Speaker Series II

Setting up the assemblies

  1. We had to reserve the auditorium for the date we wanted and give a heads up to the teachers that we would be having assembly schedules those days.  Teachers are planners, and they need time to adjust their schedules.  
  2. The student committee identified several teachers that they respected and wanted to hear stories from.  We then sent emails to those teachers and asked them if they would be willing to speak on the theme of  "Common Threads" and connections. We also asked a student from the University of Michigan (our #wym kids saw him speak at the begining of the year and loved him) to come and speak.  
  3. Four of the teachers accepted and we were so excited!  We sent them back some specifications on their speeches: they needed to be 8-10 minutes and must be about finding common threads or the importance of connections. They could be as personal as they wanted.  
  4. We decided this year on one assembly,  with 5 speakers and video montages of various students talking about their common threads in between.
  5. We got to work videotaping students from all parts of the student body discussing their common threads and the importance of connections in their lives.  We used a DSLR on video mode and in monochrome.  Editing of the footage was done in iMovie.  We ran out of time for the blooper reel (which was a TOTAL BUMMER)
  6. Our Assistant Principal made a seating chart so that students had to sit with their classes. We were concerned that if it was general seating it would talk to long to get seated, and they might be distracted by their friends. 
  7. The morning of each assembly we did a run through with all five of that day's speakers.  They were hooked up to mic pacs and we practiced where they walked, the lighting and the video transitions. 
  8. Lights, Camera, Action! We had a student videographer ready with a videocamera.  She was tapped into the auditorium's sound system so that she could capture the sound accurately. Thanks Ellie! 
  9. SHOWTIME!
  10. Students were released back to their classes where their teachers had a lesson waiting to help lead students reflection and discussion.