YVONNE LINNABARY–CASCADE HIGH SCHOOL’s DIGITAL DIVA

double-exposure-portraits.pdf

For over a century photographers have used portraiture as a staple of the photographers art. Double Exposure Portraits are part of every studio photographer’s portfolio. This project will give you the opportunity to create a traditional studio portrait with digital tools. Please see the Power Point attachment above for further directions.

This assignment is due May 9, 2008. To have your double exposure printed on photo paper for your mom for Mother’s Day, please submit it by My 8th to my courses inbox.

The Quotation Project

The goal of this assignment is to help you communicate a strong message with your compositions. You will choose a quotation and integrate it into the layout of your photograph in order to use text and photography together to create a sense of unity in your photographic design. Pages 44-49 in your classroom handbook  gives tips on the use of layers in Photoshop, use these pages and the exemplars in the room to help you find ideas for your own project. The power point attached to this blog will give you the standards for the project.

This project is due May 2, 2008.

This year’s entries for the Scholastic Awards

As a photography student you will be elible to compete in art contests throughout the school year. Coming up first in January is the Scholastic Art and Writing Awards which includes Digital Imaging as one of the categories. That means your work could be entered and win National Recognition as is true of Jeff Anzure’s piece entitled Skelehands last year. This year’s deadline for Scholastic Entries is January 15, 2008.

Following the Scholastic Awards is the Everett Public Schools High School Art Competition in March, the ESD 189 High School Art Competition and the Arts Council of Snohomish County’s  High School Black and White Photography Competition which usually takes place in April. I will be sending out information on all these contests via this blog as I receive them. Black and White contest entries with entry forms are due in to me for printing on April 15th, 2008. You must have permission to use photographs of recognizable people portrayed in your photographs. I have copies of both entry forms and consent forms in my classroom.

Important! All work submitted for competition must be original student work. You may not use images from any photo files other than your own. Even though most of the competitions take place in the spring, your work from first semester can be entered throughout the school year. Whenever you think you have a photographic piece that is of excellent quality, please submit it to my TLinnabary Courses Folder Inbox. Be sure to name it with your last name as well as title so that I know who it is from, for instance ylinnabary_Kingston Sunset. Since contest entries must be printed at high resolutions, be sure to give me large file sizes to assure the best print quality. Images emailed to yourself or to me are rarely of high enough resolution for printing. Save them to a travel drive instead and bring them to school.

Initial Interview using AudacityJohn Crandall, math teacher at Everett High and myself tried out Audacity last week in our Podcasting class. It may sound lame and contrived, but oh well, no one said learning was pretty.

The key to using technology is the word–use. If you are an immigrant like myself, you may be hesitant to go beyond what you already do, as in, “I’ve been turning right at this same corner for 30 years, so why should I start turning left, now?” 

To answer that question, I have to look at my own situation. I started a Masters of Education in technology at the age of 52 (and no, I won’t tell you how many years ago that was). I took on this challenge and it really was a challenge because Cascade High School has a nationally recognized visual art program, but at that time, there was no technology integration in the program. So being “Two Shoes,” as my husband calls me, I decided to get a masters in technology so we could have technology infused art at Cascade along with our other classes. Besides, I was teaching graphic art at the time and I was not able to get past the 101 things to do with a copier state of technology available to me at the time.  When I started the masters program, my art program wasn’t broken, it was merely seriously handicapped and I wanted to improve it. The result of my degree was that I went from being a digital dimwit to a digital diva in two very difficult years.

I have never regretted the decision to not just wade into technology but to dive! No matter how I may have whined to my husband at the time it was one of my best learning experiences ever. Every day, I put to use what I learned and I am living my learning and enjoying it to the hilt.  I started by infusing my graphic art program with technology and then piloted an art driven digital photography class. This year three students submitted AP 2-D design portfolios in photography to the College Board and all had a four or better score. We have received district, regional, state and national awards in photography. I learned from my students, that technology is a tool being used in their world, and I needed to come on board. Infusing your teaching and/or your life with technology is not fixing something that is broken, it is making your teaching experience and your students’ learning experience much, much richer and wider.

Last spring I wrote a grant to receive funds for my school from the Office of the Superintendent of Public Instruction. The primary goal of the grant was to help me be a better technology mentor at my school.  As a grant recipient, this has been one of those “careful what you ask for” situations. Sometimes, I feel as if I have hit a wall, other times I come away invigorated and challenged by what is taking place in my classroom and in the classroom of my ”peeps” the two teachers who have agreed to be my coachees; Sean Robinson who is currently in Japan taking part in a Fulbright Teaching Scholarship and Jennifer Chase, a math-magician. They have both stepped up to the plate and embraced the concept of infusing technology into their curricula.

The other thing that has happened as a result of this grant is that I have come to know the other tech mentors and trainers in our district so much better. The Everett Public Schools received 14 Enhanced Peer Coaching Grants from OSPI, can you believe it!? Last summer, we spent five days in Burlington being trained by ESD 189 along with other teachers in the region, notably Bellingham and Oak Harbor. So we have truly bonded. Yesterday, we had another training session and it was MARVELOUS! We learned about Google Notebooks from Alan King, Photostory from Wanda Hill and Podcasting from Cynthia Gaub. All of these people, by the way, are from Everett. We rock! As a digital photography teacher, I am used to producing work using computers, but I am a Photo Shop whiz, not necessarily a whiz at other types of technology. Now I am doing just what my students do, wading in and taking the risk that I might struggle, but I will persevere!

Welcome to the Digital Diva’s blog site.  This blog comes to you from the Everett Public Schools!.  The purpose of this site is to provide a forum for my peers and students at Cascade High School.  What do you need? How are you feeling about this whole technology infused age? Are you an immigrant or a native? Let’s get a dialog going.