Week 7: Pixellation & Mindmapping

Week Seven Due 10/29- Reflect on your personal participation in the class. Has it increased, decreased or remained constant? How does our collective preparedness or lack thereof affect the kids?

My favourite thing to do when I'm not lecturing is to sit down at a table and really connect with some kids and their work. Teach them about breaking things down into basic shapes when they want to draw something more complicated or just in general help them generate ideas by asking questions. I also love drawing for them because they get very excited. I try to participate whenever I can and make my own version of the thing being taught to engage myself and to inspire kids. Another great feeling is when we're divided into groups because I can also invest more time into a less number of kids. I am more likely to remember their names and revisit topics we've discussed in previous weeks. I feel that my participation has remained relatively constant with a a class or two here and there where I am ridiculously exhausted - I usually just participate by making art, as a relaxing therapeutic experience.

In terms of preparedness, most of the time we're quite prepared. There's been some weeks like the Sound class where the mics were malfunctioning. But there has always been a back-up plan. We're really good at improvising. During the Mindmapping class today, we weren't sure how to divide the students into groups. Halfway thru we decided to group them by tables since it seemed to be working well. Our initial plan was to hand out postcards for the students to write down their first two choices of mediums. That would have taken so much more time and hassle. One girl did not like this so we switched her to the girl group. Going with the flow is key to being a successful teacher as well as dealing with circumstances and recognizing what's working and what's not.

There's only so much you can prepare... and in the end, there will always be messy situations that you'll have to improvise through.

The kids were enthralled by pixellation... so we eliminated that as an option for the final project. It was a rowdy class with much jumping and wrestling. It took a lot of voice strength to get to the kids. Sometimes you have to be stern but for some reason the kids don't seem to care. They'll always bounce back to like you again.

Mindmapping was unexpectedly successful! I was nervous because it seemed like a thing they would easily get tired of but for some reason, luck was on my side and they came up with brilliant ideas. Their group ideas were spectacular. I loved Obama vs. Godzilla vs. Pizza.... and the pizza wins. I also loved the GERM idea and the various planets. So cool. Kids are cool. End of story.

WEEK 6 - Character Design & Mask Making

Compare and contrast your experiences with the kids at Inner-City Arts with your own elementary arts education? How is the environment and teaching philosophy at Inner-City Arts similar to or different from your elementary school art class? Did you have an art class? What do you remember from your elementary school arts experiences? How do you think you would have responded to a class like this when you were the same age as our students?

My elementary arts education was less dynamic--no animation, computers. Just paint and drawing... some arts and crafts. I remember very little about it because my arts background came from after-school programs and camp. I took Cartooning, Painting and Drawing, Arts Eclectic, Animation, and Flash, Fireworks, HTML classes. I think back and I understand why I do what I do!

I think Inner City Arts is the best environment I've been in terms of arts for kids! I've certainly never had anything like it. I usually had old run-down but gentrified houses. ICA is so clean, beautiful with art EVERYWHERE and every variety of plant. A heavenly place indeed.

I remember my Cartooning Class was my safehaven. After a long week of school and being a shy nerd at a bratty all-girl school, Cartooning Class was AWESOME. I loved my teacher - he has served as a role model, almost like a second father, in my entire life thus far. He's a creative genius while still friendly, hilarious, caring and easygoing. He had this emotional maturity yet could relate to children extremely well - probably because he had a degree in Child Psychology. I learned from him to never erase my drawings... always work with your mistakes and make it into something else. Every start of each season when a new series of classes would begin with him, we'd start with an exquisite corpse. He also taught me to use stick-and-ball figures to block out my comics. Every season we'd also do flipbooks - some were really epic! The way he managed the materials he provided us was great. While we worked, he never hovered but he'd be available at the front to consult if we had a problem with not knowing what to do or take something. He'd also be working on his own professional strips so we could see them and get inspired. At the beginning of each class, he'd do a demo where the kids would crowd around at the front and he'd start a comic strip from scratch. He'd ask us what should happen and what the characters should say. I could tell his amusement while we gave him weird ideas but he wouldn't censor anything. I think back and I wonder how he handled all of us! We constantly had self-esteem issues with our drawings cause we were going through the awkward years. But anyway, I digress. He was a brilliant man and from him I learned how much of an impact teachers make.

When I was in grade 5, I would have loved a class like this at ICA. Animation includes all aspects of art and life with the resources and strong staff support at ICA, it's an amazing treat.

Character Design was a solid class. I loved the template Michelle provided the students. She showed great videos. Mask Making was a BLAST. The kids had so much fun and I did as well, making my weird beard man.

WEEK 5 - Sound & Composition

How has teaching this course informed your understanding, appreciation and/or approach to the art of animation? Have you learned anything from your classmates? Have you learned anything from your students? Has preparing a lesson plan enhanced your animation knowledge? Do you have a different understanding of how animation can be used for self expression or artistic exploration?

