On Tuesday, April 23, Skyline College hosted the C-SPAN bus on campus. Middle College students toured the bus in small groups from 8 a.m. to 10 a.m., and then bus was open to the campus community. On the bus, students and faculty learned about C-SPAN’s mission from education specialists Pam McGorry and Jenae Green. Visitors on the bus sat in the same place where many famous politicians have been interviewed by C-SPAN, and used tablet computers to watch C-SPAN programming and take quizzes on US History and politics.
Middle College Senior Aliyah San Juan said “It was a great opportunity, and I was grateful for the chance to meet the people who work behind the scenes to provide the public programming that C-SPAN shows.”
According to C-SPAN, “The C-SPAN Bus is an interactive, multimedia mobile classroom that travels the country to engage with community members and elected officials, showcasing C-SPAN’s public affairs programming and resources. The all new, state-of-the-art customized motor coach stops at book festivals, high schools and universities to host students and teachers around the nation, giving them an inside look at C-SPAN’s comprehensive educational and political resources.”
The C-SPAN bus visit was coordinated in part by Timothy Rottenberg, adjunct faculty member at Skyline College Middle College. In Summer 2018 Timothy attended the C-SPAN Educate! Conference in Washington DC. At the conference, Timothy was interviewed by C-SPAN founder Brian Lamb, where he spoke about Skyline College Middle College and his pedagogy as a US Government instructor. Additionally, he collaborated with other teachers from around the country to create new US Government curriculum for C-SPAN Classroom, and received training on using existing C-SPAN Classroom resources in his courses at Skyline College Middle College.
Last Fall, Skyline College Middle College students also participated in Studentcam, a national documentary video competition, as part of the curriculum for their US Government class. Although Skyline College students did not produce any winning documentary videos this year, we hope to invite the C-SPAN Bus back in future years for an award ceremony for our students.
If you would like to learn more about using C-SPAN classroom resources, or coordinating with the C-SPAN office in Washington DC, you can reach Timothy Rottenberg at rottenbergt@smccd.edu.
Article by Timothy Rottenberg
