GlobalGiving.org: Keep high risk inner-city students in school

News from Walking the Path!

Melissa Brody — Thu, 05 Jan 2012 22:24:39 GMT

Dear Friends,

Happy New Year! It’s an exciting time of year for our Walking the Path students—especially those at August Martin High School! Prior to the holidays, a group of 8 students spent weeks writing and producing their own video memoir. They first worked with the school’s English Language Art’s teacher to write a personal story. Afterwards, they learn how to use a video camera and edit footage on Final Cut Pro. Fully armed with the skills needed, each student shot their own video footage, recorded the voiceover of their personal story and edited it all together in a 2-3 minute video. Each student will receive a copy of their memoir. Even better, later this month we’ll roll out the red carpet and host a Hollywood style Premiere of all 8 videos for friends and family.

Also in progress is Walking the Path’s photography program at John Jay High School. Students are introduced to the ins and outs of photography learning about lighting, framing and of course, proper camera operation. Afterwards they take a “Walk Around the Block” to take pictures of family, friends and their neighborhood, using the skills they learned. To add a writing element, students are encouraged to write poems to correspond with their photographs and the pieces are displayed at the school like an art gallery.

Walking the Path is a fantastic program for students to explore creative methods of expressing their feelings. It is very difficult to imagine the hardships some of our students face every day. Sometimes students are not willing to speak about their troubles, but through creative expression, we are able to gain a better sense of how our students struggle and provide them with tools to combat these challenges. At the same time, students are exposed to new creative methods, develop pride and confidence by sharing their work with others and earn school credit too!—keeping them on track for graduation.

Thank you again for your support and helping at-risk students succeed. We look forward to updating you as the year progresses. Stay tuned for more updates and photos of the August Martin Premiere!

Links:

Another Year of Success and a New Year Upon Us

Melissa Brody — Tue, 13 Sep 2011 21:10:40 GMT

Dear Friends,

With another school year under our belt, we have some great successes to share with you from last year!

Our students at John Jay High School spent the year learning how to express themselves through poetry and photography. Through a series of workshops, they have learned to tell their own life stories and convert this into digital art. Students were given cameras to take photos around their neighborhood and journals to record their thoughts and poetry. The poetry and photos were collected and assembled into a book—we’re excited to produce Volume 2 of our Walking the Path stories! The books were published to give our students and their families a record of their achievement in Walking the Path.

Additionally, at WEB Dubois, students worked with their English teacher to write their own memoirs. These children live in such extreme poverty and are forced to unimaginable challenges each and every day. It’s a very powerful thing, to be able to understand exactly what these children are going through, but more importantly, to have them tell their own stories by painting such a clear picture of the lives they lead. Some of these stories were even converted into digital storytelling pieces!

With the new school year finally here, we’re so excited to meet a new group of students. We look forward to helping them discover their talents, as they learn of new ways to express themselves in nonviolent, productive ways.

Thank you again for your support and helping at-risk students succeed. We look forward to updating you as the fall projects evolve. Stay tuned!

Links:

Walking the Path - Kids Tell Their Stories

Jonathan Streeter — Wed, 25 May 2011 15:14:11 GMT

Walking the Path - May 2011 Update

At the WEB Dubois school, we implemented the full version of Walking the Path from March 28 to April 8, 2011. This project focuses on the creation of a memoir, in which the student writes a personal story, takes photos and then creates a video with spoken word and still images. We collaborated with the English Language Arts teacher Mr. Khairy, who assisted the 18 student applicants with the initial writing portion. Out of those, 6 were selected to continue with the final phase of the project. Five of them created and edited digital stories and one composed an audio story. Two of the students then composed background music to be used for video in the PwC-run music production group. When the video was completed, we held a banquet-style premier on May 12, 2011 with families and friends who came to show support for the student participants.

At John Jay School, we held a shorter version of Walking the Path, with four 2-day photography workshops. At these workshops, students took pictures of the school's surrounding community. The participants then edited the photos and wrote short descriptive passages to accompany them. Altogether, 20 students participated in this version of Walking the Path. These narratives will be included in a book of writings and photos that Joan Morse, founder of Walking the Path, is creating for the school.

