Youth Voices Across Curriculum: Documentary Film Makers

To begin our Youth Voices project we would like to see our history students document the history that they themselves are living, to compare their own life situations with people in other situations, cultures, living in other countries, and also people who lived through other moments in history. We recognize that the history we read has a particular cultural and political point of view. But it is rare to find the voice of people of color in our history books, and even more rare to hear the voices of youth documented. Imagine giving science students who have grown up with little to no experience in nature, extended periods of time studying the most intriguing questions in environmental science, by creating mini-documentaries that answer some of the questions that most concern them. Students that have rich experiences in nature doing authentic fieldwork are more likely to choose a college career path. If they have created professional looking mini-documentaries, they can include these in a professional portfolio. Our students are urban California residents aged 13-18 who have histories of substance abuse and incarceration. These youth tend to reside in neighborhoods with high incidences of poverty, unemployment, substance abuse, and crime, and are routinely faced with high levels of violence inside their families and in their immediate community. A disproportionate number are youth of color, particularly African American (57%) and Latino (31%). A recent review found that 80% were from single-parent low- income households; 47% have been in out-of-home placements including foster care and many have engaged in sex in exchange for money, drugs, or other goods. Many have limited life skills, minimal or no job skills, multiple health issues, and low self-esteem. Many are as much as seven years behind expected academic performance when they come to our school. The revolving door of the justice system is a reality for most; on average they have had five prior contacts with the juvenile justice system. The mental health disorders suffered by these youth include depression, compulsion, anxiety disorder, post traumatic stress, conduct disorders and inability to make healthy choices. Educational resources, employment training and services to address family violence, neglect, and other traumas were rarely available to these youth until they were caught in the cycle of the juvenile justice system. We want to build curriculum around the questions, concerns and passions of our students. We want to offer state of the art technology and software and use this across curricular boundaries. If we are given adequate support I believe Youth Voices could be a significant step forward in our ability to capture the voices of these remarkable young men and women. Our success will be measured by how engaged students are in producing the films, how well we have helped them develop the resiliency required for successful completion of their projects. If they can produce an effective documentary, the students will feel that they can achieve whatever they set out to do. Our students need a broadcast quality setup for documentary film making, including two Sony HVR Z7U camcorders with accessories, microphones, headphones, and the Final Cut Studio 2 Upgrade with a Bella Pro Series 3 Keyboard for video post-production.