School & project description
Alameda High School,
Alameda, California
How would you describe your school?
AHS is a suburban school of approximately 1,700 students and
85 teachers is located midway between San Francisco and Oakland,
CA, two densely urban areas. It is a small, traditional town that
historically housed a Navy base. Because of this, the school district
receives the second smallest per pupil spending allotment within
Alameda County. In recent years the base has closed, causing financial
hardship for the school district. The school's student profile
is as follows: Approximately 17 percent of the students qualify
for reduced lunches, 24 percent are Limited English Proficient,
40 percent white, 2 percent African-American, 12 percent Latino,
25 percent Asian and 20 percent Pacific Islander, 1 percent other.
80 percent of the graduating seniors continue on to college. AHS
has a Media Academy, which has been critically praised for its
innovative blending of technology and academics and is part of
the School- to-Work Collaborative.
What grade levels and disciplines are involved?
Media Studies is a year-long freshman U.C. approved English elective,
open to all incoming ninth graders. It is the foundational class
in Alameda High's Media Academy. Academy faculty recruits by making
presentations in all sth grade Science classes in the district.
By covering desktop publishing, web publishing, graphic design,
journalism and film units, Media Studies students develop an interest
in continuing in the Academy, taking upper-level courses, such
as Journalism, Yearbook, Telecommunications, and TV Media. These
courses help prepare students for careers in a panoply of technology
related areas. With respect to humanities, students are steeped
in critical thinking as they examine the impact of advertising,
popular culture, and print and electronic media, on our society.
What is the composition of your teacher team?
Media Studies has only one teacher. The full Academy team, however,
is made up often teachers, including a person with a Masters Degree
in Art History, a former filmmaker for Chevron Corporation and
a former attorney. The Academy staff comprises an English teacher
and a History teacher collaborating on the sophomore Humanities
classes, a teacher who teaches the junior English/History Humanities
block, and the English and Social Sciences department heads collaborating
on the senior English/Economics class. The elective classes (Journalism,
Telecommunications, Tech Aide and Yearbook) are taught by English
teachers; TV Media is taught by the former filmmaker.
What State standards are addressed?
Media Studies addresses the following standards listed at this
site:
http//:www.nwrel.org/ecc/new_humanities/alameda/standards.html
What kind of credit does the project carry?
Media Studies is a UC approved English elective. Students earn
five credits each semester.
What are the roles, if any, of community partners?
Companies in the area send speakers and allow visitations. For
example, Manex , an Alameda based special effects company (They
provided effects for The Matrix and Mission Impossible
2), sends speakers during our film unit. Also during our film
unit, the class takes a tour of Fantasy Studios (They mixed the
sound for The English Patient and The Talented Mr. Ripley)
located in nearby Berkeley.
How do students spend their time on this project?
Media Studies is a year-long class, not a specific project. The
focus of the class is to introduce students to the various careers
related to the media and to develop student consciousness of the
media. Students learn the conventions of various forms of media,
so that they can both better use and take a critical approach
to the media. The various projects done throughout the year provide
students with skills in desktop publishing, web publishing, graphic
design, journalism and filmmaking. Media Studies and other courses
in the Media Academy help prepare students for careers in media
and technology related arenas. Students work and learn in a variety
of ways, including group work, discussion, lecture, Internet based
research, writing assignments, oral presentations, reading assignments,
etc. Assignments that require a computer lab, such as Internet
research, desktop publishing, web publishing and Power Point presentations
are done during class. Reading and writing assignments are often
assigned as homework.
How did you evaluate your curriculum?
Students are evaluated via multiple measures. Since this class
is heavily project-oriented, students are graded on the quality
of the products they produce, for example, PowerPoint presentations
and a ten minute video. Further, student learning is measured
by tests to determine subject mastery and finally, students create
portfolios to demonstrate a metacognitive relationship with the
subject matter.
What resources would other teachers need to accomplish this
project?
Necessary resources include weekly access to a computer lab with
Internet access, Microsoft Office Professional 2000 (for PowerPoint
and Publisher), and Avid Video Editing Suite. Easy access to a
monitor and VCR are needed, as well as video cameras so students
do not have to use their own. Further, a teacher needs access
to Media Literacy materials, including videos such as "The Ad
and the Ego" and "Killing Her Softly."
What other suggestions would you pass along to teachers?
In order to support this class, administrators need to see the
value of a course such as this and continue to fund it as well
as cover the costs of books and other materials. Also, administration's
understanding and appreciation of the importance of media literacy
is helpful. The three things most important to a teacher's success
are:
A genuine interest in the subject
Willingness to constantly update curriculum as media and technology
continually shift and change
A functioning computer lab
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