A for Analyze Learners

     The learners I will first work with are a group of 15 children between ages 3 and 5.  Eventhough they are quite young they already have significant experience working in the garden; planting, watering, picking, tasting and drawing.

S for State Objectives

    Students will learn about the life cycle of plants.  Students will be able to identify the different stages in the cycle.  Students will each be responsible for an individual plan and will document its life cycle.

S for Select Instructional Methods, Media and Materials

  The lesson will begin by watching my digital story about the garden project.  By watching the story, students will remember the projects they have already accomplished in the garden.  Students will also witness sequence and the documentation process.

   In addition to the technology needed to show digital story of garden, this lesson will require classroom sets of disposable cameras, tape measures, crayons, pencils and journals.

U for Utilize Media and Materials

   I will utilize the digital story of the garden project to introduce our lesson about the life cycle of plants.  I will use digital story to discuss sequence and telling a story. 

   Students will learn how to document plant growth by taking photos with a disposable camera and by measuring with a tape measure and recording the data.

R for Require Learner Participation

   Students will each be assigned a plant to track it’s life cycle from the planting of it as a seed to its harvest.  Students will be given a disposable camera and will take one photo of their plant each week.  Students will measure their plant and write down it’s height.

E for Evaluate and Revise

At the end of the plants’ life cycles students will share the story of their individual plants life cycles.  I will be evaluating students by their consistency of documentation and sequencing of life cycle.  I will evaluate myself by seeing if there are reoccuring questions by students or if there is inconsistent ordering of life cycle.  Those questions or inconsistencies could be based on my inadequate directions and I would then revise my instructions for future projects.

     Provided that someone has the access to digital media and technology, it becomes much more flexible to complete assignments.  I am not beholden to library and school computer lab hours.  I can work from the comfort of my own room and work throughout the night if I want to. 

    I’m excited to see everyone’s digital story, and to be able to share the story of Children’s Studio School’s Garden.  I am proud of what I was able to do.  While my project is very far from perfection, I used skills that I had never known before.  I had to do a lot of experimenting in order to get everything to work.  Maybe that is the best way to learn.  I enjoyed everyone’s photoshop tips two weeks ago, but I couldn’t remember all of the tips.  The applications I used most were ones that I found through experimentation.

    Good luck everyone finishing up your projects.  I know there are a few more things I can brush up in the morning light.

      I believe that working in the garden does incorporate several different intelligences, most specifically logical/mathematical, spatial, bodily kinesthetic and naturalist.  The logical/mathematical intelligence is used when keeping track of the science of the garden.  Students need to know how far apart  and how deep to sew the seeds.  Students need to be able to estimate the amount of water needed to keep the plants alive.  Students have participated in many activities where they have actually measured and charted the growth in the garden.  Students use their spatial intelligence by viewing the intense visual stimuli in the garden.  By their attention to sight detail they know which plants are wilting and need a little more water and they know which plants are ripe and are ready to be harvested.  Students use their bodily kinesthetic intelligence by working in the garden.  They need to have the skills of reaching, bending, squatting and digging to keep the garden functioning.  Students use their naturalist intelligence by working to keep the plant’s lives thriving.  They are solving problems of water and sun exposure in order to maximize their lives.

        Angela presented after us on Situated Learning.  Their is so much I learned from her presentation but the point that stood out to me was, situated learning must incorporate real world accountability.  Eventhough it is to a relatively small scale, the students working in the garden are accountable to the real world.  They are not just simulating the care for plants in the classroom, they are working with real plants.  If they do not care for the plants, the plants will die. 

          The next week Bridget and Emily began with Constructivism.  The garden also incorporates constructivist thought.  Students are usually working in groups as they plant, water, harvest and measure.  While it is necessary for the teacher to disseminate some information the students are also aquiring information by participating directly in activities.  Students ask questions and find out many of their answers together.  Learning builds on previous knowledge as students’ responsibilities in the garden continue to increase.

   Melissa ended the presentations by leading a discussion in Experiental learning.  I believe that the garden is a experiential learning environment.  The students are not just learning about plants from a textbook. Instead they are growing them, smelling them and eating them.  They are experiencing every aspect of their life cycle.

      When I first decided on doing my digital story on the story of our school’s garden, I found all my old garden pictures and went out and took lots of new pictures.  Now I am seeing the importance of creating a script and storyboard first.  They are necessary to be able to organize all those pictures.  I still will probably change some of the exact wording but I did create a basic script to my story.  This week I concentrated on capturing auditory recordings.

        I brought my computer into school and interviewed about 15 kids at my school, asking them what they liked about the garden and to tell the story of the garden in their words.  When I started interviewing, I started with some of the youngest kids at the school and it led to interesting results.  They became fascinated with watching their voice graph fluctuate on the screen and began to change the volume of their voice to make it fluctuate even more.  They loved wearing the headphones and then listening back to it at the end. 

