ACE Spectrum
ACE Spectrum
Ace Spectrum is about you — the ACE Learning Centers.
It’s a quick sharing of ideas, inspiration, opinions and best practices among our continuing education organizations.
Please join the conversation.
We Cats Are Here to Catbomb – We Mean Help – Riley with the ACE Poetry Contest
By Poetry Cats, who sent in their blog copy via Google Docs so Martha’s keyboard stays clean, unlike when Riley uses it
Riley’s a dog, which is great. He’s a wonderful dog and makes a great ACE Poetry Contest Mascot. Of course, he added Lucy to the mix which makes it even better.
Hi. Joycat here. Busy studying like everyone else.
But we noticed that this year something was missing. No cat ACE Poetry Contest Mascots. We get it, there’s a really bad virus out there that made all the schools close and turned learning into home schooling. The teachers are busy developing curriculum and teaching online. Students are busy learning online in their bedrooms or living rooms, even kitchens. (We would like that – close to the cat nibbles.) It made sense to keep the mascot thing easy – Riley only, so there’s no fuss.
But we’re cats. We love fuss. So, we’re CATBOMBING the ACE Poetry Contest. You’ll hear from us as we play around with poetry. As we leap on limericks, hop on haiku, swat at slam, eat up elegy, run with rap, squeeze inside sonnets, pee on poetr… Whoops. Sorry.
Mobilecat here. Nothing more comfy than a mobile phone and a nap.
While Riley likes doggerel poetry, we cats invented catterel poetry. And we plan to bat around ideas like we do when playing with a feather on a string. Or your mobile phone. We hope to have fun and that you readers will too.
To start, here’s our first catteral poem for National Poetry Month. Enjoy. And do your homework. We’re with ya.
We’re Learning Online Together
Oiweuropijgp;jdpw8eo2iutpoi;sdu
Is that a keyboard? What fun. Let me help you with that.
What does that button do? Oh, the screen went blank.
Meoooooow. Meoooow. Meeoooowwww. Meeooo——
Hey what happened? Did you put me on mute?
Well then, I’ll just sit on your lap and purr soft and quiet,
Be your learning pal during online class.
But don’t forget to pet me.
April is a Perfect Month for National Poetry Month and the ACE Poetry Contest
By Riley, ACE Poetry Contest Mascot, assisted by Martha Sessums, ACE President, because she’s tired of cleaning her keyboard after Riley uses it
Nobody planned it, but this this April is perfect timing for National Poetry Month, which means it’s also great timing for the ACE Poetry Contest. We’re all under stay in place orders, which I think is funny. How many times has my John told me to “stay?” Ha, now it’s his turn.
Lucy and me smiling for Poetry Month.
This is the eighth year for the ACE Poetry Contest and the eighth time I’m the mascot. The ACE Learning Center schools are now online learning-focused, and I barked four times when I heard that all four schools wanted to join the contest. Arf. Arf. Arf. Arf. My pal, Lucy, is thrilled too as you can see by her big smile.
Since April is a shelter at home month, it’s a perfect month for learning about and writing poetry. Our lives have changed a lot because of this coronavirus, yet friends, family, teachers and pets have become more important as we all find our path through this virus journey. (Let’s not forget the importance of all the nurses, doctors and others on the front line either.) Poetry can be an outlet, a source of insight and solace, and even an escape from the constant reminder that stay or shelter at home really means that ’cause those bad virus dudes are out there to get us.
The teachers at the ACE Learning Center schools are gonna teach poetry and students are going to write some and be a part of the ACE Poetry Contest. Arf to Alpha Public Schools. Arf to Oakland International High School. Arf to San Francisco International High School. Arf to Oxford Day Academy.
Poetry is also fun, which is what the ACE Poetry Contest is all about. Plus, the winners win MONEY. How cool is that. Here are the rules:
? Poetry topic is open. Any topic. Your choice. Your virtual teacher will guide you.
? Judging rules and choosing the winners are managed by each school.
? First Place receives $100. Second Place receives $75 and Third Place receives $50. All will be in the form of a credit card gift card so you can spend it anywhere.
? Any type of poetry is eligible. Haiku, slam, limerick, free verse, qauīdah, epic, even doggerel, which is my favorite. Well, of course.
