Not in Our School Videos

The students of Newcomers High School in Long Island City, which specializes in teaching recent immigrants, and those of St. Luke's, a private middle school in Manhattan, have come together to dialogue about difference and combat bias. The Building Bridges project was created through a collaboration between Newcomers teacher Julie Mann, and St. Luke's teacher Kim Allen, who met ten years ago through a Facing History workshop. Ms. Mann's class of English-learners exchanged letters with their St.Luke's "buddies", and in the first of several meet-ups this year, received help editing their personal immigration stories. In return, St.Luke's students are preparing research papers on immigration informed by the interviews they conducted with their Newcomers buddies.

Stand Up, Stand Out: No Checking, No Capping, No Bullying highlights one middle school’s response to a noticeable increase in “checking,” or the practice of exchanging verbal insults between students. This video highlights the next steps Fairview Middle School took in order to curb the practice of “checking,” stop any opportunity to bully, and ultimately create a safer school for all students and community members.

This student-created video promotes the film, Not In Our Town: Light in the Darkness, with three simple words to counter hate: I Am Human. Created by high school students from American University's Discover the World of Communication Summer Program held at University of California Berkeley during the Summer of 2011.

From SpeakingInTonguesFilm.info: Sometimes a small idea has big implications. Consider America’s resolute commitment to remaining an “English only” nation. It turns out that our attitudes about language reflect much bigger concerns: that language is a metaphor for the barriers that come between neighbors, be they across the street or around the world.