One Week Down - 9/07/09

Well, we got through our first week of classes. Things went very smoothly this year. With the creation of the MTS High School - a combination of the old Tech and Com Arts High Schools into one entity - we have organized the students into houses. One of the most successful elements of ComArts High, and the one that I think contributed to the absence of fights and other conflicts between students, was our size. We were a small community and the students all knew each other well, no matter what color, age, or neighborhood they came from. I hope that the creation of the house system in the new MTS High will create several small communities that will work in the same way.

I work in the 10th and 11th grade house and we spent the first two days getting to know each other, coming up with a name (the Jackie Robinson, or J.R. house), designing logos and t-shirts, decorating the pod, and playing kickball (yes, I was bruised, scraped, and stiff the next day). The students put together a mission statement that I was particularly proud of. I really think they did a good job. We directed them a bit, but the words and structure are all theirs:

• Our mission at the Jackie Robinson House is to express our individuality with a positive attitude. We at the J. R. House will provide support for each other through loyalty, trust, honesty, and encouragement; with courage, intelligence, passion, and respect. We are motivated to achieve greatness and overcome all possible obstacles. Breaking barriers between races and accepting people for who they are is our house-wide goal.

On Thursday, we were back to our classrooms and regular structure. It was a little strange to go back to the old studio at the old ComArts building, surrounded by middle school kids. The new studios for the Digital Media Academy are behind schedule, due to some zoning issues - more about that in another post.

We were all a bit disappointed at the sizes of our classes - very few students in almost all sections of every department. We are seeing our returning students from ComArts - I've got a great group of veterans for Video For TV, but very few new students. We are told that the students are reluctant to leave campus and come over to the middle school for DMA classes. We've got to find a solution for this. We are hoping that we'll get a rush of new students coming in on the Tuesday, the traditional day for school start, and that we can overcome this fear of the middle school site.

Most sections were spent just getting to know each other, looking at the past work of students in the department, and introducing students to Moodle, Google Apps, and some of the new social networking services we are using this year.

I've decided to use Twitter to communicate with students. Each student will have a Twitter account that will be linked to the Video Department's account. I will use the service to communicate to the kids about homework, to remind them of upcoming projects, for an occasional mini-quiz, and to pass along interesting articles and websites that I want them to look at. Students can access their accounts on their MTS email startpage on any computer with Internet access, or through their cell phones. I'm hoping that this will help me to keep in touch with my students (and parents, I urge you all to sign up to follow and see what we are up to).

I've also set up a Facebook page for the DMA. I had such success with the .EDU Film Festival Facebook page, that I thought I'd try to do the same for the DMA. We post updates, student work, videos, music, podcasts, and other news on the account. Sign up and become a fan.

Well this is a long post, so if you've made it this far, congratulations. Thanks for reading and stay tuned for more news from the Video Department at MTS Digital Media Academy.