http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R87KSBu7mfI
The following URL leads to an animated video of an apple rotting and coming back to life as apple juice. I chose the symbol of the apple because it represents knowledge, learning and more specifically an idea. The apple in the animation represents how my future students think about art, beauty and functionality. Before they enter the classroom they have this idea of what is and what is not art, they have this idea about beauty and functionality. The apple rotting represents the effects I hope my teaching has on these specific ideas. I hope to introduce them to new things, different works of art and different mediums, new concepts and ideas that are outside of the mold. As a teacher I would hope these new ideas could break down what they know and open up a world of creative and critical thinking. The water that is spilling on the rotting apple represents my students' own power to take an idea and make it more, refresh and replenish the idea. And the ending scene where the apple juice bottle appears where the apple once stood represents the finishing of an idea. I chose the bottle because a bottle can always be refllled it can always be used for something else and can take on a whole new life which is what I would like my students art and their lives to do. I want my students to know that if they are not happy with their current contents it can be spilled out and filled with something newer and something better. If they are unhappy with themselves they can turn themselves into something new, like an apple into apple juice or a bottle recycled into something else.
The above paragraph is the visual metaphor that I would like to get across as a whole though the animation but there are specific parts of the animation that represent the five things I want my students to take away from my teaching that I wrote in the previous blog. I have an explanation of which part of the animation represents which of the five things below.
1. Life is what you make it, if you want to be happy then do what makes you happy.
The symbolic process of the apple turning into the bottle of apple juice represented this idea for me. If you are not happy with you're current state it can always be altered.
2. Everything is beautiful, you may have to look closer at some things, beauty can scream and beauty can whisper and you should pay attention to both.
I think the apple rotting and transforming is a beautiful thing. Whatever you take from the animation, whether the colors or concept are both inherently beautiful just in different ways.
3. Think creatively about functionality and art and how they can be interchanged and how they can inspire each other.
The apple inspired the apple juice, without the apple you would not have the juice. On a surface level apple juice lasts longer than a picked apple making it more functional but also a creative idea someone had.
4. Art is always changing and one single idea is not a bad idea it may just need to be expanded. Do not doubt yourself but do not settle either, think of ways that idea can make a bigger impact.
The apple is singular where apple juice has many parts and maybe more advantages than the apple itself.
5. Art can give you a stronger voice. Art can help you find your voice if you have lost it.
You can always take something small and make it bigger such as an apple into a bottle of apple juice.
This idea about my teaching philosophy has brought me to think about incorporating my philosophy with the interfaces discussed in my first blog. I think VoiceThread would be a great interface to help my students find their artistic voice. VoiceThread forces students to collaborate with others through doodling and talking. As the teacher I would make these doodles have more weight so students can make a collaborative piece of art while still thinking of what they are trying to get across visually, and metaphorically. The tool iStopmotion would also be a great interface to use in order to communicate an idea, there could be a discussion about the functionality of animation to communicate this idea and how would different audiences receive and interpret the film. We could also discuss how taking a singular idea and turning it into an animation can make a bigger impact on consumers and help them to visually vocalize their ideas.
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