Day 67: Day 31 @ Westhill

Thursday April 26, 2012 Blog Post

A lot has happened in the past week. The billboard needed to have a signed contract and $150 check prior to printing. We got a mock invoice to try to get the ball rolling then Sean from Lamar sent us a contract which Jeff and I took to the main office and were told it had to be sent directly to the district office. Prior to doing that, Jeff had me go to Tony who's the chorus teacher to get him to sign off on us using $150 from supplies for the billboard which he did. The next day we found out that the district office sent the contract back to the main office because something needed to be entered into the system, so it got sent back again. The same person who told us to forward it to them, never told us something had to be entered in the system. She was the one who told Jeff and Jamie that once it got returned so she did that and we sent it back. Jamie found out today that they wouldn't pay anything until the services were rendered. Sean sent me the contract twice and told me it was very important that he had it before printing. I called him today to follow up and see if everything was waiting on the contract and didn't want to assume things were getting printed, and wanted to explain what the hold up was. It's kind of on a time crunch since we only have the billboard spot until May 13th. He told me his job could be on the line because he went ahead and had it printed, but it's not something he should ever do prior to having a contract and payment in hand. He said I know you, well not really but Cabrina and Michelle do. I explained the situation to him and also discussed it further with Jamie and said I would get both items as quick as possible. Later in the day Jamie went to the main office and just decided to get it paid through the art club, that way a check could be cut instantly. He called the district office and talked to someone who told the person who signs the urgency of the situation, and was told he'd get a call back letting him know when it was signed. He plans on going to pick it up and dropping it off in person. I got back in touch with Sean and told him the check and contract should be to him by no later than tomorrow. He said they will be leaving the office at noon tomorrow.

Also I sent a press release to Hart Seeley from the post standard and to the Syracuse New Times. Hart wrote a front page article about a building I was going to build a museum for fagbug on the west side, which later ended up falling through. Anyway he called me during the day today and said that he's going to do an article on the billboard. He's going to come to the graphic design class next Tuesday to talk to the students about the project, and is going to have a photographer meet us when we all go as a class (most likely Friday) to take some pictures with the billboard. Jamie and I are both pretty excited about that!

The pigs got done glazing today, were still cooling off but I was able to see a couple I made. The others are still cooling off so I will take some pictures of them next week. Here are the few I made. All the glazing turned out well out of the four I made except the purple one I made, I didn't put multiple layers on it. I am going to add more glaze and fire it again next week. I made one, Sonya made one for my twin nephews who are four, one I made with and for my niece Alexis, and one is for us to keep (the one that didn't end up turning out that well). I made them my niece and nephews favorite colors, and the purple is Sonya's.

The ceramics class is building sculptures they'd like to build at Burning Man. The 2012 theme is Fertility. I had them fill out a fake grant application and submit a sketch. I am going to photoshop their sculptures within the context of Burning Man and make them large compared to small people, other sculptures, etc, to show what it would look like there. Here is the first one that got done.

and Alex from the class is learning how to write his first original song. He wanted to give up a couple days ago but I told him it was too soon to quit. Can't quit before you really begin. So I told him I'd guide him through. I gave him a packed with a bunch of questions to answer and went through his responses and underlined things that sounded like they could be lines or titles. The next day I printed out his favorite song by Bonnie Rait, "I can't make you love me" and broke it down into sections showing him how many total lines each section breaks down to. I also printed out "White Blank Page" by Mumford & Sons and did the same things so he could realize the simplicity of the song structures. I elaborated on things he wrote down the first time and asked more questions for him to answer, more stories to tell, more visual details to elaborate on to pull out more. By the end of class today he had a few lines written. He didn't take from what I underlined or from his previous thoughts but it sparked something in him to start something up so that's good. I told him to work on it tomorrow and over the weekend and not to lose the packet. His project will be to write his first original song to bring to Burning Man. That is his part in it. I'm looking forward to seeing him pull through and hope he can.

Mostly everyone in my one latex class is finished with their "Curmudgeon" old man portrait. A few people are still working, finishing up. Jamie said it's not that expensive given how nice the results are. One girl did an amazing job. She struggled with all the trials we did and pulled this one out and had the most understanding. Another girl had a really hard time with it and is still struggling with the concept. Each of them had a level of intrigue not knowing what the results would be, still they all tried and took the plunge, and many of the results were really great. Here are a few that turned out really well.

