Educational screen & audio-visual guide (c1956-1971])

I iilty. A part of this workshop dealt with a ( iiionstration on how to use educational films |operly. The AV department had a number of I splays of material and equipment. Displays ■ re maintained by student operators. \t that time it was decided that arm bands for ()i"rators were needed so that people would ()\v who they were. A shield was designed and iiisferred to yellow cardboard by running it iDugh a liquid duplicator. Later one of these iilds was sent to a commercial firm to be made ! o a cloth arm band. This same shield was also •iile into cuts to be used on the cover of an AV hliography and on the front of the student xrators license. Lapel pins made up with the line shield proved too expensive. When the student finishes his basic training •riod he receives a license and an arm band to t ar in school. If he continues on as an operator 1 the end of his ninth year he may take his arm and home and keep it. Ithaca also has two iiidard types of lapel pins. One is for satisfac )i\ service and the other is for outstanding •nice. I'he operators' club has a very definite table I organization. There are four offices plus vari iis other responsible jobs. The chief operator 1 iid his three assistant chief operators are elected I ly the group. This is done once a year. To help I ticse officers other students are assigned various I esponsibilities such as film checking, noon hour ■peration of equipment, and helping in the train I ni; of novices. All regular members of the operators' club relort each morning before school and attendance taken. They deliver all equipment and manials to be used that day. If material is used in licir own classes they operate it. We try to have t least one operator in each class. At the end of Ik day each person must return to the AV room 111 equipment that he delivered in the morning. I liis is enforced very strictly. Failure to do this without sufficient reason means expulsion from li( club. The purpose of this is to try to develop vitliin the student operators a sense of respon sibility. Most boys are able to do this without any great degree of difficulty. In the junior high school we are fortunate to have an activity period the last hour of each school day. Monday is meeting day. At this time both groups meet together. The rest of the training is carried on after school. The boys work hard but also have fun. The club has at least two parties a year and the members also have the privilege of eating their lunch in the AV room at which time they can show any motion pictures that are available. Many adolescent boys get a great deal of pleasure out of working with mechanical and electronic materials and equipment. Many times we must practically push them out of the door when the shop is closed around 5 p.m. When we spoke to one mother about the amount of time her son was putting in after school, she said that it was a great deal of comfort to know that her son was doing something constructive. The club does not take only the best boys in the school. Sometimes it takes some of the "problems." Some boys are so full of vim, vigor and vitality that the regular school program does not keep them satisfied. If this is true we have the means to help use up this excess energy. This often keeps them out of trouble. Some of our very best student operators come from the slow learner groups. It takes longer to train these boys but once they learn they never forget. Here is the case history of one of our former student operators. John started as a student operator in the seventh grade and by the time he was a ninth grader he was chief operator. In the meantime he had become interested in radio. Later in high school he continued his activities in the Senior Operators' Club and built himself a small radio station in the basement of his home. When he finished high school he went to college where he studied radio and TV. Now he is an experienced announcer and also has a license as a radio engineer. Many former student operators have found both vocational and avocational interest through the student operators' club activities. 1 In operators' cliil) of the Illiaca, -N. V., public schools and tlie (litiliiictive armband which the members proudly wear. Educational Screen and Audiovisual Guide — June, 1960 279