Community Arts Partner

Participant Details

Community Arts Partner Name
The Greater Seattle Bureau of Fearless Ideas
Partner Type
1
Profile Photo
Individual Bio or
Organizational Statement
The Greater Seattle Bureau of Fearless Ideas (BFI) empowers youth to improve their writing skills, develop the confidence to share their ideas, and reach their academic goals. Each student that comes to BFI makes a pledge to “Be Creative, Be Kind, Be Fearless” learning that to be Fearless is to embrace challenges, stay resilient, support friends and wield the mighty power of words. When young people learn to inquire about their world, creatively express their findings and feelings, and listen to others with genuine interest, they become invested agents of change, building a more caring society. Mission: The Greater Seattle Bureau of Fearless Ideas is a corps of youth and adults, staff and volunteers, families and local citizens who use the power of words, well-written and well-spoken, to open doors to important opportunities. Each year we serve approximately 1,800 students in Greater Seattle. We offer: in-school projects bringing teachers’ dream writing projects alive; writing and storytelling workshops on topics such as poetry and podcasting; daily afterschool programming that includes social and emotional learning (SEL); academic support, writing and creativity; and field trip experiences where classrooms come to us to create one-of-a-kind books written by their students.

Contact Information

First Name
Erica
Last Name
Mullen
Address
8414 Greenwood Ave
Address 2
City
Seattle
State
WA
Zip
98103
Phone
2067252625

Grade Levels Preferred

Grade Levels Preferred
K-2, 3rd - 5th, 6th - 8th, 9th - 12th

Artistic Disciplines

Discipline
2
Type
Our In-Schools Program collaborates with teachers to make their dream writing projects come to life. The majority of schools that we partner with, are Title 1 or have high numbers of low income students. Fearless Ideas uses the power of volunteers to ensure that all students have individualized support. We ensure that students are engaged in a way that is meaningful to them and sparks a love of writing. The process culminates in the publication of their work, unveiled at our book release party, which brings a sense of personal achievement and pride that carries on after the program is over. Our Field Trip Program allows classrooms to travel to our centers for collaborative creative writing labs, where classes create stories together and all go home with published books. We provide two field trip options for different age and ability levels: grades 1-3 and grades 4-6. The field trips challenge classes to create new original stories within a two-hour time frame, with each student writing their very own ending. We host field trips at both our Greenwood and Yelser Terrace locations to serve the diverse communities of Seattle. Each class works with one of our full time program managers and a consistent group of trained volunteers to create an entirely original book, teaching students traditional elements of story: plot, character, setting, problem, etc.

Experience

Previous School Partnerships
Adams, Broadview Thompson, Catherine Blaine, Chief Sealth, Cleveland Daniel Bagley, Gatewood, Greenwood, Hazel Wolf, John Hay, John Muir, John Rogers, Leschi, McDonald, Olympic View, Olympic Hills, Orca, Pathfinder, Queen Ann, Rainer View, Roxhill, Northgate, South shore, Southlake, Thurgood Marshall, View Ridge, Viewlands, Bailey Gatzert, West Seattle Elementary, W Woodlands, Whittier, Maple, Wing Luke
Other Trainings or Certifications
Sample Lesson Description: Student / Classroom Residencies
Mr. Geoduck Publishing Field trip - Grades 1-3.  In our most popular field trip, students are charged with the task of writing a story as a group that will please grouchy Pacific Northwest publisher Mr. Geoduck. Mr. Geoduck is never seen, but rather admonishes the students from behind a curtain in his quest for exciting writing, active verbs and interesting characters. Harriet, Mr. Geoduck’s harried hairy helping hand (who strangely resembles a fur-covered oven mitt) pops out from behind the curtain to collect stories and artwork from the class. The group finishes its portion of the story on a "cliffhanger” and then individual students are invited to write a unique ending. Mr. Geoduck gives feedback on each individual ending and each student takes home a bound book of their story. This field trip teaches students about collaboration, self-editing, the bookmaking process, and elements of successful storytelling. Writers Room Field Trip - Grades 4-6. Have you ever wanted to publish your own picture book? With this field trip, you can! After a short discussion about what makes a thrilling, unique story, students work in small groups to write and illustrate an original story for younger readers. Each group works with a volunteer or two who guides them through the writing process and types up their original adventures. All students leave with a printed, illustrated, and bound book of their very own. This experience allows students to complete the entire writing process, develop creative collaboration skills, and release the wild imagination within. 3rd grade Climate Change Writing project - 6 week project with students writing about the impact of climate change. Culminated in a published book called "Beat the Heat, sustainable solutions to climate change"    
Sample Workshop Description: Teacher Professional Development

Areas of Experience and Expertise

Approved Professional Development Provider
1
Approved Classroom Residency Provider
Yes

Lesson Plan

Integrated Art
lesson_plan_-_geoduck_field_trip.pdf
Cultural Art

Teaching Approach

Teaching Philosophy + Approach
For in-schools projects: Teachers come with an idea that they’re working on or they ask us to work together to find a way to collaborate. We start out by having a meeting where we discuss all of the potential ideas for the project and the teacher’s goals for the project. Often teachers take a lot of ownership in developing curriculum for the project, but BFI is always excited to collaborate and support the curriculum development in any way. Sometimes, BFI takes the idea that the teacher has and then expands that into the curriculum, while in others the teacher takes the lead and BFI supports the teacher as it is relevant. BFI is in regular communication with the teacher before starting the project about any updates with the project and volunteer base. We regularly communicate with the teacher during and after the project while we are working on the chapbook and planning the publishing party. For Field Trips - we send preparation materials, as well as follow up ideas on how to incorporate creatively further into the classroom.  We can also work with teachers to create a customized field trip based on curricular needs.  
Curriculum Integration Possibilities
Special Skills and Areas of Expertise
Testimonials from Schools
“The field trip supported many of the things we are currently working on in our writing unit. The students knew the vocabulary, they understood parts of a narrative and they were really open about writing. Most importantly, I think the field trip gave my students a chance to be fearless, it was encouraging to see many of my students take risks and get involved in the writing process." —West Seattle Elementary Teacher "[My students] take noticeably more pride in their writing now! I saw their engagement around writing go way up after the field trip. My only regret is that we didn't attend sooner in the school year" —Bailey Gatzert Elementary Teacher “Everyone can be supported during each phase of the writing process. Each student can have one to one facetime [with a tutor] more than once in the writing project.”

Fees

Fees
Field trips fees are $100-300 depending on customization In School Project fees range based on number of sessions, typically $75-100 per session

Images

Image
Image Description
In schools work sample
Image
Image Description
Image
Image Description
Image
Image Description
Image
Image Description

Video

Video Description
Video Description
Video Description