And the Countdown Begins.

We have seven days until Christmas Break. I am not going to try and hide the fact that Holiday breaks are a great perk of teaching. I’m also going to say that in the world of teaching they are completely necessary. I don’t know if the breaks throughout the school year are more helpful to the teacher or the student, but regardless… YAY for the Holidays.

My afternoon students are still engrossed in their book cover and poster designs. We had a rough critique (rough critique does not mean that it was hard or awful, it means they created an early draft of what they believe the project will look like and we discuss its direction) and the majority of students were on the right track. With a few suggestions from their peers and myself I feel as if a good number of the projects have a chance for a positive critique.

I need to give an account of the afternoon room atmosphere. As the critique date draws near the student’s heads get closer and closer to the computer screens as they work. I swear a few of them almost had their noses touching the monitors. Sometimes I wonder about their eyes (and mine) being so stuck on the screen for hours on end. But in the long run it is part of the job. I guess only the future will tell what kind of affect it will have on our vision, but I suppose we can all hope for medical advancements to counter the balance for the majority of workers who are glued to a screen for 8 hour plus.

My morning students are currently working on a project dealing with symmetrical and asymmetrical design. They are creating a symmetrical design piece using their principles of design. After they have inked the design, I will make a copy for them and they’ll use an exacto knife to disassemble it and use the pieces to create a new asymmetrical design to be inked. The works will be mounted on a single board to display the difference between symmetrical and asymmetrical design using the same forms and linked principles. It is a very tedious assignment, and execution is key in producing “A” work. I am looking forward to seeing the completed work, and even more so for the critique.

So, I am going to go in a different direction for a little bit. This blog so far has been all peaches and roses, but there is always a down side to a job you love and the following is my down side.

It is about this time of year when students begin to decide if this is the class for them. Sadly not every student who initially has a desire to join my class ends up staying past the first year. I can only enhance a student’s natural ability through direction; I am unable to hand out the natural ability needed to do well. I don’t like watching a student struggle through critiques due to the quality of their work especially when I know they truly did try. But I also can not allow a student to be coddled into believing that “it’s good enough” because in this industry, good enough will never get you “the job”. Honesty in the design world can be harsh, but I am never intentionally cruel. I think spending two and half hours a day for three years in a class that is not well suited for a student is much crueler than being honest about ability.

All people have something that they are really good at and can be passionate about, sometimes it’s art and design and sometimes it’s not. Telling a kid that this may not be the field for them is really difficult, but they usually know it before I say anything. It’s just that they love the idea of CPI so much that leaving here doesn’t seem like a viable option. CPI leads to a freedom and personal responsibility that the home schools just can’t offer. Thankfully we have 18 program areas and allow students to check out other career options offered here. I have had students leave my room only to excel in other programs, and I have had students join my program after leaving another only to find that this is the path they were meant to take. CPI is really an amazing institution, and once students have a taste of the atmosphere here; it’s difficult to go back.  

All in all even the down side is not all that bad. It’s just about finding the right thing for students. The majority of them are able to find something that’s a great fit for them at CPI.

I am going to stop for now and resume next year. Hmmm… I don’t know why I typed that, I’ve never cared for that joke from teachers when I was in school. Like I said, it’s time for a break.

Have a WONDERFUL HOLIDAY!!!

Meet Jordan

Hi my name is Jordan Walizer, I enjoy Graphic design, and love coming to CPI. At first I wasn’t quite sure about the whole CPI thing, I was dreading maybe not getting along with my fellow classmates, or not enjoying the work, but boy was I mistaken. Graphic Arts has been an outlet that allows me to plug into it and release my artistic urges. I took part in many arts classes which passed the time by, and I enjoyed very much, but it just wasn’t enough. So finally my parents convinced me that I should go, and try it out, they seemed so sure, they had to know I would like it. So the very first day was slow and boring, I knew Mrs. Boyd was running through class rules, and the syllabus wouldn’t reveal anything that would show me whether this was for me or not. But the second day was the real mind changer, we started on our first assignment, and right off the bat I had learned something new, I knew then that this class was 100% for me. I still doodle at home school, but not nearly as much as before, my teachers notice it too.

           

Our first set of projects and assignments dealt with learning how to create positive and negative space, then we moved on to principles, and elements. Up until just recently all my projects and assignments have been "A's", that is, until the last assignment. The objective of the assignment was to draw an instrument and depict what sound it seems to make and draw that too. I drew a Guitar, it looked nice, but the sound wasn’t  great it was a rose vine entangling the guitar. After critique I knew it wasn’t an A project. This brings me to my next paragraph…critique.

           

I had no idea how we would critique in this class at first, but after the first critique I had it down, it was fun being able to criticize others work in a good and bad way, all for the soul purpose of helping them realize their flaws. Critique is an extremely helpful way to make you see your own mistakes, and what you have to change. Critique also helps us with our presenting. You have to be able to stand up in front of the class, and not only explain your own assignment, or project, but also others work as well.

