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May Calendar - Student Activities

Listed below are student activities for the month of May.

1. Prom has either happened or about to happen. If it has already happened, it is important to hold an immediate post prom meeting. In you meeting minutes, be sure to take thorough notes of what went well and what did not go as well as expected. If prom is about to happen, review your checklist to make sure all the small details have been covered.

2. Senior Yearbook Party - During May you need to hold a Senior Yearbook Signing. To make the night special, hold a Senior Barbeque and invite  a senior band to come out and play.

3. Senior Banquet/ Breakfast - Hold a casual dinner in you gym or school’s MPR for seniors. During this time you can give out your “Most Likely To” awards.

4. Senior Rose Ceremony - Allow your seniors to buy a rose for a teacher who has had a tremendous influence on their life. Have your student council deliver the roses to the respective teachers.

5. Senior Meeting - You need to have an end of the year Senior meeting. During this meeting you need to discuss: graduation procedures, Grad. Night procedures, transcript ordering procedures, and the school’s behavioral expectations for the remainder of the school year.

6. KISS a Senior Goodbye - Allow underclassman to buy Hershey Kisses, to be delivered, for seniors they want to say goodbye to.

7. Sadies Dance - Girls ask Guys Dance at the end of the school year.

8. Teacher Appreciation Week

9. Backpacks for the needy. Recycle backpacks from students so they may be given to needy students.

10. At this time, you should conduct interviews for next year’s ASB class. Have your council interview students who want to be in the leadership program.

11. Grad Night

12. Graduation

13. Staff vs. Senior Basketball Game

14. Father Daughter Dance

April Calendar - Student Activities

Listed below are student activities for the month of April.

1. At this time you should be putting your finishing touches on your PROM plans. By now you have most likely visited your PROM site. Make sure your PROM entry tickets are in route to your school. Also, check with your PROM Committee to make sure that all of the decorations have been ordered, such as table center pieces. Most importantly, make sure you have scheduled a PROM chaperone meeting. AND don’t forget your PROM Fashion Show. Please visit our Prom Guide for a comprehensive PROM checklist.

2. April Fool’s Day. A fun activity for April Fool’s Day is to sponsor a Backward’s Day. On Backward’s Day everyone wears their clothes backwards.

3. Big Man on Campus Competition. Select willing senior boys to compete in a fun-filled men’s beauty contest. Be sure to include a talent portion, question and answer portion, and a variety of sportswear portions. Please visit asbdirector.com’s Big Man on Campus link for more details.

4. It is the beginning of Spring so the weather is starting to get nice. This is a good time to hold a Battle of the Bands Contest.

5. At this time you should be forming a Car Show Committee. Most schools hold their Car Show at the end of the school year, but there is a lot of planning that goes into a Car Show.

6. Movie Night. Have your student council select a handful of movies they want to show for Movie Night. During lunch, decorate trash cans with the titles of these movies. The trash can with the most trash is the movie that will be shown during Movie Night.

7. Spring Sports are well under way. Be sure to sponsor a Spring Sports’ Rally. This may be one of your last rallies of the year so be sure to include a lot of Seniors. You may want to have Seniors from different organizations compete against one another in a variety of activities. Go to the media gallery and watch the Vickelodian rally. This rally was designed to have seniors from different groups to compete against one another.

8. Recognition Programs - Make sure you are keeping up with your birthday recognitions, citizen of the week recognitions, athletes of the week recognitions, teacher spotlight recognitions, and so forth. You want to finish the year as strong as you started  it.

9. Spring Break - Bring a giant sheet of white butcher paper to your outdoor stage and allow students to write down or draw pictures of what they are going to do over Spring Break.

10. April is a great time to do campus beautification projects. Have your leadership students and clubs do a Spring Day. On this day, they can plant flowers around campus or help clean up a section of school.

The Music We Play

by Vince Ferry, Valencia High School

There are very few activities where the sound system is not blasting with lyrics flying freely across the gym or quad. Let’s face it music matters. A good activity is only made better when accompanied b`y a great song, and an “okay” activity is sometimes salvageable by a song the student body likes and enjoys hearing. However, music can work against you.

