Live It Learn It Goes to College

Live It Learn It recently collaborated with UDC Community College (UDC-CC) to create an exciting experiential learning opportunity for UDC students. Tony Keith, a Student Support Specialist at UDC-CC, describes the collaboration and its impact on UDC students.

"The University of the District of Columbia Community College (UDC-CC) partnered with Live It Learn It in Spring 2012 for a cultural film and community engagement program entitled "REEL. REAL." After screening the documentary "Waiting for Superman" at the community college, several students expressed an interest in learning more about public education and alternative approaches to instruction. Immediately, I thought of Live It Learn It because they have an awesome model of using community resources as classrooms. Although Live It Learn It traditionally works with elementary school students, the staff were willing to modify their Frederick Douglass lesson plan for UDC-CC students (average age is 29).

Cedar Hill, the home where Douglass lived during his time in Washington, DC

About 10 UDC-CC students and 2 staff members traveled from campus to Anacostia to participate in this experiential lesson and Live It Learn It did a phenomenal job! The pre-lesson, activities, site tour, and post lesson were engaging and extremely educational. However, what my students mostly benefited from was the critical dialogue that took place after the post-lesson. The staff at Live It Learn It developed a series of questions aimed at promoting students' thoughts about racial inequality and social justice - which felt just like a college level course. Overall, my students had a blast and even asked if we would be partnering with Live It Learn It for another lesson the following semester. I guess that means, we are!"