An Exciting Day of Teaching

Two weeks ago I checked out two of our new ArtsBridge Cannon cameras for the students’ poster project. When I announced the plan at the beginning of class there was excitement and determination to get the best photos. We broke them down into pairs and Brittany helped the students with photography outside while I started the posters on illustrator with the rest of the class. They are still slow to start and get situated in the program. I have noticed that they still ask the same questions over and over. It seems like they are not remembering the program from week to week. Each time they come in they have to relearn how to make a new document and they still don’t know where they need to save their files. I realized as I was running around the room to help each student that I truly need brittany’s help to teach these kids the program. It is physically impossible to help all of them. I just don’t want any of my students to feel lost and neglected.

Here are the posters they came up with this last week:

Student Work

A font has a family? I didn’t make this too clear in the lesson plan but most of the students are now grasping the importance of hierarchy. I used these examples as an aid.

A Dynamic Composition

What is a serif?

Using various point sizes to create a journey for the eyes:

Here is the student work:

Denis is one of the most talented students. He really grasps the tools and he navigates the illustrator environment with ease.

Rocio has some troubles with layering the text blocks. But she has a great eye for color.

type…og…raph…eeee

The students shuffled into the computer labs for the 6th week of our residency. This week I focused on beginning typography. It was a lot to tackle and I was afraid that the students would be overwhelmed by the complexities of letterforms and combining fonts. I used thinkingwithtype.com as the main resource. It lays out the basics simply and to the point. I also passed around Ellen Lupton’s book. I find that the students respond well to visual images on the projector. They are mesmerized by the screen and seeing animations. Perhaps this is because they are constantly on youtube or in front of the tv. They usually don’t respond to handouts but they are always willing to show off their reading skills to the class. When we read out loud I fear that the students do not understand the concepts because they are more focused on reciting the English correctly. Something to be learned from this is more visuals and less handouts/hardcopies.

By the end of the residency my main goal is to have the students critiquing the design that consumes their world. We can create a dialogue in class and during critiques to entice this new way of thinking critically about graphic design. If they start observing enough design then eventually they will be successful in creating their own pieces. So far the students are hesitant to speak their opinions. Brittany’s idea of showing three posters before the class starts is so effective. The students are fresh and full of energy during the first few moments of class, we can use this energy as momentum to get the students conversing comfortably about graphic design.

Final Idea: Create a Font Family Tree along with their own family tree

Who the hell is she

At the end of March, during Spring Break. I traveled up the coast. It was a much needed escape to Santa Barbara, Big Sur and San Francisco. The spring rains brought the bluest skies and the greenest grass, this visual candy allowed me to completely forget all my projects and my teaching residency that had previously consumed 10 weeks of my life.

So coming back to Millikan jr high last wednesday was a bit of a shock for me and the students. After 2 whole weeks the students had this “oh yeah I remember you” look on their faces. For as much as I think about them and worry that they are interested in my assignments it is amazing how they can truly care less. It seems like they live from moment to moment persuaded and guided by the people around them. They are consumed with their own lives, friends and homework. They have every right to be completely self absorbed because it is such a difficult time developmentally.  I just wish I had had a wise art teacher to help me put everything in perspective back in jr. high.

So in an effort to connect the ELL book, Highpoint, with my own lesson plan, I went through the unit that they are currently studying: exploring new frontiers with Lewis & Clark. My goal is to have the students explore the new frontiers in their lives and create a book of their learning process in my class. Last wednesday we focused on visualizing 3d terrain in a 2d form on illustrator. It may sound complex but it was quite simple and enjoyable. I had the students draw a box to represent their home. Some of them created a floor plan while others just put a triangle on top of their box. I then asked them to draw another box to represent Millikan. Now with these two representations of places that they spend most of their time, I asked them to imagine the path they take to school. They were the draw the path of their journey from home to school. This is where the kids went crazy. They added landmarks and cars and trees. They created their own little world. Each peace was a unique reflection of their daily journey. Aside from being able to effectively use the tools to create landmarks the students were able to visualize their journey. This is an important skill to have. They need to be confident as they navigate through the world. Ms. Rahamin will do a follow up lesson relating their maps back to the Lewis and Clark maps.

