Reflections

My favorite tools are probably Jing and I am looking forward to using the iPod Touch apps.  I will definitely be using Jing to create a tutorial for using our new computers.  If we have access to Paint I might create a demo of how to invert colors or flip on an axis.  I don’t think I have transformed my thinking as much as expanded my thinking.  A few new tools have been introduced to me as well as becoming more familiar with ones I already used.  I was surprised to see that I wasn’t the last one finished.  By the time I found out that I had to do this I didn’t really have any time left in my summer, but I made it work.  I’m a trooper.

Tool 11

I must agree with Coach K  that safety is our number one priority with our students.  Responsible browsing is a hard concept to get across to young minds.  I think that much like other life lessons we try to gift to them from our experience only a small percentage of its importance gets through.  The best we can do is to model good choices and take precautionary measures.  Much like a discerning eye for appropriateness is the need to be able to sift through the abundance of information out there to find the “truth”.  This skill starts early and is built upon even through college.  I once had a professor that told me that he didn’t expect his students to remember more than a small percentage of what he or any other professor had taught, but that the important lesson learned from college should be to approach all situations with a scientific, rational, questioning mind.  I try to do this and we should pass this on to our students as best we can.  We can do this by requiring multiple sources for research, accepting the different viewpoints of their peers and telling them to never except anything at face value.  Lastly etiquette is an area of digital citizenship lacking greatly these days.  Anonymity has caused a great lack of it.  One of the reasons we try to emphasize choices and use positive reinforcement and conditioning in our classrooms is because we want to encourage good behavior on the inside and to advance our students morally so that they make choices based on intrinsic rewards and not fear of punishment.  In an anonymous setting such as the internet that level of morality is necessary to maintain civility.  Good digital citizenship cannot be attained otherwise.

Tool 10

Some of the free art based apps I have come across include the following:
On the SBISD suggested list they suggest Art Lite which contains images of famous art and artists.  The biographies will be a nice bonus, but the pinching will be very helpful for looking at details which I will enjoy being able to point out.  We can also use the Level app to check our horizon lines which would make that task more exciting.

Other free apps I’ve come across on my own include FlipBook Lite which lets you create a moving image just like a paper flipbook, but even gives you the ability to see layers as you work, and Comic Touch Lite might be a fun way to comment on what an artist might have been thinking when creating a particular painting. 

Some other apps that are not free, but look interesting include: Brushes, Color Splash for teaching emphasis, Color Wheel, and Symmetry.

Tool 9

I really enjoyed tool 9.  It was simple and informative with lots of possibilities.  I haven’t used Jing before and it was a totally new concept for me which most of the tools have not been.  This has a multitude of possibilities.  Especially with technology being introduced to the art room this year it will save me a lot of time explaining new things.  I just wish I’d known this existed back when I was trying to explain to my mother how to open up a word document 5 years ago.  ;)  It can also be a good way to show work.

Not having video capabilities at home I haven’t Skyped myself but I am familiar.  From the suggestions offered the most promising possibilities seem to be interviewing relevant artists or connecting to schools in other countries.   I always want to emphasize culture in my lessons and this might help quite a bit.  I also have several artist friends that I’ve wanted to come speak at school and this might make all of that more convenient with their 9-5 jobs and such.

Tool 8

The 2 videos I have chosen are very personal examples of something I might use in my classroom.  The first is a video I shot myself on my flip at the Louvre.  When I came to Westwood my students were obsessed with the Mona Lisa much like the thousands of people in line to see her at the museum.  I've worked with them so that they are familiar with a few more pieces and artists.  This video was a good into to portraiture last year and also showed what a museum looked like.  It helped to set off many good discussions. The second video was my favorite as a child on Sesame Street and it's so nice to know that it's available on youtube.  It could be used in so many ways.  Music and art, music and color, color alone, shapes, line etc. could all be subjects discussed in relation to this video.  Gloria McCoy, the district art director, has always encouraged us to have music playing in our classrooms while the students work, and I find Philip Glass to be very inspirational.  My music teacher says he's weird though, but since it's my third year teaching I am going to be brave, strike out on my own and play my Philip Glass until the students go crazy.  :)

Tool 7

I made a personal story since I can't access my school files.  I've used iMovie plenty on my home computer, but not Photo Story.  It was simple enough, but I don't feel it had a lot of flexibility or options for elaboration.  Students could use it in art to display their work as it has progressed.  I have used iMovie for gallery night to do the same.