After they complete their portraits, they will go into a display in the hallway. Leigha helped me do a write up for the hallway. I wrote it out for her and she put it onto a nice paper with sharpie for me. Since the billboard project is over, I am not with a new class and am doing the latex project with them. It's my first time at this placement to do something a second time, at a different time. The storyboard has been side by side happening at the same time all along. So this time with the trees I went through it quickly and just had them do one tree and textures for the other parts. We jumped right into the old man portraits right after. Some students in the class are really great at drawing the face and a couple girls really aren't. One girl is in my storyboard class and did excellent on that but she's not comfortable drawing people, so I can see how she was able to excel at the alien lesson, in a way she can't at this point with people and faces so I realize for her it was a good lesson. I had the kids write pre and post assessments on story boarding and read class #1's yesterday. I had to do it for my contextual framework, unit plan that I submitted to Live Text last night. I also had to submit my service learning lesson on there. The live text expired yesterday so I have to pay more money because I couldn't figure out how to do one other thing we had to fill out on there. I still can't figure it out. I need to pay $25 more now to get on there and renew which stinks but will have to figure that final thing out. I also uploaded my other writing I did for my Wednesday night class. I'm not that good at doing research writing in that format and style, but at least it's done. I have one more thing to email the teacher for that this week to be done with that class. I had my last seminar last night. There were only 3 people in the seminar and Kelly. I am glad she let me Skype to do it. I showed a lot of the work I did yesterday because she asked me to bring things in to show since a lot of my projects would be coming together. I think I did a really great job at this placement.

All my lessons are having exhibits so a lot will be happening next week. It's going to be a miracle to try to get the storyboard put together into a video by Friday, but I'm going to make it happen somehow. I'm letting all the kids come to the computer one by one to distort their audio they recorded.

PJ asked me a few days ago to use the liquid latex for his large storyboard piece. He said my name and asked to use the pastry bag which was in my opinion a breakthrough. He was also in the other class with his friend asking why they got to do this lesson. He handed in his book and it was all taped shut and said "Read the Unreadable." He spray painted it after taping it all shut. I think he was waiting to see my response and said he'd take it off, but I thought it was somewhat annoying and clever. Jeff said something like it makes me want to either high five you or punch you in the face. I just laughed it off. His work will stand out when he's always doing something to set himself apart from everyone else, so I respect it. Now that he's done today he didn't do anything but talk so I had him get his sketchbook. I am not going to be there tomorrow because I am missing one day student teaching to do a Fagbug event in St. Louis. Jeff okayed it and I put together sub plans. I am giving PJ the canvas to create a latex painting as an assignment. I think he can get it done by the end of next week so hopefully he'll be open to trying it out.

I tried to take the class into the lab to do their distortions in garage band, but it was too difficult to get them all their audio files from a zip drive. I tried to get a group share folder set up but was told by the IT person that was too hard to do, so we went one day and it was a mess and a waste of time for everyone so I just decided we'd do it in the class. We are running out of time and several people are still working. By next Wednesday I want to have all the work handed in so I can hang Wednesday after school. Feats of Clay is Friday. I'm thinking I am not going to be able to go so will be there to tie things together for my last day. I think the storyboard project will be up by Thursday or on Thursday in the  hallway and library, and the latex project will be up early next week from the first class, and the video will most likely be shown Friday morning. Most likely Friday we will be visiting the billboard as well. I may also put a burning man display with the sculptures if they get far enough I am not sure about that yet, and the pigs. So most likely to not make my life miserable, I will probably put together a display for the pigs, first round of latex faces, and both classes for storyboards. The burning man I may just photoshop it together for my binder. We'll see how I am doing with time next week.

The audio some students are taking a whole class on it so it's not that likely I will be able to complete it but I am going to figure out a faster way to do them and get through everyone M-W of next week quickly. I am somewhat torn whether I should do it for both classes distorted, because class one has more people that have done it than class two at this point, but I think making it something else from their voices makes it fun so am going to shoot for that. I had Elliot help me reformat some of the images so am going to continue to get some formatting done on my trip today and tomorrow and whatever is left I'm going to get done early next week. As soon as the audio is done the rest will take some time but be fairly easy. The audio and timing of it need to be done for anything else to come together. With their books I am making them all do a design on the cover, something to draw and cut out and glue on with clear acrylic or painting something on it, or spray painting a stencil, anything to separate it from the rest and make it unique. At first it was an option but I am making everyone do it now and the books are coming out much nicer now.

