@createtaiwan For the homework question I would suggest asking Kent @theluthier about that in the main Collab forum thread, or ask @duerer here in this one.
If the planks have enough geometry to warp, then yes use a Lattice Object/cage to adjust them (but you could probably also do the bending in the Sculpting part next week) and then Apply the Lattice. I may be wrong, but I think the aim is to make the assets whole(?) and not with modifiers left one that will slow down the viewport in the combined .blend file.
These are just my guesses, so I strongly suggest that you ask @duerer opinion on what would be the best workflow for your part of the Collab.
