students respond to american creed
Since 2018, students around the country have been discussing American Creed documentary clips in class, with curricular support from the National Writing Project. Watch this video illustrating student responses, then explore the resources below.
In 2024, we’re inviting educators and students to beta-test a new series of American Creed films, clips and project-based learning activities combining documentary photography and writing.
Sample photo essays:
“Salmon Tales – Subsistence on the Kenai Peninsula” by Sam Schimmel
“Community, Land and Care,” by Jace Charger
“Phantom of the Black Diamond” by Jonathan Blair
Educator Partners
After exploring different stories about American democracy, students compose their own work —essays, photos, videos or other media exploring their own American ideals and identity with curricular support from partnering organizations.
NATIONAL WRITING PROJECT
Find and share resources that support the uses of American Creed films in classrooms and learning sites, and add youth voices to the national conversation.
WORKING ASSUMPTIONS
Working Assumptions engages students in taking photographs and writing captions that explore challenges and solutions at the intersections of work, family, care and community. A selection of the best student work is curated and shared in photography collections and exhibitions.
PBS LEARNINGMEDIA
America's largest and most trusted source of inspiration and curricular materials utilized by over 1.6 million educators nationwide, PBS LearningMedia hosts open-source educational assets and American Creed digital shorts intended for classroom use.
THE FUTURE OF AMERICAN CREED
Since its launch in 2018, the American Creed public engagement campaign has engaged ~1.5 million viewers on PBS platforms and beyond.
To create a new series of PBS documentaries and accompanying curricular activities, the producers of American Creed are gathering together a diverse cohort of young adult leaders who take on what they see as the most urgent crises facing their own communities and our democracy. Documentaries will interweave the stories of these young leaders with dialogue between them facilitated by Stanford University professors David M. Kennedy and Condoleezza Rice.
To find out how you and your students can get involved, scroll down to join our mailing list at the bottom of this page.