San Marin High School Football

I saw some of my former students a few weeks ago in Napa, California at the North Coast Section Division 4 Football final. Unfortunately for San Marin High School, Justin-Siena High School won.

For those of you who want to comment, feel free to access the page or the photography facebook site. Thank you to everyone who said hello. I was also grateful that the San Marin team demonstrated excellent sportsmanship despite losing. Justin-Seina fans were decent too.

San Marin High School Sports Fans Image

Share THIS BLOG LINK for more photos and to leave comments.
Share this link of to see game and fan photos

California Ed Code and Audio/ Video Recording in the Classroom

If anyone finds my old blog, I thought I would post something here. You can still find me at my new blog at bryanfarleyphotography.


At the Journalism Education Association, we discussed how students secretly taped a classroom discussion and distributed the video online. Last year, some of my students might remember our conversation about this issue. (Someone might have recorded me becoming upset about the violation.) In case some of you thought I was making up a state law, here is the specific ed code. Other states differ on this issue.


California Education Code 51512

51512.  The Legislature finds that the use by any person, including
a pupil, of any electronic listening or recording device in any
classroom of the elementary and secondary schools without the prior
consent of the teacher and the principal of the school given to
promote an educational purpose disrupts and impairs the teaching
process and discipline in the elementary and secondary schools, and
such use is prohibited. Any person, other than a pupil, who willfully
violates this section shall be guilty of a misdemeanor.
   Any pupil violating this section shall be subject to appropriate
disciplinary action.
   This section shall not be construed as affecting the powers,
rights, and liabilities arising from the use of electronic listening
or recording devices as provided for by any other provision of law.

With an interesting story from PBS

2012

Just a reminder...

If anyone is trying to reach me, please contact

www.morethankids.com

or http://bryanfarley.photoshelter.com/

I hope you are enjoying your year.

bf

After 2010-2011

By now, many of you know that I will not be returning to San Marin. Some of you have suspected that San Marin will not have multimedia and video production next year, so you probably knew for months too. By the time you read this message, you may have already seen me dismantle part of the lab... or whatever is left of it.


I have probably also told you that if I had known more about the position when I applied for the job, I never would have accepted the position. I imagine some of the students would not have taken the class had they known more about the condition of the lab and the lack of cameras or software or.... We all expected better. 


Fortunately, I took the job. Despite the conditions, I met many wonderful people, and I will always be grateful that I worked here. Students worked even when the equipment did not. And many of you learned an important lesson. 


It may not be your fault, but it is your responsibility.


Some of you exceeded my expectations and created amazing final projects. Other students were trapped in their frustration. I understand your frustration. I often shared it. I heard your complaints. Often, there was not much more I could do. For those of you who did not enjoy this experience, I hope you learn how to avoid these situations or learn how to change them.


For those of you who wish to contact me in the future, I am sure you will find me. The best way to reach me is through one of my several emails. You can probably find me at bryanfarley2010 at gmail. If you do not find me there, search for me on the internet. Feel free to use anything except my personal Facebook account.


I wish you all the very best.


BF

Final Exam 5th Period

Part 1


(the next three questions are about your final video/multimedia project) 


1. What is one thing you did well?


2. What is one thing you learned?


3. What is one thing you could have done better?


Part 2 


Since our class was a Career Technology class, I wanted students to learn useful career skills. Choose one of these lessons and provide a short explanation.


Copy the content of this post along with your answers and send a message to my nusd email. Please write the word "Final Exam" in the subject heading.


We do not have enough computers for each student, so we will take turns. When you are finished or while you are waiting, please remain quiet.


BF

Final Exam - Period 4

Part 1

1. During the second semester, were you required to keep a notebook? Did you take notes every day you were in class?

2. Why did I suggest or require that you take written notes?

3. Compared to other classes, how hard did you work in this class?

4. Did you think this class would be easy or difficult?

5. Why do you think I assigned the Daily/Weekly Tracker?

Part 2

What do you think I wanted you to learn from this class? Choose three answers and explain. Some answers are worth more than others, so pick your best answers.

Remember, email your responses to my school email from your email.

