Interview with Jay Hoffman, Design and Technology Teacher at Frederick Tuttle Middle School

I was able to sit down and converse with Jay Hoffman, Design and Technology Educator at Frederick Tuttle Middle School in South Burlington as part of an assignment for a course I’m enrolled in, Teacher Leadership in Technology Integration at the University of Vermont. Our task was to interview someone we believed to be an educational leader in our schools and to ask questions themed around technology integration and leadership.  Hoffman, in my view, is a great example of teacher leadership in action, he’s successfully connected with the community outside of his courses, brought new and innovative media courses to the Middle School and has fostered a perfect example of what, (in my opinion), is a digital community in his school district.

I decided to film my interview with Jay Hoffman, (perhaps because I’m a digital video teacher, heh), and had to really try not to get funky with the editing. I purposefully left the interview shots and editing simple, with my questions titled between Hoffman’s responses. Because of the size of the video piece, I had to split the interview into two sections, so below you’ll see two embedded videos, Part 1 and Part 2. 

Investigations in Urban Decay through the Principles of Design: Slide Shows in Three Parts

Urban Decay: Principles of Design Part I on PhotoPeach

Here in Vermont, aptly labeled the “Green State” we notice fairly severe changes often brought on by the onset of the various seasons. As the brilliance of the leaves fade into the frigid starkness of winter, often an “undergrowth” is revealed, the landscape becomes clearer. Buildings spring up where before they were blocked by trees, remnants of garbage, foundations, decrepit buildings poke through the naked trees. Are we witnessing Urban Decay, or are we seeing the onset of Urban Renewal for the first time? As students in Digitial Photography I have witnessed in Edward Burtynsky’s photography, beauty in a photograph can come from sometimes the most dismal subject matter.

Urban Decay: Principles of Design Part II on PhotoPeach

Having looked through the principles of design, and in the spirit of the oncoming winter, I asked students to explore each principle of design in a photo series examining Urban Decay, (or Urban Renewal depending on how you see it), using each principle for one photograph. Students were required to take six photographs with the following criteria:

-1 ohoto showing the Use of Balance
-1 photo showing Asymmetrical Balance
-1 photo showing Rhythm or Repetition
-1 photo showing Emphasis
-1 photo showing Simplicity
-1 photo showing Unity/Coherence

Urban Decay: Principles of Design Part III on PhotoPeach

The slide shows posted within this post show some of the amazing work that came out of this project, and again, comments or questions are greatly appreciated and welcomed!

Digital Photography: Break Dance Photo Shoot!

Finally getting some student images up! As a recap, students in my Digital Photography I class had an opportunity to work with two break dancers in exploring movement and light in photography, (see previous Break Dancers post for more cool details about our project). As students upload these images, I'll be posting slide shows from this particular class. The images came out beautifully, and many of the students brought their images into Photoshop for further editing!

Digital Photography 1: Break Dance Photo Shoot on PhotoPeach