Archive for the ‘Advisory’ category

Seniors: New images feature in Google Docs

April 23rd, 2012

Hey Seniors. If you’re working on your visuals on Google Presentations, there’s a new feature that could help you insert images more easily.

When you go to “Insert,” you’ll see that you can do the normal stuff: choose an image to upload from your computer or automatically drag an image into Google Docs.

But did you know that you can now search for images directly from Google Docs? It makes things a whole lot easier. And if you choose “Life Magazine” as your source, you’ll get high-quality images.

If you try this new feature, let people know in the comments.

Seniors: Add voiceover to your visuals

April 19th, 2012

Here’s another tech tool to help you with your visuals.

Let’s say you have a Google presentation, but you want to add a voiceover or record yourself talking through some of the slides.

Check out present.me. You can upload your Google presentation (and other stuff!), then add audio or video. What’s neat is that one option is to have your video as a split screen with your presentation slides. Pretty neat.

You have to register, but it’s free up to three 15-minute presentations per month. This is a great tool to keep for college, too.

Let me know if you try it.

Seniors: A great tech tool for your visuals

April 19th, 2012

Hey Seniors. I know you’re working on your visuals for your exhibition.

Here’s a great idea if you’re going the non-electronic route:

Did you know that you can create a huge poster from a regular-sized image? Check out Block Posters. It’s pretty neat.

All you have to do is upload an image, decide how big you want to make your poster, and then slice your image into different pages. Then, your printer will print out a huge version of your image.

Better yet, try making a poster using the color printer in Room 323. Just ask me before you go crazy spending all my toner.

Take this class from Yale!

April 11th, 2012

Don’t worry too much if you didn’t get accepted to Yale. You can still take a class with them beginning this summer!

I just found out about a great (and free) online American Studies course: Hemingway, Fitzgerald, and Faulkner.

In our AP English class, some of you read The Great Gatsby, but we didn’t touch two other very famous American authors: Ernest Hemingway and William Faulkner.

Go take a look at the syllabus and see if you’re interested! If you’re serious, maybe I’ll take the class with you. Even though the grade doesn’t matter, I bet I can beat you. :)

Note: Many colleges now offer free online classes (without credit). Check out Stanford, Berkeley, and MIT. (Berkeley is the best.)

Remember, don’t quit learning just because you’re graduating!

Seniors: You’re close to graduating!

March 1st, 2012

It’s March 1 today. That means you have three months to go. Finish strong!

To help you:

1. Here’s the Senior Calendar. It’s also on the Advisory page.

2. Here’s the Senior Exhibition Packet. It’s also on the Advisory page.

Keep working hard!

Protected: Graduation Portfolio Reflections

February 23rd, 2012

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Second annual Advisory Thanksgiving Dinner

November 21st, 2011

It was fun to have the Isero Advisory (2012 version) over to my house last Saturday for a Thanksgiving Dinner.

This is what we learned:

  • You drink a lot of Sprite,
  • You like lasagna, chicken (thanks, Charity), and mashed potatoes (thanks, Paulina),
  • You believe in ghosts and like scary stories.

Here are some photos from the event:

A great Advisory workshop day

October 26th, 2011

The Class of 2012 in my Advisory workshop group did huge amounts of work today on their Post-Graduation Plan. I am happy with the work ethic I’m witnessing in the Class of 2012 so far this year.

Keep this momentum up. The only rule is work.

And here are nine beautiful seconds of work captured on video.

Questions I left my students with: What happened today? And how can whatever happened be replicated more often?

Dezmond: Dehumanization and Estrangement

September 30th, 2011

 

 

Artist Statement

This set of work is meant to be viewed with the feeling of sadness and sympathy. My main influences for these pieces are from the book The Metamorphosis by Frank Kafka and The Stranger by Albert Camus. Both books explore the themes of dehumanization and estrangement.

My first theme is dehumanization and how it connects to society today. Dehumanization is to make somebody less human by taking away his/her individuality. In today’s society, this is common in most schools. This is because many schools have dress codes as well as many other rules that take away or put a cap on the youth’s creative interests and passions. In doing this, schools are dehumanizing youth by making them conform to wearing a uniform where everyone wears the exact same thing to prevent individuality. I took two separate pictures and put them together to form a diptych, two different pictures put side by side to tell a story, to express dehumanization in today’s society.

The photo of the rose with the green flame also conveys dehumanization in a metaphorical sense. The rose is meant to represent a person’s passion. Now as society tries to break a person’s passion, their passion begins to burn slowly, and when it stops burning, the passion is gone, just as the rose would disintegrate as the fire continues the burn. This was one of favorite photos to shoot because I had to use chemistry to get the flame to burn green. To create a green flame you need two things: methanol and boric acid. Combining these two substances create a solution that when burned, burn green. I had the best time trying to get the best flame for the pictures. This picture connects closer with the book The Metamorphosis because in the book, the main character, Gregor, had passion. However it was because of society’s constant attack on his passion that he was dehumanized on a daily basis.