Day 55: 25th Day @ Westhill

Friday April 20, 2012 Blog Post

The billboard project was my favorite lesson I was able to do with the students at Westhill. I love all the one's I've done but felt like it was a challenge, and exciting opportunity to see students work together and compete against one another at the same time. I love that the project has real life application and there is a very big reward for winning. To have designed a billboard as an artist is a great accomplishment. I thought about it afterward and thought that if I was to do this again, I would want the students to get five minutes to pick one more piece to get voted on, so the teacher(s) would select the final three but the students would get to debate and discuss a 4th design. It would be fun to see that process and have them come up with one more and figure out how to agree on which one to include to see how that switches up voting. After seeing them vote on the pooping image though Jamie and I kind of didn't trust what they would pick so we narrowed things down a bit to ensure a good representation of the school with the project. I think next time with having done this once, there will be more strong solid designs and that might be more of an option. That was what I thought about today, but feel for this time we did the right thing given the designs we had. I'm very proud of it and excited to see it up! I emailed the image to Lamar and am waiting to find out when it will be up after the print job is rushed. I also sent them images of the process. I'm proud of the exhibit in the hallway. Jamie and Jeff and I went out for a drink after school Friday. I also dropped off Emily's piece. When I got there they were talking and I asked what they were talking about. They said billboards, and actually that they were talking about the exhibit I put up. Jeff said how nice it was. I never even told Jeff I was putting it up I just did it, mostly it was after school so didn't get a chance to talk to him about it. Jamie said he thought it was great I called Rachel and got her votes in. I would like to work at Westhill. I think I'd complement what Jamie and Jeff both bring to the table and give a nice spin to things there. I'd love to teach a graphic design class, as well as a documentary class, or conceptual media course.  

Day 52: 22nd Day @ Westhill

Tuesday April 17, 2012 Blog Post

Today was a good day. It's nice to see in the first and second periods that the storyboard project is progressing with deadlines closing. The students from first period know were going to the computer lab next week so they have to be done with their storyboard drawings by then. Most people have either finished binding their book, are onto a large piece, or are putting their book together. There are a few people who are still working on their drawings. Since everyone is doing it, it's nice for me to be able to explain something to one or two students and then have them explain what to do to other students who are ready for that part. A lot of the kids want to sit around and talk but I bug them to get work done. Today I had students finish up recordings. Anastasjia was out of town for a week before break so I had her record hers today, as well as people who didn't put in their name or had sound that was not clear or missed pages. Rachel and PJs groups had to rerecord today since PJs group somehow turned off the microphone before Rachel's group went so neither groups worked. I didn't know if Rachel would go in and do it since I have kind of given up on working with her in class but she did. I think her group relied on her so she didn't want to not be a part of it. When we go into the computer lab I kind of want to make her stay in the class with Jeff and just do the drawing she's working on so she can see that she isn't going to be included and is missing out, but another part of me wants to let her work with her partner and at least get to see what everyone else is doing. We'll see.

Tomorrow I need to have Amy record her last page, one person who I'm not sure I have to find from period 1 and have them say their name, and I will have Carson do his as well. He had surgery and is way behind everyone. I told him I'd outline his for him to help him catch up. He still has two white pages but it will help him move along.

I think once we get into the computer lab they will enjoy playing with the sound in garage band and the transitions in iMovie. It will be neat when we get to watch all of them as a class. I'm sure they're somewhat sick of the project but its been neat to see that one thing can have so many angles, and points of view and layers to building it into something. You never know where inspiration for something can come from so I'm excited to see their large pieces. Ironically most of them are just blowing up one page from their book. I gave them the freedom to change it and just see it as an inspiration but most of them are doing it very similar to what was in their book.

Emily from the class I am not running did a fantastic piece of art inspired by Florence and the Machine's album "Lungs." Florence and The Machine is one of my favorite musicians right now as well as Emily's. Jeff gave me an application for a show at The Folk Art Gallery and thought of Emily so today I got her to fill in the application and told her by Friday we will matt it and I'll drop it off Friday for the deadline Monday. Jeff called to see what format they want it in, not framed, just matted.

So the billboard class is moving along. Kevin who's autistic came up with a nice idea today. We let them all pick between one of the top three slogans to redesign. They are allowed to change it if they'd like regarding the words but also change the design using new images and classmates images. I talked to the person at Lamar I'm working with and found out we'll only have the billboard until May 13th and that it takes two weeks to print. I just found this out yesterday. I did the math and we'd only have it for like a week, which isn't enough time to really have it make an impact, so I explained that and they are going to try to have the printing rushed, so hopefully if all goes well we will at least get 2-3 weeks.

I told them the urgency of the situation and that we have to have a final decision by Friday. I would like to go with the class to see the billboard once it gets put up. I was asking to see how many students have cars if there were enough to meet after school or something. On our way down, we stopped to ask the principal about it and he said we could take a bus during class to see it. It's right down the street behind the Price Chopper plaza. That made me happy to at least know we can go there and see it as a group to have closure on it.

