Teacher Feature February 2025: Rachel Mahlke
Rachel Mahlke is an English teacher with 20 years of experience based in Oakland, CA. She works at Oakland Military Institute (OMI) and also with KQED. Rachel is deeply committed to uplifting the voices of Oakland youth. Her students surprise her every day (in the best ways) and give her hope that together, we can turn this ship around.
Discover Rachel’s favorite tools, pro tips, and insights on what it means for her students to have their work featured nationally in the Q&A below
How long have you been using StoryMaker resources? 7 years.
What’s your favorite StoryMaker lesson(s)? I love all the Level Up Tutorials. I also love the “Mighty Greens” scriptwriting resource, and use it every year.
What’s a media-making tool or resource you can’t live without? I like to have lots of cheapie wired mics (cordless + wired) that plug into a phone or iPad. The students love to roam around and do impromptu interviews, building their confidence and practice.
What’s your advice for teachers and educators just getting started on StoryMaker? Start with Shifting the Frame. Centering student voices is the heart of this program.
Links to student work: OMI Grizz News on Instagram, Grizz News on YouTube
What has it meant for your students to have their work featured nationally, such as through the RUN HIDE FIGHT documentary and PBS News? “Oakland, California,…donde la vida no vale nada, donde la cuidad nos tiene abandonados“* So goes the viral videos that show Oakland’s problems, but they also show a sort of Town pride. We all know what Oakland citizens have to deal with, and we all agree that Oakland does not go down without a fight. Oakland students are paradoxically fiercely proud of The Town, but also under no illusions about its problems. Words like “at-risk” or “marginalized” are adjectives that are thrown around to describe urban youth. But national recognition can help flip that script. When a major outlet recognizes Oakland students as the filmmakers and young journalists that they are, their ideas are validated.
In my view, the real winners are the people of the rest of the country when they are treated to a view from the perspective of Bay Area youth. Young people here are clear-eyed realists with experiences and ideas like no other. We live in a city with fight and pride, and when Oakland youth have a voice, the nation is better for it.
*translation: “Oakland, California, … where life is worthless, where the city has abandoned us.”
What’s a dream story you’d like to report on or a person you’d like to interview? I would like to take a deep dive into public school funding. Maybe Tony Thurmond would be a great interview for that piece.
What are you currently listening to? Los Retros, Beabadoobee, Steve Lacy, Khruangbin.
You can reach out to Rachel directly to learn more about how she’s adapted StoryMaker in her classes. Email her at: rmahlke@omiacademy.org or join her at our upcoming TRL Chat to talk all things media-making in the classroom, in real time on 2/24, 7 pm Eastern. RSVP here.
TRL Chats are short, live conversations with educators swapping stories, strategies, and sparks from their classrooms in the SRL Community Commons. Join us!