BF

Grades

Quick note: Grades are being added this week. Some students will have much higher grades than current scores reflect. Keep looking at Aeries as I update scores.

Movie Day, Part 1

Today is the first day that students show their movies.

For groups with seniors leaving to Disneyland tomorrow, students are required to show their movies, websites and everything else that goes with the project. If students do not present today, their project is late.

Who wants to go first?

BF 

Important Schedule Updates

Today, the office staff notified the faculty about some important events and schedule changes. Please notice how these changes may affect your projects. 

June 2^nd & 3^rd     Spring Concert

June 6^th             Senior Awards 6:30 Student Center

June 7^th             NO BLOCK SCHEDULE 

                        Distribution of Senior yearbooks at lunchtime in the Library

June 8^th             NO BLOCK SCHEDULE -MODIFIED RALLY SCHEDULE (SEE ATTACHED)

Seniors leave for Disneyland

Distribution of Yearbooks 7:00 AM for jrs, Lunchtime for sophs’ and after school for freshmen.

June 9^th             Nothing just school!

June 10th          Minimum Day 4^th & 8/9 finals

June 13^th           Minimum Day 3^rd & 7^th period finals

June 14^th           Minimum Day 2^nd & 6^th period finals

June 15^th           Minimum Day 1^st & 5^th period finals Last Day of School

June 16^th           Teachers last work day

Graduation Practice 12:30 to 2:00

                        Graduation 7:00 PM Football Field

The Student "Movie Website" Additional Notes

Just a quick post about the movie website in case you missed the other references to this assignment.

Here is an example created by one student group using a program called Webs. Here is my quick Weebly site. You are free to use other sites. You probably know that I use many other web applications for my outside work. Many of the other programs allow for video. The NUSD web filters block many of the video applications, but we may be able to do allow for the student videos to be viewed for this project.

BF

Movie Poster

Movie posters can influence a person's decision to see a movie. A great poster may help make a movie memorable; the poster might become the lasting impression.

Movie posters also help introduce the audience to characters or movie themes. Potential audience members might decide if they want to learn more about the movie simply by looking at a poster.

Bob Peak created many well known movie posters. He is said to be the "father of the modern Hollywood movie poster." The Academy of Motion Pictures honored his work. You can see a video and hear about some of his contributions.

You can also read a Wikipedia article about movie posters. Early movie posters were illustrated. If you wish, you may draw. You may also photograph your movie poster. You may also combine photographs, illustrations and computer graphics.

Your final product will be posted on your website.

Time Tracker Update

Some students are submitting multiple trackers with identical titles and confusing subject lines. For example, some students will send me a tracker called tracker.xls for each week. Other students will send a tracker for May 20 called May6tracker.xls. Other students have copied a group members tracker template (which I allowed), and the tracker is called copyofotherstudentstracker.xls.

Students could help themselves further by using the email subject line by describing the assignment. A simple explanation will help the reader and the sender. 

To help you have your assignments graded, Rename each spreadsheet to coincide with the assignment. For example, change the title to your name and the date of the spreadsheet. I would call my assignment BFarleytrackerMay20.xls

Feature Film Assignment

I have discussed this assignment for several months; I also posted this assignment on March 23 as part of "The Big Project." Today, I will comment further.

Working in groups, students create a four minute feature film. The movie/ video is the largest project of the year; the film is also connected to the other nine Big Project assignments. Everyone in the group will participate. each group member will help write the treatment, script and story boards. All group members will help film and edit.

The Four Minute Feature Film may be shorter than 4 minutes. If the film is longer than four minutes, the project is not complete. I want students to learn how to edit. Hopefully, students will have recorded more than four minutes of video. Choosing which clips to keep becomes difficult when both are good. This skill is important to learn.

Students will save their video on their school drive and/ or movie website. Some groups have already created their movie website. I showed students a weebly.com webiste. To upload video, users were required to pay, otherwise the site was free. I would accept another alternative. Students can search for other free sites or use Vimeo or Youtube and link to the free site. 

Another reminder, if a group uses students from outside this class, the group must receive permission from the person being filmed.

The New Finals

The Final Exam Schedule has changed.

