schools and classrooms. We will also feature one Under The Radar Article that I will dig up from the corners of educational discourse for your reflection. Finally, nothing speaks to the power of the Meridian experience than Student Work, featured at the end of the newsletter.
If you are new to the Meridian Stories (501(c) 3) experience, please explore our creative projects in LA, STEAM and History for middle and high school students and consider joining our annual Competitions. If you’re a Meridian Stories regular, stay tuned: this is promising to be a very exciting year.
Finally, please share this newsletter with your colleagues: Curricular-Driven Digital Storytelling is a more-the-merrier kind of thing!
Thanks and Enjoy – Brett Pierce[email protected]
Under the Radar
The Berkman Klein Center for Internet and Society at Harvard Universityhas a Digital Literacy Resource Platform. Covering areas from Content Production to Digital Access; Privacy and Reputation to AI, this (sometimes glitchy) resource offers classroom activities and videos, blogs and articles as references. It’s a gold mine.
Check it out HERE
Digital Storytelling Project – Democracy Awaken!
The United States is divided between Republicans and Democrats in ways that threaten our very democracy. This begins with the politicians and extends to their constituents – the current and future voters. There is a lot of evidence to suggest that each side is unwilling to listen to the other; is unwilling to seek compromise between their two divergent positions. This Challenge asks you to address that head on through the creation of a dialogue between local community members who happen to be opposed politically. This is about prompting the parties to exchange, listen and seek a position that bridges their beliefs. This is about taking a small step to re-awaken our Democracy through modeling civil discourse.
For the full 12 page Curricular Challenge, Click HERE
Featured Meridian Resource
Creating Digital Stories can involve a whole host of ‘rights’ issues when seeking to use images, music, sound or text from the Internet. Doctrine of Fair Use? Creative Commons Licenses? The Public Domain? In our Digital Rules Resource Center: The Starting Line, we explain it all for you.
Check it out HERE
Featured Student Work
Here is a seventh grade team from California’s response to our Challenge to create a Photographic Storyboard of a non-Roman or Greek myth. This is The Myth of Maria Makiling, from the Philippines.