11.8.2022
So far I see strengths and weaknesses to this project. What is good is that every student has a unique item to work with and their research is connected to something that they are already interested in. There are of course a few kids who chose something that isn't as important to them as it could have been, and the result is that their buy-in is lower than it should be, but on the whole the students are motivated and creative.
The process of multiple drafts is also easy with this work because it's relatively flat and graphic, the students are not on the computers all the time and can work next to each other and there is always something new to look at. In the beginning, I was afraid that there would be a lot of subjectivity with such a visual project, but what I found is that my constraints have created a lot of objectivity. I require that their text be created in a certain way and I require that their shadows be created a certain way and because of this there is a right and wrong way to do the project.
An issue that I need to address is their use of paint. Before I arrived on campus many of the students applied color to their objects. I deliberately avoided painting their projects because I wanted to ensure that they all would exhibit nicely together. Colors need to be coordinated, by limiting their color to Plywood And Sharpie I wanted to avoid the whole issue. Now I'm in a place where some kids did really high-quality work with the paint and I need to be creative about how I exhibit their objects.
This project would have been stronger if I had made the first week more fun. Instead of asking them to make their initials in plywood I wonder what would have happened if they had just made a representation of something that they liked, a coffee cup, a shoe, a piece of jewelry. By starting out with something fun and interesting I might have helped them build skills more by asking them to make something detailed. In the future I want to start my project with the most fun part of the project first. From there it should be the case that I add content requirements and details and techniques to the class so that their initial fun draft gets more and more complex and rich as the semester goes on.
So far I see strengths and weaknesses to this project. What is good is that every student has a unique item to work with and their research is connected to something that they are already interested in. There are of course a few kids who chose something that isn't as important to them as it could have been, and the result is that their buy-in is lower than it should be, but on the whole the students are motivated and creative.
The process of multiple drafts is also easy with this work because it's relatively flat and graphic, the students are not on the computers all the time and can work next to each other and there is always something new to look at. In the beginning, I was afraid that there would be a lot of subjectivity with such a visual project, but what I found is that my constraints have created a lot of objectivity. I require that their text be created in a certain way and I require that their shadows be created a certain way and because of this there is a right and wrong way to do the project.
An issue that I need to address is their use of paint. Before I arrived on campus many of the students applied color to their objects. I deliberately avoided painting their projects because I wanted to ensure that they all would exhibit nicely together. Colors need to be coordinated, by limiting their color to Plywood And Sharpie I wanted to avoid the whole issue. Now I'm in a place where some kids did really high-quality work with the paint and I need to be creative about how I exhibit their objects.
This project would have been stronger if I had made the first week more fun. Instead of asking them to make their initials in plywood I wonder what would have happened if they had just made a representation of something that they liked, a coffee cup, a shoe, a piece of jewelry. By starting out with something fun and interesting I might have helped them build skills more by asking them to make something detailed. In the future I want to start my project with the most fun part of the project first. From there it should be the case that I add content requirements and details and techniques to the class so that their initial fun draft gets more and more complex and rich as the semester goes on.