2016 Ethnodrama After School Program

Collaborative and Individual Research

Everyday for two hours and fifteen minutes, from January 4, 2016-January 22, 2016, students from two schools came to an ethnodrama after school program in which they built a collaborative classroom writing community.  The program was hosted by Nine Network of Public Media in St. Louis.

Overview of Ethnodrama After School Program

Students engaged in individual and collaborative research and film-making and used their films to facilitate productive cross-cultural conversations at GCAA with teachers and students, at the New Partners for Smart Growth Conference for 40 adults and 5 youth, at a local university, at Venture Cafe, & for an ExpandEd Equity podcast.

New Partners for Smart Growth Conference

Ethnodrama After School Program Outcomes
January 4, 2016-January 22, 2016

Drama Outcomes

Research Outcomes

Film Production Outcomes
Drama
  • fostered relationship-building.
  • enabled academic vocabulary concept-building.
  • supported sharing knowledge.
  • helped generate and sustain inquiry.
  • The most troubled student later reported finding peace within himself and a feeling of social competence. He has become involved in a number of leadership programs and has reported confidence in talking to anyone.

Student Presentation & Facilitation Skills 2016

  • 4 out of 9 students had internalized Dr. Hobson’s methods of facilitation and either utilized them or created their own at the GCAA March 2016 film festival.
  • Their peers responded to their films and facilitation techniques by engaging in passionate dialogue and not wanting to leave.
  • The 5 quieter, more shy students had help from Dr. Hobson, and they witnessed the impact of their films in helping them generate powerful dialogue about their research projects.
  • All students from the program successfully educated teachers and peers about misconceptions about history.



Parent Testimonial 1-Year Later at Conference

"When they get with Miss Sarah, it’s a good thing. When they get with Miss Sarah, when she gets to them, they open up. It’s a blessing. She is doing a great thing."
Research
  • Students were motivated to establish and pursue their own research agenda.
  • Students drew inspiration from non-traditional research sources.
  • Students embraced serious scholarship.
  • All students could articulate the ethical methods of research they had designed & enacted to pursue their questions.
  • All students designed their own writing processes.
  • All students had an expanded understanding of career options.
  • All students expressed a sense of their personal power to make a difference with their voices and their research and art.

Student Presentation & Facilitation Skills 2017

  • In February 2017, 7 program youth together presented their films and facilitated an hour-long conversation, centered in their research into segregation, with adults at a New Partners for Smart Growth Conference.
  • All students had grown into impressive young people. They stood and spoke with poise, confidence, and gratitude for the ways the program had deeply impacted their self-esteem, understandings of the world, their desire to mentor other youth & adults, and their awareness of their personal & collective power to effect change.
  • Because youth used strategic questions they had formed together in the program and careful articulation about the issues, adults were moved to share their stories, to share their knowledge, & to reflect on their personal successes and failures in addressing segregation.
  • Students mentored & encouraged adults to push past perceived barriers to cross-cultural dialogue & working together.
  • There were many tears as adults vocalized their feelings of being humbled by the collective action youth were taking to help move America forward in forging these difficult conversations within and across race and class.​

Student Testimonial 1-Year Later at Conference

Stacy: "I’m in 7th grade, and I thought well, all these older people are going to have all these ideas, and I’m not going to have anything. I’m going to have to copy off of them. And she really let me open up. I am a loud person, but I really don’t talk about these type of things, and she made me more comfortable with talking about them."
(Along with her peers, this student presented eloquently and fearlessly at the conference, carefully teaching the audience how prejudice works.)
Editing
  • facilitated textual analysis.
  • facilitated student agency as writers.
  • supported student ability to listen.
  • facilitated student ability to see the larger picture.
  • supported innovative problem-solving.
  • 8 students condensed 10-48 minute interviews into 2-4 minute films. 1 student created a 2-minute film from a 5-minute interview.

Student Ongoing Presentations 2017

  • Three of the quietest and shyest students have continued to develop their presentation & facilitation skills by presenting their films and generating dialogue. They have presented to the St. Charles Municipal League, to a local university, at Venture Café, and they presented their films in Iowa at the Sustainable Cities conference.
  • With each presentation, students are making powerful connections with adults in various industries that are paving the way for mentoring, internships, and future employment.
  • With each presentation, adults are volunteering their time, mentoring support to Dr. Hobson and to youth, and corporate sponsorships for the program.

Student Testimonial 1-Year Later at Conference

Isaac: "Miss Sarah. I was really happy to have her because she changed my life just by doing this project. And by that I mean that I learned more about my black African history than ever before."
(This student now puts academics over sports and is committed to college as the most viable route to a satisfying profession.)
Mike Pagano, Nine Network of Public Media
"I was impressed with your process and ability to engage these young people and produce some great content and conversations. The school screenings were a great addition to the process."



Program Impact on Youth

Youth Continue to Mentor Youth and Adults in their Lives
Bill: "I just pull them to the side and I’m like hey, and . . .  I try and bring up the problems that are going on, and I let them bring it up so that I can sit back and listen. And respond with stuff that you know that we talked about and let them know that like if you ever want to talk, I let them know, I like give them my information and stuff. I actually got a couple of emails you know: man I need help with this, and that just made me smile. I sat back and I cried for a few minutes because I’m like man, I’m still young but like they’s kids that are powerful enough, and I inspired them because they responded back to me and I let them know that I heard what they had to say and if they need help, I like will call them."
Parent Testimonial
"The film really peeked their interest. They were really involved. They were really engaged. I loved it. Great job you guys . . . You probably touched somebody’s life to where they stopped the gang violence or things that may be going in their lives, so that’s good."

Program Impact on Youth

One Youth Went from Quiet and Troubled to Community Leader 
Guardian: "This young man here. He is 13. I’m proud of him right now. He’s an eighth grader. Sarah took him. This boy was so quiet. Like really quiet, and he was like a trouble student. He did this presentation, got with her, and I mean he wouldn’t say nothing. After doing this, he opened up and switched schools, and he’s like on fire. He has to be number one in everything. . . After being with Sarah, he opened up to everything. He does cross-country. He has to be number one. Everybody takes to him."
Parent Testimonial
"My daughter was very excited to be accepted in the program and in the three weeks that she was involved, her excitement never diminished. I am so proud of her progress and growth as a student and individual."


Program Impact on Adult Audiences

Adults Became Emotional and Reported at the Conference Session Being Inspired to Re-engage in Addressing the Issues Youth Raised with New Vigor
Eric Friedman: "The feedback from the program, people were saying this is just a great program. I was looking at the audience. People were really engaged in the program. Hardly anyone got up and left the room. People were glued to their seats and taking it in and gave great feedback about the students. What they got from the students? That the students were on the right track and that we really need to support programs like this, particularly in times like this."
Multiple Session Attendees:
“That was the best session I’ve ever attended at any conference.”
Teacher Testimonial
"The last one with the Latina family. That one I thought was so well done because this particular class has a lot of different varieties in it. And it does, we just only talk about one or the other. And I think having us all learn that there is-many people whether it’s racial or cultural or whatever, there are so many differences and maybe that we all need to be heard and valued."

Program Impact on Adult Audiences

Student Interpretation of Audience Reaction at Conference

Matt: "I thought that it was good that we did this because like there were people coming up to us, hugging us, crying."
 
Elizabeth: "People were tearing up when they were talking . . . it helps when you’re eloquent about it because a lot of people, like they know what they feel, but they don’t know how to voice it unless you’re sitting in front of people, teaching them this is exactly what I believe and showing them the work that you put it into it. Then they are like oh they actually know what they’re talking about. It gives you a sense of credibility and people actually listen to you."

Significance of this Research/Programming

These programs and this research add to literature produced by New Literacy Study scholars. New Literacy Study scholars document the many different ways in a 21st Century world of information and communication that youth engage with reading and writing. We know that youth are engaging authentically in reading, research, and writing communities on line and developing a broad range of literacies. They are artists, graphic designers, film producers, screenwriters, novelists, fan fiction writers, anime translators and editors, video game players of games with their own languages.

However, too often, under the pressures of high stakes tests and standardized instruction, students do not have enough opportunities to continue to develop these real world literacies. Students in this program were not graded for their work. In this program, they were inspired to do rigorous research because the teaching methods aligned with the many literacies students are already developing.

The ethnodramatic framing and the multiple modes of learning available in the program inspired deeper desires for students to enact rich research projects and to position themselves as community innovators.

Their acquisition of academic language, of syntactical language structures, and of rhetorical strategies grew exponentially. They were not only learning new words and concepts; they were living them.
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