SpellingCityVocabulary is an important part of learning in the art room. We spend part of every class reviewing art terms and academic vocabulary. As a parent and a teacher, I struggle with ways to motivate some children to learn new words. SpellingCity.com is fun site which may encourage youngsters to spend time learning important words through games such as "hang mouse" and crossword puzzles.
Teachers or parents simply type in the list of words and students can click on the "Teach Me" button to hear words pronounced, spelled and used in a sentence. Or click on the "Play a Game" button to interact with the new words in a fun and meaningful way. Once a student is ready, click on the "Test Me" button to take a test and then review the words missed. Teachers and parents may also print handwriting sheets. This is a great site to add to your classroom centers or "at home" studies!
 Developing a web site for my art classroom has been on my ‘to-do’ list since I returned to teaching one year ago. Instead, I ended up feeling a little like a newbie and spent most of my time planning, prepping, fundraising, and organizing for all of my little artists. The web site took a back seat. This fall, I decided the web page was a must and I set out to have it complete (or nearly so) before the first day of school. The web site www.mrschristopher.com includes standard information such as class rules and grading policy as well as a student art gallery. I have also included a teacher blog and wish list. Not only have I received great feedback from teachers and parents but also, in only three days, parents have responded with bags of donations for our creative classroom! What great support – why didn’t I think of this last year? The teacher blog will be updated weekly with information about our featured artist, class projects, photos, local art events and fundraiser information. Next week, I will share the site with my students and encourage them to explore the pages, visit the links and respond by commenting on the blog. For student safety, I have set comments on the blog to require teacher approval prior to posting. Later this fall, I hope to begin an “Art Tech Club” and I will be adding additional pages to showcase our art with technology. Web pages are becoming more and more popular among teachers and are often taking the place of newsletters. In a country where so much emphasis is placed on standardized tests, the Internet provides art teachers like me an opportunity to get a little PR! It is the perfect place to show the world that critical thinking, problem solving and cooperative learning does take place in the arts – at least it does in my room and I can’t wait to brag about it ☺
Image Chef is a neat little web tool that converts your text into a graphic image. It is different from Wordle because the words do not change size with the frequency of use. The niche is the shape of the graphic; all text is fitted inside the shape. Classroom teachers could use this in a number of ways: as graphic organizers, visual reminders for phonics, brainstorms, etc.
Image Chef offers a number of tools. Click on "create" then "word mosaic."
When questioned about assessment in the art room I often answer "we never stop learning. This much learning can only be assessed through continuous observation. Why don't you come by for a visit?" Like most art teachers, I display student work in the school hallways yet, the final art product is ONLY one component to art education. So many concepts are integrated into each and every learning activity, it may be hard to know where to begin with formative assessment - and honestly, I am looking for fun and creative forms of assessment! Aren't we all?
VoiceThread
VoiceThread is an online application in which users upload visual media and collaborate with others using audio, text and video commentary. YES - Fun and interactive assessment!!! VoiceThreads are just plain cool.
VoiceThread provides a tool to facilitate student conversations using interactive Web 2.0 technology. Students can engage in dialogue about images and publish the collective work of a classroom. Students can also upload their work and leave an audio or written reflection of their processes and learning. Additionally, classrooms have the capability to create stories by adding narrative to images. Students may work alone, with the class or across the country, leaving and receiving comments for other K-12 students and teachers. VoiceThreads are also available for parental viewing. Furthermore, VoiceThread offers a secure network for K-12 educators to create, store and share collective works.
Assessment in the ART ROOM
Recently, my kindergarten and first grade students spent time learning about Faith Ringgold - her art, her life, her books. Inspired by Ringgold's story quilts and the book, Tar Beach, we created our own story quilts from paper, paint, crayons, markers & glue. We took imaginary flying trips over our own community of Atoka, TN. We wrote journal entries about what it would look and feel like to fly. We explored pattern and shape. We worked individually to create self portraits (using shape) and quilt squares incorporating pattern; we worked with partners to draw our local landscape and buildings; and we worked as a class to assemble the project into one large paper quilt. As you will see, the end product is not only beautiful; it is inspiring to hear the children talk about their learning.
