So, today you start some electronic masterpieces. You will be learning about movie making, digital photo editing, web page creation and multimedia presentation.  You will be making each of these during the school year. You will be graded on the quality of your work, not on the amount of time it takes you to complete.  


Before you begin I want you to complete two tasks.  I want you to write about your goals for this class and I want you to write about your expectation.  Regarding your goals, I want you to write two.  I want you to describe the goals in detail so that we can evaluate your goals later when your projects are complete.  Regarding your expectation I want you to be clear.  I want you to write about two expectation.  Each expectation should be a paragraph long and should be clearly explained.  Your expectation may or may not become true, we will examine your expectations again at the end of the class.

Mr. Aitken

So, I was going to write about my least favorite subject but the best I could come up with was penmanship.  Last millennial students would have to practice their handwriting skills.  We would have to print our letters by following a model letter.  We would print each letter over and over and use them in words.  We did the same in cursive, or handwriting as some call it.  Since this does not sound dramatic or tragic I'll write about my most favorite.

Art.  Not just any art class with any art teacher, but a Chinese art class with Mr. Roy Chang.  We learned how to make woven wicker baskets (no jokes about doing it underwater), we learned how to make lots of different kinds of pottery, we did a lot of brush painting and character writing with a traditional brush and ink on silk paper, we made the most amazing kites out of bent bamboo and rice paper.  Mostly I learned from Mr. Chang that art came with passion.  I learned from Mr. Chang that I should do my best the first time, be as careful as possible, be meticulous, always work in such a way as to say, "I did my best." 

I learned this from a lot of other people in my life too, but Mr. Chang's combination of love or art, love of people, high standards and integrity made an impression on my.  And by the way.  I had the privilege of knowing Mr. Chang from the time I was in sixth grade (at Latimer Hall)  until I graduated from high school.  Thank you Mr. Chang for being such a great example.