Reflection Paper on Heard Around the Common

Our beliefs, time, money, and actions are all being fought over with design as the arsenal. The graphic designer learns how to participate in this fight through education, intuition, creativity, and technical skills. Though helpful, a formal education in design is not what is meant here. The education needed is more about understanding the previously mentioned rules we are working with. Intuition is required in order to know when it is appropriate to adjust or disregard these rules. Creativity is needed because redundancy will not break through the wall into the internal world. Technical skills are essential because poor craft reduces credibility. This idea of the world as an arena is a reoccurring theme in The Cheese Monkeys, and the importance of education, intuition, creativity, and technical skills have been further reinforced to us through the grading process and classroom discussions in Graphic Design

Griffin, T. (2014, September 18). Utah Education Network. Retrieved March 29, 2015, from Multimedia in the Classroom: www.uen.com/multimediainclassroom

While pursuing my Master’s degree in education, I developed all of the skills necessary to design and implement a variety of instructional materials. Through my work experience I learned how to infuse that knowledge with technology to meet the needs of a twenty-first century learning environment.

In grade 6, I completed a film project, which lead/took me on a path of self-discovery. This experience left an indelible mark on how I perceive my identity. Having had such an experience, I believe that others would benefit from this art form and could learn more about themselves in the process. Therefore, I would introduce a filmmaking seminar to SFUHS’s curriculum to challenge creativity, and emphasize the importance of creating well-rounded individuals.

Always sporting a camera around his neck, a mason jar mug, and his signature beard-cardigan-tattoo combo, Michael Gaffney was the youngest and therefore hippest teacher at The Harley School. Gaffney (as he was known to all the students) was the school’s Digital Media teacher for three years, and during his short time at the school he became my mentor, my advisor, and my friend. Of all my teachers, it was Gaffney who had the greatest influence on who I am and what I want to be.

The computer revolution has changed a lot of how graphic design is conducted and with that came the do-it-yourself graphic designers. “Low-cost computers and software have radically challenged the working procedure of designers.” Thornton (1996). Sitting at home working on a computer receiving a paycheck is a dream that many have and would love to do, however, this is not the case for a lot of people. Most high school students get to choose from a large array of classes that teach them the basics of the Adobe Creative Suite or other software that they can manipulate images or illustrate pictures. Some get the idea that because they read some information on websites and learn some terminology that they have what it takes to get into the

Built on the Connected Learning framework, the space created a tangible connection between youth interests, educational achievement, employment opportunities, and civic engagement (Sebring et al., 2013). There were many occurrences during my time at YOUmedia were students directly impacted their communities or peers through various forms of art. One such occasion was during the “What’s Going On...Now”

Throughout high school and college thus far, I have been a part of the TRiO program, which is suitable for first generation and low-income students. Being a first generation college student , it allows me to succeed above the boundaries by parents were not able to do. This allows me to further my education and without it, I would not be achieving my BFA in Design. My heart’s desire is to get my BFA in Design and continue visually communicating the properties of good design. In my beginning art courses, I had trouble opening up and getting out of my comfort zone, but by gaining that knowledge from my freshman level courses, I got to broaden those concepts.

More generally, weak educational design involves two kinds of purposelessness, visible throughout the educational world from kindergarten through graduate school. We call these the “twin sins” of traditional design. The error of activity-oriented design might be called “hands-on without being minds-on”—engaging experiences that lead only accidentally, if at all, to insight or achievement. The activities, though fun and interesting, do not lead anywhere intellectually. Such activity-oriented curricula lack an explicit focus on important ideas and appropriate evidence of learning, especially in the minds of the learners.

One of my themes was EDU 355, or Content Literacy, the other was my my study abroad trip to France. In Content Literacy, I learned different types of literacy that can be incorporated in lessons and teaching, including visual, audio, and digital. This course demonstrated different strategies that can be used to elicit different types of knowledge from learners. Using different forms of media, such as the internet, French books and films, as well as audio clips would give students or learners more opportunities to learn the subject

From the assignment, I gained a better understanding of how technology builds a confident learning environment in the classroom for diverse students. Through the video segments and teacher led websites, my ELL and special education students were able to visually experience other cultures and customs that they would have been unable to read about due to the reading difficulty levels of informational text pieces. My SES learners were exposed to real-world experiences and an array of other culture groups through the use of the videos and internet searches. In addition, the internet research project allowed authentic collaboration among peers. The diverse student populations used their strengths to add to the learning of the project. Furthermore, the GT population was able to use their investigative resources and provide creative assistance to the other diverse student populations. Although I am overall pleased with the original assignment, I know that there are areas on which I could improve. In the area of assessment, I need to include a digital performance assessment as well. Research has shown that even primary students have the capability of independently producing digital media such as storybooks, presentations, and movies (Blair, 2012). A digital performance assessment would allow the diverse students to work at their levels to produce their own media presentation. I feel that this would be better suited to the preparation of 21st century learners than my original assessment

Within my first professional placement I was provided with many opportunities to engage students using technology. Year 8 was studying Shakespeare for the first time; examining Midsummers Night Dream (MSND). To assist students in understanding the complex plot I used collaborative learning allowing each student to become experts on one scene of the play to share with their peers; students were encouraged to do this both verbally and visually through the creation of comic strips. This style of learning environment adheres to Vygotsky’s theory that learning is heightened through the sharing of information; therefore learning within the Zone of Proximal Development (ZPD) (learning-theories.com, 2016) as creating an in-depth outline of the entire

The main thing that stood out for me was Universal Design for Learning, and how much “assistive technology” and “accessibility” tools benefits EVERYONE! There is no such thing as average! Even as adults we benefit from this approach!

My first experience with digital media started at Volcano Vista High School. Registering as an incoming freshman, I wanted to become a photographer. I distinctly remember registering for photography class, but I was stuck with digital media as an alternative. I like to joke that it was either destiny that put me in that class, or a huge mistake. Nonetheless, I instantly fell in love with digital media. My teacher, Jan Sherer, provided me with equipment and software to be able to learn the basics of digital media. Although she was unpopular by most students in her class, I always considered her a mentor. By senior year, I became proficient in most adobe products such as Premiere Pro, Adobe After Effects, and Adobe Audition. I also learned different camera techniques thanks to her teachings. She also entrusted me with a cameraman job for the schools daily morning

There were many connections that I have experienced, between the work I have done and the course outcomes. I have used a lot of the outcomes such as research process, style conventions, multimodal design, and reflective interactions in my writings throughout the semester. Three of the outcomes I will discuss our research process, style conventions, and reflective interactions.