In other news, I just got the approval from mr. christian moeller (prof for video 2), to create a documentary at millikan. I argued, with a trembling voice, that I wanted to expose the students school and home life in an artistic/abstract documentary style video taking inspiration from the long haunting school shots of Gus Van Sant’s film, Elephant.

I went out to the Millikan carnival on Thursday with a tripod and xl1 (that i had to carry all around campus after renting huh). There was high fructose corn syrup energy in every corner of the school. I was so overwhelmed, I had no idea where to began filming. At first I felt so intrusive, especially when the “popular” kids were giving me “who the hell she” looks. Well I guess I could have replied with “so girls, can I film your who the hell is she looks to become the catalyst for a healthy discourse in my UCLA design for video class where we will critique your insecurities within the larger social constructs of society.” Better not go there, right? I did get some interesting out of focus footage. You see, I am still new to this whole filming thing and there are so many buttons and meters and doodads on that camera that I would rather just push the on button and start rolling. So that is what I did and the quality is sub par.

As I was falling asleep that night I had visions of how this film will work. I don’t want it to look cheesy like a home movie. I want the kids to show their personalities and determination. At this age they are going through so much stress while trying to develop an identity. It is particularly difficult for the ELL kids who are enrolled in separate classes and deprived of the art electives. I was talking to one student, Kevin, as he helped carry around my tripod. He told me with a smile that he was interested in art, design, and acting. He said this with so much confidence and bravado. He added that he needs to get his grades up in ms. R’s class and that he hopes his hard work in my Wednesday design class will help. At that moment I wanted to give him all of the strength and knowledge to succeed. I asked if he would be interested in coming out to UCLA to shadow me throughout the day. I want to see all of them succeed. I want them to understand that they have a leg up on all the people who only know how to speak English. And if they have trouble communicating their ideas and opinions in English they can be master visual communicators.

So here is the idea for my film:

• Take photos of each student with a consistent background.

• Have students typeset an “I am ____ (strong, beautiful, smart)” statement over their photo.

• Have the students hold up their poster as they say this statement in the language they speak at home with their parents.

• Splice each of these shots with images of the students going about their life at school, showing their role in the social constructs of the school.

A Hectic Week

Ten weeks of hard work is coming to a close. Classes are wrapping up and people are preparing for their finals. There is a different energy on campus these past couple of weeks. In the design labs kids scurry in and out of the print lab with worried faces because they wait until 15 minutes before class to print out their work for crit. I can be accused of doing the same. This year however, I gave myself plenty of time to finish my projects and I didn’t lose a wink of sleep. I find that when I start losing sleep I just don’t produce good work, my relationships suffer and my health goes downhill.

Getting an early start is valuable for a project because you give your ideas some time to sit in the back of your mind as you go about daily activities. Then out of the blue some magnificent associations pop into your head and you have a creative solution for your project. Similarly many people say that their best ideas come to them in the shower. Why is this? I think it is because you give your thoughts a rest and you push them to the back of your mind, you allow yourself to be in a relaxed state completely tuned out from the world. You may not dirrectly be thinking about a problem but all of a sudden a solution hits you. I love when that happens. I am curious to find out what the next step is for most people. Do they come up with the solution to a problem by experimenting? Or do they work it all out in their head before they get started. For this last assignment I tried to visualize the outcome in my mind while setting supplies and materials. I thought about every detail. In the end the final looked pretty clean but i did have some unexpected soltions that worked well.

So how does a teacher find creative solutions to difficult teaching situations? I have had some trouble with this question as I am a new teaching artist. Every situation seems like a blindfolded trial run. It is difficult to know how much I should prepare because in truth the students run the class. I respond to their wants and needs. If they are frustrated with certain tools in illustrator then we take the time to go over them. If the students are intrigued with a concept then we spend more time with it. This kind of teaching allows the lesson plan to suffer. Then I start to worry that I am not teaching to the state standards or upholding the mission of ArtsBridge.