I'd like to have the final critique before it goes up in the hallway and have a hallway display for the billboard project. I'll have to work on putting that together this week.

The latex class is continuing and doing well on their paintings. I look forward to seeing them develop. The nurse wanted something in her office and I was going to have the 6/7 period class do it, but now that I know the kids I think my 10th period latex class will be better suited just based on how focused and productive the are and how I have been with them the entire time. I discussed it with Jeff and we decided that the other class I will be taking over next week after the billboard class, I will just do the latex project with them. He said people are curious and that they will like it.

One student in ceramics Alex played music for us a couple times with his guitar and sang cover songs. I told him we could use the recording equipment since I had it to record them. I told him to get 12 songs together and ready to go after break. He remembered and we set it up to do it today during 11th period. He came and since I wasn't sure if he would I went to find him in the hallway and he didn't forget!

We recorded it in the middle room in between the two art rooms and set up a mic and mic stand. He brought 12 songs to do. I asked him if he'd ever recorded his music and he didn't. He's in chorus and they are the ones I borrowed the equipment from. Usually its just for recording their concerts. It's interesting to me that he's there everyday and never had his music recorded but I meet him and am the one borrowing the equipment to do it. Jeff said he's glad he's coming because he barely knows anything about him. I know how to see potential in things and actualize them. It's probably my best quality. I will take the time to do what other people don't especially when someone is talented. There is no reason not to put it out there and do it.

He was great, and is very talented. I just imported the music and added fades in and out for each song and will be burning about 5 copies tonight at home. Kevin the autistic boy in the class really wants a copy so I'm going to give him and Alex one and one for whoever else wants one. It's not the best quality there is a slight echo and blank noise in the air but it's pretty good. I love his rendition of "Sorrowing Man."

As I listened I thought to myself he doesn't know what he just signed up for. The equipment allows you to record a song to a track on a CD so I just hit record and stop for him. After he was done, I asked him if he knew what his challenge was going to be. He said "Write an original song." Him and I have talked about it and he told me he never wrote one. I told him that he's got this down and that will be his real challenge. I said, "No write ten songs." I told him I'd like him to write ten songs by the time I leave and rather than work on our next ceramics lesson that is what his assignment is. I told him once I had an art show and the cafe had an opening in 2 weeks, so all I did was paint for two straight weeks and made 10 paintings and sold 5. Sometimes you need to be pushed by things like that and I told him I was going to push him to do it and that he can work on it during class. To think about writing one song a day. He told me he sang one of the songs the other day for a homeless man in front of Funk N Waffles. The guy was a writer himself and shared some lyrics with him. I told him that he could write a song about meeting that guy. I also told him if he needs help with writing I can guide him but if it flows and he has no problem he can be on his own.

I showed the class the Burning Man documentary and they seemed into it. We'll finish watching it tomorrow and I will discuss more what it's like going there, and give the assignment. I'm going to have them do some sketched to draft out their idea a little before building it which I'm sure they probably aren't used to having to do in ceramics.

I like working with Jamie and Jeff. Jeff leaves me alone a lot, like in the classroom and goes to take care of other things but we do talk a lot. Jamie works with me more on what were doing in the graphic design class, like each day we talk about what we'll be doing and each day we discuss the plan and how it went on the walk back to his and Jeff's classes.

Day 51: 21st Day @ Westhill

Monday April 16, 2012 Blog Post

The last two days last week I had students do recordings of their storyboards in the first two periods. I got the chorus instructor to let me borrow a $900 piece of equipment that records audio with a mic onto a CD. Everyone got through but one person wasn't there she went to the country she was from on a vacation. She didn't tell me another student did so I didn't get to go over things with her prior to break to catch her up or make any arrangements. The kids were laughing I had them go into a center room to do the recordings. They had fun with it. I let each student direct their groups and dictate who did various parts of the readings. If they wanted to read their own they could or they could be a character and assign who read the other ones. They could also not read anything and dictate who got to read which parts. It was up to them. I let them be in the room by themselves but set each group up. I had the class pick numbers out of a box and put them into groups of three that way. One group cheated and all had the same number I think they just wrote their own numbers and tricked me so it threw things off a little in the second class. I had them read the title of their storyboard and say by __________. Just something that simple saying it 100 times, many of them didn't do it when I went to listen to the recordings. Some people got into it, some were very monotone. The second to last group that recorded ended up somehow turning the microphone off so nothing recorded for them and the group after so they will have to rerecord tomorrow. I was going to do it today but couldn't figure out how to record it was giving me trouble so I have to go talk to the chorus instructor again to get it set up and running correctly again. It wasn't recognizing the disc and when I followed the printed instructions he gave me it wasn't working.

