Tech Tools: Stop Motion Animation

Stop motion animation is a tool for visual storytelling that uses still images to create a moving image. Stop motion movies can be as simple as a few consecutive frames that form a story-board to an intricate film with thousands of frames a minuet. A classic example of stop motion that many may be familiar with is claymation: forming characters from clay and photographing them through a range of positions to create action. The popular series Wallace and Gromit is an example of this technique.

Of course, Wallace and Gromit is stop motion created by a studio of trained technicians, but the same stop motion principles apply to this film as would be used by students in the classroom. A camera is set up in a fixed place and the characters are moved around in front of it with one photography being taken at selected intervals (the smaller the interval the faster the action) to create motion. The characters that create motion can be either 3D models, or can take the form of an image that is developed in front of the camera and sped up to create a progression.  Here is an example of a stop motion video I made with drawing and painting. This video combines portions of stop motion with video to create a more dynamic experience.

 

The flexibility and creative potential of stop motion make it an excellent tool for students to express them selfs and show their learning. Because it is often an in depth process to make a stop motion film, it also lends itself well to collaboration between students, with individualized roles such as camera person, director, cinematographer etc within a group. Below is an example of a stop motion animation made by a whole class at Gidgalang Kuuyas Naay Secondary School in Haida Gwaii. The animation uses readily available materials like cardboard and paper and tells the story of Taaw, a local landmark on Graham Island. This video is an excellent example of the power of stop motion animation. It is simple, creative, collaborative approachable and fun way to breath life into any story. These students have made it relevant by using it to tell the story of their own place and culture in their own language. With the right tools, training access to equipment and time I think all students could tell their story in this medium.

Reflections on Photography

The semester is over and it is time to reflect on my open inquiry project: exploring photography. When I started this inquiry I did not have a photography practice to speak of. I wanted to use this opportunity to build a routine that incorporated photography into my studio practice and extended my understanding of photography to a high school context. I started by working with digital photos and observational subjects, and moved on to colour and film photography shot with an SLR. I worked alongside students in senior photography classes at Vic High during the inquiry process to learn how to develop my own film. I experimented with a point and shoot film camera and a manual SLR. I had rolls of failed film and pleasant surprises.

Working on a personal art project over these past months has provided a welcome alternative to my other courses. Having to take photos has encouraged me to go outside, to explore my surroundings and observe things with more intention. Working with film has been the most enjoyable modality because it’s processing time and unpredictability forced me to slow down. This means that my inquiry may not have been as productive as some but it has opened up a new mode of expression in my practice. In this way it is not a project that ends with this semester, but will continue to grow and change as I grow and change as an artist.

Moving through this inquiry process I have also realized how deeply applicable my learning will be to my teaching. I wanted to work with photography because it represented a gap in my knowledge of the art education curriculum. Though I still have work to do before I could teach a photography class, I have learned how important photographic literacy and awareness of photographic image composition is to all art projects. Photos act as a visual language that communicate in a specific syntax. Intuitively I think many people understand how to read this language – in part due to the proliferation of photos we live with today. However having to construct photos has made me more aware of the cues that an image gives and how to manipulate them. Extending this learning to my students will help them critically engage with the visual world they occupy- be it on social media or in their daily interaction with the commercial world. Understanding the power of images is an increasingly important skill for today’s youth, and I hope that my inquiry can continue to strengthen my ability to teach this skill.

Coding, Blended Education and Thinking about Modality

Today we had a lesson in coding with Scratch from Rich McCue. Scratch is a visual coding program that allows you to create interactive stories with code. Code is broken down into already written phrases that perform specific actions in Scratch. The user selects the “block” of code they want and click it into other blocks to create a unique sequence. This visual manipulation of code is a good starting point for inexperienced coders because as it mystifies the language and logic of coding by representing it visually. For me, Scratch was a useful way to create fun sequences and mess around with basic code commands. For my future students, I could see this program being a good game making tool. Introducing interactive play into student led projects would help provide choice to my socials studies learners, and Scratch would be a good platform to suggest for digitally constructing a game that connected to an inquiry or research project.  Games like Scratch are particularly useful because of their flexibility, because each student can program as little or as much as is their level of understanding or desire. Like many games or forms of play, I think tools like Scratch lead to inclusion of different learners.