           

At the moment we are all working on a project that requires you to use symmetry, and asymmetry. I’m using different types of principles in my project, like flow, unity, and correspondence, I’m also using geometric elements. I think my symmetry turned out pretty good. I expect the same for my asymmetry piece. “HA” I guess only time and critique will tell.

           

Not only is this class fun and interesting, it also has an extremely calm and peaceful environment to work on assignments and projects. The class itself is amazing as well. I guess when you put a group of people with the same interest and views in the same room, your bound to form a wonderful class relationship. This is how I personally feel about our class; I don’t think you could ask for more friendly and hardworking classmates to work alongside of. All of us try our hardest to improve each other in every way we can see, whether it be a line out of place, or an unintentional dot on the paper, we do our best to help each other with our work each and every day here at CPI.

           

Attacked by Christmas toys? That's strange.

December is always an interesting month in our class room. There is an air of excitement flowing around the room in anticipation of the approaching Holidays. Sometimes students can get lazy around this time of year and begin to slack on class effort. In order to escape this classroom disease I had to come up with a way to keep it from entering our atmosphere.

So when we returned from Thanksgiving break I gave my afternoon students a choice: continue on the book work and get through our Illustrator and Photoshop lessons or start a new project. I am not going to pretend I thought there was an actual choice here, but I like to give options. “PROJECT” was pretty much screeched back at me the minute it left my mouth. GREAT! Truth be told, I like project work as much as they do.

The two projects I assigned will also be used in the PA Computer Fair. The second year students are creating a book cover for a short story of their choice using their acquired skills in Illustrator. The third year students are creating a Poster for a cause of their choice using their existing knowledge of Photoshop. This is a twist on projects I have given to previous classes, normally I choose the short stories and cause that I ask them to focus on, but because of the Computer Fair I wanted the students to be fully immersed in the work. Nothing allows for possible drowning like letting them choose their own topics.

Now it’s “Go Time”… research, research, research, thumbnails, roughs, comprehensive and finals. I am looking forward to seeing their ideas for each project. I required a one to two page paper with a synopsis of the story or cause they had decided on, and every student picked something different. This means the critique board should be crowded with a huge diversity of styles and design direction. We plan to critique these two days before Christmas break begins. This critique will be intense, and that is the way I like it. I hope everyone is adequately prepared.

The next day is our Christmas Party which I look forward to every year. We are planning a White Elephant Gift Exchange. I think it’s going to be so much fun. We will be having pizza which my students won from SKILLS USA Can Drive. And then, as every year since I started teaching, we will all sit on the floor with blankets, pillows, and party munchies and watch “The Nightmare Before Christmas” and talk about the brilliance of Tim Burton.

I love the Holidays. 

Mrs. Boyd

Meet Bryce

Well here goes…. My name is Bryce! I’m hyper, loud, incredibly good looking and I love what I do. I’m an aspiring graphic designer/photographer, in my second year of Graphic Arts at CPI. With intentions on better preparing myself for my future career, I considered this class as a ninth grader. My tenth grade year approached and I was required to make my decision of whether or not to join the amazing adventure of a class that awaited me. The decision was difficult because it was at first was based on the idea of being considered a “Tekker”. “Tekker” is a stereotypical term which refers to students who go to CPI whom don’t excel at their home school. Fortunately my creativeness overwhelmed my insecurity and I decided that I was here to silence that stereo type! 

The first day of the first year brought excitement, which was only amplified by two of my best friends from regular school who joined this same class. Together we were the “Creative” ones within our home school. Though not always appreciated by teachers, our creativity was made obvious through our class work. Every assignment we completed was decorated with images inspired by our brains and that we found around us. The creative outlet that is Graphic Arts calmed our excessive illustrations greatly. Once able to get out some of my creativity within our CPI class, I was now able to focus more on my home school work, which improved my grades significantly. 

The beginning of my second year was an awkward experience that I was fortunate enough to share with 17 strangers who were as equally uncomfortable. The “First Years” were now Second year afternoon students who had to merge with the third year afternoon students. After temporary resentment we learned to accept each other and found we all had common interests and goals.  And by the third month we were a family. Learning and improving one another was our new routine. And I’m glad to have made some new friends. This year has also brought me new lessons and projects. For example I’m working on making a book jacket for the short story “The Lottery” (a story suggested by my ever helpful teacher Mrs. Boyd). The task is to make the book jacket have every detail that comes with actual books (barcodes, summaries, authors, ext…). I’ve already completed my thumbnails with success, I was able to come up with a lot of really good ideas that both my instructor and I found appealing.  

All in all I’ve had a really great experience thus far. I’ve learned so much about design. Handmade and computer generated, Graphic Arts has brought nothing but good experiences and fond memories, and I hope to make so many more.  

loove me,

Bryce