Engaging students with their own stories
Five hundred sixth, seventh, and eighth grade students from Parkway Montessori and Community School on St. Paul’s east side have been participating in a new initiative designed to better engage them in their education.
Since January, post-doctoral researcher Kari Smalkoski, professor Jigna Desai, and a team of undergraduate and graduate students have been working with teachers at Parkway to develop and a new curriculum that teaches students how to use digital tools to create their own stories.
It’s a pilot for a five-year project designed to address Minnesota’s educational achievement gap. Instead of focusing on standard educational benchmarks and disparities, the University team is shifting the focus to the structures of inequality.
By helping students create and tell their own stories, the project is empowering them to take hold of their education.
Learn about similar work at the University of Minnesota to close the opportunity gap.