If you want to see the modified DAMAGES rubric used to grade your papers along the matrix given to you in class on 6/14, load it here.  Then load this exemplary paper (or this one) and compare it against your work.  These students completed all or almost all of the steps required of them.  They earned full or nearly fully credit on the easy parts of the assignment — grades #2-#7 — and that meant both higher marks on the actual paper and a nice cushion besides.

More than anything we’ve done all year, this paper’s total percentage (out of 300 points) reflects your work ethic and focus.  It is much less about ability than your willingness to follow directions, read what’s in front of you, and ask for help.

Instead, 90% of you did not have those guides, your outlines, or any clue how a lesson three days ago—entitled “Final Exam Preparation”—might connect to your work today.  It is as if your final days of school exist in vacuum-locked isolation from each other, and heaven help us if we want you to make connections.  Or do homework.

So I am going to upload and post a copy of each of these steps below.  If you have lost these, here is a little hand-holding.  If you are incapable of organizing these lessons in your mind, here is the order of instruction.  The point value of each step is offered next to the explanation of each portion; you need only recognize that I have given you two extra days to finish your second outline.

What you have been given over the last two weeks:

• Final Exam Overview
• Persuasive Writing: Thank You for Arguing (Appendix I)
• Persuasive Writing: Paragraph Structure
• Blank SOAPSTONE with Tone Words
• Sample Argument 1
• Sample Argument 2
• Sample Argument 3

Bring your outlines on Wednesday, and be certain you have left nothing that you need at home—not your compendia, not your Animal Farm books, not your outlines, not the pencil and pen you will need.

Good luck.

Positives: I am very proud to see students discussing solipsism and waging a kind of epistemological debate about fact and opinion.  The fact that you touched on these ideas while also discussing Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen is even better.  It’s even enough to forgive the two instances of unnecessary swearing.  Note to those students: You didn’t exactly pull from George Carlin’s list, but you know better than to swear on a school assignment.

Negatives: Many of you appear to have taken this assignment as optional, despite being given an extra week (I checked this in on 6/6—so that’s almost three weeks in total) to wade in and contribute something to the discussion.  By all rights, you should fail with a 0/100.  Instead, I gave you a 40, assuming that you were at least awake in the classroom while the initial three-day discussion took place.  That means you “participated,” but in the least effective possible manner.  Our rubric arrests your fall at a 40, in that case.

Click here to load your final scores.  As always, speak to me if you have questions or need something clarified.

1. Newspapers: Lead Writing
2. Newspapers: The Inverted Pyramid
3. Newspapers: Article Writing Tips

Then you should load this article from The Onion and compare its contents to the guidelines above.  See how it fits?  Your job is to emulate this article — in form and function, if not satirical style.  More specifically, your final exam assignment can be broken down as follows:

• Choose a topic that relates in some way to Brewster High School.  Refer to the list your peers brainstormed with me, if you were absent on 5/24.
• Following the requirements above — the tips on lead writing, the pieces of the inverted pyramid, and the various grammatical and content-based writing tips in the third handout — write an article on your topic.
• Take an original photograph that corresponds to and accentuates in some way your article.
• Submit both the photo and the article to Bear Facts, your high school’s online newspaper.  We will set up logins, passwords, and so on in class.
• Submit a second hard copy of the article to Turnitin.com.
• Print a hard copy of the article to me.

This article will have two grades associated with it beyond the final exam.  On June 2, you must check in a printed article draft.  On June 14, your final copy will also count as the last grade of Q4.

We will work on these articles in class.  See the calendar uploaded to our BHS site for specific lessons each day.

