Here is the pencilled version of my cover. Tomorrow is my last class: inking!
Here is the pencilled version of my cover. Tomorrow is my last class: inking!
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I have one more cartooning class left this summer when we'll be inking our comic book covers (I'm still in the middle of pencilling it). Here are some samples from my sketchbook over the summer.
I just pre-ordered a copy of Nick Sousanis' comics dissertation, Unflattening. I didn't even know this book existed until: 1. I decided to write an influential prof of mine with whom I hadn't spoken in 7 years. 2. We met for a visit and I mentioned how Scott McCloud's Understanding Comics and Making Comics (which I read last summer) opened my eyes to the world in a new way, and prompted me to consider implications for my personal work as a writer/artist, as well as for teaching. 3. She alerted me to Sousanis' upcoming talk at the U of C, which I regrettably have to miss. For those who are interested, it's 9 April @ 9:30am in Soc Sci 1114. The fact that the book is highly praised by McCloud, and that Sousanis' background is in education, pretty much guarantees that this will be an epic read for me. So pumped! Brian Sztabnik's article "The 8 Minutes That Matter Most" has a number of excellent strategies for beginning and ending a class. I especially like that he pulled from Wiggins & McTighe, as I want these activities to be effective forms of self-, peer- or teacher assessment where possible. This is an area in which I was a bit inconsistent and which I want to be more intentional about planning.
O technology and policies ... why do you work against me so?
Here's the deal. Before my practicum this past fall, I had created two Google sites for each of my two classes, anticipating using them to supplement and organize my instruction and assessment. A week into teaching, I abandoned this in favour of using D2L, but the shells for my classes were registered through my mentor's account (as a student teacher, I had zero D2L privileges, though I did manage to get a CBE email account). This was a great experience. I was happy with how I used D2L and am interested in learning the system even better (e.g., aligning module components or tasks with rubrics, grades, learning objectives, etc.). Having finished my practicum, of course I no longer have access to the wonders I built in D2L, so I spent most of today constructing a new Google site that actually serves my present and future needs better than my first two sites. I like how it's turning out and it's something I think I'll keep using to share course information. (Check it out here.) Despite my opening statement, I'm actually far from resentful or bitter about having to rebuild. I take great pride and joy in developing information management systems, whether that's through SharePoint, D2L, Redbooth, Google Apps, Weebly, or other tools. I think it combines my love of building and design with my love of information and collaboration. When I was younger, I was constantly constructing environments. I was a Lego-maniac. I'd use Eggo Waffle boxes and other materials I gathered to construct doll houses (the dolls themselves, beyond dressing them or styling their hair, were boring). I built all sorts of forts and mini-treehouses. I'd design urban or geographical landscapes for boardgames, stories, or other simulations. I would rearrange objects and furniture in my room on a semi-regular basis (and still do) to suit my new sense of organization or aesthetics. Knowing my love of design, my parents bought me 3D Home Architect for my thirteenth birthday and I became obsessed with the idea of becoming a residential architect and/or interior designer. During early adulthood, I loved the urban anthropology course I took and especially the video we watched on designing public spaces. I've become familiar with principles of Crime Prevention through Environmental Design. I recently watched a fascinating documentary on the future of cities. I have thoroughly enjoyed all of the discourse and resources surrounding Universal Design and the Capability Approach. I also took - like a duck to water - to using Visio for modeling business processes and mapping both spaces and communications. Additionally, I had the privilege of being able to pursue my interests in cognitive and physical ergonomics: configuring spaces and tools around the activities and bodies/minds performing them to make those activities easier, safer, and/or more enjoyable. At the heart of it, I think, also lies a Marxist mentality I didn't know was there: that our material existence, to a large extent, constructs our worldview. Entering into public education, I am fascinated by the role that design plays learning, whether it has to do with the physical environment or the virtual one. It's sometimes discouraging to recognize how the present designs often serve to undermine learning. Think of the terrible aesthetic and ergonomic experience you had in school due to oversight, budget issues, or the legacy of the industrial revolution. Think of how much time and energy you've wasted searching for or reproducing information for yourself or others (repeated instructions, list-making, buried files) or being exposed to information without retaining anything (death-by-PowerPoint, technological-multitasking, an overflowing email inbox). Imagine how much more horrible this is for anyone with physical, learning, and/or cognitive disabilities. I want to make rich and rewarding experiences (of which learning plays a major role) more accessible to people. Terry Heick, you are a genius. I would also like to add "Use video games. The best ones are those that throw random math equations at students."