Tool 6

My husband’s family used a wiki to keep everyone updated on family info.  It’s pretty convenient and also houses important dates to remember and such.  I checked out http://artsed.pbworks.com/ and found it interesting.  I might create a wiki for my students to use to compile what they have learned over the year, or I read a suggestion I liked where students in each class displayed their artwork and the wiki was used a place to critique art.  This would only be possible if there was an understanding that only positively worded comments would be accepted.  Our specials team might benefit from sharing info in this way.  Especially while working things out with our new school and schedule.

Tool 5

I found many helpful websites that I intend to look at more thoroughly as I plan my lessons.  Two of them were:

MOMA- Matisse Lesson
iPhone Apps for Art Teachers

I joined both Diggo and Delicious and am considering joining a group on Diggo called “Elementary Art”.

Social bookmarking will be fun to experiment with now that we have computers in art.  It will make the most sense to use social bookmarking over individual so that we can work as a group and share what we learn.

Tool 4

I've used Google docs and spreadsheets for a while now.  I find them very convenient because you can access your files anywhere.  A good, but not fun, example of this is right now on my vacation while everyone else is enjoying Florida I am able to access my files on my netbook to work on my 11 Tools.  That means a lot to a teacher who does everything digitally.  I use spreadsheets to track my grades and I don't have to bring my SBISD laptop everywhere.  In class it can be used for collaborative projects or as a means of tracking materials in art.  Google reader helps to put all the info you want to see in one place.  Instead of having to click around to check on different blogs you can skim through several to find what you need.  My biggest problem with blogs is the lack of expediency in retrieving information and this helps to speed things up.

Tool 3

 


I decided to try two different ways of doing the same thing.  ImageChef would have been more interesting had arranged words actually looked like the shapes I chose.  It would make for a fun way to present those art concepts and make the students search for what we are learning about.

Tool 2

I am very supportive of the idea of building a successful online community of educators and personal learning network because as a specials teacher, especially an art teacher, I am alone in my school in regards to art related support.  Health fitness and music both have 2 teachers and grade levels have up to 5-7 teachers following a similar curriculum.  I have plenty of on campus support related to classroom management in a general sense and things of that nature, but when it comes to art support I need to be able to reach out to teachers at other schools.  The internet is one of the easiest and fastest means of receiving and searching out this assistance.  I thought it was interesting that what Cool Cat Teacher describes as a good comment also seems to mirror what we see as good listening and conversation tools.  True acknowledgment and understanding of what is being put forth as opposed to simple nods and meaningless statements.  I do, however, think that you should use both the well thought out responses reflecting on what is discussed AND the shorter simply supportive "way to go" or "right on".  Partially because sometimes you feel in agreement about a topic and either because of a lack of ability to elaborate or articulate or just a simple shortage of time all you can really contribute at the moment is a simple ditto.  I think you need a smattering of both.

5 blogs I commented on:

TWE Pre K Tigers,
11 Tools to a Better Health Fitness,
Cutler's Music Mania,
11 Tools For 21st century learning- All Day,
11 Tools- Kathy Lee

Tool #1

I have used blogger and created an avatar before and so the 1st tool seemed like an easy start.  I am a big proponent of technology in the art classroom.  Art often gets skipped over in this area due to budget constraints, especially in other districts, but I feel that it is a necessary piece in the development of technologically savvy youth.  So much is visual these days, particularly when it comes to emerging careers.  In an elementary classroom blogs might be used as pert of the reflection process.  Any incentive to write is beneficial, and an online forum which can be shared with peers holds more interest than a standard paper or even a journal.  Creating the avatar identity to go along with the blog helps to personalize and give it greater importance.  In an art classroom the avatar itself requires an unique creative process even though it is limited to selection.  It is very similar to the personalized self portraits that every grade level creates in my classroom that I encourage to be more of a reflection of their insides than their outside physical appearance.  I would even go so far as to say that some avatar programs I have seen remind me of the self portraits of Frida Kahlo.