• Document #1 — An overview of the presentation and portfolio requirements.
• Document #1a — The revised portfolio requirements.  Ignore the second half of Document #1; this details what is required, how it should be completed, and so on.
• Document #2 — The order of presentations for both classes.
• Document #3 — A copy of the handout you will complete for each of your peers, once he or she has presented.
• Document #4 — The Excel sheet containing the wheel graphs you must complete for your portfolio.  Download this file, type in your scores in the appropriate box, and then print.  The graph will be generated for you.
• Document #4a — A copy of the wheel graph sheet that is compatible with earlier versions of Excel.
• Document #5 — The letter template for your introduction.  Download it, replace the text as indicated, and print.
• Document #5a — A copy of the letter template that is compatible with an earlier version of Word.

This should be everything you need for now.  Let me know if you have questions, comments, or concerns.

The key to understanding each of these scores is this fact: the in-class component was only part of the final point total, and the rest of the points were earned through this blog.  For the post relating to On Photography, two students’ final grades were altered by the quality of their online replies; one saw an increase in the final score for particularly effective and generative replies, while the other saw a slight decrease for not posting any comments at all.  Since so many of you did not post online between 5/12 and 5/17, the second adversarial needed no augmentation; instead, the normal scaling yielded a wild disparity between high marks and failing or near-failing grades.

If you have any questions about the information posted below, please email me or schedule an individual conference.  Before you do that, however, be sure that you review the assignments and posts I’ve collected below.  Note also that anything posted after the deadline was not counted toward your final score.

• [MS] Airbrushed Ethics
• [MS] Iconic Photography
• [MS] Tom Junod, “The Falling Man”
• [MS] Reading Photography
• Adversarial #1 (4/9—4/23) + Adversarial #2 (4/27—5/17)

1. Your adversarial discussion before the AP exam (4/27—5/6)
2. Your blog-based discussion of Brother Ali’s music (4/5—4/19)
3. Your blog-based discussion of NHS (4/20—5/17)
4. Your wiki-based multiple-choice explications (2/1—4/15)
5. Your required pre-exam/midterm conference (2/1—5/11)

Note that the smallest amount of time given for any of these five assignments was ten days, and except for that adversarial, these were remarkably long-term, cumulative assessments.  Each one required planning, focus, and hard work.

First, the adversarial run between 4/27 and 5/6.  We discussed Woolf, King, and rhetorical analysis; you had the option, as always, to augment any of our discussions.  When you load the scores, keep in mind that an in-class adversarial is assessed by period, so your two sections are separated.

• AP Adversarial, 4/27—5/6

Second, the two discussions held here on this blog: a three-pronged analysis of Brother Ali (for which you were able to choose your discussion), and a consideration of the National Honor Society.  The grades have been collected into one document.  The NHS-driven grades are fairly straightforward; as always, you were given points for effectiveness, collegiality, responsiveness, and the other elements of all of our online and in-class conversations.  For the Brother Ali work, things were slightly different.  You were scaled against each other so that contributions to more than one post elevated your final score; on the other hand, students who contributed to only one conversation were not penalized in any way.  You received points in this way:

• 1=base contribution
• 2=effective initial comment; adequate peer reply
• 3=effective peer reply; splendid initial comment
• +1=references to other texts; adept use of Ali quotations
• +1=adept use of peer’s language
• +1=exemplary collegiality and/or peer responsiveness

As always, and for both blog discussions, my focus in reading your replies was on how well you took the post’s prompts and turned them into insightful conversations.  Note also that you were given significantly more time for both discussions than originally intended or promised; for the NHS discussion, I even extended the window into mid-May to allow you to respond to the actual induction ceremony.

• Blog Scores: Brother Ali, 4/5—4/19; NHS, 4/20—5/17

Now for the wiki-work you began after midterms and collaborated on through the start of Q4.  As promised, this was graded with an eye toward the immense difficulty of organizing three dozen people around one task.  I was impressed that you managed in no small part to pull off a guide to the midterm’s multiple-choice questions.  Here is how each explication was scored:

• 0=incorrect or missing
• 1=limited/flawed
• 2=adequate
• 3=effective

If you do the math, you’ll see that effectively explicating the 50 questions left to you would yield a score of 150.  This was an assignment on which you could have earned an extraordinary number of extra credit points.  As it stands, there is little commentary or feedback I could give you that would do any good, now that we are two weeks away from the actual AP exam; I will say, however, that those individuals who did not contribute (or whose names did not appear on the wiki) can thank their peers, and the difficulty of the assignment, for sharing the following grade:

• Collaborative Wiki-Explications (2/1—4/15): 93

Finally, there were the required conferences assigned to you in February.  To refresh your memories, here is a scanned copy of the requirements as given to you then:

Click here to load the image in a separate window.

