I saw kids who are difficult to engage in the classroom really come to life when they got to do sound, record with the camera, and conduct interviews.  It was a good reminder to me as a teacher how important it is for kids to experience what they are learning about and to use what’s around us to teach them.

— Amy Millet, 6th Grade Teacher, Bronx Prep

The Program in Spring 2008

In 2007 the Tribeca Film Institute launched Tribeca Teaches: Films in Motion, a media-based curriculum designed to enrich the educational experiences of students at schools in outlying communities. In its second year, Tribeca Teaches: Films in Motion at the Bronx Preparatory Charter School in the South Bronx doubled its curriculum and offerings. This spring, TFI again screened Tribeca Film Festival films for an all-school mini film festival, produced a film-centric Community Day for the entire school (as well as the larger community of family and friends), and conducted a ten-week classroom workshop where more than 70 students used media to conceive of and produce four short films that explored, explained and defined stereotypes about the Bronx. Together, these four short films comprise The Stereotype Project, a celebration of the Bronx, its future and the young people who live there.

 Tribeca Teaches is organized around giving students filmmaking tools with which to identify and better understand themes of identity, community and tolerance. Classroom curriculum activities include writing exercises, basic hands-on filmmaking training, and in-class visits from Tribeca Film Festival filmmakers.

The Tribeca Teaches: Films in Motion 2008 program at Bronx Prep culminated with an in-school mini film festival featuring three TFF shorts and one TFF feature-length film on Friday, May 2nd and a community day for the student body, staff, friends and family held on Saturday, May 3rd, 2008. The classroom filmmaking project created by Bronx Prep’s middle school students premiered during the in-school film festival.

Yes maybe [The Stereotype Project can change the way people think about the Bronx]. I mean there’s a lot of hard-headed people out there that will just say ‘these stupid little kids don’t know nothing.’ But others might really change their opinion.

— 7th grade Tribeca Teaches student, Bronx Prep

About Bronx Preparatory Charter School

Bronx Prep is a charter school located in the South Bronx, which was founded on the belief that all children in America deserve an education enabling them to fulfill their potential and realize their dreams. Bronx Prep is committed to providing a quality instruction for underserved middle and high school students that challenges them to achieve at the highest levels and prepare them for enrollment at competitive colleges, civic involvement, and lifelong success. They opened their doors to the founding 100 fifth and sixth-graders in 2000 and are currently serving 540 students in grades 5-12.

Visit www.bronxprep.org