ACE Spectrum
ACE Spectrum
Ace Spectrum is about you — the ACE Learning Centers.
It’s a quick sharing of ideas, inspiration, opinions and best practices among our continuing education organizations.
Please join the conversation.
Naps, the Caternet and Poetry Month are Samosa’s Favs at Oakland International High School
By Guest Blogger Samosa, ACE Poetry Contest Mascot, Oakland International High School
Samosa here. Here’s my favorite cat proverb is, “They say there are 24 hours in a day. But I’m only up for three of them, and two I consider overtime.” * So true.
There are few things in this world that are worth waking up for: napping is, after all, a cat’s favorite pastime. As crepuscular beings, we have little time to spend on anything that isn’t AWESOME.
For example, technology. Have you used the internet?! I’m so glad our humans have found a way to organize all the videos they take of us–browsing the caternet has to be up there along with napping as another favorite pastime.
Unfortunately, the students at my school, Oakland International High School, don’t spend a whole lot of time watching cat videos. They use their ACE modems for making their own movies, presentations, and websites about everything they’re learning in school. I’d put more of an effort to convince teachers that there should be more cat video watching during the day, but that would interfere with my nap schedule.
Another thing I would happily wake up for is poetry. Did you know it’s National Poetry Month?
I love listening to our students’ poems, in English and in their native languages. I prefer it, of course, when I am the subject of their poetry, but poems about technology are a close second.
I can’t wait to see the amazing poems about technology that our students will be writing this year! I will write soon with another update… After I finish some much needed napping.
*Totally borrowed from “I Could Pee on This” by Francesco Marciuliano.
Popular Audio Academy ’17 Tops 138 Applicants from Countries Around the World
By Guest Blogger Ben Trefny, News Director, KAWL News Radio
When we launched the Audio Academy with support from ACE back in 2013, we thought it was a good idea. Audio journalism is important, it can be fun and KALW is well situated to train people on how to do it. We put out a call for applicants, and I stayed up late on the due date watching them roll in. And roll in. And roll in! We ultimately received 60 applications for eight positions.
Whew!
Well, we brought in a class of eight and saw them through graduation. And over the past couple of years, as we’ve made the program stronger, we’ve seen it gain popularity. Last year, we received 82 applicants!
So what would happen this year?
The deadline was last Thursday at midnight, and I was up late, again, reading emails from hopeful people with inspiring cover letters. Here are some excerpts:
“As a longtime listener and admirer of KALW, I cannot imagine a more diverse and exciting place to work.”
“Uniquely told stories about unique people – or unique stories about regular people – go a long way to help create a better society, more informed citizens and happy listeners. I would like to be a part of that.”
“The Audio Academy will train me to tell all kinds of stories on radio creatively, carefully, and professionally, which is why I want to be a part of it – so that I can help transmit all these untold stories through the static.”
“Thanks so much for providing this opportunity for your listeners. I’ve never heard of such a thing as this academy before now. Cultivating local talent through this program is a great way for listeners to feel more a part of KALW.”
And it’s not just local talent. We received applications from around the nation, from people hungry for this education, and from countries around the world, including Afghanistan, England, Nepal, Pakistan and Uganda. All told, we received 138 applications for the Audio Academy!
Whew, indeed!
Now we’ve got a lot more work than we’d expected we’d have to do to bring this down to a class of eight! I can assure you that it’s going to be one remarkable class!
Meanwhile, we rolled out two more public safety stories from our current class. Tammy Drummond (’16) aired a strong piece with terrific voices about formerly incarcerated people finding work making soap. And Geraldine Ah-Sue (’16) incorporated a voice from right here in our backyard, Burton High School, along with some first-person perspective and playfulness on a story about what consent means.
Also, Ted Muldoon (’15) made this April Fool’s Day story about support sea-lions on airplanes. Fairly convincing, particularly with Eli Wirtschafter (’16) as an airline public relations specialist. Eli’s own public safety story about earthquake preparedness got picked up by the hyperlocal blog Berkeleyside. And The Intersection from David Boyer (’14) got love from one of the most prestigious audio organizations in the country: the Third Coast International Audio Festival. Check it out!
April is Poetry Month – A Chance to Add Art to STEM, That Science, Tech, Engineering and Math Stuff
By Guest Blogger Riley, ACE Poetry Contest Mascot, Assisted by Martha Sessums
Riley here. Mascot of the ACE Poetry Contest. Read a poem, play ball. Write a poem, win the game.
I don’t usually hold still. I’m a dog. It’s hard to sometimes. But I’ve been bouncing around a lot because April’s my favorite – National Poetry Month.
Hi, Riley here, the mascot for the ACE Poetry Contest. This is the fourth year I’ve been doing this for ACE, and this year’s gonna be a good one. Not only are the Alpha Public Schools (that’s where I hang out!), in the contest, but the ACE Learning Center at Cindy Avitia High School is joining the fun too. That’s where our student’s parents hang out and learn to be better at that pesky English language.
Of course we have the usual star poets joining us from Oakland International High School (OIHS)and San Francisco International High School (SFIHS.) Also cool is that Cronos will be on
I’m Cronos, ACE Poetry Contest Mascot for San Francisco International High School. My treats are poems.
board as mascot in San Francisco. Big tail swish to you, dude! He tells me that there will be special poetry workshops led by local poets at SFIHS throughout the month. Who’s howling now?
And, we’ve got another school joining us this year – Yew Chung International School of Silicon Valley. YCIS has been an ACE Partner School for lots of years, and I barked out loud when I heard this. Each school can pick their own ACE Poetry Contest mascot, so I wonder if YCIS will pick a monkey. This is the Year of the Monkey, you know. The Year of the Dog’s not back up until 2018. Now that’s going to be a special year! Arf!
Know what else I’m barking for joy at? STEAM. No, not referring to what comes out of John Glover’s coffee cup in the morning. It’s the addition of Art in the Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM) curriculum and education focus. Tech is a great thing, but there’s an art to it. It takes innovation. A grand way at looking at a problem and finding a new solution. You know, 1 + 2 = 2, but there are many creative ways to get to two.
So here’s the deal with the contest: Poetry topic is, as always, “Learning with Technology.” Why? Because ACE is about using technology in our classrooms. They have this stuff called spectrum, and they use it to deliver Internet to ACE Learning Centers. These centers help support smart kids who need a little extra help, and the teachers who give that help. Pretty cool.
Cooler is that the ACE Poetry Contest winners get prizes. Like real cashola to spend on stuff. Here’s the deal – First place winners receive $75 bucks. Second place gets $50 bucks, and third place takes home $25.
The style of poetry is open to anything. From rap (a type of free verse, dude) to haiku, from free motion to sonnet. It all works. Each school will set up their own rules and judging process. Winners will be announced by the end of the month.
Say, is free motion doggerel when I jump up and down for a treat?
I forgot to mention, I love treats. I’ll probably mention that a lot. In terza rima or doggerel form.
A real treat is April 21, Poem in Your Pocket Day. I still think it should be Treat in Your Pocket Day, so you can give me a treat.
Have fun, and good luck to everyone. Remember to treat yourself to a poem.