Shout outs & summary of the day : Narratives & Storyboarding

Over the last 2 days, the crews have been intensely writing their scripts and so asking them to write ONE more time at the end of the day in this blog was a bit much!! So I thought I'd record a summary and reflection of the work we've been doing here.

And oh boy have we worked! No blood (we're like a family here), and no tears (we support each other when it's tough), but we sure did sweat it out! It was nearly 90 degrees in Boston this afternoon, and the AC doesn't work here at TechBoston Academy! (But it DOES blast plenty of cold air in the winter! Go figure.)

Wednesday morning, Julie lead the crews through a lesson about the structure of a narrative - the thesis, introduction, body, and conclusion. The crews went to work combing through their transcipts to pull out key points and quotes, and annotated it with post-its and highlighters in order to form a thesis statement everyone in the group could connect with. Previously, the students had been individually finding personal connections with their interviewee. Now, the challenge was coming together as a group, and finding an overarching statement or question that was meaningful to EVERYone in the crew!

Script writing began in the afternoon, while I was logging and capturing, and feverishly re-organising the files and folders into a way that made the most sense to the students. Paulina, Juan and Julie floated from crew to crew, giving valuable feedback, listening to the ideas that were forming, and guiding them through the writing process.

Today, Paulina and I, after reviewing the first drafts of their scripts, met with each crew, and showed them how to storyboard as a visual connection to their scripts. They looked through the assets loaded onto the computer and thought about what additional footage and/or photos they would need to gather by the end of Monday.

I was so impressed by the professionalism, creativity, and determination of EVERY team! They were receptive to our feedback and each other's comments "You need to be clearer who is saying what here...", collaborative in the brainstorming "Maybe you should have a voiceover here instead...", critical of suggestions "I'm not feeling that...", respectful of new ideas..."I think we'll decide on that once we get into the editing process...", and enthusiastic about their project despite the heat "I love that quote! Where did you get that?"

I think I can speak for Juan, Julie, and Paulina in saying that we sooo appreciate your efforts and are excited about the ideas you have!! You all have strong foundations for your stories. FINISH STRONG!! Nothing feels better than taking an idea from planning all the way through production into a piece that YOU are proud of and Facing History will be proud to show off!!

See you all on Monday...Keep cool.

- lisa

Me, Sophia, & Ms. Mcguire

So today I finally did my interview it went great Ms. McGuire can talk a lot but everything that she said was important & very interesting she talked about so much I would have to go back to remember some stuff...I thought we weren't going to be able to finish...We made so much connections with Ms. McGuire well at least I did when she talked about how she was just a parent and her child didn't want to do METCO that brought me back when I almost cried when I heard my mom put me into it...She showed us some books and we met people around the office well 2 ladies and 1 man...

Jean McGuire

Wow, she's such an amazing woman. The whole thing was mostly like story time for me like back in fourth grade. Without the lights, mics, camera &&the posture. She mentioned a lot of people's names and I wish I knew what she was talking about. I think the most interesting part of the interview was when she talked about what she personally did. Like how she went to the schools and actually counted how many free seats there were in the schools that has shut down parents who went earlier to ask if there was any free seats. It's amazing what parents would go through for their parents. It was amazing how she was able to talk about everything as if they all happened yesterday. The dates and the key events, she just seems to know it all.
She was not shy. ..at all. It was great though Howard and Julie had a hard time getting us to leave the building. She did not look like a 70 year old at all &&she moved like she was young. I have much to thank her for what she has done through out the thirty years that she has contributed to the METCO program, I wouldn't be me without it. It has been an amazing journey as my years in METCO wind down for my last year as a senior in Lincoln Sudbury Regional High School.

a`more sophie

Reflection : Interview of Sarah Ann Shaw

SARAH-ANN-SHAW...what a person..she's very a intelligent woman...someone who still have a great dreeam for the future...she wants the best not for only herself but her community as well. i really enjoyed caring a converstation with, she the type of person who would make u feeel like you need to be doin something your community. '' i think that the media do a poor job in our socity today" says SHAW. " the media shows all these paris hilton and not showing kids getting hurt and killed in the streets"....i really do agree on what shes saying and how she feels...the media really do nothing for the socity.

