Planning

Planning, originally uploaded by MarkEJohnson.

My wife says whenever she hears the Indigo Girls’ Get Out the Map she thinks of me. Whenever I hear it … I do.

That, believe it or not, is a rally idea I sketched out for one of my kids. She asked, I scrawled, she shrugged. Maybe the tween years are not the time to introduce her to this …

Movement



Movement, originally uploaded by MarkEJohnson.

When it comes to teaching in the technical areas, we spend a lot of time on workflow issues, the process of creating, archiving and indexing the elements upon which we build. If students get that stuff right early on, it let’s us move into the much more important ideas of why we crate and for whom.

But, as the semester winds down, there is a palpable panic in the air around some students. A tension because they can’t find something they need, they didn’t pay attention to sone details along the way. For others, the end can be almost … relaxing. They learned, they followed directions and they can take a little break, breathe a little easier, concentrate on the big picture because all the little pictures are where they belong.

The process doesn’t matter, but it is important.

Working



Working, originally uploaded by MarkEJohnson.

Final portfolios are due for two classes this week so we have the lab open every day. It was quiet today, though three (of 32) students turned in their projects. We do everything as an electronic submissioin now, no more waiting for the laser printer queue to clear and hoping the color hadn’t wandered too far from reality.

Yet we still have one box of paperclips on the table, the same box we had when I came here five and a half years ago. Just three clips left, wonder how long they will last …