Image

Moving on from scratch, we also were introduced to augmented learning and learning by proxy in today’s class. Our introduction was to two specific tools: the first being  Aurasma, an augmented reality platform for smartphones. Aurasma allows you to add overlays to your surroundings. These overlays can be connected back to events or histories that cannot be seen physically, or could be fantastical like the example of the Harry Potter classroom. We were also shown different models for learning by proxy, the most notable of which was the telecasting robot. This robots allows you to video – conference into a space using a platform much like Skype or Facetime. However the difference between standard video connections which are static, proxy robots allow the remote party to control the movement of their robotic body from afar. Playing with this robot was totally surreal. Physically it was the size of a child and had a screen like head and moved in a jerky wheeled gait. Its eerie movements were off-putting at first but as I got used to it I was impressed by much better it was that traditional video calling. The ability of the caller to move around takes the strain off the instructor, who otherwise would have to move the screen around or orient the caller to the material. Of all the ways to access a classroom without being there, this robot seemed like an excellent option for both the remote party and those attending and teaching the class.

The telecasting robot, Professor Robot. We gave it a scarf. Photo by me.

Using the telepresence robot in class brought up a valuable discussion about modality and our preferences and biases as instructors. Examining my own bias I can say I lean towards face to face learning because it is my experience. As a student I learned as much from the social interactions outside of the curriculum as I do from the instruction, and being with a physical group of people is important for my mental health. However I know this is not everyone’s experience of school. Some students cannot attend or have negative social experiences when they do attend. With technology such as telecasting available there is no need to punish students for absence or have the threat of missing out cause them stress. I think perhaps knowing that the option to learn by proxy exists may be enough to provide some students with relief when they are not having a positive school experience.

Blended learning also allows for students to lead more diverse lives through travel, independent projects or deeper involvement with community outside of school. Students who take advantages of these opportunities and remain connected to their classes through blended learning and learning by proxy will enrich the community in numerous ways.  The options that technology such as the telecasting robot and other platforms for learning by poxy or learning online give students help to open up the idea of the classroom and learning. This is a good thing, no matter what your initial bias may be.

 

 

 

 

Intergenerational Education

EDCI 780 Inquiry

For my inquiry project as a pre- service teacher at Victoria High School I researched benefits and strategies for integrating inter-generational learning into high school classrooms and culture. Intergenerational learning is learning with and from our elders.  My inquiry topic is inspired by programs such as Igen (Intergenerational Classroom) in Saskatoon which pairs grade 6 learners with elders in the community full time for a year. I want to strategize how learning with elders in schools might ground students in their community and ground them in relationships and culture. 

I am driven to investigate intergenerational learning from my own experience. I lived with my grandparents as an adolescent and learned under their tutelage. I also went to a high school where Indigenous elders were often present in the classroom or at school events. The presence of these older adults in my personal and academic community gave my high school experience perspective and taught me a respect for different life experiences.

I was also guided towards this inquiry because of it’s relevance in my teaching areas of  social studies and gender studies, combined with the calls for intergenerational awareness in the new BC Curriculum. During my time at Vic High, I focused my inquiry project on the social studies classroom and faculty, and ask teachers and administrators how they connect students to elders in the community, or what the barriers might be that prevent them from doing so. From here, I want to ask students at Vic High and peers at Uvic what their experience of elders are, and wether they can think of any connections between those experiences and the topics they are teaching or learning about. Finally, I grounded my project in case studies on inter-generational learning such as the Igen program in Saskatoon, and connect the results to potential applications under the BC Curriculum’s Core Competencies and the FNESC First Peoples Principles of Knowledge. The final result of my project were displayed in the poster pictured below and presented at the Vic High and the Uvic Education Programs end of year gala. 

Intergenerational Learning poster by me

 

Some of the benefits of Intergenerational Learning I found were:

• Strengthens community inside and beyond the school and classroom
• Teaches strong communication skills
• Builds respect for different world views and experiences
• Connects learning to culture and history
• Grounds learning in relationships
• Builds empathy and self awareness
• Can improve mental health

Strategies for integrating Intergenerational learning into the classroom were listed from starting points to increasing levels of involvement:

• Service education (volunteering)
• Guest speakers
• Connect with learners and their communities
• Use primary documents and material culture from other time periods to promote empathy in lessons
• Connect with elders through technology
• Work with administration to build an ongoing school – elder partnership
• Immersion programes

Perhaps the most important finding of my inquiry was that building meaningful intergenerational learning partnerships means facilitating ongoing reciprocal relationships between students and elders. This means that students and elders meet regularly and get to know and trust one another, perhaps working together on a project. Through my time at Vic High I connected with the gender studies teacher who does just this. Her class has worked with elders to create a play about sexual identity and health, a project that has matured through the year.

