Remembering September 11

Today is the 18th  anniversary of the September 11 attacks so well take a moment to look at two short films from StoryCorps animated by The Rauch Brothers of two very personal stories from that day.  The first about John and Joe Vigiano (a firefighter from West Islip and a police officer from Medford) and the second about Michael Trinidad (who worked at Cantor Fitzgerald). 



I had a chance to visit the memorial and see the tribute in light in lower Manhattan from Brooklyn on the 15th anniversary which was meaningful as I was teaching the morning of September 11 and some of the students I taught lost parents that day.

Art Honor Society: Happy Thanksgiving!

Art Honor Society & Media Art Honor Society will not meet this week because of the Thanksgiving vacation but here's a look at our new hallway poster designed in AP Art class this week.  We will be meeting next week to finihs up our Wyland mural, work on more artist trading cards, plan a Storycorps interview with a local artist, and reschedule our NYC field trip.

Extra Credit: StoryCorps-The Great Thanksgiving Listen

This month's extra credit assignment for studio art classes is to participate and upload an interview for StoryCorps The Great Thanksgiving Listen.  You can listen to some of the previous #NeedlesClass Great Listen interviews to get an idea of the expectation but we'll review the specifics in class too.  Each interview should be with an elder and have at least 10 questions along with a photograph of the interviewer and interviewee along with a signed permission form if they are going to be uploaded.  Make sure you add the #needlesclass hashtag so we can easily find them online.  Below is a StoryCorps favorite animated example.

Media Art: Storytelling Docs

In Media Art class we are begin to learn about storytelling and screenwriting and we are starting with StoryCorps Short Docs.  We will discuss how to craft good questions and develop a story and then use the StoryCorps App to record a true short story and a short interview.  We will then take some of those interviews or short stories and develop them into short film documentaries.

Digital Media: The Great Thanksgiving Listen

In Digital Media class we are working on preparing for our Storycorps- The Great Thanksgiving Listen project in which each student will interview an elder (grandparent, parent, family friend, ect.). The interview should be recorded via the StoryCorps app on a smart phone and you will use the worksheet provided in class to prepare your questions.  Each interview should have 10-15 question and be under 40 minutes.  The project is due right after Thanksgiving break on Tuesday Dec 1.

Digital Media- #TheGreatListen 2015

In Digital Media class we will be participating in the StoryCorps #TheGreatListen 2015 project as the final project in our audio unit.  Monday we watched StoryCorps founder Dave Isay's TED talk (posted above) in class that gave insight into the project along with some examples.

Today we will start preparing for our interviews with a worksheet, the free StoryCorps app, and a list of questions you can pull from along with some hints and advice.  The final recording is due on Friday November 20 so you have 3 weeks to create your interview.  I'll hand out a permission slip to everyone to sign but in terms of sharing and uploading your final interview it's your choice and not mandatory for the class.

Remembering September 11

Today marks 14 years since the terrorist attacks of September 11 and we will begin class with two short animated films created from Storycorps recordings created to remember the victims of the attacks.  The video above tells the stories of locals Joe and John Vigiano and the story below tells the story of Michael Trinidad who worked at Cantor Fitzgerald in the World Trade Center.  We will also have a moment of silence and talk a little bit about our connections to the experience.



We will also be creating our own Storycorps stories later this year for the Great Thanksgiving Listen program which we'll talk about at the end of next month.

Studio and Media Art: Remembering 911

Today is the anniversary of the September 11 attacks so well take a moment to look at two short films from StoryCorps animated by The Rauch Brothers of two very personal stories from that day.  The first about John and Joe Vigiano (a firefighter from West Islip and a police officer from Medford) and the second about Michael Trinidad (who worked at Cantor Fitzgerald).

Remembering September 11

It's been 11 years since the tragic events on September 11, 2001 and we will be watching a series of short animations created by NPR's StoryCorps along with animators the Rauch Brothers which show some of the personal stories from that day. 

We will also be viewing a video clip from my trip to Hiroshima, Japan where I heard Mr. Tsugio Ito speak about surviving the atomic bomb where he lost his brother to leukimia and losing his son in the World Trade Center on 9/11 .