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.
Welcome Back School – We’re Learning to Become Empowered
By Martha Sessums, President, ACE
The ACE Learning Centers are taking all of August and the beginning of September to start. No one is being slow here – just different start dates.
Alpha Public Schools were the first to start classes on August 8th. KALW Audio Academy will have their Orientation classes September 6 and 7. As Kyle Halle-Erby, San Francisco International High School (SFIHS) Span Coordinator at the ACE Learning Center said, “It feels good to be back.” SFIHS started August 15, and Oakland International High School will start August 22.
I requested class schedules from each of the ACE Learning Centers to update the ACE web site with the current information, and I have seen a difference in focus for the year. Outreach to the community is broader, students are seeing the value of their education and are being empowered to take it further, and the ACE Learning Centers are gaining recognition for the job they do to educate students who need extra support.
Let’s take the ACE Learning Center at Alpha, known as the Alpha Parent Center. English tests are given to parents of students attending the Alpha Public Schools this week and weekend. Based on the results, they can enter ESL classes for Spanish, and now Vietnamese. Last year, some parents were so inspired to learn English that they decided to go for their California High School Equivalency Diploma by taking the GED. According to Karen Martinez, Alpha Parent Center Manager, last year there were eight parents that were inspired to start the GED. Alpha also offers math support, childcare and access to the Food Bank once a month.
San Francisco Chronicle photo by Michael Short.
The work and results from KALW’s Audio Academy receives recognition at National Public Radio and beyond, giving it big attention for a station that is currently located in a temporary building next to port-a-potties on a San Francisco school undergoing reconstruction. Audio Academy graduates are empowered to earn jobs in national or local radio or start podcasts. Some have received justified attention from NPR and offered national distribution for their original programs. The San Francisco Chronicle ran a recent story (August 2, 2016) on the work of the radio station and the Audio Academy.
“People talk about this as a golden age of podcasting or of audio, but I think there are also aspects of a glut,” says KALW Managing Editor Jen Chien. “You can make things with very little training. Some of it is awesome, but some of it would be more engaging if you have some guidance. And that’s where we want to be.”
SFIHS’s ACE Learning Center focuses on helping recently arrived immigrants to succeed academically, socially and emotionally. An addition this year is that City College of San Francisco now recognizes the Span program, and students receive credit for their participation. Span is a program that supports high-risk SFIHS graduates through their first year of college. In addition, needs of each student will be profiled from 9th grade to 12th grade, both forward and backward, and in all subjects, so all aspects of their studies will work toward shared goals. Plus, extra support will be given to those students who need counseling and social-emotional support, making it easier to focus on school work and school success.
And that’s only the beginning. Stay tuned for more ACE Learning Center stories and reports from the teachers and students themselves this new school year. It’s going to be a year of empowerment.
KALW Audio Academy Graduation Makes You Want to Listen Better
By Martha Sessums, President, ACE
“Listen. It’s harder than you think. It’s one of the hardest things to do, actually. Don’t worry about your next question. It will come. Listen to what people are telling you with your full attention and heart.”
Davia Nelson, Kitchen Sisters
It was graduation evening for the eight KALW Audio Academy graduates. The keynote speaker was Davia Nelson from Kitchen Sisters, an independent, non-profit production company dedicated to creating public media and educational programs that work to build community through storytelling. Her talk was full of the usual advice to graduates, but these graduates are community radio story tellers, from news to general interest. They wouldn’t stand for the usual story.
Julie Caine, KALW News Managing Director, speaks to the Audio Academy graduation class.
Julie Caine, KALW News Managing Producer, was the opening speaker, and she described an unusual news room at KALW. The Audio Academy, an ACE Learning Center, has become key to the news structure behind Crosscurrents, KALW’s daily news program. The atmosphere is supportive and serious, yet playful and fun. An award is presented daily for overcoming a problem or celebrating a success. It’s a non-descript gold statue covered with post-it notes that describe what the award was for, not the winner’s name. Dance music is played often, and there are weekly dance parties and baseball games. It is obviously an atmosphere incredibly supportive of the students.
“I am here to witness that you have found your voices,” said Caine. “I’m proud of everyone, and I’m hard to please.”
Matt Martin, KALW General Manager, underscored both the accomplishments and the challenges of learning the techniques of quality public radio storytelling at KALW. The station is located in temporary portable units on the Burton High School campus, which is undergoing reconstruction. The day is full of heavy equipment noise. The quarters are close too.