Take for instance Ms. R’s class. There are about 20 eager ELL kids, most of whom are not so computer savvy. They ask questions and they have wonderful excited energy. They come into class and start our directed adobe illustrator lesson. As they get started they become confused about the difference between the black arrow and the white arrow. Instead of moving the box they draw more boxes over one another. Some of them get frustrated, but they are learning how to navigate through a complex program and I am so proud of them. I have been using illustrator for four years and it I still find it frustrating. But here is the main problem: linking our residency with Ms. R’s lesson plan. After a short debrief last Wednesday we realized that ms. R was frustrated because we have not been taking into account what these students need to be learning. So over break I am going to look over the 8th grade ELL book, High Point. This will give me some time to make creative solutions to the students’ learning material.

Here are two students’ work from wednesday:

Getting Loud

I cup my hands around my mouth and project throughout the classroom. I need them to settle down before we can move on. It was tough, as I explained in my previous post but I am getting louder. At the end of the class my voice is strained and hoarse.

Here is the thing. My residency focuses on how we can express our opinions without words. I can use graphic design and the power of image to scream my opinion. The best part about engaging this voice is that no one will judge what I am saying by the color of my skin, my gender or my age. Power. This is why I use bright colors, striking images, thick appealing fonts and powerful language to express my opinions.

Week 2: Am I getting through?

I just don’t know if I am getting through to them. In some instances the students are intrigued and ready to learn but today they seemed so disengaged. It is so frustrating.

Ms. R’s 1st period was fun. We were introduced to about 30 English Language Learners from all over the world. Their families are from El Salvador, Lebanon, Venezuela, Mexico, and Romania. Each student stood up and proudly declared where they (or their immediate family) was born. I tried to remember each name. They made name tags so we can now call on them without saying hey you. While doing the name tag exercise I told them to pay attention to the letterforms. I showed them that the letters must be equal height with the same spacing (kerning). I think they are catching on. We reviewed our presentation from last week and most of the kids remembered the main points of our lecture.

Our assignment for the day was to explore how we can use image to communicate our identity. Each student made a drawing of a symbol or icon. We then had a test to see if they could recognize their classmates’ drawings. It was surprising to see how engaged they were. They completed the exercise with a writing assignment where they answered: How can you communicate who you are through image? Why is it important that we can communicate a message while letting our identity be unknown?

This is an important question in discovering how to have a voice through poster design. These students(6th-8th grade) can be “heard” in places where they might otherwise be dismissed based on their age, race, class or gender. Graphic design has the power to communicate regardless of these barriers.

For homework we asked the students to find two articles (that they feel strongly about) and bring in summaries. They will use these articles to create a poster design. Next week we will be in the computer labs with illustrator. We will begin the task of teaching this complex program.

In other news, I turned in my book review for exhibit design.

I wish I could take one of Edward Tufte’s courses. The student fee for a one day course is 200 bucks! The new york times has called him “the da Vinci of Data.” I don’t think my 3 column grid book review does his work any justice. Maybe some day. I did however pay close attention to remove any widows, rivers and hyphens.

Week 1: An introduction to Graphic Design

I just took Banana Nut muffins out of the oven and they smell delicious. God I feel like such a homemaker. While they cool I want to go over my first day of my 16 week residency at Millikin.

This Wednesday Brittany and I went out to the Jr high for the third time. While we completed observations a few weeks prior, I felt like we were walking into unchartered territory (with sensible closed-toed shoes of course). We were led half way to a bungalow in the back of the school, where Ms. Rahamin teaches a mixed 6th-8th grade ELL class. At this point there were so many things going through my head. Mainly I was curious to see if these kids would understand our presentation. At the bell we warmed up the projector and smoothed out the wrinkles in our presentation attire. But when all eyes were on me, I realized that this was going to be nothing like the presentation Brittany and I gave to our ArtsBridge class. I quickly ditched my notes so that I could talk off the top of my head and engage the students in conversation. Surprisingly enough they were really into our presentation. I think one of the main reasons was our highly visual power point. There was not a sentence on the presentation, but the students were given a nicely designed handout with all the information for our introduction to graphic design. I know that most of these handouts will end up crumpled in the bottom of their jansport backpacks, but if even one kid reads it then I am happy. During the presentation we asked the students about their interests and about the images. They were responsive and inquisitive. Some of the students were even asking about how they could get to UCLA.

