Week 31: The wind up/down

4.19.2021

It's mid-April. Every teacher knows this as "NOOOOOOOOOOO" time. It's busy and tiring and frustrating, but it's all part of knowing we are having a successful year.

Week 23: Art Interests Time!

2.16.2021

Woo hoo! This is my favorite time of the semester! We get to figure out in which lab each art student in Art 8 and Art 7 best fits. Think of the sorting hat in Harry Potter and mix it with The Magic School Bus and some Myth Busters, that's what the student art interest inventory and introduction to the Media, Visual Arts, and Design Labs looks like.

This week, students in Art 7 and 8 will fill out their interest inventories after exploring what each of the NEW labs offer. Beginning next week, they will jump into their chosen labs and begin creating art and design works they have passion for.

Stay on the lookout for a redesigned micro shelter/greenhouse, arcade machines centered on an Atari 2600 (yes, the real thing), fashion design, and traditional arts and craft (not crafts, CRAFT). You will be astonished, not only by WHAT these middle school artists create, but how and WHY they are creating them.

Stay tuned!

Week 17: into the new year!

1.3.2021

Wow! We made it through ALL of 2020. I am both saddened and ecstatic that we have made it into 2021. I feel like 2020 will always carry with it some dark memories, but there were so many good things in it, too.

As we move into a new year, we tend to envision new hopes for our lives. Some of us start the year with the tradition of setting New Year resolutions, some reflect on the wonders of the previous year(s), some imagine what the new year(s) ahead might hold and set out to build those imaginings.

Do you have hopes for 2021? If so, be one of the Gunters to share your plans, dreams, resolutions, etc with rgbkeymaster@gmail.com by 1/15/21. Hold on! There are rules and expectations for you to meet in order to earn 100 coins in the VRcade Gunter's Quest '21. Read them below.

RULES:

1. Clearly describe what your hopes/dreams/resolutions are for 2021 in writing. List them, then describe how you might make them come true.

2. Add an illustration (drawing) in full color of the hope/dream/resolution you most want to achieve and shw how you are achieving it.

3. Email the written portion and a photo of the illustration to rgbkeymaster@gmail.com with the subject line titled "My 2021 Hopes".

If you follow these rules and are one of the Gunters to send your email by 1/15/21, you will earn 100 coins. Good luck, young Gunters.

Week 5: 1/2 through q1

9.20.2020

We are headed into week 5 of the school year! That means we are 1/8 of the way through school and 1/2 of the way through the first quarter. Now is the time to muser all our energy and power through the remainder of the quarter.

For many of us, the first four weeks was a struggle. For some, it wasn't too bad. For most of us, it was so good to get back and see our friends. Wherever you are on that spectrum, we're all in this together. Please reach out to your teachers if you are struggling and need help or just say thank you to a teacher you know is struggling themselves. We really appreciate you guys talking to us.

This week in art will be about catching up and moving forward just like two weeks ago. If you are behind, we'll work together to get caught up so you can improve your skills as a concept artist. Please let me know how I can help you and we'll work together.

Be well and stay in the game. We can do this as a team!

P.S. Be on the lookout for hidden messages in the plans from now on. You will not be disappointed to learn what they lead you to.

DesignXs Exhibit Update!

5.20.2020

I can't believe the Sketch Journal Exhibit and Competition started over a month ago. Well, the winners have been voted for and here they are in order:

• 1st Place: Katherine, 7th grade

• 2nd Place: Taylor, 8th grade

• 3rd Place: Kam, 7th grade

• Honorable Mention: to be selected for 25 coins

Congratulations, young artists. Your work was much appreciated and was highly expressive.

Each artist, if they signed up for the VRcade Gunters Quest 2020, have been awarded their coins. For earning 1st place with her drawing (see below), Katherine has earned 75 coins and a $20 gift card to Chick-fil-A. Enjoy.

eLearning is an F-Bomb (FUN)!

3.18.2020

Wow! The world has changed a lot over the past few weeks and it can be a little overwhelming. I know you all have a lot to deal with right now - siblings you don't normally have to deal with, being around your parents "too" much, teachers reminding you repeatedly that you have online work to do even though you are now more surrounded by distractions than normal. We get it. Your life is as upside down as the adults in your life right now.

That said, the Key Master is offering 10 coins per day to the first ten art students to complete the day's assignment as it is assigned. For that to happen, you MUST sign up using the QUEST 2020 Sign Up form that Mr. Morrill shared on Google Classroom! If you do not sign up, you won't be able to earn your coins.