I want to share a short story about an activity I ran my very first year as an activities director. We were having our spring Sprolic Week. This is a week filled with spirit and lots of activities. Sprolic Week became so popular that our local newspaper came out and wanted to cover the fun filled week. During one of our activities, I allowed a student to play a radio clean version of a song that fit the activity. Unfortunately, just because it was radio friendly didn’t mean it was school friendly. I was guilty of not closely vetting the appropriateness of the song. Well, our school made the front page of the paper the next day, but it was not for the fun filled activities- the original reason the newspaper came out. No, we made the front page of the paper for playing an inappropriate song during a school activity. Well, I listened to the song again, and yes, although inappropriate words were removed from the song, it still contained inappropriate content. This was just a case where I did not pay close enough attention to the content of the lyrics. Needless to say, I learned my lesson. I quickly created a rubric for acceptable songs that could be played. I also formed a music committee in which they were responsible for filtering music before they presented it to me. Quickly I noticed that the music committee did a good job of discerning what was appropriate and what was not, and very rarely did I find a song that I thought they missed the ball on.

It is important to remember that many activities, such as football and basketball games, attract an audience from 3 year olds to 80 year olds. We need to work diligently to make sure that families can come to an activity and not be subjected to music that is inappropriate to this wide range of age groups. I have a good friend, and probably the best DJ Company in the state of California, PegLeg Entertainment. I frequently call him to ask about a variety of songs. He does an outstanding job of telling me what songs are school appropriate and which are not. The owner of PegLeg Entertainment is a great guy, and he would be happy to answer questions you may have pertaining to pop music.

March Calendar - Student Activities

Listed below are student activities for the month of March:

1. Find Your Lucky Charm- On St. Patrick’s Day, students look for a “Lucky Charm” with their name on it. These “Luck Charms” can be made out of 5 x 8 paper cut outs. ASB students randomly place these “Lucky Charms” on windows and bulletin boards across campus. Students find their “Lucky Charm” to see if they have won a prize, which is written on the back.

2. Clover-Fest- Students are given a four leaf clover paper cut-out. They are asked to write a note of good luck to a friend. Your ASB students can deliver these notes during the day.

3. California High School Exit Exam Activity- During the days prior to the CAHSEE, your ASB can have brunch activities getting students excited about the CAHSEE. For example, your ASB can bring a portable white board to your outdoor stage, and they can have CAHSEE type math problems competitions. Or you can do a CAHSEE countdown to start making the students think about preparing for the CAHSEE.

4. March is a great time to have an academic assembly. By now most schools have received their ten week report card. For students who received a 3.0 GPA or better, hold a special assembly or activity, like an ice cream social.

5. It’s March and your seniors are starting to get a bad case of Senior-it is. Don’t let them. Hold Senior night activities, like powder puff football or a senior 3 on 3 basketball tournament.

6. Most schools hold their Open House in March or early April. Turn your Open House into a carnival. Please see asbdirector.com’s Open House link in the menu bar.

7. In the month of March, have your ASB students conduct a line item audit of your budget. This is a great exercise for students to discern if they have met their expected revenue totals from earlier in the year.

8. Make sure your ASB has signed up for CADA / CASL’s  summer leadership camps.

9. Your Prom Committee  students should review asbdirector.com's prom planning sections. They have a comprehensive review, from start to finish, of steps your Prom Committee should be taking.

10. After the CADA leadership conference in Reno, review with your students some of the great ideas you learned at the conference. It is important to share these ideas while they are fresh in your mind. Also, allow students to look at all the literature you received from CADA vendors you met at the conference. If you did not attend CADA’s activities director’s conference, you really need to next year.  You do not have to be from California to attend. The wealth of knowledge you receive from this conference is immeasurable.