At the end of the class period we assigned homework to bring back a piece of information that they found interesting. One student, said that she was going to bring in a collage she has been working on.

The next order of business is to create a solid outline of the residency. I would also like to learn all the student’s names so I need to get a roster and study. I feel like this is really important in showing that I care about their learning process.

Learning SketchUP for redesign and Arts Bridge

I have only recently discovered this free 3d modeling software from google. B.max suggested that it would be a perfect tool for our Arts Bridge kids. It will be a lot easier to create mock ups for their industrial designs using SketchUp rather than Illustrator. Plus it’s free!

So for my recent assignment in UCLAx Exhibit design class I will be using SketchUp to redesign the Westwood magazine stand. I figure I should learn the program before I start teaching it. I have been using this tutorial.

The assignment overview: consider the environment for a commercial transaction and product display considering all aspects of the experience from both the merchant and the buyers perspective. While the magazine stand in Westwood is famous for being featured in many films and student projects, it could stand a redesign. I took a walk into Westwood this rainy weekend to talk to the merchant at the stand. Some problems that he has run into include the height of the shelves, rain leakage around the counter, and visibility to reduce theft. One particularly unique aspect of this existing design is the tree in the center of it all. I hope to keep the tree and make it a more visible part of the structure. My working objective for the stand: Create a more inviting space for the average pedestrian and handicapped person while maintaining its traditional character and appeal. In carrying out my objective I am planning to include spot lights for reading, heaters, mats to reduce slipping and to create a comfortable surface to stand on, coffee cup holders, bag and coat hooks, install a bar for people to lean on while reading, mobile shelving units for easy storage, theft mirrors for the merchant, pull down shelves for shorter people, and clear signs for the various themed sections of the stand. I am sure there will be more to come. How I will go about designing all these amenities using SketchUp? It just seems so clunky and un-evolved compared to illustrator, given SketchUp has a completely different function.

Rise…and Shine?

Up at 6, in the car by 7, and teaching by 8am. Was I ready? As the 7th and 8th graders filled the mac computer lab my first thought was, “I was never that short!” Mr Dohn was uploading illustrator on all the computers through the network. It was a relief not to have to use word as initially expected and dreaded. The class settled down and I projected my voice (or tried to). I asked who was interested in graphic design/ illustrator and 3 of 30 students shyly raised their hands. They had this look of questioning “who the, what the, and why is she here?” All I could think was that there a smudge of breakfast left on the corner of my mouth. Oh no now I am supposed to teach.

I reviewed terms and definitions on the white board. They could tell I was nervous. I then asked the students to sign onto a web page I created for them last night. The web address was so long that it took us five minutes and as expected they all had trouble finding the ~ what is that called again? Squiggle it is. So if you know anything about design you will probably scoff at the line where we ask them to use Arial, but after all, how were we supposed to know what fonts they had. Anyway, the website was so helpful. All the info was easily available for them and this way we avoided having to google image search (that could be dangerous).

I never expected that it would be so difficult to teach illustrator. What I didn’t account for was the simple shortcuts and functions that I naturally do after 4 years with the program. In this situation, it is so important to have patience with yourself and with the students. Some of them were getting frustrated and overwhelmed while others were creating really nice pieces of graphic design. If only I had a few more hours, those kids would be designing books with beautiful typographic treatments. That is if they learned not to stretch type.

Teaching today was a great experience. The time went by so quickly. My attention and focus was on the students and their growth. I was so consumed by their work that my worries about my own projects and future as a designer, (which has become a daily concern), were not bringing me down. I was entirely in the moment. It was fulfilling on so many levels.