Living in a place where wildfires burn regularly is complicated–and teens across Montana translated their complex experiences with fire into audio stories during Montana Media Lab workshops last fall.
Students in Darby and Florence Montana, and on Blackfeet Nation learned how to develop, research and report a story during intensive journalism workshops over the course of the fall semester. Led by University of Montana instructors, teens reported on everything from wildlife to school policy and Blackfeet cultural burning practices to the thrill of a firefighter’s first grass fire.
The Media Lab empowers teens to find their voices by giving them all the skills they need to tell their own stories. Teens in Indigenous and rural communities don’t often see their experiences reflected in journalism or media, but through our workshops they discover the immense power of their own perspectives. Here’s what one parent said about our workshop:
“Super proud of my girl! These experiences are the ones to give Native youth voices a place to be heard!”
-Workshop Participant’s parent
We’re thrilled that these teens’ voices were distributed to a national audience by Life With Fire Podcast. The podcast explores the critical role that fire plays in our forests, lands and communities. Huge thanks to Life With Fire host and creator Amanda Monthei for working with us to share these stories.
You can listen to the episode wherever you get your podcasts, or at the link below.
This summer the Montana Media Lab criss-crossed the state in a silver minivan, visiting rural and Indigenous communities. The team taught students how to tell their own stories with sound and find reliable sources of news. The trip was a great success–workshop participants made stories heard across the state on Yellowstone Public Radio, and both students and their teachers said they would use their news literacy and audio storytelling skills in the future.
Do you think we should teach teens in your community? Get in touch at [email protected] to let us know you’re interested, and you might be the next stop on our journalism education road trip.
Student instructor Hunter Wiggins captured our 2022 road trip in this video.
In Heart Butte, Montana, students reported on news unfolding right in their backyard using skills they learned at a News Literacy and Digital Storytelling Workshop. Construction crews were installing a new solar array that would supply energy for the school and for community members. Students made a radio feature that included the sound of construction equipment and wind whistling across the hills surrounding the school.
Listen here:
The news literacy and digital storytelling projects were made possible by support from a Hearst Literacy Grant and the Greater Montana Foundation.
Are you interested in hosting a Montana Media Lab News Literacy and Digital storytelling workshop at your school? Contact us here.
Middle school students in Polson spent the week of their News Literacy and Digital Storytelling Workshop gathering stories about the Flathead Lake monster for a video story. An elder shared the Kootenai story of a lake monster creating Flathead lake. The students visited a judge who believed he saw a monster in the lake. A museum director shared her theory that the monster was actually an ancient fish. A biologist applied his knowledge to the idea of a lake monster.
Watch the video below.
The news literacy and digital storytelling projects were made possible by support from a Hearst Literacy Grant and the Greater Montana Foundation.
Are you interested in hosting a Montana Media Lab News Literacy and Digital storytelling workshop at your school? Contact us here.
Students at Hays Lodgepole school spent a week this summer navigating fact and fiction on the internet and creating an audio story about a new Nakoda language textbook at a News Literacy and Digital Storytelling Workshop.
Students interviewed the school principal, the illustrator of the book, and their peers. The Nakoda language was once forbidden in schools. Their story captures the joy the community felt when about the opportunity to incorporate the language into the public school curriculum.
Listen to their story below.
The news literacy and digital storytelling projects were made possible by support from a Hearst Literacy Grant and the Greater Montana Foundation.
Are you interested in hosting a Montana Media Lab News Literacy and Digital storytelling workshop at your school? Contact us here.
Box Elder High School hosted the first Montana Media Lab News Literacy and Digital Storytelling workshop of the summer.
Box Elder students made two videos about their community. One focused on the new school garden—Bear Nation Garden. They got footage of the garden intern planting seedlings and pulling weeds. Their reporting took them to the local convenience store, the school cafeteria, and the Rocky Boy Health Center. Watch the video here:
Other students pursued a story about the role basketball plays in the Box Elder community. They interviewed basketball star and Box Elder graduate Brandon The Boy. Student reporters shot footage of kids playing basketball on the playground.
A Box Elder student created a digital image for the opening page of the garden video. Another composed the music featured in the videos.
Watch the video here:
The news literacy and digital storytelling projects were made possible by support from a Hearst Literacy Grant and the Greater Montana Foundation.
Are you interested in hosting a Montana Media Lab News Literacy and Digital storytelling workshop at your school? Contact us here.