    While I was able to confidently record audio, I am a little nervous about how to edit it.  The student’s voices are full of pauses and ‘ums’.  I guess every challenge will give you excuse to master a new digital media skill.

     There is still another day before class and the opportunity to bring in extra credit.  I have been spending time looking at different photoshop recipes on line.  When I read through them I remain confused and don’t know how I would explain it to the rest of the class.  I think it is especially confusing because I don’t have Photoshop near by to actually tryout the recipes.  I guess I’ll still keep looking for a photoshop recipe that feels comfortable to me.

     So, on Saturday I read a little more while I was taking the metro out to my family in Virginia, and came across a huge passage about Howard Gardner and Multiple Intelligence Theory.  The book incorporated the theory to demonstrate the intelligence of these dancers.  They are not only using bodily-kinesthetic but also musical and spatial intelligence.  It would be difficult to see these dancers and not call them talented.  But the book makes the point that it is more than talent it is intelligence.

     The passage goes on to share a bit of an interview that Gardner had given at some point.   Someone asked Gardner if the skills possessed by dancers could be described as talent.  “Gardner, too has no trouble calling these abilities talents, he writes, ‘so long as one calls language or logic talents as well”.

    The discussion of talent or intelligence continues in the book as the author poses the question to dance teachers, “How do you spot talent?”  All the teachers she interviewed were very reluctant to give a precise answer.  One teacher remarked that, “anything can be taught”, and many stressed the importance of motivation.

     Maybe that is why Gardner was reluctanct to label people by their supposed types of intelligence.  He doesn’t want to limit people in what they can learn.  Maybe all people can learn through all intelligences if they are sufficiently motivated.  However, no matter how motivated I am to improve my dancing abilities, it is difficult to imagine that I will ever be as amazing as an Alvin Ailey dancer.

      The presentations also included digital media.  The first talk I went to was to hear the environmental consultant for Montgomery County Schools and her plan to create green schools.  A Powerpoint presentation accompanied her talk.  After our analyzing exercise of Angela’s principals presentation, I couldn’t get over that this woman would also choose to use glaring red text on a white background. (It wasn’t for the whole presentation, but it was still too much) 

   The afternoon presentation panel discussed art & politics.  One of the presenters had created an elaborate powerpoint presentation but when she saw the small audience she changed plans.  Instead she instructed us to sit in a circle and have a more intimate conversation.  I wonder what the presentation would have been like if she went ahead and did her original presentation.  Maybe the audience would have been more reluctant to dialogue.

  Recently I have been thinking about digital media frequently and most specifically our own digital storytelling projects.  Any technical tips we learn in class will be very beneficial to me, including audio which Nathan mentioned.  I think I have decided the subject of my story.  I would like to tell the story of the garden run by the elementary school that I work.   Since it is a project I am already very invested in I am very interested in telling its story.  I also see potential for it to be an educational tool in the classroom.  Hopefully, Heather I can discuss this possibility more with you in class on Thursday.

        All the information I read about the presentation described it as cultural storytelling through digital medium, so I assumed that it would be digital storytelling in the same sense as we intend to use in our class.  However, instead each photographer presented a large digital slideshow and at their own pace told the story to accompany their photos.  Saiful Huq from Bangladesh shared his photos of “Stolen Dreams: The Story of the Abandoned Victims of Political Violence”.  Sandra Sebasatian Pedro of Guatemala’s story was entitled “Inherited Violence”, visually showing the current violence in Guatemala and how its roots go back centuries.  Newsha Tavakolian from Iran gave us a realistic glimpse of the women in Iran with her photos, “Iran: Women in the Axis of Evil”.   The fourth awardee was Larry McNeil from Alaska who showed the story of his tribe in “Fly by Night Mythology”.  McNeil’s presentation was different than the other three.  Each image was comprised of a collage of images – photos, drawings, and written text.  He obviously “borrowed” many images.  For example one image was a photo of the show the Lone Ranger that he made some adjustments too.  He did not talk about it but I wondered if he had to get special permission to use that material.  I would assume it would be copyrighted. 

      The fifth speaker was Peter Magubane who is famous for his photographs documenting apartheid in South Africa.  He shared a photostory dating back to the 1950′s.  Unlike the other photographers who used a laptop hooked up to the screen to show their digital work, Magubane used a slide projector to show his photos from film.  Periodically he had to stop and refocus the photos.

      After their inital presentations, they started a discussion.  One of their topics was the use of digital vs. film photography.  McNeil who is a university professor, admits that even though he uses digital photography he believes that it is necessary to master film photography before delving into the digital field.  Magubane reminded the audience that the magic lies in the darkroom.  He is not always personally opposed to using digital photography but he continues to use film photography.  He says that the project he is currently working on does not need to be transmitted as quickly as digital media allows.

