Reflection Entry on Course

Taking this course, has forced me to look into the Nature and Design of everything I see and experience around me. This art is literally everywhere. I also, always try to look at whatever I do and connect it back to education. For example, I currently work two jobs. One is at a finance and investment company; the other is serving tables at a restaurant. I constantly look for ways to transfer what I am doing now into my future profession as a teacher. I see my job at the investment company as one that requires a lot of organization and procedural processes. These skills are required in teaching a classroom of students as well. The connections I have made are the same as the imaginative bridges, which I have been making throughout the course in the various frames of art we have studied each week. Making these connections can at times be uncomfortable and difficult because I have not been in a classroom for about a year now. I have to pull from my internship experience from last year, and push myself to really think about it. But, through this exercise, it has made me really miss being in the classroom, and continue to hunt that much harder for my future job.

The biggest lesson, in the Nature and Design of Compelling Experiences, is that it must be compelling for ME. If I have passion and truly believe in what I am presenting, then it shines through in what I have created. I think about this when teaching students. If I hate math, and my students know that I hate math, why would they want to learn any math at all from me. But the teacher, who is ENTHUSIASTIC about mathematics, gets students involved and eager to learn. Whenever I would plan a lesson for my second graders last year, I would always consider the personal connection. In my work of art segment on Twilight, I tried to convey my passion for reading the books through descriptive words and audio to give a sense to my viewer that the series was truly loved by me. In my work of art segment on film, I created a video about moving away from home and the struggles I faced in that decision. This was a very personal topic for me, but I hope that the intimate feel of the film created an intrigued and attentive audience. I remember when I was teaching last year, I launched a GO GREEN project for my class. It was something I was passionate about and created a passion within my students as well. By the end of the project we had done some really nice things for our school, and my students were left with a huge sense of pride and accomplishment. That was because it all became personal for them. I believe this is the most important step in a nature and design process.

Then comes the design. The design of the experience should have specific goals for what the creator wants his or her audience to FEEL. In our architecture module, we studied the design of retail spaces and how they were designed to make someone feel a certain way when they walked in the room. I studied one ice cream shop in particular, which made me feel like I could just indulge in the finest dessert pleasures. When we look at a classroom, how does it make a student feel, and how does it enable students to learn. The design of a space and surroundings has an amazing impact on how we experience it. I was especially moved by two work of art videos in particular on body language and storytelling. It reminds me of reading storybooks to students. I have seen some pretty amazing teachers and librarians read stories to children, which are absolutely captivating. Reading a story in this way, does not just come by picking up a book and reading the words out loud. The reading is DESIGNED and practiced. The voice, the pace of reading, and the mood are all aspects, which are created to give the students a particular experience of the content. I have always admired good story readers.

Lastly, I want to comment on the experience. I think it is important to note that everyone’s experience of a particular work of art is unique. I can see that in the comments left by my cohorts on everyone’s videos. Everyone has different things to say about the work of art. Each person brings his or her own background, beliefs, and preconceptions into an experience, and therefore the output will be different. I think this is very important to consider in teaching, because each student will understand something in his or her own unique way. This is when a teacher needs to assess student learning and differentiate according to the individual. I also believe, though, that through this course, an experience can be designed so that the output is very similar. There will be many agreements, some disagreements, and a few never before mentions. But that’s just because we come from a world where everyone is individual and entitled to his or her own opinion and feelings. I really appreciated this course and the creative works of art shared by my colleagues. This class has added a whole new dimension to my teaching.

Learning and Teaching Styles

Thinking about the work of art in fashion in comparison to the work of art in teaching, I think about STYLE. I blogged earlier about someone's style of fashion and how it can define your personality. I can form an imaginative bridge between fashion style to teaching and learning style. I think a person's learning style drives their teaching style. For example I know that I am a very visual learner, so I like to teach using lots of visual aids. I also recognize that my students all have different learning styles and it is my job to make sure I am differentiating my instruction to reach all of my students various learning needs. For example, an auditory learner may better learn their spelling words by hearing them spelled out loud, whereas a visual learner like myself needs to see them spelled out on the board. So, in my spelling lesson I would do both. Read the word, write it on the board, and ask a student to spell the word orally. Some students learn better independently and some learn better with a partner, so I would give students the choice during a lesson.