These conferences were scored holistically — and very generously.  When you load the scores, you will see a short comment to the right; this is not everything I might say to you about your conference, but it should provide some idea of why you earned the score you did.  If you have been instructed to see me, please do, so that I can explain further how you fared.  Those of you who never scheduled a meeting should note that you had an extra month beyond original deadline in which to work; instead of the end of Q3 (4/16), you were given until the AP exam itself (5/12).

• AP Conferences, 2/1—5/11

Any questions about this post can be asked in an email or by scheduling a conference with me.

Among the most scathing reviews of the film is this one by Roger Ebert.  He continued his thoughts here, through his blog, which generated nearly 850 comments — enough for Ebert to pen “I’m a Proud Brainiac,” which is the subject of our own discussion here.

Once you have read the review and blog entry, click here to load the “Brainiac” article.  Take in Ebert’s argument, and then turn your attention to the comments, where you will find Ebert responding directly to visitors of all kinds.  Skim over this discussion (don’t try to read all 1,000 comments).

Your task here is simple: Begin your own discussion in the comments about the issues Ebert raises and the arguments he makes.  Let his readers help guide you, too.  This is a conversation about opinions, disagreement, taste, the Internet, contemporary dialog, respect, excess… There is a lot here.  Ground your discussion in the texts, and you should be able to have fun with this.

Later this week, I’ll cap this adversarial with a due date, and I’ll offer updates on some of your recent assignments and assessments.

Okay, the rant first

The media focus on physical appearance bleeds into every other aspect of our lives, cresting with celebrations like a high school Spirit Week, prom, etc. (To be fair, Halloween is probably the worst; Halloween, however, is mitigated by candy. Also to be fair, I might be a curmudgeon who should be put out to pasture.)

The outfits worn by students to demonstrate spirit often demonstrate skin and not much else. This is to be expected, though. Spirit, energy, vigor; youth, charisma, sexiness; even intelligence: all of it is pounded into our collective unconscious as tied to, dependent on, and reflected in the physical.

The problem is how obscenely dishonest the media is in projecting this image of sex and beauty. It’s common knowledge that models, especially female models, are airbrushed; it’s how much they are airbrushed that escapes attention.

This activity is about awareness, and we aren’t just looking at women, or at models. We are looking at celebrities of all kinds. We are looking at Maxim Magazine, Time Magazine, and GQ. As you read, jot down reactions and ideas; you will then discuss in class and here, in the comments, one of the most systemic ethical violations in advertising and image peddling.

The reading and related questions

Before anything else, read this article on photoshopping (clicking the image will also load it). Skim through it, paying attention to the celebrities quoted and the general ideas covered. Use this as a jumping-off point; take notes as you go on ideas to which you think you may return.

Now, then: Google is a wonderful thing, despite it’s ever more obvious plan to take over the world. Use it to find pictures and articles beyond the following, dealing with the indicated topics:

1. Martha Stewart on the cover of Newsweek. (This also discusses the next fiasco.)
2. OJ Simpson on the cover of Time.
3. Jamie Lee Curtis in More, a magazine for women over 40.
4. Kate Winslet on the cover of GQ.

Follow up the last two celebrities on the list by reading the following:

1. The interview with Kate Winslet on the BBC News site. In one quotation, she is reported to say that there are two kinds of photos of celebrities. I believe she is entirely correct about this dichotomy. Be sure to include your thoughts on this in your response.
2. The 48 Hours transcript featuring Jamie Lee Curtis at CBS News. It aired on April 4, 2003. Read the report.

