Facing History and Ourselves' Digital Arts Curriculum
Facing History and Ourselves, which helps students find meaning in the past and recognize the need for participation in society and responsible decision-making, and the Pearson Foundation provide digital-arts focused professional development workshops for teachers in regional workshops across the United States.
These intensive, hands-on sessions enables teachers and administrators who have adopted Facing History and Ourselves’ innovative high-school curriculum to integrate digital arts and digital filmmaking into their classroom lessons. In specific Title 1 middle and high school schools, the Pearson Foundation also supplies consistent access to wireless, mobile computing labs as part of the initiative.
Teachers who participate in these workshops are also eligible to have their students take part in subsequent Pearson Foundation hosted Digital Arts Alliance Classroom Residencies. In these week-long sessions, students making use of the same curriculum have the opportunity to document what they’ve learned while using the latest personal computers, digital video cameras, movie-making software.
The results will be shared with teachers and students nationwide beginning later this year on the Facing History and Ourselves and Digital Arts Alliance websites – www.facinghistory.org; www.digitalartsalliance.org.
The most intensive phase of this project will take place in the Boston Public Schools, where students and teachers will develop digital films and other projects that document the history of the Civil Rights movement. Other school districts to be served during the coming school year include Memphis, Cleveland, and San Francisco.