The Link Between the Design and Experience of Fashion with Education

Fashion is our topic of discussion this week. To me fashion is an expression of who you are and how you feel. When I am feeling good about myself, what I'm doing, and who I'm going to see, I like to wear nice fashionable clothes. It is an expression of the confidence I feel. The quality and time put into the fashion shows how I feel about myself. The appearance and style of clothing however, are a snapshot of my personality. I like to add a scarf to a spice up an outfit because my love of scarves came from my experience in Europe. When someone experiences my fashion, they are getting a glimpse into me, how I feel, and my personality. This can be applied to education very easily. When a student feels confident about the work they are submitting, the work will be presented in a clean manner and will be done well. It is our job as the teacher to motivate students to do good work and give positive encouragement to aid in their success. When a student is not feeling confident about the work, for example if they are feeling as if they are incompetent and do not understand, there is a lack of motivation to put in a valiant effort. The teacher is responsible for designing lesson plans and assignments, which create a positive and motivating experience for the students, providing self confidence in the acceptable output, which therefore makes students feel successful in the classroom.

The Work of Art in Music in comparison to The Work of Art in Education

This week we are discussing the work of art in music, more specifically "the hook". The hook is described as a musical or lyrical phrase that stands out and is easily remembered. It is usually repetitive, attention grabbing, memorable, and easy to dance to (according to Wikipedia). It is defined as "the foundation of commercial hit song-writing. Although it is hard to pin-point the exact attributes to the hook, it is appealing to listeners. When I think about the hook, I think about the part that gets stuck in my head. I relate this to education in terms of what we want students to remember in the lesson. I know when I have something I really want my students to remember I try to create little tricks or catchy sayings, that will spark their memory of the content. For example, when teaching my second graders about cardinal directions, I taught them the phrase, "Never Eat Soggy Waffles" to remember the order of north, east, south, west. This gets stuck in their head the same way the hook of a song gets stuck in mine.

The Bridge Between Interior Design and Education

While I was working through this module, thinking about organized space, I was making connections in my mind to educationally organized space. One of the most important and critical aspect of teaching, aside from the actual teaching, is the classroom in which we teach! A question that often reoccurs in job interviews is, "What does your classroom look like?" A classroom, enables learning to take place, so the way this environment is designed is crucial. Some things to consider:

How are the desks going to be arranged? Will the students sit in groups or at individual desks? What will the classroom library look like? How will the furniture be arranged so there is space for "traffic to move" safely and conveniently? Where will the teacher's desk be placed? How does technology play a role in the arrangement? Is there enough storage space? How will students access materials?

Because I do not have my own classroom yet to base this off of, I think about my past experiences in classrooms, most fresh is my student teaching internship. I really appreciated Susanka's point about "light to walk towards." In the classroom I interned in, we had a large wall of windows, which I liked to open the blinds and let the sunshine in. After the students came back from lunch (this was 2nd grade), I would close the blinds and turn one set of lights off during silent reading time, to calm the students down after a rowdy lunch recess. I also think about Susanka's point with "shelter around activity." This reminds me of our reading area. It was located in the corner of the classroom, with the bookshelves used as mini walls to separate the reading corner from the rest of the classroom. There were beanbags in the reading corner for students to use to get comfy as they curled up with their books. Every part of a classroom is designed for a particular learning experience. I guess you could add architect to the many hats a teacher wears!!

Architecture: What qualities of your experience are influenced by what qualities of the designed environment?

In this week's module, we were asked to visit two retail spaces, both which were in the same niche, and evaluate their interior design. In my evaluation I focused on the product which was being sold, in relation to the architectural design of the store which sells it. Because I have such a sweet tooth, I decided to evaluate an ice cream shop and frozen yogurt store. Here is my evaluation:

Coldstone Creamery-

As soon as I walk into the Coldstone Creamery, the scent of freshly baked waffle cones hits my nose, and I notice the elaborate signs taking up most of the wall space, listing millions of choices to fit my heart’s desire. Coldstone offers a unique “ice cream experience” in that the ice cream and toppings are hand-folded together on a giant cold slab of stone. The slab of stone is at the center of your ordering experience. The huge signs on the wall have endless descriptions specifically written with adjectives such as, “gooey caramel,” or “fresh-baked brownie,” to make your mouth water. The Coldstone Creamery logo is seen everywhere from the employee hats and shirts, the ice cream cups, and the signs located all over the store, including a large sign above the ice cream making station. The creamery is set up so that you order and walk down the line as you watch your special ice cream prepared on the cold slab of stone. At the end of the counter is a large freezer showcasing even more elaborate ice cream cakes than the one in your hand. Overall the interior design of the creamery, is inviting and rich from the deep red color of the brand, to the intricate and detailed signs- all fitting to the product. The tables and chairs are arranged in groups of 2 to 4, and look as if they invite customers to indulge in a “dining experience,” because a trip to Coldstone is not going to be “fat-free” or “low-calorie,” it is going to be a special occasion of pure sugar pleasure.