Spring Updates from Walking the Path

Liz Roy — Wed, 09 Mar 2011 17:04:10 GMT

Dear Friends,

It is an exciting time for Walking the Path! Our Alternative Learning Center (Suspension Sites) students are involved in a range of activities as part of the Walking the Path program, from learning to see through a "creative lens" to mastering the techniques of producing music. All of the activities help re-engage the students in learning while building their literacy and digital skills.

At John Jay and Choir high schools students focused on strengthening their observation and writing skills. The students used digital cameras to capture images of their everyday surroundings, but used their new creative approach to find beauty and meaning in objects and places they might otherwise overlook. The students wrote short creative pieces to accompany each photograph, which they also edited using Photoshop.

At DuBois the students are going to start the full Walking the Path program and will incorporate music production along with video production and autobiographical writing in their projects. A Partnership with Children social worker who is also a music producer will lead the students through the process of creating melodies and beats, and will teach them to record, edit and publish their music using a digital program. The music they produce will be used in their autobiographical video pieces. The students will simultaneously learn to use digital cameras, Photoshop, and video editing programs. The schools' English Language Arts teacher will dedicate five full classes to helping the students learn to write autobiographical pieces, which will be used in their Walking the Path videos. Some of the things students will think about while writing their autobiographies include memories of their childhood; difficult experiences they have endured; turning points in their lives, and their visions for their future.

We are excited to share all of this news with you and look forward to sharing the students' finished pieces this Spring.

Links:

Partnership with Children

Keeping Kids in School

Liz Roy — Tue, 21 Dec 2010 21:31:11 GMT

Dear Friends,

Walking the Path has been busy this month working with two new groups of high school students at Alternative Learning Centers in Brooklyn, New York (sites that students are sent to for the duration of their out-of-school suspensions). We're excited to re-engage these at-risk students in learning at such a critical time in their education, when they may feel hopeless or disillusioned with school. The autobiographical videos the students produce give them a unique chance to reflect on the experiences that led to their suspensions, as well as to set out their personal goals in life.

We'll have photos and writings to post soon!

Thank you for supporting our project and helping keep at-risk New York City students in school.

Happy Holidays.

Links:

Partnership with Children

Starting Up a New School Year of Walking the Path!

Liz Roy — Tue, 19 Oct 2010 20:20:47 GMT

Dear Friends,

Walking the Path is busy setting up programs in new Alternative Learning Centers (ALCs) where Partnership with Children is working this year. ALCs are learning sites for students who have been suspended from their "home" schools. Chronic absenteeism is a common issue at ALCs, where student motivation is often low. Walking the Path provides a great way to get these students re-engaged in school and excited about learning. Through Walking the Path students get to take part in interactive projects, learn about photography and videography while building their writing skills and take time to reflect on their life experiences.

We're excited to keep you posted on developments this year and the great projects our students will create.

Thank you for your ongoing support to help keep at-risk students in school!

Links:

Visit our Website

Beyond the College Essay: Digital Bio's

Liz Roy — Thu, 29 Jul 2010 15:10:51 GMT

Dear Friends,

What is more daunting for a high school student than writing application essays for college admissions? It is a nerve-wracking process, particularly for students who struggle with literacy skills and may not have strong academic support at home. To help our high school students with the process this past school year Partnership with Children utilized Walking the Path's digital story-telling program as a way for students to create multi-media college application essays.

Through the process students strengthened their ability to organize and express their thoughts -- skills that apply equally to writing and film-making, and will be critical to their success as college students. We're happy to say that as a result, two of our students were selected as finalists for United Way college grants! As we begin work in more high schools this September, we look forward to helping a greater number of students apply to college using new technology.

Thank you for supporting our work!

Links:

College Readiness Program

Liz Roy — Mon, 17 May 2010 16:26:41 GMT

Dear Friends,

We're happy to share with you that Walking the Path and Partnership with Children have been collaborating in a unique College Readiness Program for 11th and 12th graders at Maxwell High School in East New York, Brooklyn for the past few months. Students in the program created autobiographies that focus on telling their personal stories of growth and hopes for the future. After writing and editing their stories, the students visited Partnership with Children's office in Manhattan during a two-day, intensive workshop in which they completed the audio components of their digital films using Final Cut Express. The program culminates in June, when the students will present their autobiographies to their families and teachers. What a wonderful way to end the school year!