Anyway, I listened to all of them last night and made a list of who's I had. I also have two classroom folders of who's images I have scanned in. Something as simple as do a recording and scan in images with their name on the front and title and name read is seeming very complicated to get forty people to do, oh well I am making them all do it. Rachel continues to not do anything I ask so I am giving her a 50% for the project. Today I told her that and asked if she cared about her grade. I told her the project is continuing and she said, "Of course it is." I'm not really sure how to engage her but for now she is working on a drawing she was doing before I came.

The billboard class went well. Today we printed out draft #2. I had everyone put a post it on their top two billboard designs to vote on the top slogans and give a reason why it was their favorite. One was a top that was, please pick up your dog's poop. It got four votes. There were only two others that got four votes. Jamie and I discussed after and decided the top 3 slogans are:

1. Practice Safe Design, Use A Concept
2. Insert Fortune Here
3. Sharpen Your Pencil

Tomorrow we are going to have them redesign their top choice out of those three and work on that and finalizing any other ones they are working on still through Thursday. Then we are going to do a final voting in the hallway Friday, and reflection. My last day with them is Friday.

I reserved the computer lab for next week for period 1 storyboard and the following week for class 2. I decided last night to have them make their own sound effects on their sound in garage band and work with iMovie to make their own transitions, rather than me doing it all. I think they can handle learning it and have some fun with it and make it something completely different using the audio tracks we recorded as a beginning.

Ceramics, I had them finish up their pigs today, and tomorrow we are going to watch a documentary about Burning Man. I went ten or more years ago and told them about it. I said they could either learn how to make a donut 3 x the size and showed them one Sonya made. They asked if I made it I told them my wife did. They were impressed by it. I gave them the option of the donut or making a prototype for a sculpture for burning man and they chose burning man so we are going to get started on that tomorrow by watching the film. It will probably take two days to watch that.

Jamie showed a storyboard video in class today Jeff told me about so I am also going to add that to period 1 and 2 and show them that at some point. The students are all at various stages so I am having some take their work home after tomorrow if they don't finish coloring theirs in. Some are started on their larger pieces. I am having them select a piece in their storyboard to blow up large. They can just be inspired by it and change it to make it more of a solid piece, add to it, or keep it the same. They have flexibility with it. Some are looking nice so far!

The pigs are in the kiln and Wednesday we will get to glaze them!

The latex class is going well they are all working on their old man or woman painting with latex. It's taking them time to add layers and get their bearings, but good to see them focused on it. I think they see it as a challenge.

Day 48: 18th Day @ Westhill

Wednesday April 4, 2012 Blog Post

This morning I had students from the first two periods go into the middle room and record their narratives. I put them into groups of three by having them pick a number in a box. In the second class I think a few of the boys cheated and wrote their own numbers on their own paper and had them all say five. I didn't figure that out until the end. People are at different stages with the project so I was going in with each group showing them how to work the equipment and coming out helping students finish up their books depending on what they needed. One person asked what were doing next and said they were sick of aliens. I think I am going to have them do one more thing with the project though, something large with one of their pages before we move on so they can have a nice exhibit in the halls based on the project. A few people weren't here in both classes so it will be a matter of trying to figure out how to get everyone to scan their images and record their audio and have the time to put it together. Having the students record their audio made them realize if their story made sense or not, and forced them to be more committed to it and made it go from being within to a shared experience, something they had to articulate to others. I let each student direct their script completely, and decide how it was going to be read and characters cast. They all had to read the title. I just replayed it and realized the first group didn't read the titles so they will have to do that tomorrow. One girl didn't have her story finished so she realized one page didn't make sense so I gave her homework to come back tomorrow with a new page that goes with it.

I brought in my video camera to do a test with it on this school computer to see if the issue with Final Cut has to do with the type of video I was bringing in with the flip camera or not.

For my piggy bank, Hoosick ate one cork, or chewed it up this weekend, and the other one I bought (they were 2.99 for two) is missing for some reason. I can't find it. So yesterday I traced one of them that were already cut out to show the size for other people to cut out. Jeff ordered about 50 of them so we should be getting them soon. Most people already cut their holes for the cork for the first pig and will just need it to do the second one.

Day 47: 17th Day @ Westhill

Tuesday April 3, 2012 Blog Post

PJ handed in his 6 x 6 which made me happy. It turned out well. I'm glad I trusted that he was on the path and he actually was. I was prepared to write up Rachel but she was helping with her partner today so I let it slide. She doesn't want to make her own book, but at least she is helping someone else and participating.