This inquiry is far from finished. It will continue to grow as I move into my role as a teacher. I plan on starting my teaching with an awareness of the importance of the generations that inform each students identity. I hope that by grounding my pedagogy in my experience with my own elders I can foster a classroom dynamic where students feel comfortable speaking to their own relationships with elders. This will be the first step toward connecting my students to an intergenerational consciousness.

 

Landscape and Soft Focus

This week I developed some new landscape photos. This is some of my most successful work yet! I can see the focal points getting stronger in my photos and I can feel myself getting more comfortable with the camera’s settings as I react quickly to the moments that arise around me. I am still most comfortable with landscape as my manual camera requires adjusting and does not have a light meter. Even still landscape subjects sometimes provide lighting conditions that are challenging to monitor and react to. The top photograph is an example of this, with it’s high contrast between dark and light. I am proud that I was able to capture the small glow of light on the horizon, which could have been lost to darkness easily. Even though each of these photos have technical issues to a practiced photographer, they convey the feeling of the places they depict. I hope you enjoy!

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Minecraft and Skate Club

Today we learned about Minecraft. Minecraft is a multiple player game where new worlds are created with 3D blocks. Players explore these worlds and can build and gather resources as well as interact with other players. We were introduced to the teacher controlled mode of Minecraft and played the game in student mode. We had the pleasure of playing with several young learners present (primary school age). The young players seemed drawn to the digging, planting and flying functions. Any movement that allowed for creative change to occur in the virtual world seemed to appeal to these players most.

https://minecraft.net/en-us/

Personally, gaming is foreign to me as I have never done it, so Minecraft was a new world. I appreciate how Minecraft can be highly manipulated to mirror the needs of multiple learners and multiple contexts. Thinking about my future art and social studies classrooms I can see the creative modes of Minecraft providing a useful stepping stone for students who may not feel naturally creative. Social studies students could use Minecraft to map out a world or to experiment with problem solving, basic economics and collaborative world creation. The strength of this game is it’s limitless potential. In art class Minecraft could teach students about three dimensionality, what depth in space looks like and how to create it simply with basic shapes like cubes.

Today we also held the first meeting of our informal skateboard club. After visiting central middle school which has a skateboard and scooter elective class, several members of our cohort decided we should start our own extra curricular club. It quickly caught on with the children of some of our peers and has grown into a skate and art hangout. It has made me think about the importance of fun, physical activity and play in my future classroom. Students of any age need the opportunity to access play, curiosity and creative exploration. This can be done in a classroom by modelling a comfort with exploration and improvisation as an instructor. Today’s club meeting also reminded me of the importance of family centred learning. Parents, university students, kids and members of the cohort were all engaged in collective discovery.  I intend on bringing this multigenerational approach to learning into my teaching wherever possible. Also skateboards and drawing are fun and that is a fact.

 

Light, Time and Some Wise Words

This week I was out of town, visiting family on the gulf islands. It is important to shift your perspective sometimes. Being away let me reflect on my surroundings, and how the things around us are characters in the drama of our life just as much as people are sometimes. Thinking about objects and surroundings dominated my photos this week.

While I was away I also had no power, so I was living by natural and candle light. This is something I have done often in my life happily. However it makes working on projects, such as schoolwork or artwork or photographs different. Time becomes a factor that dominates. I wanted to take photos of the dark as a subject, because it is the dominant measure of time there. These are my attempts.

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While I was away I also did some reading. A friend recommended this book:

photo by me

 

John Berger is an art critic who has written extensively on perception, painting, photography and other subjects. This book has some passages in it by Susan Sontag, another important art critic. Sitting in a cabin thinking about life and trying to take photos made this passage resonate:

” a capitalist society requires a culture based on images. It needs to furnish vast amounts of entertainment in order to stimulate buying and anaesthetize the injuries of class, race and sex. And it needs to gather unlimited amounts of information, the better to exploit the natural resources increase productivity, keep order, make war, give jobs to bureaucrats. The camera’s twin capacities, to subjectivise reality and to objectify it, ideally subvert these needs and strengthen them. Cameras define reality in the two ways essential to the workings of an advanced industrial society: as a spectacle (for masses) and as an object of surveillance (for rulers). The production of images also furnishes a ruling ideology. Social change is replaced by a change in images.”

-About Looking, John Berger pp 56.

This passage resonated with me and my reflections on teaching in the current social climate. My students will exist in a world dominated by images and ordered by disposable visual information. How can I teach photography to these students in a way that facilitates a slower experience of time… or is that even possible for a medium that freezes immediate experience. I don’t have an answer, but I do know that making things for making things sake is a form of expression and self reflection that provides respite from and order to experiences of overstimulation. I know this cause thats what I did this weekend!

