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Greetings from Scenarios USA!
Who says August is a slow
news month for teachers? Join us as we launch
our new contest, continue the roll-out of our masculinity curriculum, and spotlight
a wonderful new film about gender & sexuality from one of our partner
organizations.
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Scenarios USA 2009-2010 What's the REAL DEAL? Contest Launch
Open to students in grades 6 - 12 in 3 regions: New York City, NY; Cleveland, OH; and the Rio Grande Valley, TX
I am delighted to help launch our 2009/2010 What's the REAL DEAL about Masculinity? story,
play and scriptwriting contest by facilitating workshops for Language
Arts, Social Studies, Theater and Health teachers this September in all
3 regions.
Click here to learn more and to sign up for the teacher workshops.
The interactive workshops will help you implement our standards-based What's the REAL DEAL about Masculinity?
curriculum to enrich your subjects, build stronger connections with
your students, and stimulate academic progress in students who might
otherwise be under-performing. I'll model how activities from the
curriculum can work in your classroom using discussion, film analysis,
games and creative writing prompts.
Teaching the
curriculum could culminate with your students consolidating their
writing into a story, script or play to submit to our REAL DEAL
contest.
A Selection Committee will choose one story
from each region to be made into a film. Scenarios USA will
partner the winning student writers with Hollywood filmmakers who will
help them refine their stories into screenplays for production in their
hometowns. Scenarios USA will also provide leadership and public
speaking training to the winning writers and finalists.
Scenarios
USA will send a Certificate of Participation and a college application
checklist to every student who submits to the REAL DEAL contest. The
winners will receive a college packet that will include a cash prize of
$500, a college check list, and letters of recommendation from
Scenarios USA and the film director.
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| What's the REAL DEAL about
Masculinity? Curriculum
Now available to classroom and
community educators nationwide
Responding to overwhelming
demand, the Scenarios USA What's the REAL
DEAL about Masculinity? curriculum is now available to be used by all
educators, not just those in our contest regions.
Our curriculum is grounded
in the inquiry-based International Baccalaureate pedagogy and aligned with
national educational standards in Language Arts, Social Studies, Theater Arts and
Health Education. The curriculum uses a multiple intelligences approach to help
teachers reach students of all abilities and learning styles. Educators from around the country helped to
create these lessons, which champion rigor, relevance, and relationships - all
crucial ingredients to school engagement.
Click here to learn more.
A recently completed evaluation of the Scenarios USA REAL
DEAL writing program concluded that the Scenarios USA curriculum promotes higher
level thinking and reflection skills, helps students build confidence in their
voice, changes attitudes that are linked to risky sexual behaviors and
violence, and improves students' overall educational experience. The study also
showed that students participating in the Scenarios USA program became more
engaged in their learning and developed stronger relationships with teachers, a
key factor in drop-out prevention and academic achievement.
To purchase the curriculum click here.
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Straightlaced - How Gender's Got Us All Tied Up
A few weeks ago I attended a screening of Straightlaced, the
highly anticipated documentary film from Academy AwardŽ winning director Debra
Chasnoff and GroundSpark's Respect For All Project. It is the first
feature-length documentary and educational campaign to explore how gender
expectations limit the lives of all teenagers.
Straightlaced echoes
Scenarios USA's views on the importance and impact one's perception of gender
has on a community and one's self.
"This new documentary is a rare gem that
provides a forum for young people to speak eloquently about the courage it
takes to break out of the box, live authentic lives, and stand up for justice."
-Bruce
Cohen, Oscar-winning Producer of MILK
Click here for more information about the film. Straightlaced is also now available on DVD. We highly recommend you check it out!
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See you next month.
Warmly,
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| Ernestine
Heldring
Education and Outreach Manager
Scenarios USA |
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