Discovery Education is searching for a Visual Storyteller and Video Editor for Writing Lessons to help us create a new product– a K-5 supplemental writing resource that transforms writing from a task teachers and students dread to one they are excited about.
We’ve done this before: in 2014/15 we set out to make K-5 science the favorite subject of teachers and students, and we succeeded spectacularly: Mystery Science is the most popular elementary science resource in the US. Our lessons combine videos with engaging visuals and intriguing stories with hands-on, open-and-go activities. More than 200,000 teachers use our lessons regularly with nearly 4 million students.
The new writing product will apply the Mystery magic to the challenge of teaching writing, and your role will be to find the perfect visuals to make a typically dry and boring subject (ever seen a kid jump up in excitement about learning punctuation or appositives?!) fun and engaging to learn. You’ll source wow visuals, both still images and videos, and edit them into open-and-go lessons, working closely with a Scriptwriter/Activity Developer partner.
This is a full-time salaried, remote-first (US-based) position.
About The Role
As a Visual Storyteller and Video Editor for Writing Lessons, your main focus will be to:
- Find images that make writing lessons both clear and fun. You’ll work with a Scriptwriter/ Activity Developer to ideate on writing lessons. For example, you might be tasked to come up with five different visual ideas for a story around the idea of “It ate … ” with images that kids would laugh at and relate to. Or, you’d research wow visuals on a topic such as “cool rock formations” that kids use to practice note taking or outlining. Often, the space is wide open, and your work will be to make a dull assignment into something kids can’t wait to tackle!
- Quickly execute video editing, graphic layout, simple animations, and minimal filming. Using Adobe Premiere, you’ll edit the imagery you’ve found, moving fast without worrying too much about polish and fancy video editing techniques. You’ll layout text and images for step-by-step video instructions. You typically will work quickly, meeting weekly deadlines for new lesson releases from a proven template, but at times you may take 2-3 weeks to work with another expert to come up with a better way to teach a certain skill or concept. You will need to be able to film simple activities, such as filling out worksheets or making booklets. Bonus if you can lay out worksheets, bringing in simple icons found online or creating some simple illustrations yourself.
- Collaborate with your coworkers on the content team. You will co-create lessons in a collaborative way, joining in brainstorming sessions, quickly iterating visual options, breaking lessons into step-by-step instructions that are easy to follow for kids. You’ll be joining meetings to review lessons and will give and receive feedback on lessons as multiple teams work in parallel to scale this new writing product.
Requirements
- 3+ years video editing (or similar) experience, with expert knowledge of Adobe Premiere and proficiency in Photoshop and AfterEffects.
- Experience working closely with writers and other creatives in a collaborative team setting, and creating videos from scripts. Strong understanding of production workflows and ability to adapt.
- Experience creating visual content for kids, in the educational and/or entertainment space. Explanation content, a plus.
- Experience doing visual research and pulling from multiple sources. Basic knowledge of rights and clearances, and licensing requirements.
- Attention to detail, and able to calibrate level of fidelity to create videos efficiently.
- Legal right to work in the United States.
- About You:
- Do you love using visuals (images, video, animations) to tell stories? You love the challenge of finding wow visuals that can bring delight and fun to something heavily text-based like writing. You’re the type of person who keeps their own collection of cool images, who notices when images and words create unique, compelling experiences, and who has a strong perspective on what makes for clear, concise, memorable explanations. Bonus: you are great at getting people to laugh with the stories you tell with your visuals, because writing can be kind of dry and you’ll be the one to make it fun and delightful!
- Do you have experience editing short-form videos? You have experience working in Premiere and consider yourself a whiz at being fast and efficient at editing videos and creating simple motion graphics. You’re equally excited by the back-and-forth of multiple rounds when working on a new type of lesson–and with going fast when needing to get content out on deadline. Ideally, you have Photoshop and AfterEffects knowledge, to execute simple illustrations/animations and basic graphic layout, so you can act as a one-person shop, as well as give direction to animators or graphic artists when the work gets more complex. You’ve worked with a variety of sources and know how to find the right visuals, and have basic knowledge of managing credits/licensing.
- Do you understand the challenges of an elementary classroom and love creating for kids? You’ve created content for children before, maybe as a classroom teacher, a camp counselor or at a museum or other interactive environment. You’re familiar with the elements and techniques to present clear instructions across different grade levels, and how to break down complex ideas or projects into simple steps. Most of all, you are passionate about helping kids learn by doing. At the core, you think kids are amazing and you think deeply about what makes them tick, and can also help others understand them better. Bonus: We will teach writing to children from a wide range of backgrounds, and we want to lean into a range of visual stories so all children feel connected and engaged. That’s why we are especially interested in talking to creatives who can contribute diverse perspectives and bring interests and passions that kids will find exciting. Don’t hesitate to share how you might add a unique perspective to our lessons in the open-ended question in our application.
- Are you excited about creating as part of a collaborative team? You love the back-and-forth with other creatives: you’re eager to learn from experts and are known for your thoughtful, “yes, and” way of sharing thoughts with others. You are energized both by the challenge of co-creating new types of content from a blank page and by figuring out seamless, fast processes to get more content delivered quickly once we’ve created a lesson template to run with. Much of the magic at Discovery Education happens in collaboration!
Benefits
We are proud to offer employees and their families a comprehensive benefits package:
- Medical-Dental-Vision
- Health Care Dependent Care
- Short & Long Term Disability
- Life Insurance
- 401(k)
- FSA/HSA
- Paid Time Off
- Volunteer Time
- Employee Assistance Program
- 7 Paid Holidays + Annual Winter Holiday Break (Typically the last week of December)
Benefits
We are proud to offer employees and their families a comprehensive benefits package:
- Medical-Dental-Vision
- Health Care Dependent Care
- Short & Long Term Disability
- Life Insurance
- 401(k)
- FSA/HSA
- Paid Time Off
- Volunteer Time
- Employee Assistance Program
- 7 Paid Holidays + Annual Winter Holiday Break (Typically the last week of December)
Discovery Education is an equal opportunity employer. Discovery Education is committed to being an employer of choice, not just a good place to work, but a great and inclusive place to work. To that end, we strive to recruit and maintain a workforce that meaningfully represents the diverse and culturally rich communities that we serve. Qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to their race, color, religion, national origin, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, protected veteran status or disabled status or, genetic information.
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