Humanities: Learning to Love You More & Wicked Focus

Today we took a brief pause in Out of Nowhere to introduce Learning to Love You More, our ongoing design challenge for the month of May that will incorporate our work with Out of Nowhere and human rights, reinventing our blogging, and outsider art -- all ideas we intended to tackle anyway.

LEARNING TO LOVE YOU MORE.

Learning to Love You More started as an ambitious art project by Miranda July and Harrell Fletcher.  During the mid-2000s it took off as something of a social art movement in days before Instagram and Snapchat and when Tumblr and Twitter were just getting started.

Mr. Brackett and I still need to decide exactly which assignments we'll be using as part of the study of Out of Nowhere and which will be part of your personal portfolio, but you can expect to complete at least three a week.  For this first one, pick any of the 70 assignments and complete it for your blog post for Thursday.

Yes, some of these are incredibly easy and simple to "complete."  But remember, we've spent a tremendous amount of working on being intentional, making things that matter, challenging ourselves to make new iterations and revisions of our work.  If your goal is to take the easiest route, you will find this a fairly worthless endeavor -- it will feel like you wasted your time, it will make you ask what's the point, you will want to hide your work and share it with no one, you will likely be annoyed daily for the next month.

Or . . . you can do as Mr. Muise suggests we all do and refuse to be afraid to be awesome.  Be awesome.  Make something awesome.

VOCAB.

Roots 12.  Quiz next Thursday, May 5.  CRUSH it. Hard.

WICKED FOCUS a.k.a. FIDGET PROJECT

Today we made some huge strides in turning our fidget project into a classroom based business, a true example of social entrepreneurship and starting something that matters.

We have a lot of work to do between now and Friday, and especially between now and Friday, May 6, my imposed deadline to have the website up and ready for business.  We can do this.  Especially with a team like this:
Tyler: Marketing Director
Leahannah: Business Manager
Amelia: Human Resources Manager
Zach: Production Manager

Plus the rest of Wicked Focus which is currently the two Lilly's,  Dawson B. and Mo, but is open to anyone who would like to be involved.  These are your designs going to market.  I encourage you all to be part of this.

SHOW YOUR THINKING.

Blog.  Choose any LTLYM assignment.  Post it on  your blog.  Put a link to it on Google Classroom in the appropriate assignment.  There will be a new blog tracker soon.

Due.  Thursday.  April 28.

Vocab. Roots 12.

Quiz.  Thursday.  May 5.

Wicked Focus.

Logo.

Due. Thursday.  May 5.

Pricing.

Due. Thursday. May 5.

Production Workflow.

Due.  Thursday. May 5.

Google+ and Communication Plan.

Due. Friday.  April 29.

Story of Us.

Due. Friday. April 29.

We'll be meeting daily for the next two weeks to get us to launch.

Pop Culture: Game Something That Matters & Pitches

The last element in our Video Games That Matter design challenge is the pitch.

Next Monday, you will deliver a three-minute pitch of your game design, convincing your potential investors -- the rest of the class -- to invest in your idea.  

Today we watched a couple of clips from ABC's Shark Tank on Hulu.  The show features entrepreneurs seeking big money investors in their ideas.  You will be doing the same thing.  Here are few more pitches to watch and study.  Notice their approach and attitude, their preparation, the materials they bring, and how that affects the sharks' offers.  

You can also learn more about pitching from these resources.  (Some links may be broken.)

• The Pitch - Doing Whatever It Takes, Episode 101, Subway: The Pitch – AMC
• http://chrisoatley.com/pdf/RMPitchBible.pdf
• Writing Loglines that Sell
• Ready Camera One - The Pitch Bible
• The Pitch Bible: Just The Essentials | Animation World Network
• Sample Pitches | This American Life
• Pitch and Sell Your Reality TV Show Idea | Creating Ideas For TV
  This shows you information on creating a logline.  And it includes great examples.
• Selling Your Story in 60 Seconds with Michael Hauge - YouTube
• How to Pitch a TV Show - Tim Gibbons
  Tim Gibbons discussing the pitch and development of a show at HBO that never saw further development, but the process discussion is still fantastic

Prepare a 3-minute pitch for Monday and be certain you include the following visuals and information as part of your pitch.

HMW design a game that addresses a problem that matters, entertains people and requires higher order critical thinking?

You will be pitching your ideas to the rest of the class as though they were venture capital investors looking to fund a new video game studio.

You must include the following in the pitch:

Game Title.

Concept Behind the Game.

Storyline of the Game.

Visual Examples of Game Screens (At Least 3)

Evidence That It Is About Something That Matters.

Evidence That the Game Requires Higher Order Cognition.

Logo for the Game.

Take It to the Next Level by Potentially Creating Rough Game Play in an Actual Game Design

We didn't get an opportunity today to talk about the new look of blogging for Q4. I was deliberately holding off until we got closer to the end of the video game design challenge. Rather than answering blog prompts each night, you are doing to design your own branded blog around an interest, topic, or passion of yours and develop it into a regularly updated web presence with original content, intentional design, and features to attract a readership. It may choose to create a vlog or podcast as part of your design; you may choose to include a great deal of visuals. You may choose to link to other information with your own take.

It must feature your own voice, ideas or opinions in either writing or spoken word. It must be about something of interest to you. And it must be updated on the calendar to be announced.

In the meantime, your first blog post for Q4 is one of discovery. Brainstorm a list of possible topics for your blog and find two blogs that you could use for inspiration for you own -- whether it be for the content or for the design. Find them. Link to them. Take screen shots. Explain your thinking.

Due Thursday, April 28. (There will be time in class to do this work right at the beginning of class -- 8 to 8:20; the final hour will be for preparing your video game design.)