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).

More Morale

One major thing my mentor has taught me so far is the importance of morale. If people don't like what they're doing and how they're being treated, they won't want to put effort into their work. I've also found a significant amount of research supported the idea that staff morale is one of the most important aspects of a successful... anything (crazy, huh?). She showed me a decent list of ways that I could raise morale in my own staff, but one of the most basic (and important) is to use icebreakers. 

“But Elijah, what’s an icebreaker?” I’m glad you asked, reader.

An icebreaker is what it sounds like... something to break the ice. They may or may not involve puns. Even though they sound relatively simple and unimportant, icebreakers are necessary to establish an early connection between you, your editors, and your staff. They’re especially effective when you gain new staff members. Every year in yearbook, we get a small group of freshmen who don’t exactly have the best idea of what to expect in the class. The icebreakers are a fun way to ease their nerves, and get them to bond with the experienced members. It’s always good to strengthen the bond of your current staff, too.

This is an example of one of the icebreakers we did on the first day of Yearbook (we adapted the colors a bit, but this is the gist):

Note: I'll be applying the lessons I learn in mentorship to Yearbook

Blog 4: Interview Preparation

1. I plan to interview my mentor, Rebecca Chai, the adviser of Walnut High School's publications class. The Walnut yearbooks have been respected and admired for a number of years for several reasons, and their publications class is run like a tight ship.

2. Required Questions:

• I'm interested in studying editorial publishing management. What can you tell me about it?
• From your perspective, what could I study that would be significant?
• Who else would you recommend I talk to?
• What kinds of places or activities do you recommend I do for the mentorship component?
• What books should I read in this field?

Additional Questions:

• What led you to become the adviser of the publications class?
• What’s one quality that a good manager/Editor-in-Chief must display every day to his/her staff? Why?
• In your experience, what have past Editors-in-Chief gone to do in college? Using the skills they learned from managing the staff.

Blog 3: Topic Choice and Working EQ

1. Managing an Editorial Publication

2. Working EQ:  How best can one manage an editorial staff, so as to promote efficiency and inspiration?

3. Yes, the WB is on the right hand side of this blog.

Summer Mentorship Component

Literal

1. The log of specific hours and description of my duties

2. What is the contact name & number of where you volunteered?       

Rebecca Chai

(909) 594-1333, ext. 34251

3. (Need to know) What questions were raised because of the 10 hours of experience?  List them.     

• What careers can one branch off towards, using skills learned in editorial publishing?
• How can I best handle difficult staff members?
• How do I balance being a strict leader and being a fun one?
• When do I transition the staff from training to working?

Interpretive

4. What is the most important thing you gained from this experience? Why?

The most important thing I gained from my summer mentorship is how to handle leadership. I received advice from my mentor, as well as others who are in the same situation as me. They all showed me how not to abuse my authority, how to handle conflict resolution, and how to build up rapport with my peers, all of which can be taken and applied to my life in the future.

Applied

5. What is your senior project topic going to be?  How did what you did help you choose a topic?  Please explain.

My senior project topic is going to be Editorial Publishing. Since running a yearbook is basically like running a magazine or other print publication, there are many similarities as far as management, design, and content. This topic will be much less stress than what I previously wanted to do (Biomedical Engineering with a focus on Prosthetics), because I’ll be able to complete assignments as I work on the yearbook, since I’m the Editor-in-Chief. It was difficult to find a mentor in the biomedical field, which I wish to pursue as a career, and by choosing a yearbook-related topic I’ll be killing two birds with one stone this year.