A brand new program!

This spring I developed a brand new program with Virginia, the counselor at Conerly Road Elementary School. The program, which we are christening Reel Peace: Kids Teaching Kids Peace Through Moviemaking, is a really fun new way to train kids in conflict resolution and problem solving. For 12 weeks I went to Conerly Road Elementary every Monday morning and worked with 25 third and fourth graders. They chose five topics that were common problems kids their age deal with everyday. The topics were Bullying, Getting Along with Brothers and Sisters, Gossip and Rumors, What to do When Parents Fight, and Help I'm Hooked on Video Games. Then we spent several weeks doing improvisational acting to work out scenes and even more important, solutions to those problems. The kids then wrote scripts that included a scene that showed the problem and at least three solutions for the problem. We spent an entire Saturday from 10 in the morning to 6 pm videotaping the movies the kids wrote. Each movie starts with a teacher talking about the problem, then goes to two documentary-style interviews with kids who've had the problem themselves. After that the scene that was scripted was acted out and that was followed by different students giving suggestions for solutions to the problems. The videos and a workbook were given to each counselor in the school district to use to help the kids in their school. Plus the kids in the Moviemakers' program spent a week going from class to class at Conerly Road Elementary, showing the video and discussing the topics with the kids in the class. It was a great experience for everyone involved! So much fun and lots of learning involved! --Donna