jen & paper

Category: Uncategorised (Page 1 of 2)

SOCIAL CIRCLES: Observation

July 9, 2021 / / 0 Comments

J.Riddell Matte (2021). Plant Watching; An Observation. (graphite on paper)

The other day, I looked at a house plant for 20 minutes, over zoom. I wrote down a brief description of the plant and then, I attempted to draw it [see above].  At the end of a very long first week of summer courses this was a welcome moment to breath.

I enjoyed this activity, not only because making art is my happy-place , but  because it required my absolute presence in that moment.  In our busy lives, I appreciate this type of low-risk activity that slows down the world around us  and allows us to still ourselves. I will most certainly be using it in my future practice. I think that it would be wonderful as a mindfulness activity, art warm-up and as part of an inquiry or a place/land based unit of study.  With all of that in mind, observation is at the core of this activity, and this is a valuable tool for educators. Observation is a muscle that most of us have to build,  especially in a classroom with 20+ young people and this activity acts as a skill-builder but also as a reminder of the importance of applying observation within our classroom routines.

Observation allows educators to gain information around…..

Students interest, preferences, skills and accomplishments. Their personalities and temperaments, levels of cognitive and social development, as well as their goals and strategies for creating desired effects. [The Importance of Observation in Early Education]                           

When we make the effort to learn more about who each of our students are, we are able to build better relationships, foster a culture of kindness and inclusiveness within our classrooms, as well as design our learning plans to best meet their needs and interests as learners.  Therefore, observation plays and important role in our ability, as educators, to successfully support diverse learners in our classroom communities.

 

Dear Reader, The End.

April 4, 2021 / / 0 Comments

J. Riddell Matte (2020). Sad Poem. [mixed media]


Dear Reader,

The first thing I want to do is address the fact that, during my free inquiry, I never illustrated ‘Goldilocks and the Three Bears’.  This felt like a failure for a hot minute, as though because I had not done what I set out to do my entire inquiry was a bust. A write off.  A  head-in-the-palm-of-your-hand type moment.

But I’ve thought about it a lot over the past couple of weeks, as the term comes to an end….and this is what I have realized;

I may not have illustrated the story that I had planned on illustrating but I did illustrate, narrate and make a video of ‘Porridge, Porridge’ by The Brothers Grimm.  I took two illustration classes through the online education platform ‘Domestika’.  I  experimented with materials and I made art. I learned about the Public Domain and read many, many Brother’s Grimm stories through an online archive.  I discovered that children’s books generally have 32 pages. I discovered new illustrator and looked at their incredible art and I practiced storyboarding. I participated in a zine workshop through the Vancouver Art Gallery with Cole Pauls and a drawing webinar, of the Southern Mountain Caribou, offered by the Sierra Club.  I grew my personal learning network. I learned how to make screen  recordings and voice over (this might be my tech super-power). I read children’s books. I blogged. I played Minecraft. I tried two on-line graphic novel programs, and I made a couple of short comic strips and a few graphic organizers with them.  I learned  from our guest speakers about privacy,  inquiry based learning, accessibility and assessment.

Time during  the pandemic has had the tendency to drag on (it’s not just me) and I’ve heard the saying ‘time is an illusion’ more, over these past three months, than at any other point in my life. But, for me, time has passed quickly in the mess of my free inquiry + the term.  So, I guess I ran out of time and I didn’t get around to my big project, but those people who say  ‘time is an illusion’ also say, ‘it’s not about the destination, it’s about the journey’ and although they say this in reference to Life, I have come to believe that it also applies to inquiry based learning.

One after noon, back in January, as I tried to figure out my free-inquiry and while  waiting for middle-school to let out,  my youngest son & I re-imagined ‘Goldilocks & the Three Bears”.  I think that our story is kinda magic, and I am very much looking forward to illustrating it sometime in the near future.

Thank-you for being here.

Warmly,

Jen

ComicLife….again

April 4, 2021 / / 0 Comments

I shared some of my thoughts about ComicLife-  here,  but wanted to make video as well…I don’t know how helpful these are, but thought maybe being able to see the platform might help give a better idea of what’s involved.