Since I'm not surrounded by kids often, this class has given me a front row seat to observe what kids love to watch and do. They LOVE animation! Sometimes I get discouraged in this field when you're surrounded by people who only watch the best, top quality animations... but seeing kids get excited about anything that moves or comes out of your pencil makes me happy to be doing what I'm doing. Even a one second demo that we make gets them rallied up. Later if I ever work on a kids' show or cartoon, I'll know I'm making some kid out there happy for at least a moment.

I've learned so much from my classmates and the way they interact with kids differently. Also their teaching styles coincide with their personalities which is cool. I love their choices in videos and their structured lectures.

My students have taught me to roll with my mistakes and don't give a damn. I guess watching them become frustrated with their work, being self-conscious and constantly crossing things out have made me more analytical about my own process. I am now more adamant about not being a perfectionist at the initial stage of things. Unpredictable things can be magical. I hope I can encourage these kids to not think so much and just do.

I don't have a different understanding about how animation could be used as artistic expression per say but it's beautiful to see how kids love to express themselves in whatever way they can. As adults, we are often repressing feelings, becoming desensitized and reacting less while kids just go with their gut feeling. As we get older... we intellectualize more than getting in touch with our emotions. I definitely do this... and in the end, when I get so lost in the reasoning, the initial spark of emotion has faded and becomes inaccessible. To truly weep is the hardest thing at this age, at least for me. Kids haven't learned how most things work yet, so "emotionally" is how they discover. When I watched them act - particularly when they were put in a situation where a dog was hurt on the street, it was hilarious but also touched my heart when they started to pick the dogs up and nurture it because they really felt the sorrow. As children, they are the masters of pretending and I admire that.

I was anxious about teaching acting because I didn't know how the children would take it. I thought they'd get bored and not participate fully but it was the opposite. They got up and did everything I asked of them - it even got a bit rowdy. Some girls were shy, as expected but for the most part, the lesson was successful. They should really be teaching ME how to act.

I should have extended the acting part because there was too much time afterwards... but at the same time, too little time to record the sound. Bah! Another thing was that the kids started planning a dance party and getting loud so the recording might be noisy. I guess next time, there should be more stations... maybe one could have been in the booth. I am ever grateful to Alexis who was a savior that day.

Composition class was a pleasure because Wyatt chose a great subject that both girls and boys love: Castles. I taught some kids how to draw skeletons for the scary castles - breaking it down to the simplest shapes. I was taught the same way when I was their age so I hope they remember!

WEEK 4 - Cutout Animation & Special FX

What are your thoughts on team teaching? How do you feel about working as a group on lesson plans and presentations? What is your experience when working as support versus lesson leader? What strengths do your classmates bring to ICA classroom?

I love teaching as a team. It's a wonderful way to be assured that you're not alone and there are people you know and trust on the sidelines backing you up. When I feel a hint of panic of not knowing what to say or if I forget to mention something important, my peers are there to jump in or remind me. Managing rowdy kids and timekeeping is a lot easier with more authorities since the lesson leader is focused on the lecture. As the lesson leader, I feel lots of pressure but I love feeding off the kids' energy and their excitement for what I show them. So it's gratifying. Being a support, I can really get to know the kids personally and help them. I've noticed my classmates have their specialties. Michelle is a natural teacher. She is organized with relevant and inspiring material and when she teaches, her lessons are focused with a process and an end goal. I envy the way she can handle many things at once. Wyatt is very reliable and thorough. He has a great eloquence with children and I can see that they learn a lot from him by the way he presents himself. I tend to become goofier, and more childlike around children while he maintains his composure as a fun-loving, approachable guy but still holds a sense of authority. That is so cool!

Cutout Animation was a blast! My group of kids organized themselves well, collaborated with each other using all the puppets they had made. In my group, Kevin took the lead and propelled the story forward while the girls just wanted to have fun. As a segway to the special FX class, I had them make splashes with their hands. I thought the backgrounds Lisa found were phenomenal and made their animations look stellar. The kids were unusually hyper, probably because of the rain. During the Special FX class, it's evident that CANDY + KIDS + NOT BEING ABLE TO EAT THE CANDY = some chaos. Other than that, it was fun. What I found most challenging was keeping awake since I was jetlagged and had no sleep the night before. I gotta remember to stay healthy to be able to have the mental and physical capacity to make a difference at Inner City Arts.

WEEK 3 - Squash and Stretch

So far our lesson plans have been successfully executed! I think we set realistic and specific goals in the beginning so we don't need to make adjustments. Every lesson we've been re-iterating more advanced concepts like frame-rate and timing so the kids are beginning to grasp the amount of pictures and the speed at which to move their objects. The flow has been nice, where each planned lesson has flowed well into the next. Also, there have been astounding projects so far.

With clay, the shyer kids from stop-mo toys were able to express themselves more freely through molding whatever they wanted. This allowed the kids to follow through on their own creative excursion so the natural leaders couldn't take over the project. It was great to see the excitement across the room and the quieter kids getting a say!