Exploring Local Icons
MLC’s Iconic Michigan project empowers teachers and students to explore and showcase icons in their communities through research, collaboration, and media making.
Inspired by the PBS Series
Iconic America is a PBS series that examines the history of America through some of its most iconic symbols, objects, and places on location and in conversation with historical thinkers, community members and other experts. Each episode explores a symbol’s history and how its meaning has changed over time, using them as a gateway to understanding America’s past and present.
Teachers can share Iconic America with their students by streaming episodes and using lesson plans available through PBS Learning Media, and then using the Iconic Michigan viewing guide to facilitate discussion about the content of the episodes as well as the production style and techniques that make the show engaging.
Iconic Michigan Project Guides
The Iconic Michigan Teacher Fellowship
During the 2023-24 school year, the Michigan Learning Channel piloted a brand new teacher fellowship program called Iconic Michigan. MLC staff were able to recruit, identify, and support 18 educators as they learned more about media literacy and media making in the classroom. We developed the Iconic Michigan Teacher Fellowship as an opportunity for educators to bring Iconic America into their classrooms, challenging students to practice critical viewing and thinking, and then inviting them to conceptualize their own documentary stories that would capture what is iconic about their communities across Michigan.
The Teacher Guide
Lesson plans and resources for leading students through producing Iconic Michigan media projects, including:
Content Area Applications
Guidelines for completing this project within different subjects using the Gold Standard PBL framework.
Lesson Plans and Calendar Suggestions
Breaking the project into four phases with timeline and pacing notes.
Options for Assessment
A sample rubric and suggestions for teacher evaluation and student self-assessment.
Extension Opportunities
Places to share your completed work and join in nationwide Iconic America prompts.
The Student Guide
This guide leads students through examining icons in their community that they can showcase using the same techniques they saw in Iconic America.
The student guide includes four sections:
Introduction
Analyze segments from the Iconic America series and discuss what it means to be an icon.
Research
Use the inquiry process to uncover local stories and decide on the subject of the mini-documentary.
Production
Collect footage, edit, and create content that meets the project's goals.
Sharing
Share your work locally and with MLC so that it can be added to a statewide collection.
Showcase Your Work
Once your video or collection of videos is complete, share it with us and we’ll feature it on the Michigan Learning Channel YouTube channel! Just send us an email at MLC@dptv.org.
