Beyondmedia's newest program,
ThinkBeyondMedia (TBM), partners with Chicago public school teachers and classrooms to create and implement a media-integrated academic curriculum that complements, integrates and revitalizes academic subjects and themes. When young people find tools that they enjoy and that foster necessary change in their lives, they have hope and want to learn. Developed for students at elementary through high school levels, our programs include Classroom Workshops, After-School Workshops, and Media Camp.
Beyondmedia presents our videos and facilitates discussion sessions in local classrooms and after school programs. One of our most popular videos,
A Fish (Almost) Eaten By a Shark, is Zaida Sanabia's story of being a 16 year old lesbian combating her principal's homophobi. This video has been used as a training tool to educate communities about LGBTQ youth and homophobia nationwide. Youth Staff and
A Fish producer, Sanabia, has been conducting an ongoing program of screenings with discussions in high schools, drop-in programs, universities and organizations around the Chicago metropolitan area. After post screening discussions, 89% of participants admitted that they had never known about the issues facing LGBTQ youth before. Inspired after seeing Sanabia's video in a health class, Lakeview High School students organized a school wide screening and art project in which students could share a variety of opinions about homophobia with the goal of working towards acceptance. Their art project won in a juried exhibition at the Field Museum and now Lakeview plans on creating a similar art project every year focused on combating different forms of oppression. We found all this out months later after screening
A Fish for Lakeview High's Latina Girls Group when everyone said they'd already seen the video!
(From fish screening)
"I learned that one person can make a difference."
"I learned that you have to speak for yourself and not be scared of what you want to do, think, or feel."
A brand new Chicago public school in Albany Park, North River is the site of our latest TBM partnership with Raymond Lau's sixth grade class. The families of these 32 students come from more than 25 countries. Many of the students are new immigrants who do not yet speak English. This workshop presents an invigorating and exciting challenge, and our strong relationship with the classroom teacher enriches everyone. In the workshop students are investigating their family histories from a range of perspectives to create handmade books. They are developing skills in media literacy, photography, interviewing, writing journals and poetry, paper making, marbling, and more. Their books will include: family history narratives, family maps, art pieces about themselves and their families, photo journals with text, a class CD of student voices and music, and poems on themes such as "Where Did I Come From?" and "Where Am I Going?"
One of TBM's first partnerships. In 10-week, intensive workshops at Senn High School, Beyondmedia instructors delivered high-level website design workshops to 22 students, grades 9-12. Our staff integrates technical education, media literacy and social justice issues to produce website projects reflective of the youth participant's learning process, design skills and personal interests. We found this workshop as engaging for us as instructors as it is for the students. We're privileged to support the academic and professional success of these students. Senn is renowned for its great diversity of cultures, nations and languages. Students' personal life experiences and cultures are always present in their individual projects, influencing the final group projects and assignments.
