FREE standards-aligned classroom resources and educator professional development courses provided by nonprofit public media station KQED.

Classroom Resources

Lesson plans and resources aligned to Common Core State Standards (CCSS) and ISTE standards that support middle and high school students in creating media.

KQED Youth Media Challenge

Empower your students to share their ideas through audio, video and images. Choose from three free standards-aligned projects, complete with ready to use, modifiable curricular supports. Great for ELA, science, social studies and more. The Challenge is open year-round to middle and high school students across the U.S. Sample a few of these student media submissions:
+ Fast Fashion and its Effects on the Environment by Lizzie R, Iris L. Show What You Know mini-documentary
+ Colorism In Black Communities by Aejana R. Call for Change editorial cartoon
+ Dear Male Athletes by Ellie C. First Person audio essay

KQED Youth Takeover

San Francisco Bay Area students learn valuable media making skills , collaborate with media professionals, and share their work and ideas with a wide audience in this annual program for local schools. Inspire discussion and creativity with one of these student stories:
+  Forum: Four Stewards at Work Healing Their Land and Communities co-hosted by Finn D.
+   Righnowish: Dear Future Self: Letters From Fremont High Students by Citali S., Brenda P., Joshua W., Tauryana H., Diana T., Rebekah C., Victor F.
+  The California Report: ‘I’m Always Tired.’ Navigating High School on Barely any Sleep by Vincent Nguyen

Above the Noise

Above the Noise is an Emmy Award winning YouTube series for secondary students. Each episode cuts through the hype and dives deep into the research behind the issues affecting their daily lives—then encourages them to draw their own informed conclusions.  In your classroom, you can kick off meaningful discussions with these videos, discussion prompts, and curricular supports.
+  ADHD Medication: What Happens When You Use It For Non-ADHD Issues?
+ How Do You Feel about the Design Tricks That Social Media Apps Use?
+ What Can Beavers and Their Habitats Teach Us about Fighting Climate Change?

Professional Learning

Free professional development to help you hone your media making skills and incorporate media literacy into your teaching.

KQED Teach

Bring media making and media literacy to your teaching with free, self-paced courses and live workshops that build confidence and skills through step-by-step videos and hands-on activities. For K-12 teachers across all subject areas. Get started with one of these student media topics:
+  Implementing Student Media Projects
+  Inspire learning through making Photo Essays, Audio/Podcasts, or Video
+  Podcasting with Youth Radio 
+  Live workshops

“Super PD resource for making media in the classroom”
-Common Sense Education

PBS Media Literacy Educator Certification by KQED

A great way to demonstrate your skills in teaching media literacy. Certification is earned by completing 8 micro-credentials.

More Education Content from KQED  and Our Partners

Letters to the Next President in collaboration with the National Writing Project (2016). There’s another presidential election on the way, and KQED is here for you. Register for KQED Learn to be the first to hear about everything Election 2020.

Mind/Shift  Explore the future of learning in all its dimensions — including cultural and technology trends, groundbreaking research, education policy and more on this blog and podcast.

KQED Classics

The Lowdown (published 2011 – 2018). Love The Lowdown but want fresh, timely content? Try Above the Noise.

Do Now  (published 2014 – 2017).  Do you miss Do Now and want more like it? Try KQED Learn.