Mel King interview

OK SO TODAY ME,SEVON,AND JESSICA HAD AN INTERVIEW WITH MEL KING.IT WAS SO COOLLLLLLLL!!! WE WERE UNDER SOME HOT LIGHTS BUT, IT WAS OK. AT FIRST I THOUGHT HE WAS GOING TO BE SUPER STRICT AS JUAN DESCRIBED HIM BUT HE WAS THE TOTAL OPPOSITE. HE WAS FRIENDLY AND REALLY EASY TO TALK TO.I HAD FUN DOING THE INTERVIEW. HE KEPT ME LAUGHING AND I HAD SUPPORT FROM MY TEAM MEMBERS. IF U GUYS ARE READING THIS...JESSICA AND SEVON....THANKS A LOT AND I LOVE YOU GUYSSSS!!! =] OKKKKK SO LET ME STOP BECAUSE I'M GETTING ALL MUSHY,LOL.ANYWAYS, IT WAS A VERY GOOD EXPERIENCE TO LEARN FROM SOMEONE WHO HAS BEEN AROUND FOR SO LONG.HE WAS SO WISE AND I COULD TELL THAT HE MENT EVERY WORD THAT HE SAID AND HE WASN'T BEING FAKE.ON THE VERY LAST QUESTION OF THE INTERVIEW WAS WHERE I FELT THAT I CONNECTED WITH HIM THE MOST.HE GAVE SOME OF THE BEST ADVICE FOR FUTURE ACTIVISTS. HE SAID THAT YOU SHOULD READ BECAUSE THERE IS POWER BEHIND WORDS, AND THAT YOU ALWAYS NEED TO BE DEDICATED AND FOCUSED ON WHAT YOU'RE DOING.HE ANSWERED EVERY QUESTION PERFECTLY.HIS STRONG INTELLECT MADE ME ACTUALLY THINK ABOUT OUR SOCIETY TODAY AND HOW MY GENERATION CAN STILL MAKE A CHANGE.I FELT EVERYTHING HE WAS SAYING.IT WAS DEEP! MEL KING IS THE MAN,NO DOUBT!! I CAN'T WAIT TO SEE TENT CITY.

It's Finally Over!!!!!!!

Now that my group was the first group to be done and finished, I feel really good. As the camerawoman, I felt that i did a descent job. My team mates did very good during the interview and was well prepared for the interview. With the tips that i gave them yesterday, i felt that they both had amazing committment because they went home and typed up the questions and obviously practiced. Mel King was at first very intimidating to meet because he was so serious or perhaps grumpy because he had to wake up so early. But then again, he's probably used to doing early morning interviews. I amde connections to Mel King because i sometimes feel that there is a rival/war between teens and adults. Due to the fact that teens do certain things that adults just can not understand, he was basically saying that the new study that his text center is running is doing an experiment basically how teens text and create smaller phrases for words. He sometimes reminded me of my Papa becasue the he talked passionate about how the youth is the future and needs to basically have there heads on straight to make the world better and not repeat history with our ancestors mistakes.
Shout out to Cherly and Sevon for an amazing interview!!!!!!!

Anticipation of the interview

ummmmm...i don't know what to say. i think Demitrus and i are ready for Mr.Breeden. I'm must say i am very intimidated my his genius. he must be a very smart man after all the education he received. You know that would be madd funny if he wasn't smart hahahaha. think after all that education he got and not be smart that's kinda funny.but I'm sure he is smart he has proved it by the actions he took to help young black children get the best education and he also helped to unify the churches.I just hope that when he talks it will be interesting. i don't really mind it being long just as long as he can tell an interesting story.something to keep a sistah awake.Anyway i hope i take advantage of meeting him in a positive way. i hope shyness does not overtake me and Demitrus is talking to this man for like hours and hours. hopefully i take the time to speak with this man and learn something new cuz i don't know when i will be able to be this close to history again.( that last sentence is not true i wrote it cuz it sounded deep and good) the truth is we are always in the presence of history when every we are around anyone who has lived life or had a hard day!!!

MY FEELINSZZ ON DA INTERVIEW 7/19

My interview is on thursday && I am a bit worried becuase I might mess up or somfn lyk dat...I have met Mrs. Jean Mcguire before but not directly she spoke at a METCO conference we had in my freshmen year....I am also kind of happy in a way because then she'll know who I am && I am a METCO student soo it might give me some sort of advantage ;-) JK but yeaa for the most part I will be OK maybe OMG its gunna b so early in the mornin Im styll thinkn ov da tyme I want to wake up....prolly lyk 5:30 6ish grrrr....but yeaaaa I am kinda ov ampt becusz I mite c som1 I no @ da DIMOCK office omg I didnt even no Mrs. Jean Mcguire had her own office crazy ritee???

~Toodles~~ Misz Yana Roxsz

Interview is tomorrow!!!!!

I am excited to meet one of Boston's important African-American activists tomorrow. I'm only worried about my team mates feeling confident and being about to keep a flow during the interview. Since I am the camerawoman, I'm only worried about (and i always worry about this whenever i film) is if the shots will come out good enough. I hope to be well-refreshed in the morning. I'm glad that we are being fed morning tomorrow, even though i always eat before i leave the house. I have a feeling that everything will be okay. I have absolute faith and confidence. If anything goes wrong, we'll just be doing some serious editing!!!!!

Reflection : interview

About the interview tomorrow with Sarah Ann Shaw I'm not that nervous but the only thing that I'm really worried about is that she may not hear me so I don't want to be to loud or talk to low for her because she is elderly anyway. I cant wait to meet her and i just want to do my best at interviewing Mrs Shaw. I have alot of confidence about this interview and I hope that the questions that we made up are very intelligent questions and I also feel that she would be able to answer my group questions because there not revealing questions very understandable.

