Assignment 2 Coding and decoding

Phase 1: My Story Based on a Sequence

The hum of the grills in the back always puts me in one of two moods.  On days when my mind is free and clear, the sound excites me.  The sizzle, the clank of spatulas and tongs, knowing that I will be walking out of here with more cash in my pocket than when I entered.  When I’d rather be anywhere else than Bill’s, the sound is a prison.  A reminder of what I haven’t done with my life since I left school.  A reminder that I might be trapped in this restaurant waiting to put my degree to use, bound by rent and utilities and fake smiles to pay my way.  I am in between moods today, awaiting something to move me one way or the other.  The first big tip of the night, a rude customer, or maybe Kyle offering me a free cigarette on my first break.  I enter the back and find Mike, Kyle, and Steve cooking on the grill.  It smells amazing as usual, and I feel myself entering the good head space I try to occupy on most nights I work.

“What are we cooking up today, boys?” I ask with a smirk.

“You know what it is, girl, same ol’ same ol’!” Kyle says back to me like a smart aleck.

I get the feeling that tonight is going to be a free cigarette kind of night.  I know they all went out last night and got blasted, but they all must have taken an aspirin and chugged some water when they went to bed.  I normally expect everybody to be a little chippy after a late night out, especially Mike.  That’s why I find it so strange to smell mint and cologne coming from Mike and cutting through the thick air of char grilled meat.  He actually took care of himself before coming in after a night of drinking, and isn't cussing out Bill or the boys in the back.  The banter about their night out flows freely and openly, and it seems that the grill boys are in high spirit.  There isn’t any drama with the rest of the servers and the bussers.  This is going to be a good shift, I think to myself.

I move further through the back of the restaurant and find Bill slaving away over Lucille, the name he gave his favorite grill.  His silver hair lightly wet with sweat, a few stains on his white shirt, and his trademark upper back hump protruding proudly as he leans over and tends the night's special.  Only a few of us call him Quasi, and never to his face, and never in a mean way, but it is hard not to chuckle when Bill is looking like he is tending the bell in the Notre Dame Cathedral.  Bill has given his life to the restaurant, and has made a great life.  You would never know how well he has done here  with his blue jeans, and old man tennis shoes he always wears to work.  Bill is such a humble and giving man.  He treats everyone here like family, even when we don’t want to be here or are feeling sorry for ourselves.  He is always here cooking.  In the back, on Lucille, in front of the multitude of randoms who come to his restaurant to eat his food.  Bill is an inspiration to us, and a reminder to me to keep chasing what I want even when it seems so far away.

I grab my ticket pad, and start to make my way around the restaurant to get my first table.  The robust sound of conversation and grilling fills Bill's as always.  Laughing, yelling, glasses clanking, lips smacking, it is a cacophony of activity.  I pass by a table of friends, married I assume, making conversation while passing a napkin.  The balding man with the dark beard has his hand extended as his friend’s wife grabs the napkin because she dropped hers on the floor.  His wife, looking down through a solemn face framed in by bangs, seems lost in the moment as she stares emptily at her plate.  I wonder what is going on in her head.  She looks like I do on the days when I come in here wondering what this life has in store for me.  When everything seems like an inescapable trap and there is no where to turn.

I come upon my first table, and it is a well dressed man with his girlfriend playing cards to pass the time.  The man has a square patterned dress shirt on, and a navy blue fedora.  His five o-clock shadow makes him appear mysterious, and I wonder if he is going to be polite or a pain in my rear.  His girlfriend has a dark top on and glasses, she is jovial.  Laughing, and giggling, appearing to have the upper hand in whatever game they are playing.  Certainly someone as kind appearing as her wouldn’t end up with a dolt who wears fancy clothes.  I approach their table, and begin to take their order.

“What can I get you guys tonight?” I ask.

The man in the fedora smiles gently at me, looks at his girlfriend, and replies “We will both have Bill’s special, and we want it right fresh off of Lucille.”

“Alright, and do you need any drinks with that?” I reply.

“Two beers” he answers.

“You got it, I’ll go get this in for you” I say with a smile as I clear the plates that were on their table, mentally cursing the bus boy who failed to pick these up before the table was seated. 

