Final Blog

With the availability of technology and the progress that it is making, it would be silly to not try and incorporate it into one's classroom. However, as a future art educator it will certainly be a challenge to find new and exciting ways to use that technology. It is definitely possible, though, to find ways such as power point, Smart board and using various techniques within Word, Inspiration and Publisher.

By using these types of technologies within the classroom it will greatly benefit all of my students. They will be learning new techniques that will not only be useful in teh classroom but also in their future. With technology on the rise, employers are going to expect these students to know how to operate all these types of programs. Might as well start young!

I feel the lessons that I have learned in this class will be used in many of my future lessons. The most important in my eyes is probably the power point and Smart Board lessons. It will be useful to my subject to show the slides of various works and examples. I feel that the things I learned in Excel will also help me in the long run for keeping track of various organizations and grades.

Diigo Page

http://www.diigo.com/user/pinkywho

This is my Diigo site however, it is also a link on the side of my blog.

Copywriting

I was definitely surprised by the Copyright laws I knew practically nothing about. Almost everything we learned was new to me. I didn't know that if you write something in tangible form that it is automatically copyrighted. I wasn't aware that you couldn't copy chapters from a book or copy shows on TV and show them over and over again. And these are all things that I saw done throughout my education.
I truly believe that teachers do need to look out for all the laws that follow copyright. Like we learned, you never know who you will run into and it's always smart to "watch your back".
One other thing that surprised me were the various cases involving music. On a case by case basis they were so different. There really are a lot of gray areas within the copyrighting terms and laws.
Of course I will look out for copyright laws when I am a teacher. Being in the art world, there are various different concepts/ideas/works that are located in the public domain. However, I do need to watch myself when it comes to sharing work and information with my students. Like we learned and I said earlier, you never know who you will run into or what agenda they have.

Interactive White Boards

I honestly thought that I would enjoy using the Interactive White Board. When demonstrations were performed in class I was very excited to get started on my own presentation. However when I opened up the program and got to work I found myself getting very frustrated with the whole concept. I thought that with all the creative choices one could make that this would be fun. But I found myself struggling to come up with ideas of how to incorporate the White Board into an art classroom.
I am 100% positive that if I would be lucky enough to have such technology in my classroom that I would certainly use it. However, I would be 100% okay without having one as well. The Interactive White Board would be something I would have to get used to and I know I could do that. They clearly make the classroom more interactive and allow for more class participation which is a very big plus in my book. I know that I would love that to have been used more when I was in grade school.
For past lessons that I have created I would use the Board more as a power point. Showing examples and displaying different concepts. I could do different things with color and design elements and principles. However, I will stick to what I previously stated that I would be fine without having a White Board. Due to the nature of an Art room and the immense amount of participation as it is, it's a strong reason to not find the need for one. One thing to keep in my however, is the fact that I am currently taking a class that is focused on elementary art. In the High School classroom there may be many more uses for the Interactive White Board.

Video Presentation

Incorporating digital video into the art classroom might be difficult but if done correctly could be very valuable to the students. I personally find using video in the classroom extremely fun as well as educational. If I were to incorporate a video project into my art classroom it would be something like this....
This project would be for older students. Mainly High School aged, 9th to 12th grade. Students will have multiple assignments prior to the video presentation. The presentation will be an accumulation of all they have learned. The premise for the project will be choosing an artist from history (I would provide a list). From their choice, each student will write a paper, explore their art, and also create their own art using the artist's style.
For the video, students will collaborate with their fellow students to create a living history piece. The video must be less than 3 minutes and include their artist, some type of their work, and a story from their life. Students may be creative in the way they provide the information. Before they begin their work, I will have the students introduced to the tools in which they will be using to creating the video.

GRADES: 10th-12th

EDUCATIONAL OBJECTIVES:
Students will be exposed to video materials on the computer and video equipment. They will also be exploring the life of a specific artist, in depth.

MOTIVATIONAL RESOURCES:
Students will be taught various techniques on the computer which includes video production software. Also multiple examples of various artists to chose their main topic.

This is just a rough sketch of the workings of a lesson plan regarding the use of video production in an art class.

