Do You Want to Be Valedictorian?

[bigdamnprincipal]

Like last year, this year's graduating class will have a valedictorian. (Or co-valedictorians, if we so choose, ha!) If you would like your senior to be considered, please leave a comment here with a list of the classes they took this year (fall and spring) and what activities they were part of (clubs, jobs they held, etc.).

Keep in mind that the valedictorian will be expected to make a speech at graduation this Saturday. All comments need to be submitted by Wednesday, midnight PST, so that we have time to look over the list and pick the top student. If you have any questions, leave them here as well, and they'll be unscreened.

Workshop Expectations - Summer 2008

[ismyhairout.livejournal.com]

Workshops are a part of the summer camp experience at Fandom High. The following workshop guidelines are intended to help workshops be run in a fashion that is fun for both teacher and student, and also to ensure that workshops don't take up all of a student's playing time. As an out of character tool, workshops are intended to keep track of a character's activity in the game to avoid people holding onto characters that they don't play at all and to provide a chance for a structued activity to encourage player interaction. As an in character tool, they are intended to keep the students entertained, the teachers employed and give everyone something to do other than tanning themselves on the beach.

Expectations for Teachers

Teachers are expected to post their workshop once a week on their allocated day on the weekly workshop schedule. The workshop must be posted by 12pm PST (3pm EST). Teachers can post their workshop the night before if their availability will make posting in the morning difficult.

Teachers are required to provide your students with one workshop every week that allows them to sign their name (so the players can prove their presence in the game) and, if they choose to, participate in an activity. All activities can be handwaved by the student if they want, but the option should be there for those who want to play out the activity.

As summer camp is different from regular classes and is intended to be light, homework should be minimal and for preparation for the next workshop only.

Teachers are required to continue their workshop for the entire term and should plan to have 7 workshop sessions to fill that term. Finals are not necessary as it's not an academic class. Teachers can repeat the workshop in Term 2 or choose to teach a different workshop. Sign-ups for those workshops will occur closer to Term 2.

Teachers are allowed to have up to 2 teacher aides, but it's not compulsory. Preference for teacher aide positions during the summer should be given to recently graduated seniors. After that, regular students are fine. A teacher aide is a student who assists with in character paperwork, can be approached by other students and can cover workshops on occasion if the teacher is unable to be present. Out of character, your teacher aide is your back-up to post your workshop in the event that you are unable to be at the computer.

Teachers should keep an attendance roll. This is easily done by using a 'Sign In' thread at the top of each workshop post's comments. Teachers should inform the OOC administration team if someone has missed more than 3 workshops.

Teachers are allowed to give detention to students. Please arrange this OOCly with the student's player first. Other punishments are available through the administration if detention isn't plausible for OOC reasons.

Teachers are expected to provide student-teacher interaction in your workshops when possible.

Teachers should post an office hours post once a week to allow students to see the teachers out of the workshop environment. Offices are located on the maps found here.

NOTE: Workshops should not take a lot of time to prepare once you get the hang of it. We don't want workshops to suck up everyone's playing time. You don't need to spend time writing up a huge lecture. Linking to Wikipedia is fine. The key to workshops is setting up a scenario where the teacher and the students can interact and have fun. You are not expected to do a lot of work, so please don't expect your students to do a lot of work. It's a game and we're all here to have fun.


Expectations for Students

Students are expected to enroll in and attend at least 2 workshops but no more than 4 workshops per term.

Students are expected to at least sign in to each workshop. Participation beyond that is optional, but encouraged.

Students should inform their teachers if they are going to be absent. This applies to both OOC and IC (ie: if you know OOCly that you're going away from the workshop but the character doesn't know yet, let the teacher's player know).

Students can get detention for doing something wrong, not attending a workshop regularly or not completing homework consistently. If you - the player - are unable to participate in detention on Saturdays (US time), please let your teacher know OOCly so a different punishment can be arranged. Punishments are meant to be an IC consequence of actions, not a punishment on the player. Even detention is arranged to be fun for players.

NOTE: Workshops shouldn't take up all of your time. If you have to, just sign in and handwave any work, but please do try to keep up with your workshops as they are the bare minimum required to remain in the game. Your teachers go to the trouble of preparing them for you, so if you can participate, jump on in and have a bit of fun. You are not expected to do a lot of work. It's a game and we're all here to have fun.

