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Students Teach Families

Students at Washington schools teach their families media literacy skills at an after school event.

Large high school cafeteria set up with student displays at each table. Students stand at each table and present to small groups of parents.
Two adult men sit at a student presentation on Algorithms.
Mike Caulfield presents to an auditorium full of students and parents. The first slide of the presentation reads, "Parable of the Lake."
A computer displays a slide that says "Try this method yourself!" with a smiling smart phone and two QR codes. Two people have their phone out to try the activity.
A student-created trifold reads, "Stop!! Sleep on it..." and has puffy clouds decorating the top of the display.
Students talk parents through their presentation displayed on a laptop.

Ballard High School | Seattle, WA

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Ballard High School has hosted in person Media Mentorship Night events annually since 2022 with several classes, including 9th and 10th grade World History and 11th grade AP and on-level US History, typically in early June.

 

In 2022, 7 classes from the social studies department came together to host an event for 300+ parents and family members. ​

 

Each event includes a 20-minute keynote from a guest speaker, usually from the University of Washington's Center for an Informed Public, and about 45 minutes for families to visit student presentations. To prepare, students do Media Lit Fridays throughout the semester to learn the skills & concepts they need to teach others. ​​​​​​​​Read more about Ballard's 2022 event in GeekWire.

A student talks to two adults about her presentation. More students and adults converse in the background.
A plate of tacos next to two bingo cards.
A person views a trifold display that says "Q: Who's responsible for results?" and "Q: What happens when you scroll through the algorithm on social media?"
Six papers on display that refer to confirmation bias. One is an image where many people are lined up at a booth titled "Comforting Lies" and no one is lined up at a booth titled "Unpleasant truths."

Chimacum High School | Chimacum, WA

The AP Language class led their Media Mentorship activities for family members at a Taco-Bingo Night fundraiser hosted by the ASB in the school's cafeteria. Families ate dinner and visited student stations, then got to enjoy bingo.

 

Family members also got a Media Mentorship "bingo card" to collect stamps as they visited presentations. Families who completed their cards were entered into a raffle to win a $50 gift card to a local restaurant. 

 

To prepare, students did the Digital Survival Skills lessons after the AP exam in May to be ready for this event in early June. ​​​

Project Resources:​
Bingo card .pdf

Bingo card .pub
Flyer

An older woman listens to a studnet explain her trifold board titled, "How Can You Investigate the Source?"
A student glues letters onto a trifold board that spell out "Investigate."
A hand-written poster says "Today @ Your PTHS Library" pointing to a smaller printed out flyer. Other notes say "Be here @ 4:30 for the keynote speaker" and "Tea and cookies too... Not that you need this reason...but it sure is awesome!"
A woman stands near a student-created trifold board titled "Find better coverage" with four QR codes, blocks of text, and images.

Port Townsend High School | Port Townsend, WA

The 9th grade English class hosted their first Media Mentorship Night in December 2023 for parents and community members..​​​​​​​​

 

The English teacher collaborated with the District Librarian to prepare students for the event over a 3-week media literacy unit. The culinary class made cookies and tea for the audience. 

 

Port Townsend plans to host this event annually.​​​ Read more about their 2023 event in The Port Townsend Leader.

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A student-created hand-written poster titled "Investigating a Source."
Five student-created hand-written posters on display on a wall.
A student-created hand-written poster titled "Google Reverse Image Search."

Oakville High School | Oakville, WA

The Integrated Physics and Chemistry class (mostly freshman) had a strong interest in digital media literacy so they took “brain breaks” between each major unit and worked through the Digital Survival Skills lessons to gradually build up their skill set during the year. 

 

As an end of the year wrap-up, students worked in pairs to design a hallway poster highlighting a skill or tool they would use most in their daily life. Students chose a skill or tool and developed a real-life example to showcase on their poster.  

Project Resources:​
Assignment sheet

 

In addition to other students learning from the hallway posters, parents and other community members were also able to view them before and after end-of-the-year events at the school. 

Ready to get Started?

 

Our goal is to build a movement, one Media Mentorship project at a time.
We’d really love to hear from you. 

Register your interest here to speak to a Media Mentorship team member, get connected with other projects in your area, feature your project on this site, or simply be counted as a participating class. 

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