The first cutting process for magazines and books was done over school break (April) to prepare the 20 kits for the charity we worked with. This was done in the living room and hallway of my home. On April 19, a cutting workshop was organized by using Sign Up Genius. The sign up was sent in to club leadership, and the opportunity was sent out to honors club students. The Counseling Career Center was booked for the event. 8 students + Taryn as facilitator were at the first workshop. The students were given the cause and taught how to curate words, letters and images.  Reusable envelopes and bags were used to sort the material into categories. The end of the 2 hour session resulted in 2 points for every student who worked on our team and more than 700 items for kits.

Workshop tips:

• Work with club leadership or lead teachers to secure volunteer points for your team mates

• Secure the room with administration or a teacher

• Use Sign Up Genius to invite team members to the event workshop

• Use a sign up sheet to document the shows vs no shows for club leadership

• Use the beginning to educate your group on what they are doing

• Bring in help to facilitate if you need it. It allows you to be more places at once if you have a large group

• Be sure you have enough supplies for everyone

• Be organized. Have your magazines and books in small piles – no more than 4 people at a group sharing

• If you categorize material, you should do the same with bags and envelopes

• Make sure your team understands how it should be (bring examples) – so have some done in advance.

Cutting tips:

• Advertisements are your friends – they usually have bold, creative headlines.

• Look for words and phrases in everything

• Cut out alcohol and other non desirable items out of the picture. It’s okay to cut people or items out and not capture the whole picture. For example: an ad for wine with 2 people at a table with a wine bottle on the table. Cut the people out mid-way and leave out the alcohol. I do this all the time on medication ads that have nice images of people.