SUMMER 2008 TERM 1 WORKSHOP SIGN-UPS

[ismyhairout.livejournal.com]

Workshop Expectations for Students and Teachers (please read first)

1) Students are required to sign up for at least 2 workshops but no more than 4. Additionally, there will now be a cap of 8 workshops per PLAYER (so if you have 4 student characters, 2 workshops each. 3 or 2 students any combination up to 8 overall and 4 per character, 1 student can still only have a maximum of 4. This is new, so feel free to ask questions in the questions thread at the bottom of the post).
2) This is not first come, first served as that is unfair due to time zones.
3) If there are too many people signing up for the one workshop then AFTER sign-ups close names will be drawn out of a hat to decide who gets in (so even after the workshop hits maximum, keep signing up as you have an equal chance of getting in as the first person does). If a suitable hat of outstanding character cannot be found (or if we're feeling lazy), we'll use a number generator. Either way, it will be random and fair.
4) Those who do not get in will be allowed to pick a back-up workshop if they want, but please be prepared to respond and choose your back-up quickly as time is limited.
5) If you have more than one character sign up for a workshop, please state which character you would prefer to get in if you have a preference. If the workshop reaches its maximum number of students, only one of your characters will get in. If you have a student character in a workshop that your teacher is teaching, they will miss out to give others a chance to play.
6) If it's OOC for your character to take the workshop but you really want to take it anyway, just sign them up and we'll pretend it was a paperwork mishap.
7) TAs - if you are a student (not a graduated senior), you must sign up for the workshop you're TAing for. The workshop will count towards your workshop total (4 maximum). Please specify that you are the TA for the workshop when signing up.
8) TAs do not count towards the total number of people in the workshop (ie: a full workshop is 20+TAs).
9) By signing up, you agree to participate for the entire term (7 weeks). Attendance will be recorded as showing up to workshops is how we keep track of your character's activity in the game. If you repeatedly fail to attend workshops, you will be contacted and are subject to removal from the workshop and the game.
10) Workshop descriptions are subject to change at the teacher's discretion.
11) If you turn the amp up to 11, it's louder than 10.


INSTRUCTIONS:

Pick your workshop. Respond to that workshop's thread below with your character's name. Lather, rinse, repeat. Please use your character's respective journal for their sign-ups. New characters are absolutely allowed to comment here to sign up.

Weekly Workshop Schedule (this will eventually be linked to on the fandomhigh user info page and later put on the website).

Workshop sign-ups close at midnight PST on Sunday, May 4. No late sign-ups are allowed without extenuating circumstances (ie: sign up sooner than the last day or you're going to forget and look like a dork). Students who do not sign up in time will be removed from the game and have to reapply for Term 2.

Please direct any questions or problems to administration@fandomhigh.net

Please wait for OCD O' Doom. If you ping in before the OCD is done, I'll make fun of you. OCD is all done. Go for it.

ETA: Workshops are for students only. Graduating seniors become alumni upon graduation (on Saturday) and are not eligible to take summer workshops. To see what's needed from you, check out the post on what to do with your graduating senior.

Dorm Roommate Assignment Requests

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All new incoming students will be assigned a roommate, but if you are playing a current student who would like to be reassigned to/request a roommate (either new or old character) or just a new room, please comment here by midnight PST tomorrow (Wednesday, April 30). If you want to stay where you are, don't worry about it. We're not moving anyone unless they want to move.

New students will be allowed to move after 3 weeks with their assigned roommate.

Please save your questions about cabin living as there will be a separate post discussing that.

All comments are screened.

Did the Island Move For You, Too?

[idontlooktired.livejournal.com]

Greetings Fandomites!

Graduation is rapidly approaching and summer is just on the other side of it. Things are going to be a little bit different this summer, so we thought we'd give you a heads up! What will actually happen on Grad day is a secret, as is the tradition now, but coming out of the Sooper Sekrit Grad Hijinks is this: The island will be moving.

Yup, that's right. Moving island. That Sunday, it will phase to somewhere else in the world. It will still be an island, still be off the coast of a land mass (where exactly is a surprise, too), just elsewhere. It will remain there for a fortnight, then phase again, and then again a fortnight after that, continuing until summer's over.

So, each fortnight, the island will be somewhere else in the world, and the causeway will lead to a funky port town.

