Instructions
You’ll take photos of your friends. Everybody does. The people near you, who answer you and say yes, end up in the book. Your job is to notice when you’re doing it, and go find someone else.
- Every shoot: before you press the shutter, ask who’s not in the frame. The kid at the end of the bench. The club with six people.
- Every spread plan: list who’s in it. If it’s your friend group, change the plan.
- Take assigned small stories like any other spread: the six-person club, the custodial staff, the 5 a.m. swim practice, the student who does something unusual and great.
- Shoot classes from other periods too, not only the ones that meet during 4th. The log tracks both.
- At the set checkpoint, we run the zero list: every student checked against the book. Each name on it gets a photographer, by name.
- Check your work: if your name is next to someone on the zero list, that photo happens before the next checkpoint. No exceptions.
What it should look like
Done is a zero list with zero names on it by March, and a log that shows how it got there.
- The zero list: every student not yet in the book, checked at the set checkpoint.
- A photographer’s name next to every name on it, with the shoot that will fix it.
- The two-column log: who is in the book, and what period it was shot. Staff and our own friend groups have the strictest limit.
Visual guide
The two problems are the same problem.
Assigned, not volunteered. If you choose who to feature, you’ll choose people you know.
Both show up in the log. Both get fixed the same way: a name assigned to the gap.
You photographed your friends. That’s not a bad thing about you. Notice it.
The niche group. The quiet story. The class that doesn’t meet 4th period.
Small stories get assigned like any other spread. Chairs assign the gaps by name.
The zero list at the set checkpoint. Every name gets a shooter. The list goes to zero.
Lesson
Why a system and not a speech
We tried to fix this twice before by changing which group was in charge. Both times, a different group quietly took over the next year. Different kids, same problem. So this year, we’re using a system: a list, a log, and names assigned to the gaps.
The honest part
The closest and most available students get featured more easily than the reclusive and hard to reach. That’s just true. The system exists because it’s true, not because anyone is a bad person. You don’t have to pretend you never do it.
Who, and what period
Only photographing your friends and only photographing 4th period classes are the same problem. You can only walk into classes that meet during 4th, so if nobody tracks it, the academics pages show only whoever teaches then. The log has two columns for that reason.
- Noticing who’s missing
- Taking the assigned small story seriously
- Finding the club with six people
- Shooting the 5 a.m. practice nobody sees
- Pretending you never shoot your friends
- Leaving someone out because they were hard to reach
- A public count of how often anyone appears
A student who isn’t in the book stays out. Forever. That’s the whole reason this page has rules.
Example
A zero-list assignment, done.
Zero list, after CP3 · assigned to Priya S Name: (behind the login) · 11th grade · not in the book Found: takes 2nd period chem, in the robotics club (7 people), no sports Shot: robotics club Thursday lunch, 14 photos, RAW, uploaded same day Spread: 88-89 CLUBS, small story “the seven people who built the arm” Result: in the book. Name checked. Off the list.
Found the student through a club nobody had covered, which also got six other people into the book who weren’t in it. Shot in a period that wasn’t 4th. Uploaded the same day. Name checked. The story is interesting on its own, not a favor.
How to turn it in
A zero-list assignment is turned in when the photo is in Drive, the log is updated, and your chair can see the name is off the list. The list and the counts stay behind our class login.
- Shoot it. Pipeline, same as any shoot.
- Update the log: who, and what period.
- Tell your chair in your daily report. Name off the list.
Rubric
Graded as part of Role: did you take your assigned gaps seriously?
| Check | 1 looks like | 5 looks like |
|---|---|---|
| On timebefore the next checkpoint | The assigned student is still on the list at the checkpoint. | Shot, uploaded, and off the list before the checkpoint. |
| Correctthe right person, the right name | Shot the wrong kid. Name misspelled. Shot your friend standing next to them instead. | The assigned student, name checked against the roster and what they go by. |
| Completein the book, in the log | A photo in Drive that never made it onto a spread. Log not updated. | In Drive, on a spread, in the log, off the list. |
5 is ready to print. 4 needs one round of fixes. 3 does what was asked. 2 is a real try. 1 is barely started. 0 is missing.