Technology Bringing Kids Closer to Classic Art

My six-year-old got off the school bus Friday afternoon holding a library book wide open in front of him. It was about electricity, and he spent the weekend asking friends, neighbors and grandparents if they had any of the components to contribute to his "project." Wouldn't you know it, by Sunday afternoon the little guy had built his first working circuit in the garage, and he can tell you clearly why it all works (and figure out what's wrong if it's not working) - keep in mind that this is a kindergarten student with limited reading skills! It was a reminder that self-led learning is often the most meaningful, but usually missing from public schools.

I found the following article while just browsing through some readings this morning. The author shares how his daughter, then his entire family, embarked upon a self-led exploration of art making, art history and critique quite by accident! Using nothing but the internet, the entire family is now researching and selecting their favorite artists to study through reading and making art in a similar technique. This family is learning about different time periods, countries and cultures, and even diseases while pushing their own abilities to experiment with art. The best part its that they are using a FREE technological resource that is literally at the fingertips of most Americans. Will all teens or tweens be on fire about art? Probably not, but they can find something that they share an interest in.Can all young people explore what excites them, such as music, literature, science, math or electricity via the internet? Absolutely, and as the author of this article wrote, "the internet is filled with distractions, but if used wisely and focused, the world is truly at our fingertips." My next step will be to help my six-year-old look up more simple electrical experiments on the internet, and to make sure I can design a chunk of time in my future classroom to let my art students explore on their own and share what they learn.

TECHNOLOGY BRINGING KIDS CLOSER TO CLASSIC ART

5 Ways to Integrate Technology Into Your Child's Education

This article is written with parents in mind, but it is also quite useful for K-12 educators. Author Jeff Galinovsky looks at how integrating technology for educational purposes is more than just choosing a device and software. When used properly, technology can enhance multiple ways of learning and the experience of many types of learners. Some of the opportunities he covers we have already looked at in our Interactivities while others offer a new way of thinking about technology integration.

mashable.com/2011/03/09/technology-kids-learning/

Interactivity #4: The Pedagogical Uses of Technology

Over the past few years I have observed in eight different public schools and noticed that technology is very seldom used as a tool for teaching art. Because of this deficiency, it is important to me to find ways that technology can enhance learning, especially when teaching traditional, manual art techniques. The lesson plan I chose for this assignment studies a portrait by Vincent VanGogh to inspire 6-8 grade students to draw portraits of their friends using similar techniques. This plan allowed several opportunities to use the advantages of technology for teaching and learning.

A digital whiteboard can be used to study the VanGogh drawing, then to demonstrate hatching and cross-hatching drawing techniques required in the lesson. Students can use digital cameras to take photos of the friend they are drawing to use as a reference and save precious class time. Upon completion, they can take pictures of their final drawings and post them to a class blog or website, which will serve as a 24-hour public gallery of their work. Students can post constructive comments to each other's drawings. The blog can be reviewed together in class on the digital whiteboard for a group critique, using the posted responses and questions to begin discussions. Lastly, the original lesson plan contains an extension in which students study a painted portrait by VanGogh, comparing and contrasting his drawing with his painting, but few students can visit one of the institutions listed for research. Art Project by Google fills this gap nicely since it has one of these painted portraits from the MOMA's collection. Students can use Art Project to perform this research task in detail via the internet.

The technologies I incorporated into this lesson directly support each of the learning objectives in the original lesson plan. They also facilitate demonstration, research and critique methodologies for both the students and the teacher.

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0AtEJ9FDuxTFTdEh1d0pLTzIzS3Y2aGdHX25EUDczcXc#gid=0

A Must See Music Video!

In Your Arms (jellybean art music video)

Ok, some of you may have seen this already but I couldn't resist including it on here! All of the background scenes for this video were made over a period of 22 months with 288,000 jelly beans. My fieldwork teacher and I actually shared this video with her fourth graders and they were amazed by the entire process - it's set to catchy, child-appropriate song and includes a trailer which describes in detail the making of the video. Art, unconventional materials, music, computers, video production and creativity all together! I love it... students love it.... hope you all enjoy it too!

PS - in reference to my last post, yes, this is an example of an educational video from YouTube!

YouTube in Schools?

YouTube Subtracts Racy and Raucous to Add a Teaching Tool

If you read the last article I posted about students using laptops in school to do everything other than school work, you may be interested in this article as well. Schools are looking to YouTube as a means of incorporating FREE technology into lessons which grab students' attention, and the popular video site is cooperating with a portal which limits student access to less desirable content. Like the teachers in the article, I have also found video clips on YouTube which are great tools for learning, but would hesitate to give my students the opportunity to access them on their own, knowing what other content lurks in the land of YouTube. I am pleased to read about the steps this new endeavor is taking!

Follow the title link above to read the full article, which was published Friday in the Education section of the New York Times.

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/03/10/education/youtube-finds-a-way-off-schools-banned-list.html?pagewanted=1&ref=education

Try, Try Again

In brief, the attached article introduces the reader to a high school in Maine which issued laptops to all of its students, and accounts of how they were misused during school hours. Those of you reading this can probably guess what the laptops were being used for - Facebook, making videos, viewing porn... you get the idea. Kids will be kids, and of course they will find ways around internet filters and password-protected sites. This article forces educators to think about how they are approaching their lessons and whether or not technology in the form of personal devices is the best approach for every class.

A few possible solutions that came to my mind as I read this:

1) Issue iPads instead of laptops to students, and maintain that they are used flat on classroom desks. A laptop's flip-up screen acts as a privacy wall, where an iPad's screen is more visible.

2) Model correct usage of school property and educational technology from a young age. As I have noted previously on my blog, this is a brand new generation of students using personal technology in the classroom. It will take time to work through the difficulties that arise.

3) Make your curriculum more engaging! If students are given the opportunity to listen to their teacher talk for 45 minutes straight, they WILL lose interest and begin looking for ways to entertain themselves. Alter teaching strategies often, and don't always use the computers.

4) Explore multiple systems of safeguarding the information students can access from school-issued devices. The school in this article states that they cannot control the content students access with the laptops when they leave school, but they did not seem concerned about looking for better ways to protect them while using the school network.

http://bangordailynews.com/2012/03/03/news/state/mother-daughter-claim-noble-high-school-students-using-school-laptops-to-go-on-facebook-make-videos-and-watch-porn/