Leilani Ferreira and Tamara Brown were two out of a class of students learning how to shoot and conduct interviews last week during a media workshop at A.M.Y. James Martin Elementary School.
“I think it’s inspiring,” said 11-year-old Ferreira. “If you want to learn how to make videos, they will make room and teach you how.”
The workshop is part of WHYY’s Media Lab expansion into more Philadelphia public schools. The program started last year with five schools, expanded to 10 this year and add another 12 next year.
“It’s more than just shooting and editing video,” said Craig Santoro, the director of Education and Programs at WHYY to students who were seated on the floor of the school library.
“You guys are going to learn how to work in teams, learn how to solve complex problems and hopefully, when you’re done making these movies and they’ve aired on PTSV,...we’re hoping that you’ll have a better sense of yourself as people who can solve problems and make a difference in the world,” he added.
The initiative is funded by the William Penn Foundation and other contributors. WHYY curates student produced content for the Philadelphia School District’s television station PSTV and a team of student reporters, producers and editors create a regular PSTV news magazine.
“We’re going to help you tell your stories,” WHYY President William Marrazzo said to students. “We as adults are very much looking forward to your work because every once and again WHYY will take a look at your stories and put them on TV.”
Marrazoo added, “The other thing we’re going to do with your stories is observe you and how you work with each other and develop confidence and self-esteem. These are the kind of behaviors we hope that you learn.”
About 86 percent of students learned something related to video and audio production, 57 percent reported a gain in their ability to understand why media messages are made and 66 percent reported an uptick in collaborating as a group and making good decisions, according to an independent assessment conducted by Research for Better Schools on WHYY’s media lab pilot program in the 2014-15 school year.
Brown, a sixth grader at the school, teamed up with her friend Ferreira to learn how to use the camera to zoom-in-and out of focus before shooting video and editing it. Tyreece Powell was helping the two.
“WHYY came to my high school in 2009 and it created a safe haven for me,” said Powell, associate media producer of WHYY. “If I didn’t pick up a camera, I’m not sure what I would be doing.”
“This really gives students meaning,” he added.
Since 2008, WHYY programming has served more than 4,100 children and more than 500 teachers, according to the public media organization.
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