I went down to the chorus room and spoke with the chorus teacher prior to first period. I have also been getting the mail before class begins to hand things out in homeroom that have been in Jeff's mailbox. The chorus teacher came back 3rd period with $1200 in equipment for recording narratives onto CD. He's letting me borrow it and set it up for me in the middle room in between Jeff and Jamie's room. Were going to record the narratives tomorrow for both storyboard classes. I can't wait. Some people are going to resist it but it should be fun. I'm putting together a video so we can all watch and see what everyone came up with. It will also get everyone working together, and influencing and having involvement in the overall project.

One student asked how long I was staying and how long we're working on the project. I told the one until May 4th she was like awe that's only three more weeks. The other student I kind of kept the project going and am throwing new things at them with each step so they aren't overwhelmed.

The graphic design class. I gave one student an idea to work with the slogan "Sharpen Your Pencil" and talked to him about imagery for it. Now that we are spending more time on it some new ideas are coming about and we are getting to work on deepening the design and meaning this second time around.

It's like American Idol, they will all be voted down to one. Should be fun. Kevin who's a special needs kid in the class came up with a good one when he saw someone scanning money. He thought of save dough. Like save money with a dough image. I liked it. We brought limes, clocks and money.

The class doing liquid latex is mostly still drawing out their old man images and is just beginning to add their first layer of latex.

Day 46: 16th Day @ Westhill

Monday April 2, 2012 Blog Post

So I thought about PJ and Rachel over the weekend and ways to get them more involved. Sonya told me I should make the entire class wait for PJ to join and embarrass him. I went back and forth about it but didn't think I could be that harsh when I wasn't sure yet if he was determined and actually doing a draft or just blowing me off. So I decided to just make an announcement to the entire class that everyone was getting either a 100 for doing it or a 0 and said that the deadline was at the end of class, that there wouldn't be anymore class time allowed. On his own, PJ got the 6 x 6 and taped it onto a board and got to work. He did just do a background, not his other drawing, but he came in with a color print out of it. He asked me if he should stencil it and cut it out. I said, NO PJ it's done, you can just cut it out and glue it onto the paper, he was like oh yeah I could do that. He brought the image to finalization just did not do it on the paper I asked. Him bringing a color copy of it in showed he was thinking about it and taking the better route. Rachel's friend she's working with wasn't there so she refused to do any work without her, so the saga continues and I continue to think about how to deal with her and discuss it with Jamie and Jeff.

Her mom is dying of cancer so I think I at some point may call her or give her a referral if she keeps it up. I also have tried to get to know her but the two of them are pretty unapproachable. PJ did come in during his free period to work on his design and I helped get him the clear acrylic Jeff uses a lot to glue things onto other works.

Over the weekend, I made another piggy bank with my niece so I've become a pro at it. I think over the summer Sonya and I are going to make a bunch to sell at Westcott Street Fair. Were also going to do the 60 x 60 show at Everson. Jeff and Jamie told me about it and do it.

I also made my first person with latex. I found an image of an old man and worked with that to create it. I did that Sunday night and stayed up late. Sonya stayed up late to see how it turned out so neither of us got much sleep. We spent all weekend painting a room in our house and are still doing that. She used to fall asleep on the couch often and now I am the one doing that like every night. Even though the placement is going well it is still exhausting or I'm just tired at the end of the day. And yes a cocktail always helps!

SO I had the kids do the old man idea with images I cut out of books and printed and gave them their first canvas to work with. The illustration board ripped up a little so this will be much better. They spent all day drafting their person with pencil. Should be exciting.

Day 44 + 45: 14th & 15th Day @ Westhill

Thursday and Friday March 29 + 30, 2012 Blog Post

The graphic design class is progressing along slowly but surely. So far "Time is Funny" and "Lime is Money" are the only original slogans the students have come up with. Jamie said that they are used to getting text and designing with it, not having to come up with original text so its been a challenge for them. I've shown them plenty of images and ideas for inspiration but they've been a little slow getting going with it. Many of the ideas have been ones I've seen or heard before or could google and get a long list of things relating to or using it. That isn't what I'm going for with it. It's hard to teach irony or wittiness but have tried to push home those points. One student worked with the fortune cookie idea and put keep an eye out for opportunity with it. His original idea was "Open It" but somehow he went in the other direction. One girl did "Penguins Can Fly" another boy did "Please pick up your dog poop," one said "Lucky" another said "This billboard is pointless" and had a hand pointing to the word less to illustrate the word point. We hung up all the images and I put a post it note on it with the grade and my feedback. I discussed how some of the images had strong design while they might not have a strong slogan, and others who had the opposite, and explained that the real challenge is to have both working together to inform and strengthen one another. I had the students put post its on the person's word to the right of theirs and had them write feedback for that person. When we did the critique I gave my feedback and had the person who wrote feedback give theirs as well. Kelly introduced us to the idea of using post its to generate feedback and I think it worked well.

