Introduction
The documentary project was probably the most difficult project for junior year, across Digital Media, English, and Design. In this project, we were to portray a community issue/person/event and create a story around our subject. For my project, I chose to document AI use in MVHS classrooms. I had originally thought it would be a relatively simple topic to research, since it has become a part of popular culture and thus was more researchable. However, due to its constant updates and developments, the project became so difficult to focus on specific details and aspects of AI.
English
For me, the most difficult part of this project was in English. This was my first time writing in a journalistic style, which was so jarring to me after years of writing essays. I read so many different articles to try to emulate a more “conversational” piece, and Mr. Greco guided me to focus my article more on my interviewees and their interviews to accomplish this. After struggling to write and consistently revise my article for several weeks, I can confidently say that I have so much admiration for journalists.
Digital Media
In Digital Media, we got to take the article we wrote in English and enhance it by using InDesign. Learning InDesign was much faster than learning Illustrator and Photoshop, since it is very similar to both platforms, but also because I learned to import from other Adobe services into InDesign. This magazine article was almost like a miniature version of the book I made in Design.
Interviewee Bios
This is Marcey Winawer, one of the Mountain View High School teachers teaching AP Computer Science. She originally worked in New York before deciding to receive a teaching credential and begin a new career at Mountain View. As someone in the tech industry, she holds a generally open perspective about using AI in her classrooms.
To the left is a picture taken of one of Maria Carter-Giannini’s lectures. She is one of the AP U.S. History teachers at Mountain View High School and has taught there for the past 11 years. With the rise of AI use across classrooms, she has decided to take a rigorous approach to restrict AI use in her classroom.
Design
For Design, one of the tasks for our Documentary Book was to take a minimum of 60 photos. This was a task I initially struggled with, as I did not know how I could “capture” the tension between AI and education in a photograph without it being literal. I took a variety of photos across different campuses, including the classrooms of both of my interviewees, as well as the offices of NVIDIA and Google, two leading forces in the AI boom.
One of the most important things I learned through creating my book was using photo filters and curves to edit my photos in Adobe Photoshop. Since most of the outdoor and classroom lighting was a yellow tone, I had to use a cooling filter to neutralize the yellow and bring out some of the darker colors. Overall, my favorite photo was the Gemini Office, because although it was taken through a car window on a rainy day, editing it through Photoshop allowed me to create an image that demonstrates how dystopian AI can be.
Reflection
Overall, I learned so much about many different things during this project, and I think that came from stepping outside my comfort zone. I had to overcome my anxiety to ask and conduct interviews and take photos in public. Additionally, this was my first time writing a more professional journalistic piece, which was very different from my typical essay writing style. For me, the writing was the most intense part of the project, but another obstacle in the project was not having Ms. P to guide us in Design. For the majority of the book, I mainly just adjusted my GDEs, text columns/fonts, and layout until I thought they looked right, but I feel that having Ms. P set more rules and explain to us what looks good and what doesn’t could have made a completely different project. I am generally proud of my final product, given the situation, but I truly wish I could workshop my writing more, as I still feel quite dissatisfied with my article.
Thank You!
I want to give the greatest thank you to all the teachers who were involved in my project! Thank you so, so much to Ms. Winawer and Ms. CG for being so kind and encouraging to me in their classrooms, and for offering their perspective through the interviews. I truly appreciated it, and it helped to focus my project. I also want to thank Mr. Greco for the immense amount of guidance, suggestions, and one-on-one conversations on my article; Your guidance pushed me to improve and study my writing on a deeper level and question the central ideas.