This world wide pandemic created a whirlwind of drastic measures on how we live our lives. Doing everything in the confines of our homes we all had to quickly adapt. The landscape suddenly changed to a stream of masked faces,
long lines and physical distances.
As a public high school teacher I assigned an ongoing project for multimedia design classes to create a digital story, Life Through The Crisis. 2020 is definitely a memorable year, but this storm too shall pass. What they are creating in a way is a time capsule so years from now they can recount or share their story to reflect on how the school year went to an abrupt halt and had a modified finish. Nobody signed up for this, not the teachers nor the students, the whole learning community had to come together to make this work. Despite inevitable wrinkles, the school leaders rose to the occasion to face the challenges.
Life Through the Crisis Isolation, boredom, anxieties, new discoveries, survival modes, these were all part of the spectrum where each student had an angle, a story to tell. Teachers have their stories as well as this distance education/shelter in place scenario have taken something from all of us, the daily connections, face to face interactions, just plain old human contact that perhaps we took for granted. But we can also find some good, rays of light in seemingly dark times, and nuggets of hope in these quarantine corners.
Here are some examples of student work:
Video compilation Part 1 Part 2 Part 3 Part 4
Slideshow
Since we are all in this together, each have stories to tell. Staying inside, looking in ~ this introspective reflection drove my digital story that stems from the slogan Stay Safe. Being safe from a vantage point means maintaining a balance.
CREATIVE. I found more time for music. Even collaborated with my students on these compositions.
Frontier Faces (while we sleep,,,) I composed this piece in honor of the front liners., health care workers, grocery clerks, peace officers, social workers, school employees, auto mechanics, and many others that continue to serve the needs of others. Here's the back story on the development of this piece.
Shelter In Space an abstract impromptu jam using JamKazaam that allows distance live performance with minimal latency, it took sometime to set up much less deal with recording process,. There were layers added after the fact (post production) The piece is more of a sound experience of going elsewhere in place.
Rise for Us . a project that involved the jazz choir students , a work in progress as production wasn't; completed due to the sudden change in school schedule
ACTIVE "Life is like riding a bicycle, To Keep Your Balance You Must Keep Moving," Albert Einstein
I bought an Ebike and started commuting daily to work, 37 miles round trip, then the shelter in place happened and my family go on bike rides, individually or as a group. We also go on hikes, where can socially distance and do Yoga and calisthenics Zoom classes in our leaving room. Couple of bike commute vids Part I Part 2
POSITIVE. Teaching remotely was a trial by fire affair. We had to be innovative patient and understanding, But most importantly I finds it most vital in surviving these trying times is by having a positive outlook. I try encourage my students when I see them in Zoom, to Stay Creative, Stay Active and most of all Stay Positive. Watching them roll with the punches at get to the finish line, even culminating to some semblance of graduation ceremony is a positive sign.
Here are links to 2020 Multimedia Design students web portfolio.
P2 P4
P5 P6