Art 220: Entry 3

On Thursday, when we turned in our comic strips of how we got to college, we were asked to rank them all from best to worst. We were told there could not be any ties and we were given a time limit. Initially, the idea of ranking everyone was a bit of a shock. We were on the clock and we had to select the top and bottom pieces and order everyone in between. Everyone had different opinions as to how we would vote and organize the comics, and a few people became competitive and chose to vote for their own pieces.

Following the activity, we split into groups and discussed the process that went into ranking the students' work. Our group felt that clarity was very important. If the comic strip clearly communicated a story, the piece was successful and it was more likely to hold our interest. We also felt a sense of chronology strengthened the comic. We felt that the effort and quality that went into making the comic was very important. There were a few comic strips that seemed to be thrown together quite quickly and others showed a lot of planning and time put into it. Rushed work was less likely to be ranked higher. And while artistic ability was judged, it was not the most important factor in determining the better comic strips, but it did help.

After discussing the ranking process, we discussed the group atmosphere. There were a few students who took charge and decided to lead and suggest ideas as to how the class should rank the comics while the majority of the class, simply silently agreed to what was occurring. Some people did not like or agree with the process but not to many people actively voiced their dissent during the ranking process. Towards the end of the ranking, the class began to rush to try to get the final comics ordered and it was less organized than it had been earlier.

The whole experience of ranking the class may have seem a bit unfair at first, but in the real world, only the best ideas get picked. Usually it is one person or a small group of people who decide the fate of many, which seemed to occur naturally when a few elected themselves leaders. This was an excellent opportunity to review and critique all the student work in a group setting and it taught the class the value or hard work. Those who did the best job were publicly announced and even given a prize.



descriptor collection:
ephemeral - existing for a short amount of time
bawdy - inappropriate, sometimes in a humorous way
axiomatic - something that is obvious and therefore taken for granted