Drum roll please... My Inquiry Blog Topic!

By Rebecca Stemwell

 Graphic Design! 

  
This topic is where I can shine as a teacher for my students! I think it is so important to be able to bring this into my classroom for my students because of the many opportunities this topic has out in the world. They always seem to talk about the next Nike or Jordan's their going to see or make one day. That's when a light bulb went DING. What if I can bring this passion of theirs and combine it with mine? They not only become more motivated, but they see a future for themselves that does not involve "money" or "girls"... as I hear passing in the halls. I mean this does involve good money if they look at it. Plus, in this day-in-age we are becoming more and more tech.

    When I did college the first time around, I obtained my degree in Graphic Design. Ideally, I wanted to be an independent graphic designer where people would hire me to make logos, posters, billboards, etc. There are so many career opportunities students don't know is out there and I want to be able to introduce that to them. If they work hard enough they could be the next designer for Nike, Adidas, and their favorite... YEEZYs. I did a similar project last year on this using our adobe creative cloud app we have in MPS. I was able to introduce the power of text, imagery, and imagination through this project. Some of my students did so well. I wanted to include some of their work from last year, but unfortunately this "tech savvy" lady forgot to save them before the google classroom was archived. OOPS! Hopefully as I apply this to my projects with my students I can show them this year.😍
 
    There are so many different techniques I can teach the kids including how to make your own fonts, how to work photoshop and make an image come to life. I included some images I found to help represent what you can do (once again.. my oopsie self forgot to save my old work from my last computer). I really need to stop forgetting to do that! 

    I want students to feel empowered, I want them to feel like they have a voice with this. This can give me so many opportunities to just explore what I can teach with them and this topic. 

    Of course I continue to wonder what other opportunities I can bring with this topic to the classroom besides career opportunities. I want to know what else can I discover that can be taught, what artists out there use graphic design as their medium, and even what empowers these artists? 


Some resources I found so far are included below like: 

2. 11 Famous Graphic Designers of 2022 ... Matthew Perry is a good one! To the left is one of his pieces.
3. The Art of Education University... I actually use this now in my teaching they have so many resources for lessons and students. 
4. Tillotson Techies... This is actually a blog dedicated to bringing Graphic Design in the classroom. 

Of course I want to find more resources, but I feel like this is a good place to start. I just get so excited thinking about it myself! Stay tuned for more on this topic and my insight on brining it to the classroom. I am excited to see what I can find! 😲

Comments

  1. Kelly KiiskilaSeptember 22, 2022 at 5:56 PM

    Hi Rebecca,

    I think this will be a very beneficial topic for you to dive into for your students. This is cliche and overdone, but technology really is only on the rise, and we as educators have to find ways to meet our students' interests and needs. I took a graphic design art class in high school and absolutely loved the freedom and room for self-expression that it provided. I hope through your teaching you can empower students to tap into their digital identities!

    -Kelly

    ReplyDelete
  2. Drew LehmanSeptember 23, 2022 at 11:31 AM

    Hi Rebecca!

    I love this inquiry topic! Initially, funny enough, before going in the direction of English Ed I was super into graphic design. I think bringing this into the classroom for students could definitely be very enjoyable for them. I'd be intrigued to see where you go with this; I might have to check back in if some of my group mates haven't posted yet!!

    Thanks for sharing your topic, good luck with it!

    -Drew

    ReplyDelete
  3. Logan KohlhagenSeptember 25, 2022 at 6:31 PM

    Rebecca,

    Like others have said, graphic design is a rich career field and I'm sure your lesson will help spark some students' passions for visual artistry. There's so much you can do with it and so many different avenues you can explore in the world of graphic design. Looking forward to seeing what you come up!
    -Logan

    ReplyDelete
  4. Candance Doerr-Stevens (a.k.a. "dancing stylus")October 13, 2022 at 12:39 PM

    Hi Becca. How lucky we (and your students) all are that you have a history with graphic design. I look forward to seeing what texts you gather for your students to read/view and learn about for this topic.

    ReplyDelete

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