Phobia Fun, Julia and Kate's Lesson

Last week, Julia and Kate gave their lesson. It stemmed off their theme of fear, and for this activity we focused on phobias. This can be a tricky subject to embark upon, being that many students do not want to share their fears with the class. However, Julia and Kate took a smart approach by putting students into groups and assigning a phobia to each group. It just so happened that the phobia my group was assigned was something very real for me… Germs!!!! Megan and Chris were both in my group and although they didn’t identify themselves as germaphobes, they were able give input into our idea. We had to create a storyboard, complete with characters, set-up, conflict, and resolution. Megan brought up her dream about a swarm of bees coming to get her, but then she sat on the washing machine and she was saved! This seemed like it could translate perfectly to the idea of a swarm of germs and washing (soap) to make them go away. We evenly distributed working tasks. Chris drew in the images for the storyboard and we all helped make props. For our photography session, I was the character being attacked by the germs and Chris came in as a Super hero armed with soap to save me, Megan was the photographer.

Ahhhh!!!! Germs!!!!

The activity aspect was fun, but there was a certain level of confusion and frustration during class time. I was confused about the examples of 180-degree angle shots, and didn’t feel like it was clarified when I asked about it. There was a lot of new information being given out, but it was unclear. I didn’t feel the different angles were described effectively. This could just be me, but I think if I can be confused at 30 years old with a strong art background, then a middle or high school student could feel lost as well. The materials were also an issue. First, Kate mentioned that she used glue sticks for her teacher sample and they worked great, but we didn’t have any! Also, when we went to use the markers, none of them worked! I think this is a reminder to all of us to be consistent with our teacher samples and our lessons. If they can’t use it, we shouldn’t use it. Also, we should all do a materials check. Be aware of the materials we have available and make sure they are working properly.