Prom Fashion Show Magazine
by Doug Broers, Valencia High School

Undoubtedly, most of you are busy running around putting the final touches on of your school’s annual Prom related activities. Perhaps, the biggest Prom related activity you are about to undergo is your Prom Fashion Show. A Prom Fashion Show is a fun way to show your students the latest fashion trends, and it is also a great way to illustrate appropriate attire for a school function. However, there is another way to do this other than fashion show. Many schools are starting to create their own personal Prom Fashion Magazines. There are many benefits to doing a Prom Fashion Magazine versus a Prom Fashion Show. Primarily, a Prom Fashion Magazine can become a maker, whereas the Fashion Show is often a money drainer. The magazine also provides a physical keepsake for students to keep and treasure long after their high school years. Perhaps, most importantly a Prom magazine can allow more students to participate in the actual activity.

Valencia High School publishes an annual Prom Fashion Magazine at an approx. cost of $1,500. Included in their cost are publishing 500 magazines, hiring a professional photographer, and a few basic décor items. Students in Valencia High School’s ASB, are required to solicit advertisements from local vendors, such as: tuxedo companies, formal dress shops, florists, jewelry stores, limousine services, hair stylist, and make-up artists. Due to the popularity of the magazine many vendors call months in advance to reserve a spot in the magazine. As a result, the Prom Fashion Magazine has become a nice a revenue maker for Valencia High School, as opposed to the traditional fashion show which usually ended up losing money.

As students purchase their Prom bids, they are given a Prom Fashion Magazine. Similar to yearbook distribution day, the students hurriedly page through the magazine trying to find friends who modeled for the magazine or for familiar local landmarks where the photo shoot took place. Many students cut out pages from the magazine and make their own personal Prom scrapbook.

Models are selected months prior to the actual photo shoot. A good Prom Fashion Magazine should include models that are reflective of the school’s entire student population. The more student models you can include the better. Prior to selecting your models, you need to contact tuxedo and dress shops to see how many items they are willing to let you use for the show. Most of these companies will give you the tuxedos and dresses for free in return for free advertisement in the magazine. Moreover, be sure to reserve key areas in the community for where the photo shoot will take place. For example, a local golf course that is closed once a week for maintenance will most likely let you use their facility for the photo shoot since it does not interfere with their customers and business.

Do not abandon the traditional fashion show if it is working and is deemed successful at your school. However, if you and your students are growing tired from the Fashion Show routine then the Prom Magazine is a great way to break it up.
 

How Do You Grade Your Leadership Class

by Frank Ferry, Bishop Alemany High School

One of the most frequent questions I hear at conferences and conventions is, “How do you grade your students in your leadership class.” This is a questions that does not have one right answer, but there are a few things you need to consider when grading your leadership students.

By nature, ASB Programs attract your high end honors students. As a result, these students are motivated to get good grades, but they need to clearly understand the teacher’s grading rubric. Therefore, it is imperative to provide students with a clear outline of what they need to do to earn a grade of “X” in your class. This sounds simple, but we all know it is easier said than done.

Good leadership programs have ongoing activities throughout the school year, and like anything in life 20% of the people do 80% of the work. This 20% is easy to grade. They are the ones to show up and the last ones to leave. They are the ones who take the leadership role in planning activities, and they try their best to get everyone else involved. These are your “A” students. However, does that mean because someone does not approach activities with the same enthusiasm or lack of leadership skills that they are automatically thrown in the “B”- “C” category? There are some students who possess more innate leadership qualities than others. I strongly believe that this is where teacher observation needs to play a significant role in grading. For example, little 9th grade Suzy is a sweet shy girl who is great at doing tasks assigned to her. Suzy is an absolute perfectionist who will make the best rally poster in the whole class, but will not be able to complete all of the ten because of the stress it causes her. Your top-notch students complain that Suzy does not do anything, but in truth she does about all she can handle and what she does do is top quality. Furthermore, Suzy always gets assigned to the less appealing committees and tasks because she has not yet developed self advocacy skills to tell the “leaders” in the class that she would like to do something else. Now grades come out and little Suzy gets a “B”. Suzy’s mom freaks out because Suzy goes to all of the activities and she tries her very best at all the tasks she has been assigned. What do you do? Maybe in fact Suzy deserves a “B”, or maybe she deserves an “A” because she is truly giving her best effort. I don’t know which grade is correct, but I do know that teacher judgment is going to play a role in assigning the grade, and it is not going to be as black and white as I initially hoped it would be.

