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.
Audio Academy’s Help Adds to Success of KALW Membership Drive
By Ben Trefny, News Director, KALW Public Radio
Hello!
It was an intense week around the station – it always is when we come upon the close of a membership drive. For the last several years, we’ve established a “no interruption” style, in which we only have people on the air asking listeners to make donations during the usual breaks during or between programs. That’s great for listeners – and for the pitchers, for that matter – but it really does make those breaks extra important for getting the message out. It’s exhilarating, nerve-wracking, and, ideally, a lot of fun.
With the Audio Academy helping out, fact-checking our special, hour-long Crosscurrents shows, then talking with listeners calling in with their donations, we had the most successful drive in KALW history. Our news department, featuring stories by current Academy member Hannah Kingsley-Ma and fellow Jeremy Dalmas, among others, received many more calls and clicks than we ever had before. And member Liz Mak along with alums Kristina Loring and Liz Pfeffer drew in many new members with their inspired pitching.
It’s Snapcurrents! Managing Producer Julie Caine and Snap Judgement host Glynn Washington cohosted a Crosscurrents show during the KALW membership drive. Snapsuccess!
We had a special treat on Wednesday, when Snap Judgment host Glynn Washington came in to cohost a show with our managing producer, Julie Caine. We called it “Snapcurrents!” They really vibed, together, and the result was terrific radio. If you didn’t catch it, I highly recommend it:
Crosscurrents, featuring Glynn Washington
The energy in that special membership drive edition reminded me of what was the funniest show we’ve ever produced. That was last fall, when Daniel Handler (a.k.a. Lemony Snicket) came in as our host Hana Baba‘s guest. I’ve been recommending people listen to that – no joke – and I suggest you check it out, too:
Crosscurrents, featuring Daniel Handler
Now that the membership drive is behind us, we’ll all make the push to complete the Audio Academy’s whole shows. Many members have been coming in multiple days to meet with their mentors and editors, and it really does make me proud to see how all these hard workers have progressed from the first class, when we sent them out into the field with a little training and a recorder to ask people what part of the Bay Area they call home – something you can hear in rotation at the top of every Crosscurrents.
Happy listening! Much more to come!
Arf! Arf! Woof! The Alpha Schools Poetry Contest Winners Cap a Great Poetry Month
By Guest Blogger Riley, Alpha Public Schools ACE Poetry Contest Mascot
Mascot Riley here. Great poems from all students, and I’m a bit sad to see the contest over. But I’m confident 2016’s poems will be even better. See you next year!
It’s a treat to announce the winners of the Alpha Public Schools ACE Poetry Contest. There were many great poems written by students, and the decision of the top three was very democratic. In fact, a teacher judges panel selected the top two entries from each grade level, then students voted on their top choice from the top finalists.
And how was the voting done? Each student went to an online Google form and voted. Now that’s using technology in the classroom to experience a democratic process. Nothing cooler than exercising your right to vote. (Well, getting treats and pets ranks up there.)
Congratulations to the Alpha Public Schools ACE Poetry Contest Winners. By the way, none of the poems have names. Is that a trend? And see you all April 2016 for the next National Poetry Month festivities.
Treat yourself to a poem.
Riley
1st place, by Maivy Le (6th grade)
My mom says I’m staring at a screen for “no” reason
Computer on my lap through the month, through the season
Reality blocked out, only YouTube and Minecraft
But I don’t get it…technology isn’t witchcraft
Like c’mon! It’s fun, it’s addicting
I can do this forever: typing and clicking!
Look at the worlds that technology could access
What technology can do, well it’s a complicated process
See, you can be anyone – a kleptomaniac criminal
Shoot innocent guys, do things that in the real world aren’t legal
Or for the less intense gamers, you can hop around as Mario
When gaming, it’s fun to be in a difficult scenario!
Whatever, mom, so what if it’s addicting?
Video games are good – at least that’s what I’m predicting
I mean, not predicting, I know that they’re good
You would obviously know that, if your brain weren’t made of wood
Sorry if that was rude, I’m just giving my opinion
Oh, now I’m grounded? I don’t care, I’m not your minion!
But technology is good, where would we be without it?
Now forget about video games, think about it
No internet, no phones, how about that?
Be quiet, listen to me mom, or I’ll hit you with this bat!
Anyway, without phones, how would we communicate
I know I’m grounded – gosh – just let me finish this debate
Without technology, you wouldn’t have a job
You work with computers, yes, I know I may sound like a snob
But I’m not just saying this to continue my game
I’m saying this to tell you that technology isn’t to blame
My grades go down, it’s my fault for not controlling my temptation
Don’t blame technology, there’s another explanation
Or it could be your fault for letting me play games all day
Wait, no, I take that back, you should let me play 24 hours a day
No, wait! I have more points to cover!
There’s sooo much more you need to discover!
Please, mom, don’t turn off the computer
I’m in the middle of this game – I just bought this cool scooter –
“You’re officially grounded, young lady. And I’m taking this laptop.”
Okay, so maybe technology just brought me into trouble
But wait! Hold on, don’t burst my bubble
With technology, there are so much more advancements
Take a picture, use technology, you can make some enhancements
How would we go to the moon without it all?
We can’t just bounce up to the moon from a bouncy ball
There’s stuff that’s called social media
Oh yeah, and you can find information on Wikipedia
Yes, I know that gaming isn’t the best
There’s better things you can do like studying for a test
But without technology, where would we be?
It inspired us all to make advancements; including you and me 🙂
2nd place, by Cindy Tran (7th grade)
Facebook
Instagram
Twitter
You’ve heard them all…
Youtube
Snapchat
Tumblr
There’s more…
Kik
Oovoo
Pinterest
Endless List
– – –
What do they have in common?
