Digital Discovery

Digital Visualization 3D Feb 1-26

Students will complete their underwater pod and will begin an exciting new project. They will be modeling an object or series of objects of their choice to precise scale. They will then submit their designs to the Sketchup 3D Warehouse to share with others SketchUp modelers. Emphasis will be placed on measurement and proportion.

Digital Photo Feb 1-26

Students will complete their Photographer reports and present them to the class. Then they will create stop motion films using their cameras and iMovie! We will do some films as a class and some in smaller groups.

Design Feb 1-26

Students will complete their portfolios for the Goochland Chamber of Commerce featuring designs for the “Goochland’s Got It” campaign. Then they will begin a long term project that includes the development of the “branding” of a teen club. Students will roll play as both the owners/clients and the design firm working to brand the club. Students will learn about brainstorming as a group, the workflow process, the ethics of business practices, and guidelines for presentations as they work through creating and presenting their work. Ultimately, the clients will choose their favorite branding proposal from each firm.

Illustration Feb 1-26

Illustration students are working on long-range illustration projects that will connect in a calendar featuring twelve illustrations that are all a theme of their choice.  Then students will work to make unique calendar layouts that compliment their illustrations to complete the projects.

For the past couple of years the teachers of Goochland County Public Schools have taken on the special challenge of planning and implementing a “G21 Project”. What is a “G21 Project” ?  It is a special project a teacher undertakes with her students to  integrate 21^st century skills in a broad and meaningful way with particular emphasis on collaboration, and integration of a variety disciplines and a real world model.

The “G” of course stand for Goochland and the “21” stands for “21^st Century Skills”. This year I choose a project that would integrate all four subjects I teach and all six classes of students.

My students used the power of technology to explore the beauty in their own backyard and connect with their community in a series of projects.

My Digital Visualization 3D  students surveyed buildings in the town and is used the Google SkethUp program to render the buildings in three dimensions and submit them to Google Earth so the town of Goochland can be seen in 3D. It was a long process of measurement and estimation, photographing and Photoshop editing, Sketchup modeling and placing in terrain, and finally submitting the models to Google Earth. At the time of this post the students have several models in the Town of Goochland and several others waiting for approval. Please search Google Earth for the town of Goochland and check it out.

The digital photography students captured a “Day in the Life ofGoochland” in a photo essay which are featured here in a series of student produced web pages.

Click the links for the photo web pages:

Thomas

Amberly

Katelyn

Rhavin

Sarah

Katie

Sarah

Jennifer

Rylee

Kristen

JT

Tyler

Amanda

Laura

Dylan

Lizzy

The Illustration students sketched and photographed the town and produced lovely illustrations of buildings in the town that could be used in a variety of formats. For now you can view them in their web pages.

Josh

Rudy

Brandon

Derrick

Colby

Austion

Joey

Zail

Travis

Lily

Tori

Jasmine

To round out the “real world” experiences of my students the Design students are working for the Goochland Chamber of Commerce. The students are creating a portfolio for the Chamber of Commerce of work based on their photography and research in the town of Goochland. They are designing bumper stickers, posters, t-shirts, shopping bags etc. for the Commerce’s new campaign “Goochland’s Got It”.One of their portfolios of designs will be selected for the campaign.

Director Doris Elderman of the Goochland Chamber of Commerce spoke to the Design , Web Technologies and Multimedia Class at GHS about the launch of the “Goochland’s Got It” campaign. With supporting chamber members Ms. Ramsdell and Ms. Carter they outlined the message behind the campaign to communicate the fact that no matter what service or merchandise you need you can get it right here in Goochland.

The portfolios will be displayed here on linked web pages soon.

These projects all call on students to collaborate with one another as well as community members and use a wide range of tools and skills from many different disciplines, and the products all have a real world value that motivate the students to produce high quality work. Thank you for taking time to explore their efforts.

SketchUp modelers will be working on interior designs by designing the inside of an underwater pod that is 300 ft round and 30 ft tall. they are to design the inside to meet their living conditions and needs for survival under water. Emphasis is on modeling the interior layout and furniture in x-ray mode as well as planning for the unique living conditions.

Illustration students will continue to work on their independent projects with emphasis on transparency in their work.

Photography students will be discovering some favorite photographers and sharing them with their classmates in the next two weeks. They will research, and evaluate the work of several photographers and then make a presentation about a photographer who really inspires them to share with the class.

Today Executive Director Doris Elderman of the Goochland Chamber of Commerce spoke to the Design, Web Technologies and Multimedia Class at GHS about the launch of the “Goochland’s Got It” campaign. With supporting chamber members Ms. Ramsdell and Ms. Carter they outlined the message behind the campaign to communicate the fact that no matter what service or merchandise you need you can get it right here in Goochland.

The design students have the task of creating designs for everything from a basic logo to bumper stickers, t-shirts, and shopping bags to promotes the concept that “Goochland’s Got It”.

The students are excited about doing a real world project that will promote the community they live in, and make the most of their talents. Each student will be submitting a portfolio of work to be assessed and and one student’s work will be selected by the Goochland Chamber of Commerce for their champaign.

Three digital photography student took the top three prizes in Goochland High School’s PTA Reflection’s Photography Contest. Congratulations!!!

First Place went to Katie Longest

Second Place went to Jerome Jackson

and Third Place went to Rhavin Cooley

Erin likes to work in the Anime or Mnaga style. These are characters she has developed, and they are also featured fiction she writes.

Chihiro and Konohamaru

Chihiro

Setsuna

Check out Jason’s great poster designs. Jason is also an actor and enjoys writing plays.