“I get to hear the life of the newsroom around the corner,” Martin joked. He also bragged, “We train and develop talents for community radio, but we get just as much back. [The station is] vibrant and interesting.”
Ben Trefny, News Director joined in. “Joy and play are a huge part of the newsroom. It’s supports caring about public media and sharing part of your life.”
The beauty of the ceremony was that each graduate was introduced by their Audio Academy mentor. It was a mélange of the graduate’s style, story adventures, successes and tough learning experiences. We heard about soap, lipstick colors, marriage, dancing, archery, sports, pigeons, Pro Tools, and the great “ear” each graduate has developed for telling an audio story. For all the fun, there was a serious side too.
“This is the most collaborative and nurturing environment,” said graduate Shereen Adel. “It’s hard to find a community like this. KALW keeps you on track and makes you feel better.”
The students learned about the importance of listening and telling an audio story. “I’m the steward of someone else’s story,” said Lisa Bartfai.
“Welcome to the sonic tribe, welcome to the fellowship of public media, one of the greatest communities to be a part of,” Nelson concluded in her keynote.
The graduates are: Geraldine Ah-Sue, Tammerlin Drummond, Lisa Bartfai, Truc Nguyen, Luisa Cardoza, Eli Wirtschafter, Ian Lewis, and Shereen Adel.
The 2016 graduates of the Audio Academy have found their beat and we look forward to listening to their stories. Congratulations everyone!
Alpha: Cindy Avitia High School ACE Poetry Winners Announced
By Guest Blogger Riley, ACE Poetry Contest Mascot, Hanging Out at Alpha Public Schools
It’s been said that I will do anything for a treat. The way I look at it, my friends will do anything to make me do something cute, including giving me treats. I’m always cute, so I get lots of treats. A win-win.
“Poetry Rocks” says Amber Urbina. So does Alpha says Andrea Gonzales, the ACE Poetry Contest winners.
But the treats for today are the winning ACE Poetry Contest poems from the girl group of poets at Alpha: Cindy Avitia High School. These poets are very cool, and they’re hanging in front of the Alpha Leadership Wall. Some of the great leaders of the world were poets or loved poetry. These two are gonna be leaders.
The winners are:
FIRST PLACE
Warning!
By Andrea Gonzales
WARNING!
TAKE CAUTION
AND BE CAREFUL WHEN YOU READ
FOR IF YOU CHOOSE TO PROCEED
I HOLD NO BLAME IF YOUR SOUL IS FREED
The Bad:
Technology, isn’t it funny?
How we think it’s all games, but they’re in it for the money. Made to trick us, fool us to believe their lie
They cover it up, “It’s not on you who we spy!”
It injures people, like you and like me
Yet while that tiny rush of dopamine
Doesn’t seem worthwhile when you realize
That you’re slowly, but surely becoming hypnotized. You wake up, check your phone
It’s inevitable we’re all prone.
I’m pretty sure if we asked anyone
The direction from where came the sun
We would get a total correct answer of none
It’s too late to stop
Technology has made it, on our prioritizes its top.
&
The Good:
Technology, isn’t it funny?
That it makes our days just a bit more sunny. We can talk to people all over the world
And makes us feel just a bit more whole
Socially awkward people now have someone to talk to And it gives us the courage to say the words “I love you” It’s
gotten so many people together
It seems to have given nothing but pleasure!
It makes it easier for children to learn
And as it becomes cheaper, the greater the earn
It helps with fundraisers, the good causes get money
And we can do things from home when the weather is runny.
OVERALL:
Technology is good, but of course in moderation
Because too much power online can destroy more than one nation.
SECOND PLACE
Take the Key to Success
By Amber Urbina,
The universe evolves like a spinning top. But what holds in it?
Look through the windows
The keys that our fingers touch,
To create our the output of what the input is
Got any tech you might say?
Will it blow your mind away,
How we use it for purposes that have different meanings. It’s a choice that we have to pick from
It’s possibility we might prohibit but.. It’s impossible
an addiction that lives through us
Like the time we keep our eyes on them But is there a change?
No water being clear
like the atmosphere sheet
We might not see but still yet realize
How the number of texts,emails,posts
Are counted as the number of beats in our heart.
See you at next year’s ACE Poetry Contest. Oh, I need a treat!
And that’s a wrap for the 2016 version of the ACE Poetry Contest. Hope everyone enjoyed the poems and writing poetry. I did. See you next year.
Treat yourself to a poem! Or some pork jerky. Or Nutella. Or popcorn. Or a piece of bread that fell from your sandwich. Oh, it goes on and on….