 

REVISED SPRING FINAL EXAM SCHEDULE 2011

 

Friday June 10, 2011	Monday June 13, 2011	Tuesday June 14, 2011	Wednesday June 15, 2011
P4    8:20 –   10:15 Brk  10:15 – 10:30 P8/9   10:30 – 12:30	P3    8:20 –   10:15 Brk  10:15 – 10:30 P7   10:30 – 12:30	P2    8:20 –   10:15 Brk  10:15 – 10:30 P6   10:30 – 12:30	P1    8:20 –   10:15 Brk  10:15 – 10:30 P5   10:30 – 12:30

Feature Film Trailer (30 Seconds)

For the students final film project, each group will create a 30 second movie trailer.


Have you ever watched your favorite television show, and at the end of each episode, the producers tease you with "scenes of the next episode?"

Source for trailer defition

Tracking Time with Toggle

We will be taking finals soon. My 5th period class completes MMVP on Friday, June 10th. My 4th period class finishes on Wednesday.

Therefore, students must complete their final projects the week of Monday June 6th.

To help students track how they spend their time, I have assigned daily time trackers using Microsoft Excel. If students wish, they can also use a new computer application called Toggl. (www.toggl.com) no "e" at the end.

Students are not required to use Toggl, but they are required to track their time while in class. Also, students are required to be accurate. If students decide to use their time to be "off task," students must document accurately. If a student only spends ten minutes playing video solitaire, I do not want them to document that they spent 15.

bf

Group Presentations - Treatments

(This message was posted after our group presentations, so that parents would know what happened in class today.)

Today, student groups presented in class.

Each group will "pitch" their movie ideas. Within two sentences, the group should present a clear concept of movie, either the title or the catch phrase will entice the audience to listen more carefully.

In class, students will be graded for presenting and participating.

BF

Welcome Back for the Stretch Run

Beginning today, students are going to track how much time they spend working on projects.

Students will also track how much time they spend on activities unrelated to this class.

Tracking time is a standard practice in many professions. For example, lawyers bill clients in six minutes increments. Accounting firms also bill clients in small increments. While a customer might hire someone at an hourly rate, many tasks rarely take an entire hour. A one minute phone call costs six minutes. 

Computer consultants bill clients too. Many visual artists track their time, even when the artist is not billing a client, so that the artist knows whether a project is potentially profitable.


You will begin using a Microsoft Excel Spreadsheet to track your time each day. I have created a draft MS Excel Spreadsheet and placed it in my R drive. At the end of each class, you will send the me the attachment to my school email. Use the same spreadsheet for the rest of the year.

Your group may create the same template, but each student is responsible for maintaining their own spreadsheet. Each student is responsible for tracking their own time.  Each student is responsible for submitting their own email every day. Today, create a spreadsheet for the remainder of the year.


Consider the following questions so that you can include all activities that you perform in class, even those that are not assigned. What categories should be included? How do you spend your time when you are not following directions? How do you spend your time when you are relaxing? How long are classes? On what days will there be holidays? How should the form look? How can you calculate the amount of time? What are the obstacles about being honest?


BF

What is a Treatment?

Remember way back on yesterday when I said that I might add something to your list of final projects? Well, somehow I forgot an important part of screen writing. I forgot the treatment.


Read more at the following links.


1. How to Write a Movie Treatment


2. Treatment Examples from Simply Scripts


3. Movie Treatments dot com

Write your treatment before you begin your script and storyboards.

Notes about filming, recording, and learning

Now that students are using cameras and microphones and creating their own work, I want students to read two articles.


1. If you create something and put it online, whose work is it?


2. If you are recording and videotaping in California, err on the side of caution. This is one reason that I have insisted that you only include your group in your videos. This is why I also want to see your story boards before you go out and shoot. You only shoot your story boards, unless you make minor adjustment.


A further note: When you are recording... you are recording. For your projects, I have required that your projects will be appropriate enough so that you do not embarrass yourself, your friends or your family. Remember that your family will see the script, see your video and hear you audio. You may change your behavior after seeing your script. Sometimes, that is how people learn.