One of the best measures to use when grading students in ASB is to allow them to do self evaluations. At the end of the quarter or semester, you simply hand them a list of all of the activities, committees, meetings, etc… that they have had the opportunity to participate. Ask them to rate their performance on a scale from 1 to 10 with 10 being best. Then individually talk to each student and ask them to tell you the grade they think they deserve. Most of the time, the students will be much more critical of their performance than the actual teacher, but most of the time the students are spot-on with their grade via their self-evaluation. Moreover, after each ASB sponsored activity you can conduct peer-evaluations. Peer evaluations is another way both to grade and motivate students in your program.

Once again, grading students in your leadership program is not always black and white. If you grade to leniently then the students who do all the work will become resentful, or if you grade to stringently then other students may become too discouraged. The bottom-line is you need to find a grading system in which you are comfortable with, and a grading system in which the students find fair.
 

November Calendar - Student Activity Events

Listed below are student activities for the month of November:

1. Staff vs. Student Turkey Bowl- Day before Thanksgiving Break

2. Canned Food Drive

3. ASB volunteer hours with a local food pantry

4. Turkey Bowling- Have students try to knock over plastic two liter bottles with a frozen turkey (use gloves).

5. “I Am Thankful For…” Give each student and 3 x 5 inch turkey shaped cutout. On the turkey write “I Am Thankful For…” Then have the students write down what it is they are thankful for. Place these cutouts on the school’s bulletin boards.

6. Staff Pumpkin Pie Day- ASB students deliver a slice of pumpkin pie to teachers’ classrooms.

7. Character Counts / Citizenship Raffles- Give coupons to teachers to give to students who display good citizenship.

8. ASB Evaluations: You are three months into the school year. This is a good time for students to do a self assessment of how they are doing in ASB. It is also a good time for the class to discuss their strengths and weaknesses.

9. Brunch Activity - Do a big brunch activity. Now that homecoming is over, it’s good to for the ASB to do a big brunch activity to help keep the spirit they fostered during homecoming week. Two great brunch activities for November are the Drum-Off and Guitar Battle (refer to brunch activities on the menu bar).

10. Student Senate- Invite a representative from all the homerooms to a student council meeting so they can provide feedback. Sometimes it is good to hear opinions about student activities other than from your ASB students.

11. Athlete of the Week-Recognize your athletes of the week. Make them certificates and bring them to their respective homeroom.

12. Dress Up Day - Publicize a crazy hat day. Give prizes to your students and staff who have the craziest hats.

13. Lesson in Marketing: Bring in a box of random items to your ASB classroom (pinecone, jar, glasses, glue-stick, bandana, etc…). Break your class into groups. Each group is given an item in which they must market to the class. The students can market the item in a variety of ways, through posters, activities, skits, slogans, etc… Tell the students their goal is to create a buzz or an excitement in others about what they are marketing. Then tie this marketing activity into how your students go about marketing activities on campus.

14. ASB Social Night- Organize a special night just for your ASB students. Perhaps, after a football game or other school activity. It is important to create social time for your ASB class. Each month a new class can be responsible for organizing and planning the social night (go to a movie together, watch a movie at school together, indoor soccer night in the gym, go bowling, order pizza, etc…).

