Too many teachers 'teaching to test'
Sunday, October 24, 2010
PE5_iMovie-ScreenShot2
Here I am again continuing the process of creating my family movie of our experience at Atlantis Marine World. I am very excited for the possibility to share my experiences with others. Whether it be family events or professional events. iMovie has so many benefits and is unbelievably user friendly. After using the program I feel very comfortable continuing to create mini movies. I would really enjoy doing this all the time if time permits.
PE4_iMovie-ScreenShot
Here I am in the process of working with iMovie to create a video if a trip with my family to visit Atlantis Marine world. In connecting this to my classroom I would like to coordinate virtual field trips. After going on my own and video taping my personal experience this way I can share them with my students and/or colleagues.
PE6_iMovie-Movie
I have so much fun using iMovie and taking my videos and turning them into memorable DVDs for my family.
How many times do you wish you can take your class to see different events, museums, places and can't do it due to time or money. Using iMovie to video those memorable locations and editing them to share with your class can be a great way to motivate your students. Here is an example of a movie I created using iMovie. You'll see my family and I enjoying Atlantis Marine World in Riverhead, NY. Hope you enjoy the visit!
I was thinking to myself, "What can I use imovie for in my art classroom?" When it came to me... VIRTUAL FIELD TRIPS!
How many times do you wish you can take your class to see different events, museums, places and can't do it due to time or money. Using iMovie to video those memorable locations and editing them to share with your class can be a great way to motivate your students. Here is an example of a movie I created using iMovie. You'll see my family and I enjoying Atlantis Marine World in Riverhead, NY. Hope you enjoy the visit!
Sunday, October 17, 2010
PE3_Googledocs Drawings
I was the most excited to explore this portion of Google docs. Not only because I am an art teacher and enjoy drawing, but mostly because I think I can use this in my classroom. After playing with the features it seems very similar to the basic drawing tools in word. The simplicity of it however is a good thing. I've been allowing my students that finish up their work early to play an art game called add on. With this game my students start with a very basic shape and add on lines one at a time to create a recognizable object. With this program I can set up students on the computers to battle one another, or I can use this to come up with new starting drawings for those designs. Fun to explore further.
PE2_Googledocs Documents
It was very comfortable to use the Google Docs Document website because of its similarity to word. I use word on a daily basis for projects, lesson plans, brochures, flyers and more. This would be a great way to start writing up my Action Research Project and collaborate with my critical friends to get their feedback and information to share within my literature research. I have been using word to save my files and send them via e-mail but the factor of the speedy collaboration makes this seem more valuable than word. However the features on word are much more in depth. I'm excited to use these programs further in the next few months to see exactly what is possible with this tool.
PE1_Googledocs Spreadsheets
I am so impressed with Google docs. What a fun and easy way to share documents and collaborate easily. I spent some time playing around with the spreadsheet. It seems the tools and worksheets are very similar to excel. I use excel on a regular basis and usually share my documents by e-mailing them and waiting for a response. I am so amazed at the fact that you can cut that waiting time out entirely by using Google docs. I've attached a picture of a mock worksheet for my Action Research Project. I plan to use Google docs spreadsheets to collaborate with my critical friends to share valuable findings and research and keep track of articles and what we thought of them.
BP9_Flickr
One of the hardest things to accomplish as an art teacher is sharing our student’s artwork. Along with Artsonia (the largest children’s museum online) a web tool I’ve explored in one of my past blogs, I would like to use Flickr. Students of any age and level can share their artwork with the friends, family members, teachers and administrators. I can use this tool to update parents with the work their students have produced throughout the class.
Many parents are anxious to see what their students are working on and many projects unfortunately don’t make it home. Whether it be that its to difficult to transport, in a special place to be revealed at the annual art show, or the student isn’t responsible enough to take it home, now you can be prepared to share your student’s work at any time. It can be used to communicate to the parents their student’s positive or negative classroom progress, behavior and actual work and show them proof by the picture and feedback on exactly how your students are doing.
An additionally great feature on Flickr is the: Create a Canvas feature. With this feature Flickr turns your photos into art. This feature is great for my art classroom and a perfect way to boost my student's confidence to make multiple copies of their art allowing them to share their favorite art pieces with many people, while keeping the original to cherish for themselves.
Wednesday, October 6, 2010
Tuesday, October 5, 2010
BP5_Artsonia
Artsonia.com is an interactive website formed to showcase children’s art. It is currently the largest student art museum in the world! There are so many wonderful assets to using this program. One of the most unique assets is the availability to view and understand multicultural art, giving our art students an opportunity to view other children’s art from all over the world. This type of online web 2.0 tool really helps get the students involved in art critique and discussion, and opens up a world of opportunity for them by offering them their own web gallery. I believe one of the most important factors of being a successful educator is the inspiration and courage we give our students. Artsonia does both. By uploading their artwork they can get recognition from family members, friends, other students, teachers, and more. The students are able to share stories and lessons, and their families and friends can even purchase their art directly from the website. The funds collected from any sales, goes back to the school to be used for the art program, which is a great fundraiser for schools on a tight budget.