Since my last post about ComicLife, I’ve used the program to make a couple of graphic organizers for assignments, and now that my free trial has expired, I am seriously considering buying the whole shabang, which I just learned is also  a tech term used to  describe a series of characters including a #! or a French word for hut.

 

 

 

 

 

Reflection:: Minecraft

March 26, 2021 / / 0 Comments

First, I would like to say that I wholeheartedly agree that Minecraft is an incredible learning tool. I have witnessed it in action with my own kids, both in an educational context and free play (which is arguably educational as well) and I am continually impressed with the real world knowledge they glean from the game and the incredible structures that they are able to effortlessly build.

But….

 

I have SO many questions!!

In discussion with my pod I have been reassured that the game is really not that complicated and advised that a mouse would be better for navigating than the Mac tracking pad that I’m currently using…..but I am not even sure that I want to invest the play-time required solve some of my Minecraft mysteries, especially when we are already spending so much time online.

Ms. James presented a very engaged perspective, one where she was just as passionate about the program as her students, but what if you’re not? What if, as a teacher, you want to engage your students and  enhance their learning opportunities and enable them to experience this tech, enjoying all the benefits that come along with that, but don’t love gaming yourself? How far down the gaming path do we need to go, to properly/successfully implement these programs in the classroom?

Update:: Since writing this post, I have played Minecraft with the fantastically supportive and patient members of my tech pod.  I am happy to report that my kid built me a crafting table, I learned how to pick flowers, gather seeds, collect chicken eggs, cut down trees and I even built a fence with a friend (which we then lured a flock of chickens into!)…and it was actually kinda ok!?

Knock, knock…Who’s there? Diamond….Diamond who? You’re diamond me crazy!

Cole Pauls + Zines…

March 22, 2021 / / 0 Comments

As part of my inquiry project, which I am starting to worry I will never be able to wrap up …I participated in the Vancouver Art Galleries “Space Comics” workshop with Cole Pauls.

During the 1 hour on-line  workshop Pauls talked about his creative process, shared how his Tahltan heritage influences his work and what has surprised him most about being an author/illustrator, all while showing participants how to build and illustrate a Zine!!

J. Riddell Matte. ‘Porridge Porridge’ Zine. 2021

The zine was done on a single piece of paper, divided into 6 illustrated pages, plus the cover and end pages. It was  incredibly satisfying attempting to tell a story within such narrow parameters, and I think that this design could also be applied to a more free-form art making process.

This would be a great activity for older students (grade 3 +) and could be applied to themes across the curriculum.  I wonder if there is a way to construct one, with the same template but using a digital platform? Or upload for further editing/enhancement using a digital program?  Something to think about….

Resources::

Vancouver Art Gallery:: Art At Home project – a fantastic complication of comprehensive art lessons!

 

 

Reflection:: “We don’t know what we don’t know”…

March 14, 2021 / / 0 Comments

“We don’t know what we don’t know” was something that Chantelle  Morvay-Adams said during her recent presentation and this is ringing very true for me this week…

Up until last week’s class I had been enjoying the process of Inquiry, learning about planning and illustrating children’s books.  The assignment provided me with an excuse to make art (during a term when I desperately need it)  and research something that I am interested in. I expanded my teaching tool box; exploring fairytales,  experimenting with illustration techniques and materials, playing with writing, and investigating different graphic novel apps/platforms- all providing  me with a greater understanding of how  inquiry based learning might Feel for students.  But, “we don’t know what we don’t know” and now that I am better informed, having had the opportunity to listen to Morvay-Adams and look over the BCEdAccess webpage (specifically the inclusions tracker),  my inquiry feels a little frivolous/uncomfortable…

As a result, I am trying to focus on “we don’t know what we don’t know” as a reminder, that as teachers (and humans) will never know everything,  nor will we ever reach a place where we feel like we’ve ‘made it’ within our profession (and life?), but rather that  we can “do better when we know better” and to always keep learning. Always.

I am sharing Shelly Moore’s TedTalk, “Under the Table -The Importance of Assuming Competence”,   because she is fantastic +  a great source of information around these important  issues of integration/inclusion  & listening to her talk made me feel a little less overwhelmed…

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

What do you call a palaeontologist who sleeps all the time?