October Calendar - Student Activity Events

Listed below are student activities for the month of October:

1. Halloween Costume Parade

2. Pumpkin Carving Contest - Bring in a home-carved pumpkin.

3. Pro Football Jersey Fridays

4. Scary Movie Night (Check for appropriate ratings

5. Munch A Lunch- Each teacher invites one student to an ASB sponsored luncheon.

6. Citizen of the Month Raffle- Coupons given to teachers to handout to students who become raffle-eligible.

7. Start planning for Teacher vs. Students Turkey Bowl in November

8. All Club Presidents Meeting

9. Student Senate Meeting with representatives from   homerooms.

10. Invite another ASB Class from rival school to over after school and do an idea share

11. Plan a Halloween Black Light Rally

12. Invite dance team out to perform at brunch.

13. Pass out Athlete of the Week certificates (weekly)

14. Club Sponsored Haunted House

15. Prepare or clean-up from homecoming activities

16. Send out newsletter to alumni

17. Intramural Dodgeball tournament

18. 3.0 GPA/Perfect Attendance Recognition

19. Rock-tober- School Garage Band Night

20. Organize Free Coffee Fridays for staff

21. Send ASB students to local feeder-schools for fun-filled activities

The Modern Homecoming Float

by Vince Ferry, Valencia High School

The days of a flatbed truck driving slowly, with float participants waving to the crowd are being replaced by elaborate Broadway- Esque productions. High school students live in the age of multi-media, with an innate ability to deliver homecoming productions that are appealing to their MTV generation peers. The modern homecoming’s multi dimensional approach has truly made it an anticipated event for more than just the homecoming courts’ parents. Crowds are arriving early to see a top notch performance and not just your same old parade.

So what is it that they are doing differently? First of all, these students are taking time to plan. These elaborate homecoming productions require ample planning. These schools are spending months designing floats, stages, props, and creating a well-seamed theme. Secondly, they have gotten rid of the flatbed truck float approach. They are designing portable, light weight, easy to move, multi dimensional backdrops instead. They are turning the center of the football field or track into a mini- stage with all of the dimensions and elevations. A lot of schools are soliciting the help of students from the drama programs who design backdrops and staging. Perhaps, the most important difference is that these schools are taking a multi-media approach. They are taking time to record voice-overs, and they are getting away from using an open microphone. By using the voice-overs these schools can control the quality of sound and they can add sound affects, as well. Moreover, many schools are using video affects to help deliver that little extra something to their floats. The biggest difference found in the “modern homecoming” is the high quality of performances that accompany the float. In fact, most of these elaborate floats become secondary to the performances delivered by the float participants. Some schools are using skits to help deliver their homecoming theme, and others are using a mixture of skits, dance routines and live musical numbers to deliver their theme. Most of these schools are depending on the talents of a broader pool of students then previously before. Just by including more people in the float performances appeals to a much larger audience. Now, the audience feels they have something or someone invested in the float performance and they become a much more active audience.

The Modern Homecoming is a reflection of the changing needs and wants of the students. Everyone enjoys a show filled with singing, dancing, and both costume and scenery changes. So why should a homecoming performance be any different?

An Open House Party
by Vince Ferry, Valencia High School

Schools are under continual scrutiny, whether test scores, the media, or new political agendas are the main focus. It’s not all too often that schools are recognized for all of their positive accomplishments. Therefore, it is imperative to take advantage of a night such as Open House to provide the school’s community with a more accurate account of what is taking place within the school’s walls. As a result, many schools are giving their Open House a new look, and are viewing it as a night of celebration.

Trying to establish a sense of community within schools is very important. The school remains the one entity that can unite an entire community. Even if Open House serves as nothing more than neighbors getting to know neighbors, then it should be viewed as a huge success.

Listed below are a few things that can help turn an Open House into a community block party:

1. Create a carnival-type atmosphere. Schools are starting to provide carnival games and rides for those who attend their Open House.

2. Have a good old fashion barbeque. Solicit the helps of clubs on campus to provide a smorgasbord of food. This can also provide a great opportunity for your clubs to have a fundraiser.

3. Plan activities on your outdoor stage throughout the evening. In the program, delineate the times that groups such as cheer, dance, choir, band, and flags will perform. Also, have ASB students conduct a number of brunch-type activities for your attendees.