     The question was posed “Will digital technology change the oppression you are experiencing in your countries?”  They all agreed yes.  Digital media has made it much more possible for these photographers to get their stories out. 

     Eventhough the presentation was not exactly like I expected, I really enjoyed it.  Hearing the stories from the photographers was much more powerful than hearing an audio recorded presentation.  I was able to see moments in their realities, that otherwise I would not be able to see. They spoke of current use of film and digital photography as a state of hybridity.  While I am continuing to further appreciate digital technology,  I do have so much respect for film photography.  I hope that the state of hybridity continues and that neither cancels out the other.

 If any one would like to see the photos, they can be found at http://www.nationalgeographic.com/allroads/photography.html

     Since our first class and receiving the syllabus I have been aware that we are supposed to create a digital storytelling project.  I’ve been so curious about what that actually means.  Going to the Art & Media house and viewing several projects created by the youth began to give me an idea of what our project will entail.  I hope that some type of funding finds it’s way to that project because it seems so valuable.  How else could that 12 year old tell his story of him cutting his arm.

     It is fairly late in the evening but Freedman’s Chapter 2 and 3 are fresh in my mind.  As reading Chapter 4, the corresponding questions really helped me make sense of the chapters.  Question 5 asks , “What is the separation between fine art and popular art?”.  From my reading of the chapters I understood the creation of fine art to be mostly concerned with it’s aesthetic value.  Popular art is mostly concerned with obtaining large scale social value.  Freedman explains that advancements in technologies are blurring these two categories together.

      Are there only two categories of art?  This semester I am taking the Introduction to Art Therapy course.  We are exploring how art is another language for us to express our feelings.  When we are practicing art therapy techniques we are asked not to worry about it’s aesthetic attractiveness but on honestly portraying our emotions.  From my limited experience I would think that this form of art would not fit into either category.  Whatever this category is, it is the category where I find myself most frequently. 

  Perhaps that is why I selected Expressionism as the conceptual framework  (listed on p. 39) that I most identify.  The chart defines Expressionism as the “aesthetic argument that form inherently promotes human expression of emotion.”

    One of my duties at the school is teaching math to 4th – 6th graders.  Most of the students I taught math to last year but there are several new students.  I have no reference for their prior knowledge and I find myself slowly trying to tap into their “hidden unit” of knowledge.

   After school today I took some time to search through digital media projects posted on the internet.  I was extremely impressed, most of them seem exemplary to me.  I wonder if I will have the skills in a few weeks to be able to create something atleast half as wonderful for my digital storytelling project.

     The project I most wanted to explore I found at http://www.lowdrone.com/drone-live1.html .  The lowdrone project is about an aerial drone vehicle (mostly used for the military) redesigned by artists which is traveling back and forth over the U.S./Mexico border.  At one point the project likens the drones reconnaissance capabilities to the idea of “Big Brother”. 

    The project uses an interactive simulation technique.  I became the pilot on this usually unmanned flight.  By clicking on the keys I started up the engine and by pressing the gas and spinning the steering wheel I could take off and look around.  Everything was very user friendly (I guess as long as you are familiar with riding in a car).  There is even an audio component.  Just click on the radio and you have your choice of 5 channels. Four channels give information about the drone while one channel is music.  I’m not sure exactly what technical equipment they would have had to use, except that they would need to have a drone with audiovisual recording devices.

  I could definitely envision myself using this project in an educational lesson.  Since it is so interactive and fairly self explanatory I would use it with 4th graders through highschoolers.  Since this project is strongly politically motivated, commentating on the U.S./Mexico border, I would use it as a tool when discussing border issues and immigration policies. 

  In a lesson I would tie the lowdrone project into my personal experiences.  When I lived in California I attended a peace vigil at the same park as shown in the project.  The park is border state park where the border between the U.S. and Mexico actually extends several hundred yards out into the ocean.  Being there was such an intense experience – seeing both the majestic ocean and the horrific fence simulataneously.  At the vigil I could only stand on the U.S. side looking into Mexico.  The simulation from the lowdrone project allowed me to see the view from Mexico looking into the U.S.  I wish people could really just fly  back and forth over the border like the drone. 

     This project allowed me to see how powerful digital media can be, taking education to places it has never been before.  I am really looking forward to the field trip next thursday and to begin more skills to deepend my digital media competancy.

   The debate about power point was very interesting.  Tufte really was passionately against it.  He gave many bad examples but I wish he gave atleast one good example, or atleast a decent example so I could have a little more clarity. Maybe he doesn’t believe it possible to create a useful powerpoint. 

   I have very limited experience in powerpoint.  For my senior project as an undergraduate I was required to create a powerpoint.  The presentation was about coastal erosion in developing countries.  I guess I’ll see how much I remember in class on Thursday.