During the 2023-24 school year, the Michigan Learning Channel (MLC) piloted a brand new teacher fellowship program called Iconic Michigan. Thanks to a generous grant from WETA (Washington, D.C.), MLC staff were able to recruit, identify, and support 18 educators as they learned more about media literacy and media making in the classroom.

It all began with Iconic America: Our Symbols and Stories, an 8-episode show produced by WETA and nationwide on PBS in 2023. The show invites viewers to reflect on iconic U.S. landmarks, stories, and ideas, and models research, critical thinking, and storytelling in ways that are extremely relevant for classrooms today. 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.

Selected teachers gathered monthly for virtual workshopping sessions, where they learned about media literacy and critical thinking around digital stories as well as important digital storytelling and documentary production elements like interviewing experts, capturing valuable footage, and editing content. We also hosted one in person gathering at the WKAR studios in East Lansing to distribute student- and mobile-friendly media making equipment that teachers received for their classrooms as part of their fellowship stipend.

One of the goals of the fellowship experience was to illustrate the powerful potential that public media stations have to impact teaching and learning – and the 65+ student-produced documentary videos that showcase the history, culture, personality, and value of diverse communities across Michigan certainly showcase the variety of academic, creative, and digital skills that participating teachers were able to help students learn and practice. But an additional benefit of the program was the extent to which we were able to build community among the participating educators. Teacher fellows concluded the program feeling supported and connected in new and powerful ways – additionally demonstrating the importance of public media stations connecting directly with schools and teachers.

The Michigan Learning Channel team, and all of our partner stations at Detroit PBS, WKAR Public Media, Delta College Public Media, WGVU Public Media, WNMU Public Media, WCMU Public Media, and WNIT Michiana wish to congratulate and thank our initial cohort of Iconic Michigan Teacher Fellows for joining us in this program. We are proud to showcase you, as part of our growing network of educators and partners across the state, and to showcase your students’ projects as valuable artifacts that capture and celebrate iconic stories from all of our diverse communities.

For more information about Iconic America, and to preview and download the Iconic Michigan curriculum and student project guide for use in your classroom, visit michiganlearning.org/iconic.

To watch student stories and learn more about communities across Michigan, check out the playlist on YouTube.

To stay up-to-date and be notified when the next Iconic Michigan Fellowship call for applications is open, subscribe to our educator newsletter and follow us on social media @michlearning.

The 2023-24 Iconic Michigan Teacher Fellows are: