Actually... Creative Media is a single semester elective class offered at Urbana Middle School. I have created the curriculum myself and I am very excited to teach it to my students. The original concept for this class was born during my time at the University of Illinois Writing Project (UIWP) during the summer of 2017. Over the course of the three weeks in which I participated in this intensive professional development opportunity, I brainstormed, researched, created, and presented a variety of units of study, individual lessons and both individual as well as small group projects. The end result is my 7th grade technology elective class, which I titled "Creative Media."

In my Creative Media class I have three units of study: photography, podcasting, and web design.

Throughout the photography unit, I challenge my students to take a variety of pictures and to analyze their own images (as well as images from their classmates) to see which images are considered "quality photographs" and which images are considered "plain pictures."

During the podcasting unit, I introduce the concept of a podcast to the class and then challenge them to create their own podcast show with a central theme. Students then research and write down topics they would like to talk about. Students step up to a microphone and record themselves. Finally, students use Garageband to add music, sound effects, and edit their vocal recording into short podcast episodes.

I end my class with a small unit on web design. Students use Google Sites to create a personalized website to show off all the great photographs they have taken and all the amazing podcasts they have edited over the course of the semester.

As an amateur photographer and podcaster, I can't even begin to describe how much fun I have had teaching this class. I am greatly looking forward to teaching this class many times over in the future semesters and school years to come :)

-- Mr. Sands