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Health & Fitness

Snapshot from RHS: Multi-tasking Teacher Takes on Multi-media Classroom

Three classes meet at one time in multimedia maven Susan Johnson's room. Watch what happens.

Three classes meet at one time in Room 152: Video Production, Video Production 2, and Yearbook. Video students put the finishing touches on their autobiography projects as Yearbook reporters work on layouts for fall sports.

“Think about the creative and technical challenges you encountered in making your movie,” Mrs. Susan Johnson says. The bell has rung. “Write a paragraph telling me about those challenges. If you did not finish, tell me why you didn’t finish.”

Mrs. Johnson pivots; her dark ponytail swings. Students sit at Mac computers in rows. Antique cameras and old viewfinders line shelves and cupboards.

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“Sterling and Talon, you’re not doing this, right?” The question is curious and not corrective. “You’re working on tripods?”

A boy with strawberry Bieber hair gives a thumbs-up.

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“Abdi,” she says to another boy, “You’re working on the style guide?”

A boy in a red basketball jersey nods, says, “I have a question.”

“Re-flow that first,” Mrs. Johnson responds, pointing to his screen. “Re-flow the panels.” She looks to the class. “The only people allowed to have headphones are the people who have A’s and B’s. If you have lower than that you can’t wear headphones.”

The boy in the jersey isn’t done. “You said something about end-sheets yesterday?”

“I put them in the folder for you,” Mrs. Johnson says, resting a hand on his left shoulder.

She walks to the front of the room, pulls down a white screen, and walks to the light switches on the side. The blue projector screen glows. 3-D letters rain from the sky, forming a line that looks like an angled rack of Scrabble letters. JASON TUMALE, the screen reads. Electronic music pulses.

“This is Jason’s autobiography project,” Mrs. Johnson explains over the music. “He worked really hard. It took him awhile. Sterling… Sterling? I want you to listen to the audio on this and see if it goes up and down.”

The music fades. Jason Tumale’s voiceover: “I live in Seattle but was raised in Fresno for ten years.” The letters of Jason's name dissolve and the camera pans across a sepia picture of a Filipino boy lying on a trampoline in a sunny backyard, arms behind his head.

A minute later there’s a clip of the boy – older now – b-boying on stage. “My passion is dancing,” Jason narrates. “I’m a self-taught dancer. I started by copying the Jabbawockeez. We’ve performed many places in Seattle and in the Renton community…

“Thanks for watching my video,” he says. 

The class applauds. Mrs. Johnson reminds students to work on their paragraphs. Many do. In front of me, a boy with black headphones, black-rimmed glasses, and black neoprene jacket plays a break-dancing clip. His paragraph sits to the side.

“I’ve been break-dancing for almost three years,” he says. “I’m pretty good.”

“As good as Jason?” I ask.

“We bump heads sometimes,” he says. “Same crew, so we battle.”

Behind me, the boy in the basketball jersey and the girl sitting next to him work on Yearbook pages. “I’m working on an info-graphic for girls soccer,” the girl says. “Pre-game rituals. One of the players has to tie her shoes, untie them, and tie them again before she plays. But that’s all I have.”

She laughs. “One time I went to one of the soccer games and I didn’t have my student ID card to get in for free, so I paid in five dollars of quarters. The lady at the gate was, like, ‘Okay…’ But now they know me. I’m the Girl Who Pays in Quarters.”

Mrs. Johnson appears behind the girl, looking at her screen. “Drag the folder to the desktop,” she says. “And drag the other folder to the trashcan.”

She moves away, trusting the girl will do as asked, and walks to a boy in front looking at car rims online. “You must finish your paragraph before you do that."

She walks to the back to help Sterling and Talon with tripods. The boy in front continues scrolling through car rims.

I walk over to him.

Me: You didn’t finish your movie?

Rims: I was making a beat for the music. It was going to be funky.

Me: What was your introduction going to be?

Rims: ‘I live with my mom, my sister, my niece, my dad, my dog and my two cats. I play basketball, and I street-race.’

Me: You race?

Rims: On Pacific Raceway in Auburn. It’s a long straightaway and you race people and see how fast your car is. I’ve got a 1990 Honda Hatchback, light-blue. I’ve got it up to 90.

Me: Why didn’t you finish your movie?

Rims: I was wasting time talking to Sterling and Talon about cars.

Note: This column is a cross-section, a slice of life, a glimpse into the ordinary and sometimes surprising moments that happen at the real Renton High School. It is not comprehensive. Some names and identifying details have been changed to protect the privacy of students.

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