AMERICAN CREED EDUCATION CAMPAIGN
American Creed is an ongoing PBS multiformat project that helps students understand America’s foundational principles and institutions, and develop the skills responsible civic participation requires.
Since the first American Creed feature-length film launched in 2018 (available to watch now on PBS and YouTube), many thousands of students have engaged with American Creed content in classrooms nationwide. With curricular support from PBS LearningMedia and the National Writing Project, students discuss documentary clips and write standards-aligned essays.
Through the stories of civic leaders who are committed to America’s democratic principles, students learn techniques for bringing people together and engaging in productive dialogue. A forthcoming American Creed series to be distributed across all PBS platforms this coming Fall interweaves stories of "extraordinary, ordinary" young adults with on-camera dialogue facilitated by historian David M. Kennedy and political scientist Condoleezza Rice from their notably different perspectives as scholars of American democracy.
In the run-up to America's 250th anniversary, PBS LearningMedia continues releasing new short films, documentary clips and standards-aligned curriculum. Professional development equips teachers to bring resources and activities into their classrooms. To stay connected and learn about workshops and events in your area, join the American Creed mailing list.
Meet “extraordinary, ordinary” young leaders and explore ideals that motivate them to serve their communities:
Sample photo projects:
Viewfinder: “Coming Up In These Mountains” by Jonathan Blair
Viewfinder: “Salmon Tales – Subsistence on the Kenai Peninsula” by Sam Schimmel
Viewfinder: “Slag Valley” by Trinity Colón
Viewfinder: “Community, Land and Care” by Jace Charger
Photo Montage: “A Soldier’s Lens” by Ryan Chae, with transcript
Sample reflections from David M. Kennedy and Condoleezza Rice:
Curricular guides:
PBS LearningMedia resources include discussion activities, critical analysis walk-throughs, and step-by-step guides for students to compose standards-aligned persuasive essays, personal voice narratives, or photo-essays exploring their own experiences of community engagement.
Students respond to American Creed:
Education Partners
After viewing and discussing American Creed shorts, students compose their own work—essays, photography projects and other media exploring the relevance of ideals like freedom, fairness and opportunity in their own communities and family history.
Student perspectives will be amplified by the following partners:
America's largest network of teachers of writing creates and distributes resources that support the use of American Creed documentary films and photography projects in classrooms
Produced by KQED Education, this national youth media publishing platform is a vehicle through which students contribute their voices and visions to a national conversation.
America’s largest and most trusted source of curricular materials utilized by over 1.6 million educators nationwide, PBS LearningMedia hosts American Creed short films, clips and open-source educational assets intended for classroom use.
Working Assumptions engages students in combining photography and writing to explore family, community and care. They helped guide the young adults featured in American Creed to create photo projects that provide models for teens' exploration of their own ideas and experiences.
Underwriters
THE FUTURE OF AMERICAN CREED
The National Writing Project is conducting professional development and teacher training workshops to show educators how to utilize American Creed curricular resources and public media publishing platforms.
Join the American Creed mailing list for educators to see how you and your students can get involved.