<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional//EN">
<HTML><HEAD>
<META http-equiv=Content-Type content="text/html; charset=us-ascii">
<META content="MSHTML 6.00.2900.2523" name=GENERATOR>
<STYLE>@font-face {
font-family: Book Antiqua;
}
@page Section1 {size: 8.5in 11.0in; margin: 1.0in 1.25in 1.0in 1.25in; }
P.MsoNormal {
FONT-SIZE: 12pt; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; FONT-FAMILY: "Times New Roman"
}
LI.MsoNormal {
FONT-SIZE: 12pt; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; FONT-FAMILY: "Times New Roman"
}
DIV.MsoNormal {
FONT-SIZE: 12pt; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; FONT-FAMILY: "Times New Roman"
}
A:link {
COLOR: blue; TEXT-DECORATION: underline
}
SPAN.MsoHyperlink {
COLOR: blue; TEXT-DECORATION: underline
}
A:visited {
COLOR: purple; TEXT-DECORATION: underline
}
SPAN.MsoHyperlinkFollowed {
COLOR: purple; TEXT-DECORATION: underline
}
P {
FONT-SIZE: 12pt; MARGIN-LEFT: 0in; MARGIN-RIGHT: 0in; FONT-FAMILY: "Times New Roman"
}
SPAN.EmailStyle17 {
FONT-WEIGHT: normal; COLOR: windowtext; FONT-STYLE: normal; FONT-FAMILY: "Book Antiqua"; TEXT-DECORATION: none
}
DIV.Section1 {
page: Section1
}
</STYLE>
</HEAD>
<BODY lang=EN-US vLink=purple link=blue>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial color=#0000ff size=2><SPAN
class=923273720-09122004>contact: </SPAN></FONT><FONT face=Tahoma size=2>Kalima
Rose [mailto:krose@policylink.org]<BR></FONT></DIV>
<DIV class=Section1>
<TABLE class=MsoNormalTable cellPadding=0 border=0>
<TBODY>
<TR>
<TD
style="PADDING-RIGHT: 0.75pt; PADDING-LEFT: 0.75pt; PADDING-BOTTOM: 0.75pt; PADDING-TOP: 0.75pt">
<P class=MsoNormal style="BACKGROUND: #cccc99"><B><FONT face=Arial
color=#660000 size=3><SPAN
style="FONT-WEIGHT: bold; FONT-SIZE: 12pt; COLOR: #660000; FONT-FAMILY: Arial">Berkeley</SPAN></FONT></B><B><FONT
face=Arial color=#660000><SPAN
style="FONT-WEIGHT: bold; COLOR: #660000; FONT-FAMILY: Arial"> High
Students Analyze Media By Making It</SPAN></FONT></B><FONT face=Arial
color=#660000><SPAN
style="COLOR: #660000; FONT-FAMILY: Arial"><BR></SPAN></FONT><FONT
face=Arial color=black><SPAN
style="COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: Arial">Aliza Nadi, North Gate News,
</SPAN></FONT><FONT face=Arial color=black><SPAN
style="COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: Arial">12/8/2004</SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN-BOTTOM: 12pt"><FONT face=Arial
size=3><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial"></SPAN></FONT> </P></TD></TR>
<TR>
<TD
style="PADDING-RIGHT: 0.75pt; PADDING-LEFT: 0.75pt; PADDING-BOTTOM: 0.75pt; PADDING-TOP: 0.75pt">
<P><FONT face=Arial size=3><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial">BERKELEY</SPAN></FONT><FONT
face=Arial><SPAN style="FONT-FAMILY: Arial">--Sixteen-year-old Rafael de
la Torre is adding the last few touches to his second project of the
school year--a 60 second film brimming with dissolves, slow motion effects
and titles. <BR><BR>"Black in the beginning, black in the end, fade out
the music," Dharini Rasiah, his teacher, yells across the room. "Today is
the last day, so make it good." <BR><BR>De la Torre is one of the 28
juniors in Rasiah’s third period Advanced Video Production class at
</SPAN></FONT><FONT face=Arial><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: Arial">Berkeley</SPAN></FONT><FONT face=Arial><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: Arial"> </SPAN></FONT><FONT face=Arial><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: Arial">High School</SPAN></FONT><FONT face=Arial><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: Arial">. And he, like his classmates, is also a force
for change, according to their teacher. <BR><BR>"We want them to be more
conscious producers of media so they don’t imitate mainstream media," says
Rasiah. "Kids are not necessarily always interested in investigating
social or political issues in their videos." <BR><BR>The seven year-old
Advanced Video Production class which is sustained by school district
grants, parent contributions, and fundraising, is part of CAS--Berkeley
High’s Communication Arts and Sciences program, one that Rasiah describes
as a social justice program with a multimedia theme. The class is part of
a comprehensive multimedia curriculum that all grades in CAS partake in.
By they time they graduate, students in the program will have taken
courses in radio, television, web design, and digital photography.