Teaching Tools for Language Nests

This week I looked into the concept of the Language Nest. The concept of language nests originates in New Zealand with the  Te Kōhanga Reo , an initiative to maintain the strength of Maori language and culture through immersive educational environments. This concept has been adopted by many Indigenous nations in British Columbia including the ȽÁU, WELṈEW̱ Tribal School in SD 63.

The First Peoples’ Cultural Council provides resources for opening a successful language nest program. These resources include games, activity and curriculum, and have been compiled by several successful language emersion projects across B.C.

One of the most interesting tools I found on this site was wordless books. Wordless books can be used for storytelling in any language, and leave the narrative open to interpretation and expansion by the reader and listener. This is an excellent tool in the language nest context because different learners may have different levels of proficiency in the language but will be able to engage in the story simultaneously. Wordless books can be found at many book stores, but the FPCC recommends the the following.

http://www.fpcc.ca/files/PDF/Language/Language_Nest/Wordless_Books_2016.pdf

Wordless book can also be made by students for this context. This is particularly exciting to me as an art teacher and social studies teacher, and it is here I can see myself using this tool in my teaching. The potential for cross curricular engagement where students make a book in art that is relevant to their lessons in the socials class or a language program gives students agency over their learning. Being able to create your own book allows students to direct their vocabulary learning in a direction that interests them. It also allows them to connect the language to their own experience and interests, and provides a personal connection to the learning across subjects. The FPCC also provides a guide for making your own wordless book linked below.

http://www.fpcc.ca/files/PDF/Language/Language_Nest/Wordless_Book_Set_Workshop_Generic.pdf

 

Augmented Reality, 3D Printing and Sketchnotes

Today we looked at several tech tools including sketch notes, augmented reality, QR codes, Tinker Cad and 3D printing. Of the multiple tools, I found augmented reality the most interesting and potentially useful for my classrooms. I can see a clear connection between augmented reality and social studies classes. The example Rich shared at Kitsilano High School showed how augmented reality allowed students to embody the history they were learning about. This seems like a good tool for developing empathy. As students move through the same spaces that events happened in they can connect  to events through experience rather than conceptualizing them. This is a form of embodied knowledge that I think is critical for empathy. I think this learning may be even more meaningful if students help create the augmented reality with their peers. I can see applications of this technology for learning about recent history as well as Indigenous territories and history.

We also played with Tinker Cad and 3D printing. I was able to make a keychain model of my name and export it in a form apropriate for 3D printing. This is a great tool for students who want to explore model building or a specific art project that may need a tool or multiple reproductions. Tinker Cad seems intuative in a way that other programes I have used have not been. I would like to use it as a starting point for a diorama project in socials class for students who may not feel creative with traditional physical media.

My experiment with 3d printing. It’s my name!

We also learned about sketchnotes. This is funny for me because I have always taken notes that way. It was validating to hear how it connects specific synapses we may miss by taking notes on a computer. I look forward to sharing that information with my students when I ask them not to do everything digitally. I think it’s important we try both methods before deicing what helps us process information best. For me, sketching and drawing is most useful. However I know some students find it an obstacle to their learning. Learning about multimedia learning theory, how information is best absorbed when it is presented in multiple formats, confirms the importance of including the visual with the written. Modelling a way of learning that uses the visual to process information will be important for me to balance with providing concrete written options and information for my more linear learners. We are all different and it’s great!

my sketch note

Virtual Reality

A few days ago I tried virtual reality for the first time. A friend showed me the ropes at the UVic digital commons and I was able to enter a new world. I was most interested in the applications of virtual reality to visual art, which is my primary teaching area. Drawing in virtual reality is already exploding, and now I can see why. The experience opens up a new understanding of how a line can function in space. There is a famous quote by painter Paul Klee. It goes: “Drawing is like taking a line for a walk”. Drawing in Virtual Reality allowed me to literally take a line for a walk, and walk over around and through that line.

me drawing in 3d

I started with drawing by making a room around myself, and furnishing it with objects. I could move around the room and the objects because they occupied the same space as my body. My drawing was therefore as physical as a sculpture, but permeable as it was still depicted in contour.

I could see this technology being hugely useful in secondary art class – and very very good fun. Drawing in 3d would be a good way to teach students about perspective, which can sometimes be dry and challenging. This technology could also bridge the gap between drawing and sculpture, as the product is experienced as both. This program could also allow students to draw new worlds in a way that is more immersive than every before experienced. I love how intuitive the technology was, complete with haptic responses to the marks. This would be easy for students to learn and would open doors to new art forms we likely cant even comprehend.