Plans & Stories
The Literary Magazine Project was a month long project that gave six students the opportunity to utilize technology skills while learning to practice employment skills such as reasoning, problem solving and personal development.
During the first class, students examined a variety of magazines for layout ideas, as well as the cost and budget limitations for collating, printing and binding each magazine. In order to stay within our budget, students were encouraged to examine black and white layout and graphic designs. As a motivational tool, we created a poster that demonstrated a variety of black and white text and graphics.
During the afternoon of our first day, a professional graphic designer visited our class and spoke to us about layout ideas and general rules for designing a magazine that was easy to “navigate.” She spent the rest of the afternoon working with students on creating unique text and graphic designs using their ideas. This was a great way to start the course because students were able to implement many of her ideas in the coming weeks.
After assessing individual student skill level, determining specific jobs, and developing a timeline for completing the magazine, students began selecting creative writing pieces to design. These creative writing pieces were student creative writing submissions approved for the literary magazine prior to this project. Students designing the creative writing pieces were encouraged to use the scanner, digital camera, and any software available to create an attractive page. First drafts were critiqued and revised until they were acceptable as a final copy.
Specific classes were scheduled for introducing software tools or for group activities such as the design of the insert pages. Individual students took responsibility for the Table of Contents, contribution page, and the group page. One student had the sole responsibility of designing the cover page, which would incorporate color. General ideas were offered prior to beginning the cover page design and a group decision was required for final approval.
Final stages in the process included storing the magazine files on a Zip cartridge and making a hard copy to bring to the local printing company. We discussed any changes with the printing company and had them print a copy for us to examine before the final copies were made. After making any corrections or changes, the printing company got the final OK to finish the job.
This was an exciting and fun project for all of us. Students were extremely proud of their final product.
|
|