After we did that, I divided them into groups of three. They got images they DID NOT design and as a group had to pick their favorite design/slogan and think of how they'd redesign or change the slogan and make it their own. One group selected the penguin image, another selected a "Think Big" slogan, that did have probably the most well thought out design with all original photographs. The third group left struggling on Thursday so on Friday I had them join the two other groups.

Friday we laid out all the images and discussed the progress with Jeff, Jamie and I. We decided to try having some students who were struggling work with the Lime is Money and Time is Funny slogan. We discussed bringing in clocks and limes and money that the students could scan or photograph to begin working with original photographs.

So far their designs have all been saved into shared folders so they can use one another's imagery for redesigns. We left a little uninspired on Friday and thought about it over the weekend.

The storyboard class is still plugging along. Some people are finishing coloring them, so I am individually scanning them in or having them scan them in when they are done and showing them the next steps since everyone is at different stages with it.

My two most resistant students are Rachel and PJ both in 2nd period. PJ refused to work on the 6 x 6 and did something else in his sketch book the entire time. I asked him if he was going to do it and he said yes. Twenty minutes later I followed up with him and he told me it was a rough draft, geez. Rachel is working with another girl in class because she refuses to do the project on her own.

On Friday, I took one day to have them work on a 6 x 6 for the show in Rochester called 6 x 6. Anyone can submit and all are accepted just has to be 6 x 6 inches. So I'm having all my students do it and participate. It's a fundraiser for the museum. It seems many of them haven't had an art show before so its a good experience. They sell for $20 and it goes to the museum. Their images go online and show a red dot when they sell or are sold. So I took a day on Friday to have everyone do that and complete it on Monday.

The latex class I had complete their 6 x 6 tests on Friday and told them on Monday we'd be doing something new.

Day 43: 13th Day @ Westhill

Wednesday March 28, 2012 Blog Post

Here is my teacher generated example for the fortune cookie billboard idea.

Day 42: 12th Day @ Westhill

Tuesday March 27, 2012 Blog Post

So the fortune cookies were a hit. Some students had ideas they were already working on and it gave other students a nudge to get the ball rolling. One student took pictures with the camera of a fortune cookie and was about to cut it out in photoshop. I told him the lighting and set up of the image was perfect so asked if he could do both as ideas. Another student took pictures of the sky and trees and himself for his "Think Big" design. Another student is doing a drawing with a penguin she is scanning in to work with, another student is doing a "This Billboard is Pointless" idea that has a hand pointing to the word less, another student's idea is about autism who's autistic, another student's idea is "Whatever Floats Your Boat," another student's idea is "Time is Money." Jamie helped him think of ways to make it original by changing the words. I also helped him jot down some ideas, Time is Honey, Time is Funny, Time is Bunny. Lime is Money, Dime is Money. Rhyme is Money. I liked Time is Funny. It's superficial and meaningful at the same time. Imagery that came to mind was a bunch of arrows.

Were going to work tomorrow, and vote either at the end of class or beginning of class Thursday. Were going to vote for the top three slogans then students will redesign those and pick the best of each one. Then we will vote on the final 3. I'm going to have them print up their first draft and have an exhibit of this overall project in the school somewhere showing what we all came up with for the billboard.

I emailed The Redhouse to see if they have any openings for a student show for the alien storyboard. It looks like they might based on their website's schedule, but who knows if that is accurate so I shot an email to see. I think most of the kids don't see the connection to their community or sharing work with their classmates as a shared experience or outside the class. I think if its available the bound books might be fun to display given they are interactive and fold out. I'm thinking of having them record voiceovers for their books, and putting together a big video with all their pieces for everyone to see that could be on display as part of an exhibit. If nothing else we will show it at the end of the project and watch it in class.

I'm going to begin filling out my service learning packet that I have to give to Kelly as well as my contextual framework for my unit plan. Kelly said I'll just give that to her since its so much to explain.

The latex is going smoothly. The students are continuing their works for the 6 x 6 show in Rochester. I finished mine and are helping them. I also did a new piece on latex inspired by Jeff's process but it needs more work. Jeff went to see if we could go to the shop to cut wood to frame wood we will work on in that class. The shop was free so he's going to show us how he does it for his pieces and we'll do that for everyone's in the class once we get to that. I think were going to do latex on canvas next. Some of the kids in the class are getting it and some aren't yet, so I think I might need to show them some more, or explain more.

