Anchor Content
Selection of anchor content means the stories that provide us something in common to begin the conversation.
The choices may seem overwhelming and the options infinite, so it is important to stay focused on the reasons why the story matters as a starting point.
Just as important are reasons that may provide participants with reasons to feel uncomfortable or excluded that are not relevant to the conversation you want to have. It is important to minimize those as well.
Reflection
In our examples, the anchor content may often be books but not always. It can come in many formats (novel, picture book, podcast, social media post).
“A story can be a comfortable way to bring up certain topics, especially for younger members. By this I mean, instead of role playing, or looking at pictures and asking them what is unique about each picture, or things like that. A story has characters they can potentially relate to or even the idea of being in a classroom or and somebody asks you what you did over the summer (or just a weekend).” – WI 4-H Educator
The anchor content matters but so does how the content is selected. You will see throughout the examples provided in the following pages a variety of ways to engage youth and adults in this selection. No matter how the content is selected it is important to be clear about the purpose of the anchor content before starting your selection strategies.
You(th) and Adult Input at the Same Time
This is the most common practice when youth and adults come together in a regular meeting space. It can include reading a book together first or providing a list of possible resources and/or key topics that each participant explored ahead of time so that comments could be exchanged during the meeting. When needed further outside response can be gathered.
“I think the great part about the process is everybody brings their own experience, and… I felt I had something to add, but I was only a piece of the puzzle.”
Curriculum Jams Participant
You(th) and Adult Input at Different Times
When it is not possible due to scheduling or access to a group of youth and adults who meet regularly, it is possible to gather information via separate opportunities. This may also occur because you want to engage the participants in the anchor content selection. For example, youth complete an online poll and adults respond to the top selections, or vice versa. When gathering input separately, it is important to provide access to feedback from both groups and clear justification about why a particular content was chosen.
Key Considerations
Who is the primary audience?
An inside audience that needs to connect to the book or an outside audience who wants to learn from the experience in the book to support people they know or causes they care about.
Who is the secondary audience?
Which intersections matter most?
With identities or details removed, is it an engaging story?
Love. Lose. Triumph. Family. For example, if you used the inside cover summary or even excerpts from pages of the book on posts that omit the ‘shocking’ or possibly ‘divisive’ details, will people care about the story?
Does the content build shared understanding and/or new understanding?
Is the level of detail too much or too little?
Is the story realistic?
Does that matter? How distant can the story be and still create impact? This includes the genre of fantasy or choosing a picture book with animals instead of people.
Is the setting of the story a match with your audience?
Do the characters act or react like people you know? Urban vs. Rural. United States versus a foreign country. While many themes are universal, when you’re just getting started, the closer to home the better.
Can one book do the job as well as another with fewer parental warnings?
PG is always preferable to R so that criticisms (i.e. drugs, drinking, sex, swearing) can’t hide underneath others. If not, be sure you are able to support the possible conversations such as drug overdose, having sex for the first time).
What are possible triggers?
What might cause anxiety in participants? For example, bullying, trauma, etc.
Resources
Websites such as Goodreads provide a variety of resources. You can find books that are similar to books you already like or about a topic important to you. You can read summaries and reviews.
Other websites provide less well-known information that maybe a trigger. This website is one example.
Supportive adults making selections will find answers to their questions at websites like Common Sense Media.
Examples
Our Current Conversations Team (made up of youth and adults) made the following observations about anchor content on its ‘lessons learned’ brainstorm.
“We found terms like ‘systemic racism’ to be too big, but terms like ‘xenophobia’ and stigma to work well.”
“Videos are one of our favorite kinds of anchor content. Videos which can offer a powerful narrative for participants to reflect upon, highlight something they noticed, or if it brought up any other thoughts, feelings or ideas. For example, ‘Coronavirus Racism Infected My High School.’
“If you use activities as anchor content, you invite people to share what they choose to about themselves and build connection for possible difficult conversations later.”
Remember, having many resources is a GREAT thing. Keep a record of the anchor content you don’t use for later activities and/or to provide as further resources. We would also love if you shared with us!
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