Helping Children and Teens Tell Their Stories

Liz Roy — Mon, 12 Apr 2010 20:10:43 GMT

Dear Supporters,

Over the past few months students taking part in Walking the Path immersed themselves in writing and video-producing to create digital autobiographies. I can not recount every story here, but wanted to share that of one particular student, a 15 year old female ninth-grade student in Brooklyn. Through Walking the Path, she found an eloquent way to express her feelings about her behavior and desire to turn her life around. Below is a short excerpt from her story:

"My life is like a roller coaster but I have learned to accept all obstacles I face. I have problems in school, like every teenager. For me though, its deeper than just acting out. I bring all my anger about my parents' separation with me to school and take it out on my peers and teachers. My mom and I were both angry at my dad for leaving us so unexpectedly. We started fighting a lot because we were both so angry. Instead of yelling at my mom, I came to school and got into fights and got suspended a lot. I am trying to change now. When I feel angry, I write about how I feel. I don't want to get myself in any more trouble. I want to change and be successful."

Thank you all for your continued support!

Capturing Life in Images and Words

Liz Roy — Tue, 23 Feb 2010 21:00:36 GMT

We're happy to report that the frigid winter temperatures did not scare away our students from venturing into their neighborhoods to take photos and video of their home surroundings as part of our Walking the Path program! The surroundings are the backdrop to the students' personal stories about the events that have shaped their lives thus far.

Luckily the writing component of Walking the Path involves indoor work however, so students were able to warm up as they honed their writing and editing skills. A crucial aspect of Walking the Path is building students literacy skills. This entails not just their ability to write about their lives eloquently, but also to edit their peers' work.

A deeply personal experience, the process of creating their autobiographical digital stories in Walking the Path is both self-exploratory and a means for building real-life skills in computer digital editing programs and literacy.

We'll have photos to post soon!

Thank you for your continuing support of Walking the Path.

News from Walking the Path!

Liz Roy — Fri, 11 Dec 2009 19:30:48 GMT

Dear Friends,

We hope you will take a moment to view the new photos we posted, which represent the work of seven students at John Jay Alternative Learning Center, in Brooklyn, New York. The students, all of whom had been suspended from their "home" schools, spent three days exploring photography, computer technology, and literacy in our program.

They began by free writing to a series of writing prompts, then participated in a seminar to learn the computer application used for photo-editing, Adobe Photoshop, and later took photos and edited them using the application. Additionally, four students created a photo essay project. One student created the soundtrack for the project using the Apple software, Garage Band.

All of the students acquired new knowledge and skills for using computer software, explored photography as an artistic medium, and worked on their literacy skills by writing about the experiences that led to their suspensions.

We are immensely proud of our students for the impressive quality of their work, and their enthusiasm for our program.

Kind Regards, Liz Roy

Links:

http://www.partnershipwithchildrennyc.org

Great start to a new schoolyear!

Liz Roy — Thu, 08 Oct 2009 14:32:39 GMT

Dear Friends,

We are very happy to report that 14 Partnership with Children staff members have been trained to implement our Walking the Path program in six school sites.

They will conduct our new Writer’s Workshops that focus on building students’ writing skills through the use of individual journals, peer editing sessions, and group writing activities.

These new components will strengthen students’ script-writing, the basis of their autobiographical digital stories.

Through such self-reflective activities, our students are able to explore the challenges they have faced in their lives, while also building skills to improve their academic performance.

Please send your feedback - we would love to hear from you!

Walking the Path - Update

Liz roy — Thu, 06 Aug 2009 17:06:37 GMT

Thank you to all of our supporters! Thanks to your generous donations we will be able to expand the number of students who participate in Walking the Path, our digital storytelling program.

This summer, we are updating the program curriculum for the new school year, to incorporate additional activities to strengthen our students' literacy skills.

New to the program will be a four-hour writer's workshop, as well as a series of writing activities in which students will develop their autobiographical scripts. The students as well as a workshop coordinator will review and edit the scripts before they start filming.

Through these self-reflective activities, our students are able to explore the challenges they have faced in their lives, while also building skills to improve their academic performance.

More updates to come with the start of the new school year!

Please send your feedback - we would love to hear from you!