Passport
Empowering educators to teach the next generation of media producers
August 5, 2025 Leave a Comment
Last school year, PBS Wisconsin Education piloted the PBS Wisconsin Youth Media program with eight educators from Appleton West High School and Madison East High School.
Combining insights gained from over five years of various youth media initiatives with the needs of teachers and students today, the program supports educators in developing the next generation of content creators and introduces learners to media career pathways.
Appleton West High School teacher David Babcock at a screening of student-produced documentaries.
“PBS Wisconsin Youth Media gives students the opportunity to be both historians and documentary filmmakers,” said Nick Ostrem, PBS Wisconsin Education engagement specialist, who developed and runs the program with education producer Ian Glodich. “Learners take basic principles of media production and combine them with real historical research to create their own documentaries. The result is a high level of student engagement and hands-on learning.”
The program was adapted from the Wisconsin Hometown Stories: Youth Media project, which had PBS Wisconsin Education more directly involved in the instruction and media production. The aim is to offer the program statewide by training educators on how to implement it, increasing the number of schools PBS Wisconsin Education can support.
John May, a teacher at Madison East High School, found out about PBS Wisconsin Youth Media from colleagues who were already involved in it. After Advanced Placement students finished taking their exam, there was about a month left of school. May thought the project could be a good fit.
Ostrem and Glodich created a version of the curriculum that fit into the shorter timeline while still offering a meaningful, engaging and collaborative learning experience.
“While we worked on the documentary projects, we generally started each day with a mini lesson related to creating their documentaries,” May said. “Be it related to researching their topics, collecting b-roll or editing their final projects. Sometimes we would take a look at and evaluate an example for context. The highlight for me was the enthusiasm the students had for working on their projects and getting together on the final day to watch them together.”
Titles from student documentaries on a wide range of topics.
Students at Madison East High School covered a wide range of topics, including the history of anime, education in Puerto Rico, the history of chocolate, street dogs and more.
“The process was open-ended enough to allow for student agency and creativity, which led to seeing their personalities reflected in their work,” May explained.
PBS Wisconsin Education is facilitating a hands-on media production workshop for educators in August. Participants will be invited to join the PBS Wisconsin Youth Media program during the upcoming school year.
May encourages interested teachers to embrace the program.
“It is a rigorous project that provides an opportunity for both content learning and learning new skills,” he said. “And, again, the amount of student agency and choice involved led to a fun and creative learning experience.”
Registration for the Youth Media Workshop has closed, but educators interested in PBS Wisconsin Youth Media can contact PBS Wisconsin Education to learn more.
James Leser says:
As a retired video producer, working for UW Ext., Cooperative Extension, I saw firsthand the knowledge and expertise of WPT. Personnel there were integral in facilitating the satellite videoconferences I produced. I commend both WPT and educators across WI for developing and delivering the Youth Media Workshop, providing opportunities to the next Ken Burns.