Blog 9: Lesson 1 Reflection

1. Positive Statement

What are you most proud of in your Lesson 1 Presentation and why?

I’m most proud of the fact that I remembered to cite all my sources, and I pretty much gave all the information I intended to give.

2. Questions to Consider

  a. What assessment would you give yourself on your Lesson 1 Presentation (self-assessment)?

  AE    P       AP    CR    NC

  b. Explain why you deserve that grade using evidence from the Lesson 1 component contract.

Professionalism: I spoke clearly enough for the class to hear, maintained eye contact with the audience as well as proper posture, and made sure to engage the audience by asking how they were following along.

Justification of Foundation: I constantly referenced my research, published sources, and my interview, as was expected of me.

3. What worked for you in your Lesson 1?

Right off the bat, my puns worked to engage the audience. They may have been bad, but I had everyone’s attention once I finished my hook. After that, I’d say my knowledge of my topic and experience as an editor-in-chief definitely helped me make time and convey what I was trying to convey.

4.  (What didn't work) If you had a time machine, what would you have done differently to improve your Lesson 1?
If I had a time machine, I would rework my presentation to be topic-to-topic, instead of article-to-article. I feel like going by articles confused some people, because a few articles basically said the same thing about certain topics (like communication). The third quarter of my presentation is where I struggled most, because I didn’t take the time to dive as deep into “Shared Vision” and “Employee Engagement” as I should have, and I ended up with more time than I anticipated.

The Fall Design Clinic: A Long Meeting

As a yearbook veteran, I’ve attended three fall design clinics. These workshops are for editors and the more dedicated staffers, and basically give yearbook staffs a chance to show off the progress they’ve made with their respective books. The IPoly books usually fare relatively well at these clinics. 

Setting up before the clinic, with Malorie and J-Wu.

However, the main purpose of the fall design clinics are to receive feedback from industry professionals, such as Paul Ender, Pete LeBlanc, and Mimi Orth (they’re big yearbook people, I don’t expect you to know them). We’ve always gotten great advice on how to improve the spreads and our opening copy, and the same goes for this year. Overall, the gurus (as we call them) loved our "Misfit Right In" theme, and how well the design team tied it into each spread. They also complimented the voice, rhythm, and the fun feel of our opening copy. So all in all it was a productive clinic, and quite possibly the best I've been to. There is much promise in the yearbook staff this year.

Mimi Orth, our Herff Jones representative and savior.

Why the title? This year’s clinic ran from 9 am to 4 pm, and I had been there since 8 am to help set things up and make sure everything was in place. My breakfast of approximately 7 donuts (provided at the workshop) sustained me throughout the day.

I can just feel my teeth rotting away... worth it for the sugar rush

Blog 8: Research and Working EQ

1.  What is your working EQ?

•  How best can one manage an editorial staff, so as to promote efficiency and inspiration?

2.  Possible Answers:

•  An editor-in-chief should promote the concept of employee engagement among his or her staff.

•  Clear, concise expectations for the staff and the editors should be set, so everyone knows their role.

3.  What is the most important source you have used that has helped you come up with an answer to your working EQ?

•  Answer 1: The most important source I found supporting this is “What Is Employee Engagement”, an article from the renowned business magazine Forbes.

•  Answer 2: “YEARBOOK EDITORS: Effective Strategies” was extremely useful in finding this answer.

4.  Who is your mentor, or where are you doing mentorship, and how does what you are doing relate to your working EQ?

•  I’ve previously listed Yearbook adviser Rebecca Chai as my mentor, but I may have to change this. Since Ms. Chai is a Yearbook teacher at a different high school, I can’t exactly work under her. I don’t know who I can talk to for other mentorship options, and would like some help figuring this out. I believe last year’s Editor-in-Chief was able to do her mentorship in the yearbook elective when our Herff Jones representative, Mimi Orth, would visit. However, this would not be an option for me as Mimi has opted out of mentoring this year.

Blog 7: Independent Component 1 Approval

1. Describe in detail what you plan to do for your 30 hours.

• I shall be overseeing and helping in the completion of the first deadline for yearbook, which consists of 16 spreads (or 32 pages). I will be managing the yearbook staff during elective and outside of class, by assigning stories, creating lessons, setting up progress meetings, and organizing a ladder (document that shows the sequence of spreads). I’ll especially help in the designing of these spreads, and guiding the staff in accomplishing their tasks.