March 9, 2021 / / 1 Comment

 

::Storyboard That:: I had a lot of ‘fun’ (who knew I used that word so much?!) making this little comic strip, and although I had some initial reservations about the program – it is definitely growing on me!

I am really appreciating all of the graphics; edit options, backgrounds, characters and categories, that are available within this program, making creating projects fun & easy!  I also noticed that there is an ‘upload’ option and although I have not tried this yet,  it’s definitely worth noting.

::Comic Life ::  Looking around, this platform offers a fantastic selection of templates,   they are both stylized & exiting,  giving students the opportunity to create story pages that look exactly like what one would want from a graphic novel making program!!

The interface is easy to use and I’ve really enjoyed playing around with the formatting; trying different templates, looking through & testing out font combinations, text bubbles and layout…I also like the squeaky balloon-stretching sound that the program makes when you re-sizing the image boxes!!  There are, however,  no pre-set graphics available.  In terms of practical classroom use, this means that students would need to create, photograph and upload their own illustrations, use a drawing tablet or curate appropriate/topical graphics from the internet, in order to place images into their chosen template.  This should not be a deterrent in using the program, only something to consider when unit/lesson planning.

In my opinion, the ‘Comic Life’ platform is great for students who are interested in making and using their own art/illustrations, for projects that benefit from the use of  photographs or other images sourced from the web, and for larger cross-curricular units.   The ‘Storyboard That’ platform can be used similarly, although the templates are not as dynamic,  the wide selection of pre-made graphics make up for this and would allow for students to begin projects with less preparation time required.

I think that each of these programs offer unique and potentially engaging opportunities for students to create and show their learning, and I am looking forward to incorporating them into my teaching practice!

 

Reflection:: Thinking Routines

March 4, 2021 / / 0 Comments

(Project Zero :: Thinking Routines (2014) from Sue Borchardt on Vimeo)

Two of my notes from Trevor Mackenzie’s talk on Inquiry & what it means to be a Constructivist Educator, read; “Thinking Routines, such as ‘Notice (observations), Wonder (share a Provocation such as an artifact or question) and Know’,  promote equity as they allow all students to engage and develop critical thinking & question asking (the ungoogleable question!!) skills,” and “The smallest things can have a huge impact”.   As a pre-service teacher, I recognize that I will need a hot minute to figure out what guiding a classroom full of students is going to look, feel & Be like, but I believe that these two ideas are central to a successful Inquiry based practice.  As I look forward to my first practicum,  fostering the development of Thinking Routines and modelling a culture of kindness in the classroom, seem like a great place to start and a solid foundation on which to build my practice.

Resources

The Harvard Graduate School of Education’s Project Zero’s Thinking Routines Toolbox,  describes Thinking Routines as “the patterns by which teachers and students operate and go about the job of learning and working together in a classroom environment”  and the site has sooooo many great articles and resources that support establishing Thinking Routines in our daily interactions with students, as well as our overall pedagogy & professional practice — I would suggest taking a look!

Barefoot TEFL Teacher’s article,  “What are Thinking Routines?”  references Project Zero,  and also provides a list and explanation of 5 quick Thinking Routines that can be woven into your practice immediately.

Make & Do; Thoughts on Education, Technology, Creativity, productivity, and Balance, a blog by Tracy Ann Clark, provides a great summary around the importance of Visible Thinking, as well as a Visible Thinking: Prompt Picker ‘fortune teller’ template. The template prompts students to consider, but could be adapted for practical use, the different Thinking Routines.

 

 

Storyboards

February 22, 2021 / / 1 Comment

A storyboard is used to organise the text across the number of available pages of the book, to iron out any problems. Illustrations are usually sketched on the ‘pages’ of the storyboard, so the author, illustrator, editor and designer can each see the author’s concept of the book. Storyboarding helps the author to nut out any issues, and detect any dead spots or sequence dilemmas.

– Christine Sharp

With this in mind, I have begun storyboarding for my bigger piece and tech project, first using paper & pencil (image directly below) and then experimenting with the online program Storyboard That –to test out my ideas, and the process of using an online/digital format.

J. Riddell Matte (2021) Storyboard WIP

J. Riddell Matte (2021) Storyboard WIP #2

My thoughts….