Mr. Morrill and the Key Master wish you and your families health and rest while you are still learning. We know the rest of your teachers wish the same.

#VRcade #VR #Art #yeahthatgreenville #ReadyPlayerOne #gamification #gamEDfication

eLearning Ops

3.16.2020

Wow! The COVID-19 virus has changed a lot in our lives. While most of us don't need to worry about our own health, it's a good thing for those who do need to think about this virus very seriously that we are all practicing good personal hygiene and social distancing the best that we can.

#VRcade #VR #Art #yeahthatgreenville #ReadyPlayerOne #gamification #gamEDfication

Get a LIFE - an EXTRA LIFE!

11.7.2019

The first pieces of currency for the Visual Arts and Design students at Fisher Middle School are being minted over the next couple weeks. Stay tuned for how students will earn these coins and what their value is in their learning and in the Quest for the Golden Egg ‘20. If you don’t know what that means, check out vrcadegunters.weebly.com. We are using VR and real-life games to learn about and create art and to help others learn about all content areas! #VRcade #VR #Art #yeahthatgreenville #ReadyPlayerOne #gamification #gamEDfication

Talking and Walking With the Community

9.24.2019

Last Tuesday night was nerve racking and, quite possibly, the most exciting night of my career in a long time. I got to be one of eleven speakers at TEDxGreenville Pitch Night. The point of the event was to share an idea worth spreading within 3 minutes to be heard by an audience and check for the potential of the idea and speaker to be part of the TEDxGreenville big event in March 2020.

The point of my talk was to share the work my students did last year in designing and building the prototype for a microshelter. Their work focused on helping people who face homelessness in emergency situations and getting community support by showing the microshelter at Roper Mountain Science Center's STEMFest 2019 and iMAGINE Upstate 2019. The students designed and built the microshelter using the UN's Sustainable Development Goals as inspiration, then deployed it into the community for testing and feedback. This is all part of the Design Thinking Protocol made famous by the d.School at Stanford University.

It was a true honor to be part of the group that spoke on Tuesday. I would gladly give up that honor and cede the main stage opportunity to Ben, the student who came up with the microshelter idea and built a team to create it. I think Ben's own words would make far more impact on the audience than mine could.

If you are interested in helping us create multiple microshelters with a grand vision of a tiny house in four years, please reach out. We are currently working with an architect, a builder, and Greenville Early College to develop this four year phased plan. We would be so appreciative to work with more community members to build. We need your help to learn.

Stay tuned for more information as we develop this project further.

An Art Opening for the Ages!

9.20.2019

“An individual has not started living until he can rise above the narrow confines of his individualistic concerns to the broader concerns of all humanity.” - Dr. Martin Luther King Jr

I believe it is important for all people to hear and tell stories through art. Fahamu Pecou, a multimedia artist whom I am sure will be considered one of the top three most influential artists of the 21st century, spoke to a gallery packed with his fans last night. As one of those fans, I was thrilled to hear him talk about the cultural and personal influences on his work and the stories he tells through his art-making.

Dr. Pecou is a world renown artist, currently showing his work in Chapel Hill, Atlanta, Miami, Los Angeles, and Paris, who speaks to people so warmly that they want to hear his words. That's important considering his message: that young African-American males are often seen as threats or ignored to their and our society's detriment. That's not a message everyone wants to hear or accept. Pecou's work employs the same warm, inviting tone. I felt drawn to inspect it; to read his lines and expressive color applications, and stories told through self-styled characters. His stories are scrawled and painted across larger than life supports - paper, canvas, video, music, and costumery.

As I've taught Dr. Pecou's story, work, and influences to my students, they have become more and more engaged with him. The depth to which they care about his work is greater than any I've seen in teaching the usual suspects - Picasso, Monet, Manet, etc. You get the point; the old, dead guys. The conversations we have in class ramp up and inspire the creativity of my middle schoolers. It's so impressive to see in action.

That impact hit an all time high today: I return to each class wide-eyed and beaming smile. My students ask how Dr. Pecou's talk went and if I got to meet him, the joy ready to burst forth if I say yes. I put my finger in the air and remind them we need to first take attendance, then share some quick announcements. The kids squirm in their seats, hands shooting up with questions ready even before I get halfway through taking role. I hide my smile and prolong announcements to increase the tension and just before they burst, I say "Let me show you some pictures." and they all wiggle toward the projector.