Software Skills and Project

I really enjoyed creating the Newsletter, Flyer, Concept Map and Quiz. I was using tools in Word, Inspiration, and Publisher that I never knew exsisted. It really would have been nice to know those skills freshman year! However, I will take what I can get and definately put to use my new skills from now on.
Certain things like templates in Publisher and tables in Word never seemed prominent when I was creating new pieces. However, now I will be using them all the time, especially in the future and in the classroom. I can now put together a newsletter is less than an hour or quickly rattle off a quiz or flyer. As an Art teacher all those things will come in handy.
For my four pieces, each one corresponded to something in the art classroom. Something that I am likely to hold such as an Art Show or a mural painting. In the long run though, the most beneficial new skill will most likely be what I learned in Word and Publisher. Inspiration is great for the Elementary school teacher, but in art it is more difficult to find a good use for it. I am sure I would be able to organize ideas well with Inspriation but what I now know in Word and Publisher is even more worthwhile.
I can't stress enough how nice this would have been to know earlier in my college career or even in High School. But in the long run, as a teacher, I will be able to use the computer and its resources more effectively to enhance my curriculum, subject, and activities within my school district.

Inspiration

Inspiration would be a wonderful tool to use in the Art classroom. I would be able to have my students create webs that discuss different artists and their lives. I could even have them discuss different artistic movements in history. It would also be a great way to organize art vocabulary. One other exciting way to use Inspiration would be to make a beautiful color wheel!
There are many different Webb Resources that we explored within the class. However, I feel as though I would benefit the most from ethemes. There is a higher chance of me finding information that I would be able to use in my content area. Illuminations is all math, something clearly that wouldn't work for art. Rubistar may work as well if I am doing perhaps an oral presentation that requires a rubric. They even have a tab for Art within their site that includes rubrics for mural painting, painting, art history reports, making a mask etc. One site that wouldn't be the most helpful is the library curriculum. I didn't even find any art options under those sites. But luckily enough there are other art options in a different section of the library curriculum like ARTSTOR that would be of use in the art classroom.

Social Bookmarking

Social bookmarking seems like an extremely logical way to save sites that could be benefitial to one in multiple different facets. As an art teacher I could bookmark sites that showcase specific artists, artistic movements, lesson plans and much more. It would be an easy way to organize all of the exciting features one can find on the web. My students could also benefit because I would be able to refer them to sites that I know are reliable and good for them to use.

It seems to me that even as an Albright student I could benefit from social bookmarking. I know that there are many different sites that I use in all of my classes constantly. By bookmarking them it would make my life much easier because I could find my "old faithfulls" very easily! It would also be useful to my classmates in instances where we may have a group project or group study sessions.

Evaluating Websites

It is very easy for any person to get online and find out pretty much anything they desire. However, the credibility of certain sites and the information they contain aren't always trustworthy. That is why it's important as future educators to know what one is looking at when reading a website. Knowing how to differentiate what is correct and what is just false and/or made up is going to be key to good development and learning in the classroom. I couldn't imagine something more embarrasing then getting up in front of my class and teaching a lesson about an artist and having the information all be wrong. Students deserve to be taught what is right and if teacher's can't be accountable for what they are teaching where will that take education? I am sure that within my classroom students will be using the internet for brainstorming ideas and looking at artists works etc. So using the evaluating tools for websites will come in handy becasue like I said earlier teachers are accountable for what is taught to their students. I may also be able to provide my students with a list of credible sites that I put together myself. Making it easier to know that what they are looking at is acceptable.

Making sure a website is reliable is very simple. One just needs to check a few things such as the author, authenticity, source, timeliness etc. Once those things check out, it is usually a good site to use. I would hope that people would make sure what they are reading ins reliable. However, because of how fast information is exchanged and looked up, it's easy to just read the first thing one finds. In the long run though, going with the easier choice isn't going to reap the most benefits.

Blogs In the Classroom

As I peruse my certification in Art Education, I clearly love all of my arts courses. However, when I found out I needed to take a tech course I was a bit leery. Even in the first two weeks though, I have learned many different ways to incorporate technology into the art world.

One of those ways could be the use of weblogs or blogs. It could be very easy to get the rest of the school and parents involved with the students' artwork by posting them on a weekly blog. Specific pieces could be chosen that showcase the great job each student is doing in the classroom. It would be much like a virtual gallery that would have different exhibitions weekly. Then at the end of the semester those top pieces could be shown in an actual show at the school.

Another way blogs could be incorporated in the art classroom could be as a reflective tool. Students could go onto their blog sites and reflect on the pieces they are making, the history they may be learning, and how it personally affects them. It would be a great way for me, as the teacher, to receive feedback on how the students feel about my projects.

But there can be some disadvantages to using technology in the art room. There is nothing better than seeing a piece of artwork right there in front of one's face. If too much technology is used to display images, the beauty of a tangible piece of artwork could lose its spark. Art is very hands on and heavy in material use, with too much technology that could be lost.

Blog Numero Uno

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