“Hello boys and girls! Unfortunately, Mrs. Sanderl cannot be here to teach you today. My name is Ms. Pretty, and I am the substitute teacher. What happened to Mrs. Sanderl, you ask? She had an unfortunate accident… I ATE HER FOR BREAKFAST! If you don’t behave, I might just eat you too! Ahahaha! Ahahaha! Ahahaha!”
The Gifted & Talented Digital Media Class is an opportunity for bright and motivated students to work with the school’s most advanced equipment. 6th, 7th, and 8th graders work as a team to broadcast the Morning News for all of Kapaa Middle School, create High Definition movies and animated films, document school events through photography, and edit their projects to create professional-looking end-products. I really enjoy the playful and eccentric personalities in the group, along with this unique experience teaching digital art.
My 6th and 7th graders recently completed a project that was influenced by Australian Aboriginal dot painting. They were only given limited paint colors: the 3 primaries plus black and white to mix their own palette with. Using the eraser end of their pencils, chopsticks, or other stick-like tools, they dipped into their paint and stamped it onto their paper to create a layered image composed entirely of small circles. I even subjected them to didgeridoo music to get them in the mood, and by the end I think some of them started to enjoy the foreign sounding instrument!
There were many exceptional entries this year, and I hope we have some winners from our school!
Julia