This will have only as much impact on your characters and your playing as you want it to have. The island will phase overnight, so there won't be any seasickness. There will be a portal established at the end of the causeway, leading back to the parking lot and giving access to Alexandria and the rest of the USA. We will be handwaving time zone issues through the magic of Fandom. Whatever time zone they end up in will just feel right - no jetlag here - and we'll stay working on EST time as if it were the timezone in question.

The only unavoidable effect will be a change in the weather depending on where the island is located. Oh, that and the view. Apart from those two effects, it can be for your character as if the island never moved, if you don't want to play with it. If you do, there will be other cities to explore every fortnight, new food to try, new languages to boggle at etc etc.

Questions, comments, passports?

Summer 2008 Big and Little Siblings and the Buddy Program!

[tricksy-spy.livejournal.com]

Hooray new people time!

Big Sibling Program
New students need old volunteers to help them get settled in. We need IC student volunteers to pair up with incoming students and help them adjust to Fandom's little quirks. The idea of this pairing is for the new student to have at least one person they can go to if they're not settling in too well and to ask questions. OOCly, the idea is for the big sibling's player to help out the little sibling's player. Sometimes minimal help is needed as the little sibling will be a current player, but if the player is new, you will act as their liaison and mentor while they get settled into the game. You need to be available to answer their questions, guide them in the right direction while they get used to the game and hold their hand so they're not overwhelmed.

If you think you're up to the job and you think your student character will be helpful to their student character, use the OCD threads below to sign up. If we have more volunteers than new people, we'll pick as many as we need out of the volunteers.

Buddy System
Corny name, but we have a fondness for it. This is the teacher version of the big sibling program. The idea is that you currently play a teacher and your character is willing to show a new teacher the ropes of living and teaching in Fandom. ICly your character will be there to answer any questions and take the poor teacher drinking after their first week (optional, but often needed given the culture shock). OOCly, if the player is new (or new to teaching) then you'll be on hand to answer any and all questions, help them out and guide them while they get used to the game. It's a great way to make new friends too.

What we need from you

Please volunteer if you fit the following:

- Your character won't be antagonistic about helping out someone (ICly, your character can be signed up against their will, or something, if you would really like to do this. But, please don't sign up if they're not going to be helpful to a new student or teacher.)

- You have the time to field questions from a newbie, and will be around consistently for the first few weeks of the Summer semester.

- You're genuinely willing to help. This game is big. It can be intimidating at first. Having someone who's a friendly face in the crowd helps new players out a heck of a lot, but being assigned to someone who disappears or isn't willing to help takes a lot of the fun out of starting up.

If you have any questions, please contact the admins and mods via administration@fandomhigh.net

Please sign up in the appropriate thread of this post by 11:59pm EST on Cinco de Mayo (or May 5th) if you're interested in volunteering for either program.

Graduates, Plans, and Guests

[idontlooktired.livejournal.com]

Hello again!

This post is in two parts, so please be sure to read both.

Part 1: Graduation!
As the post above says, graduation is coming up. The event itself is Saturday, May 3. Guests of graduates are welcome to come to the island on Friday and will have to leave by Sunday night. So current seniors, if you would like to have up to 3 guests come to the island for the weekend for the graduation ceremony, please comment below with the following:

Visiting Character Name:
Who are they coming for?:
Relationship to Student:
Visitng Character Journal Name:

Who will be playing the guest star?:

Guests will need to stay somewhere in town for the duration of their stay On-campus accommodations aren't available.


Part 2: Summer Plans
Graduates are welcome to stay in Fandom (in a seniors-only cabin) until May 30th without having an approved activity to keep them around. If you would like for your senior to stay in Fandom over the Summer past May 30th, they will need either TA for a summer workshop (it's up to you to find someone to TA for) or work on a to be determined community project. This will likely be a construction project in town (something routine, we're not blowing anything up this time) building something for the community.

You can leave for Term 1 and come back for Term 2 if you wish. All graduates will need to leave the island altogether at a date to be determined at the end of the Summer. That's a while off, so don't worry about that yet.

Let us know what you're doing.

Character Name:
Staying for one term, the full semester or leaving by May 30th?:
If staying, what will you be doing?: (if you need time to arrange a TAship, just let us know that you're working on it, then send in an update once you've secured your position)

ETA: Oops! Sorry - didn't mean to sew confusion. For non-seniors: if you're leaving Fandom for good, you must leave the island by Thursday, May 8th.

Thanks guys! All comments will be screened - questions will be unscreened! Please submit these by Thursday, May 1.