Parent involvement is such an important part of student work. Getting the parents motivated and excited for their student's online gallery is a great way to connect them to your classroom and to their child's success in art. Getting the parents on your side is sometimes the most difficult task a teacher can have. Artsonia increases the parent’s involvement in many ways. They can check up on how their child is doing in school and see the interesting projects their children have completed. They can also e-mail the artwork as a proud parent to relatives and friends, which in turn will help boost their child’s moral and help influence them to continue working hard in art. When families are on board, it really helps give our students confidence which is a very important factor of producing successful art.
The most beneficial use is for the teachers. Many school districts (including the one I am currently working for) do not have computers for student use in their art classrooms. Artsonia can still be integrated into the class by posting artwork online and e-mailing it out to parents, fellow teachers, administrators, etc. It can be viewed from anywhere and shared with anyone. Artsonia is also a wonderful way to share lesson plans with other art teachers from all over the world. I find some of my best lesson plans come from an ideas given from other teachers online. All types of information, and discussions can be shared by students and teachers a like. And most importantly Artsonia is a perfect way to show off how great your students are. It is also important to get your fellow teachers and administrators involved in your student’s work and to show how great of a teacher you are. By posting your student’s work you are creating a life long web gallery and portfolio for your students to archive for many years to come. I really look forward to using this website in my art classroom.
Sunday, October 3, 2010
BP4_DoInk
When searching the web 2.0 tools I was amazed to see the huge variety of fun tools right there at my finger tips. After searching for ART, so I could apply the tools to my classroom I stumbled upon DoInk a fun and very easy way to create drawings and animate them.
Many times in my classroom I have students working at different paces. Projects take weeks, sometimes months to finish and there are days towards the end of my projects when some students are finished before others, this tool would be a perfect creative outlet for those students to enjoy while they the rest of the class finished up on their projects.
One project I really enjoy to do with my class is called advanced scribble. When I teach advanced scribble my students use craypas and ink to produce a smooth, flowing line design. While playing on DoInk I created a line design similar to that of my advanced scribble project.
Even after drawings are finished you can have fun turing your drawings into animations with DoInk.
*I also found another fun tool that I wanted to share. This tool could not really be used in my classroom, but it could possibly make for a fun experiment with older students. It is called Youniverse At this website you can take quizes based on your visual preferences and find out your "visual DNA." You can connect with others and see what their visual preferences are compared to yours. It reminds me of a board game my wife and I play with our friends called compatibility. JUST FOR FUN Check it out!
Many times in my classroom I have students working at different paces. Projects take weeks, sometimes months to finish and there are days towards the end of my projects when some students are finished before others, this tool would be a perfect creative outlet for those students to enjoy while they the rest of the class finished up on their projects.
One project I really enjoy to do with my class is called advanced scribble. When I teach advanced scribble my students use craypas and ink to produce a smooth, flowing line design. While playing on DoInk I created a line design similar to that of my advanced scribble project.
Even after drawings are finished you can have fun turing your drawings into animations with DoInk.
*I also found another fun tool that I wanted to share. This tool could not really be used in my classroom, but it could possibly make for a fun experiment with older students. It is called Youniverse At this website you can take quizes based on your visual preferences and find out your "visual DNA." You can connect with others and see what their visual preferences are compared to yours. It reminds me of a board game my wife and I play with our friends called compatibility. JUST FOR FUN Check it out!
Thursday, September 30, 2010
BP1_Google Reader
http://www.nytimes.com/pages/arts/design/index.html - Here you will find all of the latest events in the Fine Arts & Design happening in NYC! Great to view and read the many interesting articles and stories. It is also very important for me to make sure I visit NYC occasionally considering I am only 45 minutes away. This is a perfect way for me to be reminded of all the amazing happenings in the fine arts and share them with my students.
http://graffiti.keusta.net/blog/ - Some may think graffiti is not Art, I happen to think differently. My students have always shown an interest in this form of art, and why not teach them the proper way to share their creativity without damaging property. I enjoy viewing all of the interesting talent that this site has to offer.
http://artjunction.org/blog/ - This site is titled, the art teacher's guide to the internet. It has information including art ideas, tools and resources for teaching art and design in a post-digital age. It has a lot of very informative and valuable information on incorporating technology into art lessons.
http://digitalartbytes.blogspot.com/ - This site is also geared to the digital incorporation to the Fine Arts. It is specifically for art teachers and tech teachers interested in integrating digital art in the classroom. They have beautiful examples of art work from all ages, and also incorporate lesson ideas.
http://www.ted.com/ - I was so happy to be introduced to TED by our last professor. With such an inspirational speaker, it helps keep things in perspective. A very good way for you to refresh your thoughts or just look at things in a different light. A must see!
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