My second theme of my photos is Estrangement and how it connects to both society and the book The Stranger. The photos of the girl on the bench more closely connect with the book The Stranger because it shows estrangement. Estrangement is to make hostile, unsympathetic, or indifferent. The pictures of the girl on the bench closely connect to The Stranger because just like the main character, Meursault, she is a loner. This interpretation is more straight forward that the next picture.

The picture of the burning book also closely connects with The Stranger in a sense that a burning book would alarm most people while burning the book wouldn’t alarm the main character, Meursault. The person holding the book is obviously not alarmed but shows estrangement because their reaction to a burning book is indifferent. One of the books subthemes is what happens if a person acts the opposite of how society expects them to act.

In conclusion, these photos are meant to bring out the emotions of the viewer, especially if the viewer has read the books. As a photographer, I have to consider how many images people look at every day and how I want a person to feel when they look at my photos. With this in mind, I always try to put deeper meaning into my photos. I do not just take photos for the sake of taking photos. I believe that pictures with meaning are always are always better pictures.

Check out opportunities at the Geneva Car Barn!

September 6th, 2011

Geneva Car Barn (right down the street) is a community center! They are offering three opportunities this fall:

1. Spoken word class,
2. Communications intern,
3. Art intern.

The internships are paid positions and could help with your Senior Exhibition. The spoken word class is also a great way to get credit and to express yourselves. Check out this flyer:

Great new service opportunity: Reading Partners

September 2nd, 2011

This is a really cool service opportunity if you care about reading, education, and your community. Reading Partners is a literacy intervention tutor internship that provides you a consistent way to help your community and to get your community service hours.

If you’re interested, see me or check out this information below. Apply with Glennis Coursey by calling (415) 713-6163. The time requirement is two or more hours per week, and there are many locations in San Francisco.

Take classes in digital media!

September 1st, 2011

These classes seem cool. Check them out. The classes are at BAYCAT and are about animation and filmmaking. Apply online today at www.baycat.org. Ask them about getting school credit, too, especially if you need credits to graduate on time.

Attend next Wednesday’s Back to School Night

August 31st, 2011

Students and Parents, please attend next Wednesday’s Back to School Night.

It’s from 6-9 p.m. on Sept. 7. Click on the link to find out more information.

If you can, please bring something to share for our potluck. If you have more questions, please let me know.

If you lost your required forms…

August 12th, 2011

 Hi there. In case you didn’t get the school mailing (or if you lost a form), here are the required forms for Retreat. Warning: It’s 16 pages long, so be careful to print only the form(s) you need.

You can also go directly to http://bit.ly/requiredforms. And they’re on the Resources page, too.

More new features at iseroma.com

August 7th, 2011

 In addition to the new LHS Calendar, I have added several new features on iseroma.com that will help students and parents.

Here are some of them:

  • Want to know what happened in class? The Advisory page and the AP English page now include daily agendas.
  • Want to schedule an appointment with me? The Calendar page allows you to sign up for an appointment without distractions.
Let me know what you think in the comments. What’s helpful? What else do you need?

Junior Project Reflections

May 22nd, 2011

Class of 2012 excels on Junior Exhibitions

May 22nd, 2011

I’m proud to report that the Class of 2012 did extremely well on their Junior Exhibitions last Thursday.

Teachers and students reported that the presentations were informative, dynamic, and well-prepared.

I was particularly happy with the success of my advisees and the students in my workshop group.

Congratulations, Juniors, for demonstrating to the rest of the school your intellect, passion, and LHS spirit.

Check out my advisees’ reflections on the junior project in the sidebar.

iseroma live moves to Sundays

February 9th, 2010

iseroma live, one of the most popular features of iseroma.com (and a great way to get your office hours), is moving to Sundays, 8:00 p.m. to 8:30 p.m.

I’m moving iseroma live to Sunday nights because Tuesdays were crazy for me and because many of you wanted to change the day.

Right now, iseroma live is only for my advisees.

Isero Advisory called ‘studious, cute’

December 16th, 2009

Today we had our Advisory Closure, and despite the several instances of grumbling, the proceedings went well. Enrique reminded people to bring food, and Octavio provided the entertainment.

Before the fun began, Mr. Isero forced his advisees to do SSR, review a Winter Break assignment (the only Advisory homework in the school!), and write a nice letter to a peer.

The complaints and sarcastic comments abounded, especially when Principal Rood entered the room. Charity remarked that Mr. Isero is “always studious” and Chezlyn noted that the Isero Advisory was “going to college.” Ms. Rood called the group “the second cutest Advisory” after Ms. Turner’s, which was decorating ornaments down the hall.

All in all, it was a successful event. Students even decided to clean up! Now that makes any adviser happy!

Welcome to iseroma.com’s new design

December 3rd, 2009

After two years, iseroma.com gets a new look today. I hope that you like the redesign: brighter, cleaner, happier.

Besides looking good, the new design is geared to encourage more students and families to interact with the site. I’m hoping that students, especially my advisees, will post original content and that everyone will feel free to interact with each other and write comments.

Go ahead! Find a post and then write a comment!

The redesign is only one of the ways I’m hoping to improve iseroma.com. There will also be more improvements over Winter Break. If you have ideas about how to improve iseroma.com, please leave a comment!