I take the ticket back to the window, and head to the bar.  I can’t find the bus boy anywhere, so I grab a pad and start to write him a little note about picking up dishes off of tables before we sit people down.  I catch a glimpse of myself in the glass above the bar.  I have my dark hair up in a messy bun, and my hoop earrings in.  I didn’t take a ton of time to do my makeup, but I look good for Bill’s.  I scrawl out my first message to the bus boy, and I sound mean.  I crinkle the note up and start new. I leave him a simple reminder, “Tony, I’m going to bum a cigarette from Kyle, don’t forget to clean the tables before we sit people down.”

Phase 2: My Original Sequence

Reflection:

These types of assignments are very fun for me.  It is a challenge in a fun way to see the world through the lens of a camera telling a story.  Do we look natural?  Is the shot good?  How is the light?  All of these ideas play in to working to show understanding when using still photos.  To me, these kinds of assignments can build critical understanding of topics in any subject area.  As a Physical Education teacher, I would use an assignment like this to have students analyze their techniques in a sport skill by taking a series of photos of them executing a sport specific skill.  This could be shooting a basketball, kicking a soccer ball, or even swinging a golf club.  This would challenge the students to get good pictures, but also to figure out how to break down complex movements in to a series of photos/steps.  This challenge, in my opinion, would help them grow and understand the skill at a higher level than if they were to just simply repetitively perform it in the gym class with no real feedback.  The second phase of the assignment would be to build a photo series of the skill being performed poorly, and then to analyze why and how the skill was performed poorly.  This would allow students to use the visual text to provide immediate feedback, and force them to analyze what they see and then to be able to communicate why it is incorrect.  This kind of feedback loop in sport skills is very important, and assignments like these could really benefit the growth of student skills in Physical Education classrooms.  In the English classroom, I think it would be really awesome to pair some visual narration with poetry.  I think about students understanding author intent and technique and meaning, and how interesting it would be to see them interpret these ideas through a visual narrative sequence.  I would then task students to read the poem's of other students, and to then analyze the student's visual narrative and assess  how well they did communicating the poem visually.  Most students cringe when you bring up poetry, but integrating visual literacy and this style of assignment would certainly break the ice between poetry and students.  I truly never understood much of T.S. Eliot, but if I could have done an assignment where I could try to narrate the poem visually, I think I would have given his work a little more thought and consideration as a student.  Simply reading and then being tested or forced to write a response really never motivated me to plunge in to the depths of some of his more massive poems.  If I had the chance to experiment with the poem in a visual medium , take a meaningful picture of me measuring my life out in coffee spoons, and then explain how I tried to capture that moment of the poem perhaps I would have enjoyed that lesson more.

I believe that it is paramount in any educational setting to analyze visual texts regardless of subject.  In my current role as a Physical Education classroom, the analysis of visual texts can be a tremendous help is showing students the proper way to perform movements, techniques, and sport skills.  Students can see people executing the skills they need to possess in an excellent way, and in a poor way.  Visuals can help students learn complex movements quickly when compared to verbal instruction.  I'd argue that visuals are more important than the verbal instruction given when executing a Physical Education skill.  Within the same framework, students can also use visual texts to analyze coping skills when it comes to dealing with adversity, defeat, mistakes, triumphs, challenges, and leadership.  This is an important element of both Physical and Health Education.  The mind of a teenager is very difficult to navigate, and providing them with visual text to analyze and self-reflect is a powerful tool in motivating, correcting, and educating children about physical, emotional, and mental performance.  As a football coach, the first thing I do when I instruct a technique or a play is show them pictures of high level people performing the movement pattern.  This provides them with the visual and mental feedback to perform physically much better than if I were to only speak to them about what they are supposed to do. 

In the English and History classroom, visual texts are again paramount to understanding and learning.  Showing students photographs and images of World War II is highly educational and more meaningful than a 45 minute word only lecture.  Students can understand strategy, emotions, impact, and so much more when they can read the faces of civilians, soldiers, map patterns, weapons in action, and all of the visuals that are included in the study of World War II.  Personally, I will never forget learning about Trench Foot in World War I during my High School career in Mrs. Fuller's class.  Mrs. Fuller he didn't tell us about Trench Foot, she showed us.  The image of Trench Foot took my imagination not simply to the plight of the soldier's foot, but to the plight of spending weeks in the trenches immersed in water, mud, and whatever else had seeped in to the trench.  I could visualize myself there, dealing with infinitely wet and soaked feet, the sights, the smells, and the sounds.  All because of one simple photograph of trench foot.  I've never forgotten the impact that lesson had on me, and it is why I feel so strongly about visual text and the importance of it in the classroom.