Meridian Stories

Message From the Executive Director

We spend every summer creating new Digital Storytelling Challenges for the upcoming school year. I am very happy to announce that we have just posted The Summaries! The Summaries are short descriptions of this year’s fifteen new Challenges that comprise the Competitions.

A sampling of this year’s Digital Storytelling Challenges includes…a Graphic Novel about Environmental Law; The Historical Road Less Traveled – a ‘what if’ History exploration; and an Edgar Allan Poe horror scene…eerily resurrected from our pilot season nine years ago!

Check out The Summaries as we embark on our ninth Meridian Stories season.

– Brett Pierce [email protected]

Under the Radar

The Cornell Social Media Lab has been working on this tool called the Social Media TestDrive, which targets 9 – 13 year olds. The premise is that kids work through simulated situations on a simulated social media site and learn productive social media skills. “Each TestDrive module is designed to teach a specific social media skill, such as managing privacy settings, smart self-presentation, upstanding to cyberbullying, and news literacy.” I am not sure I buy it, honestly. The Social Media space has looked like CandyLand since these youth were toddlers. And yet here is an entry into that space that is ultimately about rules, nuance and upsetting situations. But I applaud the highly pro-active, hands-on approach. And as an educator, I am deeply re-assured that this area is being seriously and creatively studied and prototyped. Check it out HERE

Digital Storytelling Project – Super Hero Mathematics

You have been contracted by Marvel Pictures to draft, create, and name a superhero that appeals to your own peer group.  You are competing with other creators to have your superhero adopted by Marvel and expanded into a full line of products, so you have to sell your idea in a succinct, 2 – 3-minute video pitch.  The twist, however, is that your character must draw his powers from mathematical concepts that allow him/her/it to overcome challenges, defeat villains, and generally save the day!

For the full 12 page Curricular Challenge, Click HERE

Featured Meridian Resource

Narrative formats from Television and Radio are one of the novel terrains that Meridian Stories explores, re-introducing students and teachers to these varied formats for storytelling. And that includes the Radio Drama, which has recently morphed into the ever-inventive, Podcast. Check out our simple guide to the key elements that go into making a good Radio Drama.

Featured Student Work

Here is a seventh grade team’s response to ourYour Young Adult FictionChallenge. After being challenged to explore the contours of the genre, they had two scenes to a) introduce the dilemma of their protagonists; and b) suggest a direction in which the story is heading. This is the first in a series of three entries in this category that I would like to share. This is called,Story about Aji, Jake, Chiho and Emily.