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Community Building and Resources
VOX teens often engage in activities to improve their communities. Recently, the Girls Group took to the streets of Atlanta, sharing facts about sexual assault and where young people can turn to for help.
This year, recognizing that resources for teens were limited, a group of VOX teens began the development of a Web site that would provide teens with information they need to help them with everyday issues.
Currently, TeenResourceATL.Org includes information and other resources for drug-related issues and sexually-related issues. As we continue to grow, we hope to include other issues and concerns that can benefit teens.
As teens we know that sometimes you are faced with challenging decisions and you just want to know what your options are. Our job here is not to tell you what to do, but to provide you with the latest resources. There are a great number of services available to help you in a variety of ways so please take advantage and enjoy!
Workshops
Since 1993, VOX has offered one-time free workshops to distributors and users of the VOX newspaper as partners in strengthening students' learning and voices in our community. To sign up for a workshop, simply click here to fill out our workshop request form.
VOX facilitators tailor workshops to fit the class or organization's particular needs, skill levels and interests of teen participants. All VOX worksops include interactive activities and engaging discussions designed to help teens express themselves effectively and turn students into published writers.
A sampling of VOX workshop partners in 2007-2008:
- GUIDE: Gwinnett United in Drug Education
- Atlanta Community Food Bank
- Bannekar High School
- Fayette County Library
- West End Academy
- Shiloh High School
- Inman Middle School
- Latin American Association
Sample Workshops
Below are two sample workshops to give you an idea of the range of what we offer:
WORKSHOP 1: Designed for a community-based after-school program.
- Teambuilding game/icebreaker
- Introductions.
- Information about VOX.
- Descriptive Writing Activity: The facilitators ask teens to use all their creativity - and the five senses) to describe a piece of candy. Teens will talk about what makes description good or interesting - and different from opinion-writing. Teens share their writings.
- Poetry Cafe: Teens will read "The Wall" (VOX's poetry page) and talk briefly about what they think makes good poetry. Does it have to rhyme? What's the role of description? Facilitators will introduce/remind students of literary techniques alliteration, haikus, similes and metaphors. Teens write and share original pieces.
- Global I/International Issues: Students will write about an international issue or conflict in the world. They should include the 5 Ws: who, what, when, where, and why, as well as the personal connection they feel with this subject. Why do you care? After writing for 10-15 minutes, teens can read their writings out loud, and commence a conversation about what their roles are as citizens of Atlanta, Georgia, the United States and the world.
- Evaluation
Workshop 2: Designed for a 9th grade Social Studies class studying politics.
- Brainstorm: Facilitators ask teens to position themselves in the classroom based on how important different issues are to them (jobs, education, immigration, healthcare, transportation, war, voting age, etc.). Then, teens will position themselves in the classroom according to how important different qualities are in a politician (honesty, hard-working, approachability, etc.)
Teens write about their responses to each of them. Why were different issues and characteristics more or less important? What themes did they notice about where their peers stood on different issues?
- Information about VOX.
- Politics Reloaded: Facilitators organize a discussion about persuasion. Students use their information about persuasion to debate about political issues (e.g. war, transportation, the environment). The debate is scored based on the teens' use of persuasion techniques the group brainstormed earlier.
- Letters to the Editors: Students discuss different methods of civic engagement and how to raising their voices effectively. Then, students will craft letters to the editor, responding to stories in VOX. Students will then have time to share their letters.
- Evaluations
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