2. Discuss how or what you will do to meet the expectation of showing 30 hours of evidence.

• As proof of my independent component, I will document work times and elective times through photographs and screenshots, which I shall link to on the blog. I’ll also post a link to view the finished deadline.

3. Explain how what you will be doing will help you explore your topic in more depth.

• What I will be doing will help me apply everything I’ve learned through research to an actual editorial staff. As editor-in-chief, not only am I in charge of keeping the vision of the book consistent, but I have to maintain the efficiency and morale of my yearbook staff as well. I’ll be exposed to every aspect of publishing a yearbook, from an editor’s perspective, and all the challenges one must overcome to ensure the success of said publication.

4. Update your Senior Project Hours log.

• Senior Project Hours log has been updated.

eDesign

Although I have a mentor, I’ve been having some trouble actually figuring out what to do for my mentorship hours (since she’s a yearbook teacher, I wouldn’t exactly be able to go to her class to shadow/help). Therefore, the most I’ve been doing that can relate to my project is actually working on iPoly's yearbook.

This year, we made a massive change in software (from InDesign to the Herff Jones company’s eDesign). Even though this new eDesign is essentially a very stripped down version of InDesign, it has many, many benefits.

[Note: The small amount of features on the left-hand toolbar]

The most useful features of eDesign are the organizational features. Some might consider it the savior of yearbook. Since the entire program is browser based, the staff can access it anywhere with an internet connection. This solves a plethora of problems yearbook has had in the past, especially since we've only been able to get actual work done in class (where the computers are), and it solves the issue of file formats for different versions of InDesign.

The eDesign ladder is essentially a living book. That means we can see the entire book, all in one spot, and it updates in real-time. Here, and example for ya!

It's aliiiiive! And so organized. *tear*

This post is basically just gonna hype up eDesign.

Because it's amazing.

AND it keeps track of coverage in the best way possible. We uploaded a master list of the school to eDesign, and now we can tag people in photos (like Facebook) and the software keeps track of which pictures are being used in spreads, as well as who is in those pictures. This makes things much, much easier when it comes to coverage, because we can see who is in the book exactly how many times. Before, we kept a physical list of people, and had to mark of names with various colored pens, and as you can imagine it was hard to keep track of.

Everything's red right now because we're still working on inputting pictures into the spreads.

Well, that's it from me for now. I'm working on figuring out actual mentorship for my topic, but if anyone has suggestions, please contact me. I'd love some input.

Blog 6 - Second Interview Preparation

1.  Who is your mentor and where do they work?

My mentor is Ms. Rebecca Chai, and she works at Walnut High School as the Publications and English teacher.

2.  What five questions will you ask them about their background?

1. What were some struggles you faced when you first took on the Publications class?
2. Did you do any formal training with the Herff Jones company to prepare yourself to become an adviser?
3. In high school, did you participate in yearbook or the school newspaper?
4. What memories of your publications class are you most proud of?
5. What led you to become a teacher?
6. How have other advisers impacted your teaching, or otherwise inspired you? (if at all)

Blog 5 - Mentorship Reflection

1. Mentorship question: Describe your experience in how you found your mentorship?  If you haven't found one yet, describe your experience so far in the search of a mentor.

I struggled to find a decent mentor for my original topic, biomedical engineering with an emphasis on prosthetics. However, considering my status as the Editor in Chief of Yearbook, I decided to stick with Yearbook as my senior project (or Editorial Publishing). I’ve met my mentor at yearbook workshops in the past, but I accomplished my mentorship at the “Yearbooks at the Beach” 5-day long workshop in Long Beach. My mentor, Rebecca Chai, is the yearbook advisor for Walnut High School. Her publications staff has built a reputation of excellence among the yearbook community. The great part about my mentorship is that Walnut HS is only a few minutes away from iPoly, which saves me a good amount of stress.

2. Research question: What has been your most important article you have read so far and why?

The most important article I’ve read so far is called “Staff Development and Change Process: Cut from the Same Cloth.” It’s by Shirley M. Hord, who has worked extensively with the Southwest Educational Development Laboratory and has written several books on the topics of leadership and staff development. This article is really great because it cites multiple studies on staff developmental methods, and basically contains the sum of other articles I’ve found (backed by the aforementioned studies).