The photography Students will continue their Portrait Unit by creating “Comic Life” strips. They will also be completing their websites using Google sites to wrap up their G21 projects.  Her are a few examples of their portraits.

The SketchUp modelers will continue creating their miniature golf holes and learning new tools and skills like the follow me tool, the creating spheres, intersect tool, and reviews of the rotate tool, making stairs, and inferences.

Here are some images of their models of buildings in Goochland as they appear in Google Earth for the world to see.

Nick and Caleb

Cole, Austin, and Sean

Playground Model from Ben

Golf Hole Model from Zack

Illustrators will continue to work on their independent projects while they learn about text in illustration,  as well as complete their websites using Google Sites to wrap up their G21 projects. Here is an illustration from Teagan. He works first by sketching his original designs on paper and then he scans them in and recreates them in Illustrator making a digital copy.

Rudy’s Birdhouse

Mycah’s Church Illustration

The design students will complete their poster designs as well as completing their websites using Google sites to wrap up their G21 projects. They will move on to a branding project where they will create a package of materials for a group that wants to “brand” a club. They will work as a design team to interview clients, brainstorm, create the package, and present their concepts.

Here are some of their Goochland Logo examples.

Angelique

Olivia

Steven

Tyler

Jason

Digital Photographers will begin a portrait unit. They will explore the history and purpose of portraits, effective composition, inspiring ideas, how to dress the subject, use props, settings, lighting, reflection, etc. They will apply their knowledge to a series of portrait shoots. They will then apply filters and techniques to enhance their portraits. Finally they will follow up with a Comic Life project, utilizing portraits in fun and entertaining project after we return from break.

The GHS SketchUp team is wrapping up their submissions to Google Earth and their models in the Town of Goochland are popping up, as those in charge at Google Earth approve them. It won’t be long until everyone is done. In the mean time some students are moving on to the next project.

Fore!!!! The students will be learning many new tricks and tools in SketchUp as they design their own miniature golf courses. They will learn all the possibilities of the Arch tool, Offset tool, Scale tool and 3D text tool in their first two weeks of miniature golf hole design.

The Illustration students begin working on independent projects they propose for their next project. As they begin their independent projects they will learn alignment tools and brush tools, as well as the proportions of the human face and body. These concepts will be applied in their projects in some way as they undertake their own exciting endeavors.

The design students will begin a unit on poster design, which will start with an introduction to the elements of graphic design.  Students will learn to apply proximity, repetition, white space, contrast, and alignment. Students will come up with five posters that advertise an event of their choice. They will be creative about the event they choose: they could go back in time and design a poster advertising Woodstock, a poster advertising taking a trip on the Titanic, or imagine the future and advertise the grand opening of a business they want to own. They will learn to include all the pertinent information in an effective manner and make attractive designs that capture the spirit of the event.

Sarah’s Photographs

The illustrators will be finishing images of Goochland buildings and posting them to their sites, which will be connected to my blog. We will be learning about the symbol sprayer for creating foliage in the background of the illustrations to help finalize some of the images. Students are encouraged to share suggestions for the next possible projects they would like to work on after break. Here are a few of the first to be finished.

Rudy

Alex

Erin

Josh

Josh

Travis

Taylor’s Photos

Katie’s Photos

Sarah’s Photos

The students will complete the editing of their photos from the field trip using the different Photoshop techniques on the Intranet so they can create web pages. We will take a short photo shoot of textures around the school.  Then the photographers will be creating web albums in Picasa with the time they have left before break.

The designers will continue to work with the various type projects before returning to their logo project to add the finishing type and drawing components to the project. Here are a few examples of their text explorations.

Maria

Bobby

Ernast

Angelique

Ernest

Steven

The SketchUp students will be creating their final models of building for submission to Google Earth by “sketching up” the 3d forms and applying the “photoshoped” images.  With the time they have left before break they will complete the creation of their playgrounds and utilize what they have learned about components in their designs.

Here are two models…

From Michael and Daniel

From Nick and James

The photographers will be creating web albums in Picasa and competing the image editing of their photos from the field trip using the different Photoshop techniques on the Intranet so they can create web pages with their images.

Here are a few entries from my photo students for the Reflections contest. The theme is  ”Beauty is….”

I will post the winners when they have been selected. For now here are some of the entries…

Kristen

Katie

Rhavin

Romeka

Shelby

Tyler

The SketchUp students will be creating their final models of building for submission to Google Earth by “sketching up” the 3d forms and applying the “photoshoped” images.

The illustrators will be finishing Illustrations of Goochland buildings and posting them to their sites, which will be connected to my blog.

The designers will continue to work with the various type projects before returning to their logo project to add the finishing type and drawing components to the project.

Katie’s Photo Essay on Belle Isle

The Photographers took a short trip outside to capture some photos of the fall foliage, and now they are settling into learning some special tricks and treats you can do in Photoshop to enhance your photos. The techniques include: grayscale background, image through text, vignettes, background effects, image blends, motion blur, montage, floating images, changing colors, and colorizing grayscale. The students will be working with their photos from their fieldtrip and preparing them for their web pages.

The designers have begun work on a real world design project in conjunction with the Goochland Chamber of Commerce. Representatives of the Chamber of Commerce approached me and asked if my students would be willing to design a logo for their upcoming “Get it in Goochland” campaign; which will promote shopping in the Goochland community. The students are very excited about the possibility of having their work appear on shopping bags, bumper stickers, etc. This was perfect timing, as it fit in perfectly with our community based G21 project following our tour of Goochland. The students began their unit with the study of logos and will follow up with a study of text this week. Students will do a variety of projects to build their skills as they work to develop their ultimate logo design for the Goochland Chamber of Commerce.

This is a copy of the press release the Chamber will be posting soon.