Top 10 NDCE Ideas

Here are my top ten ideas from the course. Being a teacher (and in a teaching curriculum) I listed and talked about most of these in terms of how I could or did relate them to education. Listed from least to most amazing.

10. Compelling Videos. This sit at the bottom of my list. Not to talk down on any of my classmates but I think I interpreted our Work of Art assignment very differently. The project was to make a video about something compelling. My classmates did just that. I read the assignment as "make a compelling video about something that is normally not compelling". Which meant at the end of the day most of the videos produced were about something compelling but not compelling on their own. For this fact the WofA video project is at the bottom.
9. Fashion. I am not a fashion forward thinker. My blog for this week took a very literal look into fashion and talked about school uniforms. I think after discussing with my group it opened my eyes to the idea that fashion can be compelling beyond the literal what are you wearing. But to me I will always see fashion as something to photograph (and that makes the top) but not as a piece of art in itself.
8. Music. Like fashion I find myself not a music lover either. I prefer to think rather than listen. Although I did very much enjoy learning about breaking down music and looking for a 'hook'. Mainly because I like how one could relate this to writing/reading which I find much more compelling.
7. Movies. To me the movie industry is too broad to fit a category or a place on this list. Just because there are movies for everything. You can find slow-paced art movies with little talking, comedies where they never stop talking, or all the way to fast-paced action flicks with little talking. It seems that movie makers make one of each type every few months. I am not as compelled by the movie industry because they don't try to make a compelling film for everyone they just make different types and people will see what they want.
6. Commercials. I find the fast paced nature of commercials very disheartening. Although a very compelling topic (thus it is in the middle of this list). In relation to students it seems that advertisers have picked up on the frantic nature of young minds. Commercials are one of the best indicators of what their target audience is thinking and wanting and how they are acting. If you teach young kids but haven't watched commercials on Nickelodeon lately then you'd be in for a shock on how different they are from when you were a kid.
5. Architecture. The top of the top were mainly still images. I find quieter and less "in your face" components to be the more compelling. And it starts with where you are sitting and where are looking when creating things. Most students sit in boring rooms with dull interiors. I think chaining that up and bringing aspects of compelling architecture to school buildings would add to the learning environment.
4. Graphic Design. I very much enjoyed picking apart print ads for this unit. Getting opinions from all the group members also gave me a good sense of what and where people are looking when they see a flyer. We discussed ideas of color and fonts. And the strange concept that bigger and bolder doesn't always gather more attention was interesting. Then being able to take those ideas for classroom handouts was excellent.
3. Editing. While most of my top picks are still images I found great interest in video editing. Being able to combine pictures (whether moving or not) with music to create a new experience to be extremely compelling. Being able to create educational materials this way (taking bland images and editing them with sound to increase the appeal for students) also intrigues me.
2. Architecture. I really enjoyed the discussion from this week's unit about work spaces. I have never held a cubical job but found the motivation behind many desk arrangements to be fascinating. The psychology of getting people to work productively and happily is fascinating.
1. Photography. And the top. I was a photography student in undergrad and loved it. While my flatmates were sitting down to their piles of engineering math homework I was running around with a camera. And the best part to me is that it was all film. The compelling part of photography came from finding and working for the perfect shot. Digital has taken most of that away as you can take thousands of shots and see them right then. And if you still don't like them you can edit it all in photoshop. True photography is routed in getting the right shot the first time. Having to know what makes that shot compelling before you even take it is what attracts me.

Work of Art videos

So this week as a class we have posted our work of art videos. And in watching all of them I can see the different views of compelling. There were so many different subjects done in such a wide range of styles that it made me stop to think about the different styles found in a classroom. After watching all of them I realized that I can work for weeks on something to make it compelling but someone else might find it as dull as dirt. which makes sense since everyone is different.
So in a class room we (as teachers) have to take in everyone's interests when making educational material. What may be compelling for me probably wouldn't be for young kids. I have to remind myself that often when lesson planning. What I try to do is put myself in their age and position and what would be fun and interesting.
 I do think I have found there are some "Universal" aspects to making things compelling. From all the videos I think there were four things that made each person's project better. First was adding a soundtrack. Music has the ability to hook people in so adding it to a presentation draws more interest. Second having a point of focus. Whether in a presentation or a film there has to be a focal point. It might not be the main subject but something will always draw the audiences' eye.  Third, the use of color. While black and white does have a space in art I think that adding color to projects will always add an attractiveness to a project. And last, I think the pacing of the project or video is very important. Too fast and people can't pay attention so they stop trying. Too slow and people get bored and start looking at other things.
 With all those in mind I think that just about any project can be more compelling even if it is a subject that not everyone is interested in.