I tell the kids how I got to hear Dr. Pecou talk about his work, how I wanted to dip my fingers in the water pool/video installation like the little boy standing next to me did as I watched and smiled then defended his actions to his father. I tell them that when I finally got to shake Dr. Pecou's hand and tell him how much his work means to me and my kids that HE had to remind me to take a photo of us. I tell them the message he sent back with me to them: "Thank you for your support and I send my love". I tell them that when you look at his work in real life, you almost can't stop tracing his lines with your eyes forever. The kids gasp in excitement and break out into noisy chatter about how cool that would be. I feel immense joy no longer hiding my proud smile.

The images below hardly do justice to the experience of the opening for Do or Die last night at the Stone Center at UNC Chapel Hill. They will have to suffice until you can attend one of Dr. Fahamu Pecou's famous openings for yourself. Enjoy and treat one another with kindness, respect, and love.

Getting Ramped Up for Special Ops!

9.16.2019

Wow! The first four weeks of school have flown by and we're finally getting into the meat of impact-based design and art creation. What is "impact-based design?", you aks. That's a great question and I hope this answer helps.

Impact-based design (IBD) is the planning, creation, and deployment of student projects that solve challenges in our community. We employ the Design Thinking protocol made famous by Stanford University, The UN Sustainable Development Goals, and the NAE Grand Challenges for Engineering to recognize problems, ideate and prototype solutions, and deploy our solutions for testing and sharing. The end goal of IBD is to offer students opportunities to solve problems with the people facing them and deploy solutions where and when appropriate.

The Special Ops Teams are comprised of students, faculty, and community members who have interest, passion, skills, and knowledge in the areas of alternative housing, fashion design, game-based learning, photojournalism, interior design, and theater. You can see the descriptions of each team here.

IBD and Special Ops Teams give students real-world experiences to see the value in their learning, apply knowledge and skills for a self-aligned cause, and to make connections with people in their community. If you are a person with a specific skills set, know people who face challenges we can help create solutions with, or know of a way to share our ideas and solutions, please contact Ken Morrill at kmorrill@greenvilleschools.us.

VRcade Fundraiser!

3.26.2019

We're well into the school year now and I am excited to share some news with you all! We have raised enough money through our fundraiser at https://www.gofundme.com/drawingwithfire to purchase an Oculus Rift S! This amazing piece of technology will be used initially to develop works of digital/virtual artwork in Visual Arts and Design and engineering works in GTT. We will then use it to develop immersive earning experiences for and with other classes and curriculum areas as well as to have fun.

Unfortunately, the Rift was discontinued by Oculus and the Rift S won't be out until later this spring. We will make the VR purchase with donated funds ASAP. Until then, we need to continue to raise funds to purchase either a gaming laptop powerful enough to run the Rift S or graphics cards powerful enough to turn our desktops into VR machines. Either would be a good start to this program, but the laptop, a Del G5 (or G7 if we gather enough money), will make our VR experience mobile. We would love to share our work in teh community and a laptop makes more sense for that purpose, but the upgraded graphics cards may mean we turn more desktops into VR capable machines to extend our VR program.

Whatever we decide to do, we hope you can join us in celebrating when we complete the fundraiser and plug into VR for the first time.

Stay tuned for more information on how we are gamifying this fundraising experience and how next year will be so much like Ready Player One!

WEEK 1 DONE!

8/24/18

Good first Friday of school, students, parents, and partners!

It's been a fun week of getting to know the students and my colleagues here at Fisher. We've had the pleasure of focusing on building positive relationships between teachers and students this week and I think we've gained some deeper insights into empathy, expression, and creation.

All of the Visual Arts and Design students have created self-expressive renditions of existing artworks. We used this mini-project to launch into the design and communication norms we'll employ in the studio. We're now getting into our first projects in each course. The 6th graders are helping develop new art and design labs to learn and make through. The 7th grade Graphic Arts students are tackling the tough job of developing a brand package for the visual arts and design courses at Fisher. The 8th graders are creating expressive self-portraits in a media of choice.

Please stay tuned to this site for updated syllabi, weekly plans, project resources, and galleries of student work!

It's been a pleasure to join this team and I look forward to meeting more of you as time goes on. If you have questions, comments, or ideas, please don't hesitate to email me at kmorrill@greenvileschools.us.

Sincerely,

Ken Morrill