Reflection : Interview

i'm so nervous right now. this whole time when they were talking about interviewin`, there were butterflies in my stomache. we pretend interviewin` jean mcguire first with ourselves then with juan. it was fairlie easy, no big oopsies. i can't wait to hear sevon, jessica &&cheryl's interview tomorrow. i had my outfit all figured out but i'm not so sure now. hmmers. as i'm typin` this, my stomahce is flippin` &&floppin`. i'm excited about the breakfast, though. i hope they have coffee or caffine. but i'm kind of scared because i'm not sure if i'll be able to wake up on time. hopefullie, 3 alarm clocks will work. me &&teeyana got our questions down so that's good. but no matter how much you practice, it'll change once you're under the lights and infront of the person you're goin` to interview, and with all the people around you, tryin` to video tape you.

G`LUCK TO

SEVON, JESSiCA, CHERYL, JELLiE, KEViN, O.

Y sophieeee

....Education is the key to life....

this world is so far beyond crazy..why does it matter what your skin color is? why cant we all get the same amount of education without violence.the history of Boston in the 1960 and 70s still in some ways connect in our society today. there are schools out in the suburbs that have to be payed for. and if you look at that there are mostly all white people. many of black parents cant afford to pay for schools and the only choice they have is to sent there kids to public school, which still don't provide enough education. communities are still segregated today. people want best for their kids. AND IN LIFE YOU ALWAYS HEAR EVERYONE SAYING EDUCATION IS THE KEY TO LIFE...how could we get better in life if our educations aren't helping us. some teacher don't teach well...some just give up on the kids. but most of then don't care because of your race.

heyy guys. this is sophieeee =]

my first blog on here. i'm reallie excited foh this summer. s0rry, you guys are gonna have to get used to how i type [[blame AiM]]. buh yeahh, yesterday's lectured reallie WOWed me. Steven was reallie knowlegable. it was crazyy how he knew how the dates and names. the whole time i wanted to get a visual of the scho0l committee and today i have the chance to. Louise DayHicks, grrrs. wells, movin` on. our advisors are reallie co0l, they have a lot of things that we'll be able to learn from them. &&as foh my fellow team-mates foh the next 3 or so weeks are just amazin`. each &&every one of you guys have your own style in clothin` &&such. some people are takin` a little longer than others to open up but it's okay. i think everything will be okayy.

oh yeahh.

i'm reallie excited to find out who i will be workin` with foh the next couple of weeks. who ever you are, hope we have a great time together.

a`more sophieee

The history in Boston that occurred in the 1960s that was dealing with segregation which is still going on today is really not the same but there is one way I can connect to the history because today you really don't see any black students attending to all white school a.k.a private schools and if you look into "Boston public schools you will only see about 3 white kids.
also like the film they were talking about how the black kids in the 1960s always got the rip up books that were ruin and today in Boston public schools books are all tore up but I bet if you go to a white school in the suburbans there books are Nice like they never been used not destroyed at all and they get everything they want and in black schools we don't even get enough scholarship's to support some of the students but in the non bostion public schools they have plenty of scholarships to give out to every s

Summary : the D.L.P

wow! how awsome...i cant believe that im really working. its my first job and im really enjoying it. but for some strange reason we were talking about the nastyest things and it was akward but fun. im being myself around here. Julies great. shes very educated. love the way she teaches. and juan hes always on point at all times...funny i kow. paulinas really layed back...she agree with everything wich is not a bad...we need that type of good energy around early in the morning huh...i guess the DEVIL REALLY DID WEAR THE PRIDA.As a younge teen i dont rally get a lot of great opertunitys, but so far so good. evryone here is really cool and fun to talk to. they always got jokes, but when its time to get to work we get down to bussiness. sophia and i are becoming close to each other. she cool to talk to.Savon's funny., he plays that " shy " game. Angelica is forever talking about FEILDS CORNER...LOL...Kevins kinda of quit...but he talks now and then.. ( maybe hes not use to the enviroment, we'll gave him time). im losing it, im always calling taina tati...which is weird because my cousins name is tati and they look nothing alike. "D"...well what can i say hes a really smart kid...he uses all these big words and i feel AWESOME being around that type of inviorment. jessica goes to school with me...and she and i underestand some things such as the sare values that i used yeaturday when we was making our gorund rules...( community with social respect)...all i have to say is that the girls exciting. i love how she said " think with your feet" thats soon to be my motto. dancers dont talk they listen and think with there feet. i know im a dance freak i cant help it...but yeah. arvia came today happy, energetic and raedy to work and learn. speaking of learning this is one of the best ways that i've learned something. usally i'll be sitting in calss listing to the teacher. its like i hear it but im not listening..lol..strange huh..im soo stressed out...u asked why im this way..well i dont know if i should get these sexy 8Os high top blaack and green pumas... or should i get a new phone...my minds going kinda CRRRRRRAAAAAZZZZYYYY...but i hope i find something good to eat for lunch