Yogaberry-

The bright lime green and fluorescent purple sign of “Yogaberry” drew me in to this cute frozen yogurt shop on my first visit. I repeatedly go back because Yogaberry is not just any frozen yogurt, it’s organic and always fat-free, which equals guilt-free. The first thing I notice when I walk in are the little green round stools at each white table, which reminded me of sitting atop large “berries” like in the store’s name. When I walk up to the counter my eyes immediately admire the toppings station filled with lots of fresh cut fruit, and I mean FRESH. Then I notice the simple design of the menu signs hanging on the wall. There are six flavors, one of which changes weekly. They all say “fat-free” underneath them to remind you that this stuff isn’t bad for the waistline. These signs are simple and to the point emphasizing “organic.” I also notice a poster listing reasons “Why Yogurt is Good for You.” The space is designed to be bright, open, and simple. The Yogaberry logo is seen all sorts of places such as the employee tee-shirts, on the glass window, and on the display with Yogaberry tees and sweatshirts for sale. The seating area has a large bench seat stretching along the wall, and little green stools on the opposite side. The stools are fun and unique. The seating area seems like a short-term place to enjoy your yogurt for about 15 minutes and be on your way. The architectural design of the store reflects this guilt-free simplistic design of the product of which it’s selling. Overall, I feel this space was designed with minimalism in mind, reflecting the organic simple yogurt.

Designing my own compelling experience.... Video Module 2

Module 2: Create a video of something meaningful, which conveys an essence of something. A very creative project. Here is what I came up with and my critiques. I will include my director's commentary first.


Humitz Director's Commentary

When I first started thinking about where to begin with this project… I was at a loss. I love creative projects, but struggle with such an open theme. I could go anywhere and do anything with this. So I started my brainstorming during a recent trip to Savannah, GA, thinking I might go with a “long ago” theme, since I was taking so many pictures of the historical town. That led nowhere, and I decided that if I was going to make this compelling and meaningful, I had to get personal.

I had written in my blog about my experience of moving away to Florida from Michigan, with a couple friends, one of whom I don’t speak to anymore. It is something I have been struggling with for a while, along with being homesick and so far away from everyone I love. I knew this is where I needed to go in my video, because it is so prominent in my life right now.

The story begins with the excitement of moving somewhere new and different. You can hear our excitement when crossing the state line. I left this part unedited because I wanted the audience to feel the raw emotion coming through, and anticipation of what we were embarking upon. I decided to convey my story through a letter written to someone back home. I wanted to leave the “someone,” left unknown and open to interpretation. But you can gather it is someone I love and care a lot about. The letters start out cheerful and with no regret. I chose the song, “White Houses,” by Vanessa Carlton, because it is one of my favorite songs and felt really connected to the story in my song. Following the first letter are images of my new life and enjoying my new home. I left these images flipping pretty swiftly and without a fade out, as a way to lead up to the climax of the story. Every story has a problem and we are just on the brink of it. After the video of us dancing in the bathroom I let the following pictures stand a bit longer. I did this to create a dragging sense, and notion that the problem is coming. I aligned this with the lyrics of the song, and wanted to “choreograph” the images with the music. When the song hits the word “mistake,” I wanted to time my written “mistake” at the same moment to create more drama leading up to the betrayal. This is also when I started fading one picture into the next, because it was getting more emotional. My favorite part of the video is when the beat of the music speeds up with the quick rewind of all the photos that led up to the climax. This is a detail that I really put a lot of work in, although I realize that to the only slightly attentive viewer could easily go unnoticed. I chose to rewind the pictures, like I was thinking backwards of everything that had happened leading me up to this point. Like a spiral out of control. When the music slows down I stand on the images longer again for sentimental value. I wanted to end the video with a sense that I wasn’t a victim to this betrayal, but instead rose above it. I ended with the waves in silence, because I felt it left a sense of wonder… like where will I go next. I also wanted it to convey peace and that despite the drama and disloyalty- I’m going to be okay.