Extra Project Documents

Night Diary

Student Work Samples

Blackbird Girls by Anne Blankman

Blackbird Girls - Thesis Art

Library Zoom Call Setup

Teacher Reflection Part 1:  Art & Illustration

• Initially as we were thinking about organizing students and groups, we were going to take an “assembly line” approach.  This would allow for students to showcase their personal strengths throughout this process.  As we thought about productivity and accountability for all students, we felt it was better to have small groups of students experience the process as a whole. This meant that an individual team would have total control of the entire process - from start to finish - for 2 pages. 

• Whole group critiques need to happen sooner in the illustration process.  Feedback was happening all of time between groups of students, but when we created the space for whole group feedback toward the end of illustrating, we saw an element of professional accountability that we had not necessarily seen with the group to group feedback.  Illustrators  had to explain “why” they make the specific artistic decisions and were asked tough questions by their peers.  This was a reflective opportunity with high accountability.   

• Graphic novels include so much critical thinking.  Understanding the many layers and decisions that go into designing a panel and image was eye opening. The symbolism and metaphoric elements,  along with the other basic art concepts that have to be considered while designing the illustrations takes time and the synthesis of ideas in order to create the best visual representation.  

• There is power in differentiation.  Our student chose the modality that their team was most confident in pursuing.  We were not sure how the hand drawn pieces would interact with the images that were designed using a tech tool.  However, we found there was power in the hand drawn pieces and these illustrations added just as much value and meaning as the digital images.  The combination of the different modalities in the final product was powerful, unique, and showed individuality. Again, the power of being flexible as an instructional team, listening to students, adds strength to the work.

Teacher Reflection Part 2:  Instructional Moves

• Deadlines were tough.  Working with and for multiple interconnected systems requires a succinct framework for organization (SCRUM or Productivity & Accountability framework) to help students not only see the immediate task, but to also have a visual awareness of what is ahead.  As facilitators, we will be more intentional with the “look ahead” part of this framework. 

• Keeping a steady focus on the driving questions anchor us and guide us throughout the work, especially when it becomes messy.  These questions thread and anchor the thinking throughout the entire process.

• Relationships and connection/communication with experts is crucial.  They become supporters and facilitators of the work.  Their experience, presence, instruction, and feedback is irreplaceable.  Their role in this work makes the work AUTHENTIC. 

• Copyright is always important and making sure that students were copyright compliant in all of their work was crucial to the process.  Students were specifically taught where and how to research, as well as how to locate, use  and cite images with creative commons licenses

• .Keeping a steady focus on the client as well, kept the authentic work moving forward.  We needed to remind students that this work was not ‘about them’.  We were given the opportunity to tell someone’s story, and we needed to honor that human story with grace, professionalism, accuracy and care.

“If we are going to empower our students, we must help them find what they love and create learning experience that encourage them to develop their strengths." 

George Couros - Innovator’s Mindset