<BR><BR>Mainstream media has left teenagers awash in messages from reality
shows and cable television, and as an antidote, Rasiah’s students are
producing news packages and documentaries and engaging in fiction
storytelling. The question, "What is the most just way to build
community?" has become their mantra. <BR><BR>"It doesn’t have to be a
documentary to have an educational component," says Rasiah, a slender
woman of Sri Lankan descent who is 36 only by age, not appearance. She
wears her long wavy dark hair pulled tightly in a ponytail and sports a
slightly grungy look - blue jeans and thick-soled boots on a Tuesday. All
traces of the serious expression that can be found normally on her face
vanish when she bursts into a smile, which is often in this classroom.
<BR><BR>Her undertaking is simple, but not commonly found--teaching her
students how to produce videos while being mindful of issues that are of
concern to real teenagers and people of color. And while most teens wade
through the signals they receive from mainstream television, Rasiah’s
students are leaving behind pedestrian and detached forms of media, like
reality television, and producing what she calls, "alternative media."
"Teachers around here don’t teach content, just technical skills. In our
class, we do both," she says. <BR><BR>Fully developed video production
classes like this one and a media integrated program as thorough as CAS
are the only ones of their kind in the Bay Area, according to Rasiah.
However, she says, this fusion of media and academia is now serving as a
prototype for high schools in the area, which are slowly following the
footsteps of CAS and offering similar programs. <BR><BR>De la Torre, who
resembles the proverbial "popular kid"--tall and good-looking, has already
absorbed Rasiah’s message. "My thought on reality TV is like a really bad
dream, or in this case, really bad production," he says. "Why don’t they
make a show with real people and real issues?" <BR><BR>The students
tackled social and political issues and fleshed them out in Public Service
Announcements, some of which applied to this year’s elections. One student
decided to focus on the implications of the ballot measure liberalizing
the Three Strikes law, another on illiteracy among teens. The PSA on
racial profiling probably hit closer to home here at one of the most
racially and ethnically diverse high schools in the nation. Before the
PSAs, the students finished a 20-shot sequence, and they will finish the
semester with a longer work of fiction, all within the framework of
multiculturalism. <BR><BR>Movie posters from "A Beautiful Mind" and
"Amelie" flank the walls of their spacious classroom and flags from around
the world are painted on the ceiling. Mac computers, uploaded with video
editing software like Adobe Premiere and Final Cut Pro, line the
perimeters of their workspace. There is another room that houses more than
a dozen Mini DV cameras, tripods, and audio and lighting equipment.
<BR><BR>Rasiah intersperses her instructions with orders telling the
zealous bunch to quiet down. She flits around the room like a butterfly,
moving from one workstation to another and putting on headphones plugged
into the computers. She watches the PSAs alongside their producers -
excitable teenagers who are treading into new creative territory. They
exchange high-fives. A pair of students sits at each workstation,
fine-tuning the audio and special effects of their pieces. <BR><BR>"We are
taught to experiment with ideas and equipment, try to do something out of
the ordinary, be creative," says De la Torre, adjusting the audio levels
of his project. <BR><BR>These juniors learn aspects of video production
that range from the most basic to more sophisticated - proper use of
tripods and microphones, lighting and audio mixing, framing and
composition. Their judgment comes into play when deciding on just the
right backgrounds for an interview. They are learning the ins and outs of
non-linear editing and story structure for documentary and fiction.
<BR><BR>Over one thousand videos, with every student project ever
produced, sit in drawers in the classroom. <BR><BR>In many of their
projects, the juniors will collaborate with the English and History
classes. "CAS is different because we integrate media in our whole
academic program," says Rasiah. By using this media hook, she says,
students have become more engaged in their academic classes. <BR><BR>"CAS
makes it mandatory, but I’m really privileged," says fifteen-year-old
Dominique Bonilla. "In our time, all the information we get is from the
media. You have to understand media." <BR><BR>And she inspires her
students to actively participate in society. "The process of social change
happens by doing service learning internships." <BR><BR>Each student is
required to participate in internships that build social consciousness,
like teaching video at local schools or non-profit organizations,
producing radio shows on social justice topics on KPFB in
</SPAN></FONT><FONT face=Arial><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: Arial">Berkeley</SPAN></FONT><FONT face=Arial><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: Arial">, or learning to curate film festivals like
Screenagers: Bay Area High School Film Festival. <BR><BR>It all comes
together for sixteen-year-old Yejide Najee-Ullah, "After you have become
acclimated with the process of doing your own media, you can start to
release information to the world, about the world, as you see
it."</SPAN></FONT></P></TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT face="Book Antiqua" size=2><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: 'Book Antiqua'"></SPAN></FONT> </P><FONT
face="Book Antiqua" size=2><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: 'Book Antiqua'">
<P><FONT size=2>______________________________<BR>Janet Huseby and Kathryn Capps
are the facilitators of the etree; please direct any questions or concerns to
them at <bhs-owner@idiom.com><BR><BR>To subscribe to the etree, write
bhs-request@idiom.com with one word only in the subject line: subscribe.<BR>To
unsubscribe, write bhs-request@idiom.com with one word only in the subject line:
unsubscribe.<BR> </FONT> </P></SPAN></FONT>
<P><FONT face="Times New Roman" size=3><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt"></SPAN></FONT> </P></DIV></BODY></HTML>