Social Media.
We spend our daily lives
Eyes glued to our screens
Neglecting surroundings
Incapable of living life to the fullest
Spending the most of our individual freedom
That others in the world may not have
Spending it all on an illusion…
A digital screen…
– – –
It’s all about hashtags
Followers
Tweets
Likes
Posts
Status Updates
Shares
Posts
Selfies…
Hold up!
Let me charge my phone…
What has technology created for us, human beings..?
We’ve forgotten about reality
And spend our freedom
With a digital world…
Ignorant.
Forgetful to reality
To even realize we are alive.
– – –
Technology is like a drug…
It is not considered “needed” yet, it is essential to today.
It has changed our lifestyle.
It has saved countless lives.
It made us who we are today.
It has created society a better place.
It made our lives easier
Efficiency
Learning
Entertainment
Information
Knowledge
It has brought us from wagons to cars.
From telegrams to wireless phones.
From the past to a modern society.
What else?
Who knows?
Technology is still in the making…
3rd place, by Andrea Gonzalez (8th grade)
My heart aches,
I can hear it break
Because I know every day somebody learns the hardships of reality
And someone else falls off the cliff of insanity
This is why there is a void in my soul
And sometimes I think it will never be whole
It’s these times that I look around and see
What has come to be our present day society
We live in a world where technology and media are found everywhere
Where posts, pictures, and stories are shared
Where people are criticized and teared down
Unless you are pulled into the river of mainstream
Then you’ll drown
Sure there are benefits
There are funny vines
Games you can play online
Videos you can watch about your favorite band
Unless you get stuck watching an ad
About some random brand
There are also apps like Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook
These apps are responsible when we fall because we “didn’t look”
Teens are so caught up in perfecting our lighting
That they never volunteer to do something like writing
The news and apps contribute to people’s insanity
And they say, “but it keeps us in touch, it’s how we communicate!”
Have you forgotten that talking face to face is not something we can duplicate?
You can never truly see eye to eye
Unless the person is somewhere nearby
So media and technology, I’m not sure if they are good things
But I do know this
Let’s not forget how we are in real life
Because a conversation in person has no price
“Lets Grow This” KALW Fundraising Campaign Theme Reflects the Growth of Audio Academy
By Guest Blogger Ben Trefny, News Director, KALW Radio and Jasmin Lopez, Audio Academy Alumni
Now that we’ve got next year’s Audio Academy selected, the next step for us has been to choose a group of summer volunteers who we can train to report, produce, and work in a daily newsroom between the departure of the Class of 2015 and the arrival of the Class of 2016. We get a huge amount of interest these days from people all around the country who know we pay close attention to building skills and making great radio, so we had a lot of tough choices to make. We ultimately chose about 10 people – from around the Bay, the nation, and Canada, England, and Australia – who will join us beginning June 1st. Some members of the current Academy will stay with us through the summer, and Rhian Miller, from the Class of 2014, will rejoin us as well.
We also were able to offer part-time paid fellowships to continue the training and contributions of some of the Academy members. Nine people submitted letters of interest, and we selected four who will begin line producing shows in July. It’s a critical job in our newsroom: the line producer coordinates our daily operations, gathers story scripts and sound, writes show scripts, and oversees the sound design of each show. If you’ve been keeping up with our blog, you’ll be familiar with the folks taking on the line producer jobs: Jeremy Dalmas, Hannah Kingsley-Ma, Liz Mak, and Liza Veale. Additionally, Raja Shah will receive a part-time paid fellowship to develop a weekly Crosscurrents podcast and help with our digital strategy. We’re really excited to keep working with all of these talented producers.
Meanwhile, KALW started its spring membership drive this week with the theme Let’s Grow This. It’s a critical fundraising time for our station, as 72% of our funding comes from listeners. It’s also a great time to connect with our audience, and we always come up with special live Crosscurrents shows to celebrate the occasion. Here’s what we aired last week:
Tuesday’s show was themed around “how to do things” featuring Hana Baba in conversation with one of our favorite guests, D’Arcy Drollinger. (You may remember D’Arcy as the leader of our KALW Dance Party
– and if you haven’t seen it, take one minute and check it out, now!)
On Wednesday, Hana hosted Terrance Kelly in a live show featuring stories from The Spiritual Edge. The director of the Oakland Interfaith Gospel Choir brought his beautiful, inclusive perspective, and his fantastic singing voice, to the conversation. It was a joyful noise.
Thursday, I sat in for Hana, and had a great conversation with Kate Scott, morning anchor for one of the nation’s biggest sports broadcasters: KNBR in San Francisco. We talked about women in broadcasting, the barriers keeping gay pro athletes from coming out, and, of course, the Golden State Warriors playoff run. It was a rare sports show for us, and a good one.
Finally, this week, I got a note from Jasmin Lopez, who graduated with the Class of 2014. It’s a good one, so I’m sharing it with you:
Jasmin Lopez, Audio Academy Alumni
Just wanted to share a recent collaboration between Laura Flynn and me. We explore how some women have been dehumanized to the point of indifference through the following stories: one community is undoing the silence around the violence women of color face; serial killers were able to hunt down mostly Black women for three decades in South Los Angeles; pregnant indigenous women struggle under a health care system failing to provide proper medical care.
I was able to report out of the Yucatan with one of my Project Luz students too, which was amazing. I thought you might want to know about this since we are both Audio Academy ladies. And, I thought you could use it to show how former audio academy participants continue their radio work. We reported, produced, engineered the entire thing ourselves. Also, Laura trained the woman that reported the first piece through Making Contact’s Community Storytelling Fellowship. We’re doing it!
Check out Jasmin and Laura’s work right here.
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