Architecture/Design and Teaching

The discussion question this week pertaining to office cubicles or open space work areas got me thinking about the design of the Read 180 English class that I teach in. The class is set up like a traditional classroom in the middle with two person desks in rows across the classroom, however, students are only in those seats for the first 5 minutes of the class period. The classroom is divided into stations and students rotate from station to station every 18 minutes; students are in groups of 10. The rotations are small group, silent reading, and topic software (on the computer). Students who are in small group sit together at the desks in the front of the room and work collaboratively with the teacher. The students that are in silent reading can choose to sit on the couch or in the desks/chairs/beanbags in the silent reading area. Students in the topic software area have their own workspace at a single computer. The division of the class into these work areas and into rotations is very beneficial. This is the first class that I have been in that operates in this way. I believe that this set up is very conducive to learning as it is very rare that students get off task with this dynamic. The classroom is set up in a way that students have designated area within the classroom that are for individual concentration and for collaboration; it's like a combination of the two concepts.

Tale of Two Retail Spaces Video

Imaginative Bridges Between Architecture and My Classroom.

Let me first start off by saying that I hate the way my classroom is designed. Let me follow that up by saying that I had no input as to it's present design. My classroom is a computer lab and is rectangular in shape. It is a large room. In fact, much larger than it needs to be. The computers are along the perimeter in the room leaving a mass of dead space in the middle that I tried to fill with tables that I rarely use. At the far end of the room you will find two large windows. I do enjoy the natural light because I am not fond of the flourescent lights in the ceiling. I have also added a lamp with candescent light because I feel it is less irritating.

Anyway, the layout of my classroom is highly ineffective. The class is very large and the computers stretch all the way around the room. Having that much space with a room full of 30 middle school students is a nightmare. Also, because the computers are around the perimeter I see the back of the students' heads. If I could have designed the room myself I would've had the computers run across the room in tiered rows. The tiered rows would be like seating rows at the movie theater with the farthest computer row being the tallest. Also, behind the seating in every row would be a long table that stretches the length of the row so that when I am presenting in the front of the room students are able to turn around and take notes or write on the table. When I am finished all they have to do is rotate around back to their computer screen. I believe this would be the most effective architecturally effective design for my computer lab.

Writer's Commentary for Film Project (Module 2)

First, I’d like to start off by saying I am definitely no film person and I sort of struggled with an idea for this project.  After I was unsuccessful about thinking of what I wanted to film I decided to try to try to come at this from a different angle. Instead of thinking of what to film I started to think about the emotion I wanted my viewer to feel. From that point I figured out what I wanted to film and how to put it all together. I do not own a video camera so I shot the video with my cell phone camera, which is capable of shooting in HD, but was still difficult. I then took the video and uploaded it into Windows Moviemaker. I cut the time down to about one minute and six seconds. This is where I added the video effects, and imported the song. The song is called “Oh, Look What the Sun Did,” by Josh Rouse. Adding the song was definitely less about the background music and more about the lyrics. The words flow effortless into the film and I believe give the film added depth and substance.

The film is set on the shores of Cass Lake. I live on Cass Lake and find it to be a very tranquil environment. I was hoping to get the viewer to have a sense of peace while viewing the video. From the beginning, the film begins in the heights of the trees with the sky as the backdrop. I slowly pan through the trees and across the lake to find the sun setting in the distance. I held the camera on the setting sun because I was hoping the viewer would be able to feel as though they were on the edge of lake gazing off into the sunset pondering thoughts for day, happy/sad times, or maybe memories from the past. I only used three video effects. The first two were the “Fade In and Out” and the beginning and end of the film. I also added an “old” video effect as well. This really helped set the tone for me. My entire goal for the film was for it to look like the backdrop of an old home video. The music, I believe, was a nice touch. I know we are supposed to focus on the visual, but I felt like that song matched the film perfectly. To be completely honest, the use of the old video effect was two-fold. I love that it made it look like an old home video, but it also helped to disguise the poor quality from my cell phone camera!

My hope is that the film will spark feelings from the past, old home videos, and happy times for my viewer. I was hoping that by keeping the camera focused on the setting sun with the snow covered lake underneath that my viewer would be able to stare into that spot and use it as a canvas for those memories. The film is supposed to be a place for people to go for deep thought, imagination, and reflection. Every single time I watch the video, complete with the editing, music, and video effects I imagine in my head old family home videos, kids playing outside, ice skating on a pond, happy times, innocent days of the past, etc. Hopefully, the video will be able to set the stage for the daydreams of my viewers; as it is meant to be a setting, canvas, stage, crystal ball. What are you able to imagine while staring off into the sunset?

Film Project (Module 2)

Imaginative Bridges between TV/Film and Teaching

As I was sifting through all of the required readings for the week I began to make a correlation between the TV and Film editing process and developing lesson plans. First, teaching is the equivalent to story telling. We have chosen a topic that is important to our students and we romance it in a way that the concepts tell a story. I really feel like the design of the written lesson plan is very much like a movie or television script. It is constantly edited and reworked until it tells the perfect story. Once the script is complete the actors bring it to life. I feel like teachers are the actors that bring the lesson or the script to life for the audience (students). There is alot of work that goes into the editing process to make the movie perfect. Teachers often times find themselves constantly rewriting lessons and reworking them because they find that they simply do not work they way they are. Even after they have taught the lesson to the class it is not uncommon to revisit the lesson plan and adjust for things that just didn't work. This is very reminiscent of the editing process of the movie after it has been filmed. I read from the required readings that the editing process for a movie iz so meticulous and editing continues until all of the bad parts are cut out. The same rings true or many teachers editing lesson plans.

Thought Behind the Wheel

As I was driving to work today behind the wheel of the new car I bought last week pulled up behind a brand new Dodge Journey. The first thing I noticed was the l-e-d tailights. This made me think of the compelling pictures that Chrysler always posts on their brand websites before a new car is released. The pictures are NEVER of the entire car. They are all teaser pictures that highlight fancy features like a grille, tailight, headlight, radio knob, or detailed stitching. Using pictures like these entice consumers to learn more about the car. I think this is a great marketing tool and has the capabilities to capture the attention of many more people.