4. Kick off Open House with an 8th / 6th grade orientation. Invite your incoming 9th and/or 7th graders to the Open House. Provide both them and their parents with important information, but most of all make it fun. This is a great time to put on a mini-rally for these incoming students. Also, set up tables in an area where these students can meet future coaches and advisors. This is a great way to get these students excited about coming to the school next year.

5. An art show in the school’s multi-purpose room is a great way to showcase the school’s art program. Moreover, allow the art students to put on a sidewalk chalk art display.

6. Many schools hold their science fair the night of Open House.

7. Be sure to have music playing throughout the evening.

8. Invite local businesses to Open House to conduct a job fair for students. This is a great service for both the students and local businesses that support the school.

9. Create a slide show of all the activities that have happened on campus throughout the year.

10. Place student greeters at the main entrances of the school.

Open House should be a fun night, a night of celebration, and a night that highlights all of the hard work that takes place within schools.

Senioritis

by Vince Ferry, Valencia High School

The sun is out, the sky is blue, and your students are having a great time at your Spring-Fling activities. BUT WHERE ARE YOUR SENIORS? Senioritis is an annual epidemic found throughout high school campuses each year, which usually culminates in the great beach ball parade at graduation ceremonies nationwide. So what do we do to curb the onset of senioritis?

First, you must look for the early warning signs of senioritis. For example, when you start seeing seniors wearing college shirts instead of your school’s spirit shirts or when your seniors start acting too cool for brunch activities, it may be time for an intervention. The only way to curb senioritis is to prevent it before it starts. Therefore, at the beginning of the school year, it is imperative to calendar popular activities for the latter part of the school year. There is a long list of activities that seniors generally enjoy taking part in: powder-puff football, man-cheer competitions, car shows, school-wide talent shows, end of the year slide show, senior movie night, and so on. These activities should be marketed to all students but with an extra emphasis geared towards your seniors. It is also helpful to get some of your “marquee” seniors to help promote and market these activities.

Within your activities class, you may also notice that some senior leadership students are becoming less and less dependable. This can create serious problems, especially if you are counting on them to pull-off senior-related activities. Some schools create traditions in which the junior class officers are responsible for these activities as a way of honoring senior officers for all of their hard work over the years. Other schools remove potentially unproductive seniors from their activity programs altogether. However, all too often, many of us simply ignore senioritis, only allowing it to manifest into our activities.

There is no simple cure for senioritis. We must keep on reminding seniors of how valuable they are to the school and its culture. Seniors must understand that the high school years are precious, and the remaining months of their high school experience have so much to offer.
 

Teacher Recognition That Matters

by Vince Ferry, Valencia High School

Teacher Appreciation Day is easy to spot. The school mailboxes are filled with tokens of appreciation, and posters line the hallways shouting, “We Love Our Teachers!” These simple gestures go a long way to boost staff morale. Teachers are underpaid and overworked, and for many, a simple thank you is all it takes to make a teacher feel rewarded.

A an activities director, however, there is even greater need to recognize the teachers on the staff. Think about how often the school’s leadership class calls upon teachers to help with an activity. Whether its voting for the prom court, excusing students for an assembly, or getting the students riled up on rally day, an activities director’s success depends greatly on the support of the staff. Therefore, the more opportunities the activities director creates to appreciate and recognize staff, the more likely the staff will support the activities program in return.

Great activities programs make teacher appreciation a yearlong effort, and do not limit it to just a one day or one week activity. In fact, the actual Teacher Appreciation Day should be the crescendo of a years long’s worth of recognition efforts. The student activities class should actively try to recognize a new teacher each week. There are many ways to simply show appreciation to a teacher: thank you letters, perfect day coupons, deliver coffee and a doughnut to their homeroom, bring them their favorite magazine, put their picture on the school’s bulletin board, send them a birthday card, and so on. In this website, www.asbdirector.com, there are dozens of simple staff appreciation activities.

Remember, the happier the teachers, the easier it is to put on great activities. Plus, teachers deserve to be recognized.