{"id":7224,"date":"2014-12-23T03:45:03","date_gmt":"2014-12-23T11:45:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/educatorinnovator.org\/?p=7224"},"modified":"2014-12-18T16:08:45","modified_gmt":"2014-12-19T00:08:45","slug":"ipads-and-arts-education-rewriting-cultural-narratives-with-the-524-project","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/educatorinnovator.org\/ipads-and-arts-education-rewriting-cultural-narratives-with-the-524-project\/","title":{"rendered":"iPads and Arts Education: Rewriting Cultural Narratives with The 524 Project"},"content":{"rendered":"

In recent years, much has been made of connected learning<\/a>, and of new media’s power to expose students to new ideas, perspectives, and communities of thought. But what about those students given few opportunities to see beyond their own backyards, or for whom the 24-hour media cycle can seem like a relentless onslaught of violence, negativity, and stereotyping? How can we as educators use the tools of connected learning to empower students to take their stories into their own hands and speak out on behalf of the places and people they call home?<\/p>\n

Sense of Place via Technology<\/strong>
\nThis was the core question posed by The 524 Project, a dynamic collaboration between arts educators in Washington, DC and Detroit. Inspired by a 2009 TED Talk<\/a> given by novelist Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie on “the danger of a single story,” DC-based Young Playwrights’ Theater<\/a> (YPT) and Detroit-based InsideOut Literary Arts Project<\/a> (iO) developed a hybrid curriculum of spoken word poetry, playwriting, and media arts that empowered our students to challenge the mainstream culture’s prevailing narratives about their cities. We called the program The 524 Project, after the 524 miles between DC and Detroit, and in the spring of 2014 we taught it simultaneously to a class at Ballou Senior High School<\/a> in southeast DC and a class at Western International High School<\/a> in southwest Detroit.
\n\"524-collage-460\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Over the course of 12 weeks, 524 Project students explored the local histories of their own city as well as the other city, sharing insights into their lives that mass media often overlooks. Through creative writing prompts like I Am [City Name]<\/a> and City-to-City Love Letters<\/a>, students in both Detroit and DC had the opportunity to counter narratives of poverty, bankruptcy, and government ineptitude with stories of the beauty and hope they see around them.<\/p>\n

\"Photo<\/a>

Photo by Jeff Gilliland<\/em><\/p><\/div>\n

The centerpiece of The 524 Project, however, was the technological integration. When the program began, each class was given an iPad outfitted with video-recording equipment<\/a> and the free teleconferencing platform Google Hangouts<\/a>. Every week, students in both cities filmed themselves performing poems and scenes, and then came together for a short “live exchange” in which they met each other in real time and learned more about the worlds of their counterparts. Through these live exchanges, 524 Project students revealed the stories beneath the headlines, exploring topics such as water bottling in the Great Lakes<\/a> and conspiracy theories about the secrets hidden in our dollar bills<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n

Building a Communication Model<\/strong><\/p>\n

A typical 524 Project lesson plan often looked like this:<\/p>\n

STAGE 1: Generate word lists about DC and Detroit<\/p>\n