Blog Assignment 4

PowerPoint Assignment
This PowerPoint was created for a group of students in a printing class I taught this summer.  Students learned about a variety of different printing methods.  The PowerPoint I created was a brief presentation about Chinese seals or chops.  These are the red stamps commonly found in the corners of many Asian artworks.  They are used to identify the author or the owner of an artwork.

Of the slides in the PowerPoint I am most proud of the discussion slide.  Because I was trying to present a chunk of information in as few slides as possible, as simply as possible, I created a slide of an artwork with visible seals, and added two simple discussion questions. This allowed students some processing time if needed with the questions posted, while at the same time allowing them to listen to the discussion while looking at the work.

If I had to do the presentation again, I would probably add a link to some sort of supplemental video on the history of Chinese chops or the process.  I would so this in addition to an in class demonstration because it would be helpful to those students who may miss the class in the future or need to go back and refresh.

Students responded well to the presentation because I was mindful to keep it very short.  Art students typically want to get started right away, and this was a good way to present some information and start a dialogue with them about why they are used, and how signatures are important to show ownership, etc.

Blog Assignment 3

Several items I explored this week stand out.  I was glad to see ReadtheWords.com in the tech explorations.  I have been using it in the classroom for a long time.  It has become a tool for teaching and learning as well as classroom management! Sometimes when students are a little restless, I simply type what I needed them to do in the text box, and let the avatar read the instructions for me.  It saves me from having to repeat myself!  Plus, even though it is intended to sound as natural as technology can, it still has a little bit of a robot effect the kids like.  I have even lost my voice in class before, and used this website to communicate basic instructions to students throughout the class!

Also in this lesson different types of publishing programs were reviewed. Even as an art educator, I didn’t think it was necessary to be very appealing when sending home information to parents or giving students worksheets.  I think my justification came from fear that something nicer looking and informative meant twice as much time spent in its creation.  I am impressed with the newer version of Microsoft Word when creating newsletters and other documents for students and parents. It is easy to create colored shapes and borders. Font styles are plentiful to choose from too. 

I went through some of my old handouts, and revamped one using what I learned from this lesson.

As you can see, the BEFORE picture is a letter to parents announcing the start up of the artclub.  The image at the top center is the only colorful, decorative part of the newsletter.  Also, in reflection, this letter to parents it too wordy!  The good part about the newsletter is how some of the words are capitalized or bolded (or both) to stress the importants of some words or phrases. When I went back to re-edit this, they were a visual reminder of information I needed to keep!

To make some changes, I added a more colored background using colorful text boxes to draw attention to less text!

I kept the format of the entry form the same because it is purely for information, but I think the overall appearance works better than the first one.

Blog Assignment 2

I tested one of the slideshows from PhotoPeach, and I really enjoyed adding the background music. Rather than choosing a default song, I was able to go to Youtube and find a song and pull it into the slideshow.
On of the things I got very excited about right away was the possible implementation in my classroom.
I have had the worst time in my Studio Art class of getting students to take ownership of their work.  By having them to provide photo documentation of their work in progress and creating a slideshow, I believe they will be more likely to focus on idea development and craftsmanship of their work. This is a great way to get them to hold THEMSELVES accountable for their artwork.  It also ties in the technology they are using more frequently at home and across the curriculum at school.

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Blog Assignment 1

 

It was intriguing to me to see the student video on today's learners.  Technology is growing at such a fast pace that it's hard to have enough hours in the day to keep up with life!  Although that wasn't an educational tool I implemented, I did share that video with students just to guage their reaction to it.  I also used it as an end of the year wrap up discussion about the types of technology they might be seeing next school year used in my classroom.  I wanted to prepare them ahead of time of a shift in my teaching that would be using more blogging, discussions, research and podcasting technology.

The tech explorations were useful to me this week, in particular the PBWorks website.  I already use Edmodo with my students. The last trimester of the school year, I made it mandatory for every student in every grade to sign up for it.  I liked Edmodo because it was free, but it looks a bit outdated, and not as streamlined as PBWorks.  However, it is free, and looks like a social networking site, which is appealing to my students. 

One of the challenges I will face trying to use any product similar to PBWorks is just teaching students how to navigate it and use it regularly.  Because I teach art, students don't want to use technology in class time when they think they should be in the studio space working hands on.  I have also noticed that they rarely will complete work if it is posted on a site like this, EVEN though they can sign up to receive text alerts to remind them to log on and check the announcements.

More time needs to be spent experimenting this summer to prepare me for how and what items I might implement in my classroom at the beginning of next school year.

I will likely spend this summer trying out different resources and trying to find one that works for me and is easy enough to use with students. 

• What steps will you take to implement this in your classroom?

• What challenge(s) will you face when using this in your classroom?

• What will you do to overcome the challenge(s)?
• Please also mention your tech explorations, even if briefly.