Out of Eden Walk Curricular Resources

Welcome to the Out of Eden Walk curricular resources on the Pulitzer Center's Lesson Builder. The Pulitzer Center has drawn inspiration from the Walk in a variety of settings inside and outside the classroom. Watch an introductory video for educators and read about our partnership with the Philmont Scout Ranch, the New York City Lab School, and the Yu Ying Public Charter School. You can also hear advice from Paul on "What Makes a Good Story" and how to "Compare and Contrast Social Structures."

Below are some lessons created by Pulitzer Center staff and members of our community of educators.

Geographies of the Mind: Mentally Mapping the Silk Road
Pulitzer Center Education
This lesson uses the Out of Eden Walk's interactive Silk Road map to help students identify how information presented in diverse media changes/expands their understanding of a geographic space, and to integrate diverse media to create a sensorily vivid depiction of a geographic space and their personal perception of it.

Out of Eden Walk Photography Exhibition Project: Introduction
Pulitzer Center Education
This project outline uses Paul Salopek's Out of Eden Walk to engage students in reflections and analysis of how a "slow approach" to journalism in their own communities can enlighten larger issues facing their cities. The project involves writing, discussion, multimedia analysis, hands-on photography projects and a culminating photography exhibition.

A Slow Approach to Reporting on Your Neighborhood - Three Day Workshop
Pulitzer Center Education
A three-part workshop designed for students in Washington, DC to help them understand the Out of Eden Walk and interact with a locally-based photojournalist.

Explore Your World Through the News: An Introduction to Journalism
Tracy Crowley
The purpose of this lesson is to introduce students to journalism and teach them to blend narrative and informational writing to eventually create their own news stories.

Thinking Like a Journalist
Fareed Mostoufi
This workshop plan was written to be facilitated with teachers as part of a professional development. It uses themes and resources from the Out of Eden Walk to prompt students to become careful observers of the world around them.

Reporting and Documenting Your Trip Abroad (8th Grade)
Pulitzer Center Education
This lesson plan was written to support travel ambassadors leading 8th grade students from DC public schools on study abroad trips in summer 2016. The lesson introduces students to reporting, research and photography skills from journalists Paul Salopek and Peter DiCampo. It also guides investigation of current reporting from the countries the students will be visiting by presenting reporting from Pulitzer Center journalists.

Reporting and Documenting Your Trip Abroad (11th Grade)
Pulitzer Center Education
This lesson plan was written to support travel ambassadors leading 11th grade students from DC public schools on study abroad trips in summer 2016. The lesson introduces students to reporting, research and photography skills from journalists Paul Salopek and Peter DiCampo. It also guides investigation of current reporting from the countries the students will be visiting by presenting reporting from Pulitzer Center journalists.

Out of Eden Walk Photography Exhibition Project: Introduction
Pulitzer Center Education
This project outline uses Paul Salopek's Out of Eden Walk to engage students in reflections and analysis of how a "slow approach" to journalism in their own communities can enlighten larger issues facing their cities. The project involves writing, discussion, multimedia analysis, hands-on photography projects and a culminating photography exhibition. This lesson acts as an introduction to the Out of Eden Walk and the class photography project. The resources in this lesson can be explored independently or as a class; however, the logistics for the photography exhibition should be designed to meet the timeline the works best for your students.

Who Am I?
Pulitzer Center Education
Elementary School lesson supporting inquiry into identity.

How Did I Become the Person I Am?
Pulitzer Center Education
Middle School lesson supporting inquiry into mass migrations.

The Impact of Ancestors' Movements on Current Descendants
Pulitzer Center Education
High School lesson supporting inquiry into the root causes of modern-day social and environmental issues.

A Storyteller's Eye: 1-5 Lesson Plan
Fareed Mostoufi
By the end of class, students will be able to summarize the details and mission of the Out of Eden Project and its slow approach to journalism.

Capturing Emotion in Words: 6-8 Lesson Plan
Fareed Mostoufi
Students will be able to analyze the impact of specific word choices on meaning and tone in blogs written as part of the Out of Eden Project.

A Storyteller's Point of View: 9-12 Lesson Plan
Fareed Mostoufi
Students will be able to evaluate how speakers use rhetoric and evidence to establish different points of view in a variety of texts related to journalist Paul Salopek's Out of Eden Walk.