If I think about some of the creative skills that will be essential as we move into our next phase of life post-covid, I think I would pinpoint the ability for students to observe and question what they see and hear, in their environment, in their conversations, in their interactions with people and the natural world. 

With the advent of the internet and social media and the constant vying for our attention, we've lost much of our own personal agency in the world.  We no longer are in charge of when we watch content, how we watch or are even clear about why we are taking in that content.  We simply get on our phones, in search of connection and instead find rabbit hole after rabbit hole, scrolling away our hours, without even realizing.  We've lost our sense of presence.  I believe that by sharpening our observation skills through noticing, asking questions, and making connections to things we already know, we will gain back some of that ability to be present in the world, which in turn allows the reclamation of much of our personal agency as humans.

In my classroom, I will continue to build a practice of nature journaling with my students.  We will use the "I notice, I wonder, It Reminds Me of" technique to reconnect with the natural world around us.  And for me personally, as a teacher, I will be using that protocol from now on to give feedback to students on their work, as it promotes a sense of presence, of accepting students and their work as it is, but also pointing out those attributes of their work that I want to emphasize to the whole class. 

I love concentrating on Nature as a means to remind each student and myself of where we came from, of how we are all connected and of how restorative nature can be in the midst of all the attention grabbing happening on social media, news, games, and the internet in general.  It will be a keystone of my SEL practices in the classroom this coming year, as it was during our very difficult hybrid Covid learning in the last year and a half. 

I also believe that this practice will awaken curiosity in a joyful, playful and easy way, something that is so often lacking in the high school learning arena. So many students have forgotten how to play, to ask questions that are fun, intriguing, exciting and even poetic. I'm including an example of a recent nature journal I did that shows how one can utilize this approach.  At the very heart of this process is the willingness to wonder, as well as a letting go of expectations in favor of joy.  We need more of that in the classroom, especially after such a difficult time in our history. 

And, of course, I plan to also incorporate some of the skills I hope to cover in Digital Design, such as the use of diagrams, use of color, use of space and so much more. Building a set of technical skills for Design is paramount to my classroom content, but how we get there, that's the exciting choice we get to make as educators.  I am starting to really look forward to next year and the learning opportunities!

Learn how we learned Digital Design during the Pandemic by getting up and out into nature (as well as finding nature within our homes when we couldn't get out.)

Thanks to the amazing font designer, I was able to move around some anchor points to make a quick font-based logo!
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I wrote a blog post for BetterLesson and Adobe and it was promoted globally on the Education Exchange! The artwork, by graphic design student, Jayden Hall, got top billing as well! What a win! Read about it below!

A great conversation with my good friend and fellow Adobe Education Leader, Abby Guido. She is a Communication Designer and Educator at Tyler School of Art and Architecture, Temple University.

We talk about why it's important to move toward a more collaborative approach in the classroom, what's the same and different in high school, vs. college, what students need to do to get into a Design program at the college/university level, and what it takes to succeed in the Design world nowadays. 

Click on the image above to see this 45 minute talk with Tacy Trowbridge, Global Lead, Adobe Education Programs and Lisa Gottfried, Digital Design, New Technology High School

Check out this cool student-made video that shows our process from beginning to end. This was a 3 month project done by my Digital Design Lab students which culminated in a projected art piece on the side of a building in the Napa Lighted Art Festival. Gavin was our documentarian for the entire project.  He's available for hire in Napa, wink, wink, nudge nudge.