Viva mi Barrio 

The Task:

For many, where we live plays a major role in who we are, for others, their neighborhood is just a place in which their home resides. In addition, neighborhoods, like people, carry with them stigmas. Students will be grouped together based on the neighborhoods they live in to explore the identity of their barrio. Through ethnographic writing and sensory writing, they will bring to life their neighborhood. The writing will serve as the foundation for the neighborhood box that will rotate through images of the neighborhood as reflected by the students. The audience will be able to interact with this exhibit, understanding the various reflections of the neighborhood by turning the crank to reveal new images.

 

The Essential Questions:

How does my neighborhood reflect who I am?

How do I view my neighborhood?

How do outsiders view my neighborhood?

How can we design, build, and use gears to our advantage?

 

The Writing:

Each student will be an ethnographer* and participate in neighborhood walks of their community and that of others, documenting their observations. In addition, every student will create sensory writing narratives illustrating the essential questions.

 

*ethnography: the scientific descriptions of the customs of individual peoples and cultures.

 

The Literature:

Students will engage in various short stories, narratives, and novels that discuss communities. Some of which include:  Wild Meat and the Bully Burgers, Mexican White Boy, “The Streets of Brazil,” “The House on Mango Street”

 

The Math:

Students will be using geometry, area, measurement and ratio to create the gears.

 

The  Engineering:

Students will work together to develop calculations that will aide their blueprints for the box, gears, bases, and crank in Adobe Illustrator that will then be sent to the laser cutter. In addition, students will be responsible for working together with their group to construct their interactive visual box.

 

Challenge Option:

Students use different gears and gear ratios to calculate how many turns it takes to get the correct picture facing front.  

 

The Photography:

Each student will be responsible for bringing photos they take of their neighborhood, answering the essential questions: how do I view my neighborhood? How do outsiders view my neighborhood? What are my hopes for my neighborhood? The photos can be modified in Photoshop to contributed to the artistic symbolism. They will work together with their classmates by participating in the critique process to narrow down to 3 photos that best answer and represent the essential questions.

 

Community Outreach:

• Chunky Sanchez, a local San Diegan performer with songs about Chicano Park.

• Field Trips of San Diego communities where students practice their ethnography skills: Sherman Heights, Downtown, Barrio Logan. Local organizations such as Sherman Heights Community Center and the Barrio Logan College Institute will speak to us about their role in the community.

• Photographers

• Engineers

• Sociologists

 

The Product:

A box with gears and prisms that rotate images of the neighborhoods representative of our HTHMA 9th grade student population.

 

Timeline:

• Neighborhood Observation Log

  • Tuesday 9/23

• Neighborhood Observation Log Debrief and Photo Collaborative Mini-Essays

  • Tuesday 9/23

• VIgnette Brainstorm: What defines my neighborhood--thinking about a location or theme. Debrief in groups

  • Wednesday 9/24

• Guest Speaker: Chunky Sanchez

  • Thursday, 9/25

• Vignette Draft 1 Due and Critiques

  • Friday 9/26

• Bring in top 3 photos of your neighborhood with explanations of the EQs and critique--selection process for final box photos

  • Monday 9/29

• Final photos edited in Photoshop and emailed to Diana and Anna

  • Tuesday, 9/30

• Photos sent to print

• Vignette Draft 2 and critiques

  • Wednesday, 10/1

• Vignette Draft 3 and critiques

• Box Construction

  • Friday, 10/3

• Vignette Draft 4 and critiques

• Photos Cut for transfer to Balsa

• Box Construction

  • Monday, 10/4

• Box Construction

  • Tuesday, 10/7

• Boxes Due

• Final Vignette Due

  • Wednesday, 10/8

• Pop Up Exhibition

  • Thursday, 10/9

• Exhibition Set Up--off campus

  • Monday, 10/13

• Exhibition Set Up--off campus

  • Tuesday, 10/14

• Exhibition

  • Wednesday, 10/15

 

Math/Physics Due Dates

 

• Equilateral Triangles to fit picture slats designed in Illustrator (First Draft)

  • Sept 10 (BOC)

• 1st draft of Gears and Box saved in your Google Drive (every student)

  • Sept 24 (EOC)

• Pre Final Draft critique on plotter paper

  • Sept 25 (EOC)

• All Final Illustrator Files on Google Drive

  • Sept 26

• All Wood Laser Cut

  • Oct 1

• Construction

  • Oct 1-7

• Exhibition (5:30-7:00)

  • Oct 14