I think that the ‘Storyboard That’ product looks very professional.  The interface was intuitive and I loved that there was a wide variety of  images to choose from. I appreciated that it offered different positions for the animals to be in, that you could shift the direction of images and mess around with the colours. I enjoyed adding text, the options provided for the text bubbles were fun and I liked the creative process of considering the story to allow for the images to carry some of its detail.

I also found the process to be a bit tedious.  It was often tricky to maneuver the images, to the point where the whole background would shift when I tried to select and edit smaller components.  As you can see above, despite having saved my work many (many!) times,  there is missing/dropped text from the final image, which is frustrating.  I am unsure as to how user friendly this platform would be for students, but that being said, this is my first time trying it and I am using the free format. I think that this would be a great platform for classroom use on smaller projects, as it allows for creativity without the risk of having your artwork judged,  as well as story-telling or information sharing, but would require a larger chunk of time be made available for students to really play and enjoy the process.

J Riddell Matte (2012) Cut-out Bear

One of the suggestions that has come up multiple times throughout my inquiry, is that successful illustration requires a personal creative style.  This style may vary from project to project, but should be consistent over the course of an individual story.

In an effort to work on my style, I have been playing with various art techniques, materials and attempting to push myself outside of my comfort zone.  I recently started a new course on Domestika – Story Illustration with Paper by Estrellita Caracol, which has been wonderful so far and the image of the bear, to the left,  is a product of this course.

This week I will continue working on my storyboard layout, creating images and experimenting with the ComicLife program. I have also taken out a number of graphic novels from the local library, to look at how they have been designed re: the layouts, colors and story.

 

 

 

 

Graphic Novels 

Sugar Falls; A Residential School Story by David Alexander Robertson & Scott B. Henderson

Drowned City; Hurricane Katrina & New Orleans by Don Brown

Lucy Dreaming by Max Bemis & Michael Dialynas

Be Prepared by Vera Brosgol

 

Additional Resources

Core Ipad Apps for  SD61 – is a great resources to check-out the apps that are regularly in use/available on SD61 tablets.

ComicLife is the graphic novel program used by SD61  ( I am excited to try it next!)

A Brief History of Children’s Picture Books and the Art of Visual Storytelling by Maria Popova @ brain pickings.com

Claire Lordon Design: Made with A Smile has loads of interesting information and suggestions around planning, writing and illustrating children’s books.

Christine Sharp: 12-part Guide to Writing and Publishing Children’s Books

 

 

Reflection:: Concept Attainment

February 19, 2021 / / 0 Comments

Concept Attainment…

…can be thought of as game of ‘find the rule.’ Concept Attainment is a ‘backward conceptualizing’ approach to making sense of new ideas. It is a teaching strategy characterized (in terms of thinking patterns of the learner) by “a pattern of decisions in the acquisition, retention, and utilization of information that serves to meet certain objectives” (Bruner et al 1956). [Teach Thought]

 

I love this approach to teaching & learning!

Jennifer Gonzalez,  author of the ‘Cult of Pedagogy‘ blog,  describes Silver, Strong, and Perini’s (2007) research behind concept attainment as a successful strategy, which fosters both student engagement and a greater understanding of the learning material,  because as humans we are naturally inclined to organize our experiences around observed similarities.

While watching the above video (and looking through other examples) I found myself wondering what it would feel like to participate in concept attainment as a class member, looking at ‘yes’ and ‘no’ examples and discussing the differences and similarities while trying to define the focus concept.  I also thought about how, as a teacher, you would go about successfully creating a concept attainment lesson, the examples that you would choose and how you might engage students in a constructive interaction while not giving the answers away…so interesting!!!

“Learning how to learn is Life’s most important skill” – Tony Buzan

 

Resources::

Alberta Ministry Of learning. Concept Attainment

Focus on Inquiry: A teacher’s Guide to Inquiry-based Learning,  Alberta Ministry Of Learning, 2004.

Silver, Strong & Perini. (2007) The Strategic Teacher: Selecting the Right Research-Based Strategy for Every Lesson.

Wonderopolis – is a great resource for starting an inquiry//asking Big questions!!

« Older posts

Archives

Attributions

Image Attributions

© 2024 jen & paper

Theme by Anders Noren — Up ↑