I'm really excited to spend time this weekend looking over and giving feedback on my ELA 10-1 class's latest assignment. One student in particular, who had a mediocre experience with the autobiographical poem, devised a thoroughly original, insightful, and compelling video game character from "Lysandra's Poem," even going so far as to describe what the video game itself would be like. I wanted to play the hypothetical game!
After designing and introducing two assignments to my two classes today (posted below), I read this article and thought it had some good things to say. I took the author's cue, and have designed a new 'essay' assignment I hope to introduce this coming week. I'm hoping to get buy-in from Mr. Hehr ;)
This is a very thought-provoking talk that fits nicely with my current courses on problem-solving through comm tech and philosophy of tech in education. McCandless' discussion on visualization and on 'data as the new soil' reminded me a lot of Marshall McLuhan's notions of how the literate culture (the age of writing) is dominated by the eye (also reinforced by the coloured visualization of 9:20) and of his concepts of 'rootedness' and the need to examine the soil from which we are growing as human beings (i.e., how has technology changed the soil makeup? how does that affect our senses and ways of understanding?). I agree that I, too, find myself longing for large chunks of written text to be converted (compressed) into an image/diagram and am relieved when this happens. I think this longing goes hand-in-hand with the speediness of vision. This article was too short to really flesh out some of the claims it made, but I generally agree with the main idea: “It's the meta-message that you can solve all of life's problems by purchasing the right products that's having the most profound effect [on teens].” Here are a few statements that caught my eye:
“In the new millennium, marketing executives are insinuating their brands into the fabric of children's lives. They want--to use industry terms--'cradle to grave' brand loyalty and to 'own' children." My first thought when reading this statement was “Is brand loyalty such a bad thing?” If I’m a business owner who really believes that I’m offering a quality product or service, I want to promote it and the best way to do so is through word of mouth by consumers who likewise believe in the product/service and the name behind it. What I find troubling, however, it that this whole exchange has become so impersonal. Marketing departments turn real people into consumers and consumers into numbers and dollars. Economic exchange has become less about building and affirming relationships through swapping goods and services and more about people getting what they want or think they want. Many of the companies that market to teens are massive multinational corporations that seem to use them only for their short-term buying power. “And even when good bubbles up, or creativity flourishes on its own, it's likely to be co-opted by advertisers looking to keep up with trends among teens … advertisers encourage rejection of the older generation's preferences to the point of trying to create an official statement about what is cool for teenagers.” These statements brought to mind The Rebel Sell: Why the culture can't be jammed (2004) by Heath and Potter. The book talks about how counter-culture movements ultimately fail because they get caught up in the consumer ‘arms race’ in which counter-culture products are pitted against mainstream products only to become themselves the new mainstream products, and so on. It sucks that rebellion and even attempts at social justice become commercialized and degrade into slacktivism. We need to direct teens’ concerns, hopes, and energy in more productive ways, and in ways that engage critically with consumer/material culture. I was totally thrown off and discouraged by this statement right near the end: “’the bulk of psychologist effort needs to be focused on the source of the problem--corporate advertising--rather than going along with the industry's cynical attempts to shift the responsibility primarily onto teens and their parents.’" I feel the article just took a completely different turn. As a teacher, it doesn't really leave me anywhere beyond trying to ensure that my students don't become corporate advertisers, or that they advertise differently than the ones we currently have, or that they advertise ethical products and services. I’m not entirely sure what effective, ethical advertising would even look like, or whether such a thing would need to exist. |
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