Note: You should look up as many examples of airbrushing, Photoshopping, and other image-related lies as you can.  These are formative examples from a few years ago; there are more recent examples that you can and should bring into the discussion!

Dove

Visit the website for Dove to see their most recent advertising campaign. This campaign and others like it have been a staple of Dove’s branding since the 2006 Super Bowl.  How much presence do you think it has? Do women want this kind of representation? Do men?

YouTube currently hosts Dove’s videos for this ad campaign. We mentioned these briefly as we studied advertising; for now, you may want simply to watch them:

YouTube search results for “Dove”

Before and after

Body Dysmorphic Disorder isn’t just pushed through models. Women purported to represent middle America are also edited for viewing. Here is Katie Couric’s airbrushed moment.

To give you an idea of how severe the airbrushing of all media images can be, visit the following sites. (The descriptions of each site are taken from Kris Abel’s technology blog.)

Greg Apodaca
Greg only has two fashion photos in his portfolio, the rest are product and location retouches, but those two fashion shots are very entertaining. He actually takes the photos and divides them into zoomed sections so you can really see the detailed changes for each body part.

Girl Power
This online introduction to the tricks of digital retouching was created by Sweden’s Ministry of Health and Social Affairs for teen girls so they could better understand the unrealistic ideals set by fashion magazines and be able to put such photos in perspective.

FluidEffect
This agency’s gallery actually has real celebrity before and after photos in it – including the Desperate Housewives, Sarah Jessica-Parker, Mariah Carey and others. After you agree to their disclaimer, click on portfolio then on before/after or composite manipulation. Unlike the other galleries on this list, just moving your cursor over the image won’t change it, you have to use the “Click to see before” button.

Shanzcan Gallery
Here is a great example of portrait shots used for big name magazine covers. The changes are more artistic and creative than digital surgery, but an excellent example of just how much doctoring is done with today’s magazine covers.

Glen Feron
One of the biggest digital surgery agencies, Glen Feron has taken their portfolio offline to relaunch it. This gallery is truly amazing in the way they completely remove, add, insert entire objects into photos. The body sculpting and changes were very impressive too.

YOUR ASSIGNMENT

When you are finished browsing, your assignment is this: Write a significant and articulate response to the ideas and examples above, making specific reference to what you have seen and read, and focusing on your personal reactions.  Let this be an outline only; you will use this to generate comments here and in-class as part of a lengthy adversarial grade.

As you write and plan your comments, you should touch on the ethics of this kind of imagery. Use all of the above information to generate intelligent, insightful commentary on the visual impact of media on you and your peers. Think back to our first look at advertising; think back also to our recent study of photography and its power.

I am bolding this so that you will realize that it is important: Use your time with this assignment in class to begin typing a response. Jot down ideas, copy and paste quotations, dash off descriptions of photographs, and so on; just be sure to be specific, to be personal but insightful, and to make the response significant in length. Don’t ask me how long it has to be; I’ll just say, “Long enough.”

Oh, and one more thing: Comments will be closed on this post until I’ve given you a few days to read, research, and figure out how you will approach this topic.  Then you will be able to start the adversarial conversation in earnest.

1. The Grammar of Seeing
2. The Ethics of Seeing
3. The Role of the Photographer
4. The Photo’s Message

Search through the links below, allowing yourself to see each image as iconic — as representative of larger ideas and even eras, as emblematic of moments in time, as transformative in some important way.  Keep Sontag’s ideas in your mind, but treat this as an opportunity to see what photos have changed the world.  The sites I’ve given you detail the context of each photo, as well.  Which ones would you like to discuss in class?  Make a note of them in your compendium, being sure you can direct us to it, when we are back in class.

• 100 Photographs that Changed the World
• Iconic Photos | Crack Two
• Iconic Photos | WordPress

You can leave your suggestions in the comments, as well.