Because learning is online now, here’s a great place to learn about poetry and see some of the older, famous ones, and the newer, soon to be famous, ones. Plus, you can sign up for the Poem-a-Day email and get a fun poem every day. Sort of like getting a treat, if you know what I mean. Afterall, I’m a dog. I love treats.
Speaking of treats, don’t forget that April 30 is Poem in Your Pocket Day. It’s when you share your poem all day long with friends – online, video or six-feet away, of course – because poems are treats. Well, not quite as good as a crunchy beef treat or a pet from Lucy, but still a treat.
Look for more blogs from me and perhaps others who want to share poems they wrote and thoughts about poetry. Remember, the winning poems will also be shared on the ACE Spectrum blog.
And don’t forget sharing on social media – #ACEPoetryContest, #NPM20, #ShelterinPoems, #PoetryMonth and any of your social media favorites. A TikTok posted poem would be awesome. ?
Check out this blog for fun stuff all April and remember – treat yourself to a poem.
KALW’s Training Investments Result in Valuable Perspectives During the Coronavirus Crisis
By Ben Trefny, News Director, KALW Audience Supported Public Radio
Our team has been working overtime to cover the coronavirus crisis. Our newsroom — a place that blends professional journalists with trainees — is usually focused on long-form storytelling and podcast production. But in response to the COVID-19 crisis, we have transformed into a breaking news and current events outlet, fully utilizing the skills built by our Audio Academy fellows on a daily basis. They’re producing stories for air at a rapid clip now, putting their education into action.
I want to share some behind-the-scenes insight into the work we’re doing right now to serve our community as an essential information source.
– We are almost exclusively operating from our homes, now. The only person regularly at KALW is the announcer/board operator. The rest of us are using new technology to communicate, record, and broadcast. Our communication is largely being conducted through Slack and Zoom calls. We have had to purchase several software licenses to enable our remote work, and we have also purchased specific equipment to safely record in the field and be able to broadcast live from our homes. You’ll be hearing me live in the mornings over the next several weeks.
– We have significantly increased our on-air, online, and social media production. Our station used to run 2 regional newscasts per day. Now we have 9. We have doubled the number of stories we’re posting at www.kalw.org and sharing on various social media platforms. We also have pivoted to covering the virus and response with quick turnaround, breaking news stories, long-form features, a weekly segment called The Quarantine Diaries.
– Our work training community members from underrepresented demographics has proven especially invaluable right now. Within the last week, we produced special COVID-19-focused podcast episodes with producers rarely heard in the media — teenagers on tbh, and incarcerated people on Uncuffed.
– Uncuffed featured the incarcerated producers we work with at San Quentin and Solano State Prisons. They are particularly susceptible to contracting the virus because of overcrowded conditions in state prisons. If the coronavirus gets inside, there could easily be an outbreak. It’s happened before with other viruses. A few days before the prisons went on quarantine, KALW producers (including myself) working with incarcerated people went into the prisons to convene roundtable conversations about their concerns and experiences. The result was a special edition of our podcast Uncuffed which provides first-hand insight into what it’s like to be captive during a pandemic. Check it out here.
– For our podcast tbh, we had been working throughout the past year with more than 120 teenagers, training them on media literacy, teaching them to tell their own stories and those of their generation, and gathering their commentaries and feature stories for the podcast. When students were locked out of schools, we connected with many of the students to get their insights into life learning during, coping with, and finding joy in unexpected places as the coronavirus crisis continues. The result is this episode which provides any listeners with insight into how teenage minds are dealing with this difficult time.
– In addition to us producing extremely important content at a more rapid clip than ever before, our audience has grown during this time. We have unprecedented numbers of clicks on our web posts. Additionally, we have been reaching out to other outlets more frequently to collaborate. Our Uncuffed roundtable was heard by a national audience on the public radio show Reveal from the Center for Investigative Reporting among other outlets. We gathered sound of teenagers for a live, statewide program as part of NPR‘s California Hub. We will continue to reach out to get Bay Area stories before a broader audience.
While it’s always been our mission to support people in many different communities that are often underserved and underrepresented, that purpose has become even more crystallized now. I’m extremely proud of the work our team is doing to help the public understand and get through this time. And I’m very grateful to all of our supporters, like the people who make our work possible at the Association for Continuing Education.
By the way, here’s a little video I made (with my wife) from our home office.
Be well and keep listening!