School Uniforms

While this week's lesson on fashion is more aimed at how a teacher can pull the compelling desire of people looking at fashion into their classroom the first thing that came to my mind was the use - or not - of school uniforms and how it can change a school's atmosphere.
 I have attended, work at, and visited many different private schools in my time and all with different ideas on how their school should dress. Growing up I attended one of the few private schools i have ever accounted that does not require a uniform. Their feeling was that individuality and creativity should not stop at what students do in class but should also be able to be reflected in what they wear.
 Later I spent a few years working at the other extreme when it comes to dress - a military school. There really isn't any room there for interpretation (even your socks had to match the kid next to you). Their feeling? that clothes shouldn't distract from the school atmosphere (this is one among a few other military reasons for uniforms).
 So do clothes really distract or add to a compelling student? I could argue both. I could argue that there isn't much inspiration in a grey uniform everyday. But there is also something very distracting in a skirt that is well above the required length.
 To me? I would have to agree with the uniform. while fashion can be a large contributor to turning something bland into something compelling I'm not sure if that type of compelling is right for the classroom. You should be able to see outside of the box and bring out yourself rather than your clothes.
 - Carolyn

Music that Moves

Here is my Music that Moves video.
I picked my all time favorite song: You''ve got to Hide Your Love Away by the Beatles.
Enjoy!

music in the classroom

I have had the opportunity lately to sub at many different schools and grade levels. I am, by choice, a high school teacher but have had some great time in the past year with kindergarten classes. What always strikes me is the amount of music the teachers use. They have songs for everything. Songs to wash their hands, songs to get their books out, songs to line up, everything. It is a great tool for getting the kids all focused on the same task (the task the teacher wants them focused on) and getting them quiet at the end of the song. It got me thinking about how as the kids age that music is faded out of the classroom. When I had a high school class of my own I would still play music from time to time but mainly just instrumental stuff as a background. We definitely didn't have any songs.
 This got me thinking about how music was so beneficial to those younger kids and what makes it not used with older ones. It might be the expectation that the older kids don't need a 're-focusing tool' or should be quiet on their own. Which would make sense.
 But then I got to thinking about how music aids in memory. I could probably sing every word to American Pie right now but couldn't recite all the state capitals even though I learned both of those around the same time. But I can recite all the states, in alphabetical order no less. Anyone out there learn the "Fifty Nifty United States" song? Because I bet you are probably singing them right now. So why is music not used more in education? It obviously works.
  Just food for thought for this week.

Compelling Film Storyboard

Hello all!!
 First this was posted on wednesday but apparently the internet doesn't like me and it never uploaded. My fault for not checking. So to those who were waiting with baited breath I apologize. Here they are!!

Before you applaud too loudly I would like to saw I never won the gene pool of drawing skills. So let me walk you through the idea that didn't fully make it from my head to the drawing board.
Frame 1- First we open on a closed door. Excited dog waiting to go out. less than excited owner.
2 - then black. a voice over sighs
3- repeat first clip
4- repeat sigh voice over and black screen
5 - repeat first clip
6 - repeat sigh voice over and black screen
7- First clip again but this time it slows down, door opens and the dog jumps
8 - Screen freezes and words: The Walk dissolve on screen
9- Scene 1: rush outside and then stop and focus on the clouds
10- Between scenes clip of fast/frantic walking
11- Scene 2 : Close up pan through a tree.
12 - frame 10 repeated
13 - Scene 3: cars speeding past.
14 - frame 10 repeated
15 - Scene 4: close up of a squirrel
16 - frame 10 repeated
17 - scene 5: a view through the grass. this will be the only shot as if the walker were a dog
18 - scene 10 repeated
19 - scene 6: viewing the home
20 - scene of relaxing owner and dog together
21 - repeats the first clip (like frame 7) but the words this time are The End

So my thoughts on this "compelling" film are to take that excitement of a walk that the dog has and make the owner (viewer) experience it as well. From interesting angles and shots I want to make the things a owner sees more interesting. Hope you Enjoy!!

Maintaining Focus

It seems that with the warmer weather here in Michigan that student spring fever as also come early. Usually students hold out until at least the end of March to begin to pine for the summer. So how do we as teachers maintain their focus?
  We can threaten. What teacher hasn't told a senior over and over that even if they are already accepted a college can take that back if they completely fail their last semester in high school? I have. I've ruined kids summer dreams by telling them that there is no beach anywhere near the summer school campus. Ive told students that their grades are on that fine line and these last weeks will mean a letter grade. I've lied through my teeth to get them to focus.
  We can bribe them. On those nice warm and sunny spring days you get them to focus by telling them they can go out early.
  But can we instead simply compel them? Can we create a better inside? While this might be the goal of a teacher year round these coming months might be the most important.
  While observing a teacher a few years ago (during this same spring fever) I noticed that he worked to play off the students. They wanted to go outside then they had a lab outside. They didn't want to read the chapter then instead they talked about the topic (he was very good at sneaking in the vocab terms). The work of making his class compelling revolved around a continued bounce back and forth from his plans and their behaviors. I found this to be very important. That teacher could have spent hours creating an experience but if the students were;t in the mood then all was wasted. Instead of trying too hard to create ahead of time he taught me to react to their demands.