One girl in the other class that is not doing either of my lessons yet is trying the latex out for a background she's working on. Today after school, she came in with three friends and had them help her peel them off. She's very talented and likes Florence and The Machine just like I do. We have all the same musical tastes. I'm going to bring her a CD of Little Dragon because its similar to all the other music she likes but she hasn't heard of them yet.

It was nice to see it work for her piece! A few other students in the other classes, Jamie's included have been working with me to learn it.

Some of the students are getting done with their piggy banks. One person is done, others are nearing the end. I'm going to have them make another one so they have two in case one doesn't work out, or so they can explore with glazing. The second one can be another animal if they'd like to do something different. Jeff is ordering corks for them to use. I went to Michaels and AC Moore and bought two to get the specs for what we'd need to fit a quarter so we could all make ours. My feet were too short after I put it in so I was glad I was able to have them there for students to use and then build feet around it to make sure they were tall enough. I like that this project is functional and that makes it engaging. It was a lot of work so I don't think they really want to make another one but I told them we can all begin the second one together and they can finish their other undone projects in the meantime. I want to learn how to make a donut like Sonya did so that can be my second lesson with the ceramics class. 

Day 41: 11th Day @ Westhill

Monday March 26, 2012 Blog Post

After the graphic design today, Jamie and I discussed other ways to get the kids inspired to come up with their own slogan and somehow the idea of fortune cookies came up so I decided to look up examples to show them how a simple fortune as well as fortune cookie could be used as a design element. It's not something you'd expect to see on a billboard. Typically its something you share with yourself and whoever is around you, but provides a playful element of surprise. I think like astrology its something everyone enjoys. I decided to go to Wegmans and ask them if I could get twenty fortune cookies for a class project. I called ahead and asked how much it would be. They said it would be free! Tomorrow I will let everyone pick out a fortune cookie and show them the images below for inspiration.

Day 40: 10th Day @ Westhill

Friday March 23, 2012 Blog Post

So Jamie left early today and we covered his study hall. PJ who was giving me a hard time in the alien storyboard class was there. He was getting into what the kids were doing with the liquid latex. I asked him if he wanted me to show him how it worked and he said no. I showed him anyway and he got into it. One of the kids in the class were showing 4 other students on his own. They walked over to where we had the critique and he explained it to them. That was neat to see. I asked PJ if he thought this seemed like a better lesson and he said yes. Despite not liking it he worked the entire time in his study hall in his sketch book on the assignment he had for my class on his own which was nice. Being in this atmosphere inspires me to create new work and make engaging assignments. Jeff and Jamie have their work all over and are constantly exploring which is good. Makes you want to dive in and do the same.

Day 37: 7th Dat @ Westhill

Tuesday March 20, 2012 Blog Post

The Alien Storyboard project is going well. For the most part, students are creating their alien characters and getting into the storyboard. One girl saw one of the images as a box and wanted to take the baby out of an image to make the story be about a missing baby. It's neat to see where everyone takes an idea that all starts out in the same place. The latex lesson is going well. One girl said that she couldn't wait to peel it off and wanted to right away. I think the way I planned the lesson built up some anticipation.

Day 38: 8th Day @ Westhill

Wednesday March 21, 2011 Blog Post

PJ in my 2nd period class refused to do the Alien Comic Storyboard lesson so I spoke with both Jamie and Jeff and Tracey the photo teacher and got their advice so will talk to him about it more tomorrow. It was upsetting because I thought he would enjoy the project since he works in ink and does alien like character drawings. I'm going to work with him to make it more relevant.

The latex reveal went well. It was fun peeling the layers off together at the same time. Some were at different levels at the beginning of the class depending on how quickly they were working, so I had some students complete their third layer of latex, others completed their forth, which was the experimental layer. I was impressed overall the past few days with how quickly the paint was drying on the illustration board. The latex took longer, but the paint was quick. Some people put the paint on too thick and it ended up peeling off some of the cardboard. I did tests before using it since Jeff and Jamie recommended trying it. I have only used canvas before this which is better because nothing peels off. After they get through the first series of tests, I am going to have them work on canvas.

Today was my first day with the billboard class. I showed them 10+ images I found of billboards, and brought them to the values.com website. I showed them how you can upload an image with a slogan and have it uploaded right away showing you how your image and slogan would look if it was on a billboard. We discussed the use of billboards, and ideas of ways to change the context of what they're used for. I am excited to be able to bring this opportunity to them, and curious to see what were going to come up with.