I have just begun recording student responses but you will get the idea... have fun viewing and listening to the VoiceThread. Don't forget to check back once we return from spring break to hear from more of my students!
Click here for more information about VoiceThread and Engaging with Content and Building Visual Literacy.
 "Droplet"
by Angela Christopher
All Rights Reserved 2008
My journey with Web 2.0 began in May, 2008. I began this blog, started experimenting with some really cool tools and found pockets of people - no not pockets - corners of the world filled with people who have similar professional interests.
The seminar I've been taking at the University of Memphis is titled "Teaching and Learning with Web 2.0." I must admit however, that I am still very much a novice. The great thing about 2.0 is that everyone else is on the same journey, just in different places along the path to learning - We are a community of learners. I have discovered that it is okay to admit when I am unsure. I have also learned that it is perfectly acceptable to ask for guidance and help from the digital community. In fact, the community embraces newbies! The concept of of collective knowledge and the benefits associated with the collective, collaborative aspects of Web 2.0 is the glue that binds this community of learners. My professor, Dr. Clif Mims, is known for saying Web 2.0 "It is what you make it," and I couldn't agree more. If I chose to to use the 2.0 tools for purely socialization, it would be more than possible to meet a WHOLE new group of folks. I could make it superficial, I could make it solely about my hobbies, motherhood, religion, or practically anything else that interests me. After listening to Dr. Mims describe his own Personal Learning Community (PLC), I realized that building connections with others like me would not be random or by chance. First, I needed to have some idea about what I wanted from the digital community. What types of individuals would I want to hear from? What kinds of blogs did I want to read? What type of Twitter feed did I want to see running on my computer everyday? After thinking about these questions, I realized that I could embrace many types of communities and I did not need the digital community for personal socialization... So I began to reflect on my professionals interests. Although, I grew up in the Memphis area, I now live and teach in a small rural town, and the art and technology communities within the town are also pretty small. In fact, I am only just now beginning to meet the few other art teachers in my district.
So this where I began to network and build my own PLC: I looked for other teachers and artists, and I was especially interested in meeting educators who were teaching with technology. Even as I began to follow such individuals on Twitter and began reading their blogs, it took a while for me realize that teaching with technology is not just about teaching students to use software. Teaching with technology is about collaboration. It is about choice. It is about learning. It is not about the tools.
In education, we have always used textbooks and text resources to guide our curriculum and enhance teaching and student learning. Every quality teacher or administrator will tell you that true learning doesn't happen from textbooks alone. Teachers must facilitate the learning. They must actively engage their students in the learning process. So it is with technology. Technology is not going away - it is here to stay and our students are using it for socialization. Last night, a classmate mentioned that text messaging today, is the equivalent of passing notes when we were kids. Yet, as I have discovered with my own PLC, technology can be so much more. Online, students can learn about tolerance, respect, and collaboration. They can also learn that everyone makes mistakes, and it is okay to ask for help... all while using tools they will need in college and in future professions. In addition, our children can learn that there are other students across the state, country and globe who have similar and very different experiences. Today, the world is one huge classroom and we are doing our children a disservice if we don't jump on board. Many students are already on the ship... without a captain.
I have always loved technology, and I have specifically favored image manipulation software such as Photoshop. Lately however, I have discovered some of the technological wonders that exist outside artistic and visual design software. Holy Cow – it is a whole new world out there!
Working with new technologies has helped me stretch professionally, mentally and socially. These opportunities for growth (aka hard work and mistakes) have encouraged me to think about what is important as a learner and as a teacher. As I busy myself getting ready for the start of a new school year, I also find that I am reflecting on recent experiences with web 2.0 technologies. Rewards and challenges alike, I have learned more than I can shake a stick at (and there is whole lot-a shaking left to do).
I have spent the month of July participating in another fantastic Instructional Design and Technology class. The course, Teaching and Learning with Web 2.0, has opened multiple doors to the world of virtual collaboration for me. I have always leaned toward the ‘two heads are better than one’ mentality and at the encouragement of my professor, Dr. Clif Mims, I have been working to build my Professional Learning Community or PLC. When seeking out other artists, art teachers and technology geeks, I have found Twitter, Diigo and Ning to be especially great social and professional networking tools. My current PLC also includes my classmates… we are after all, hoping to accomplish the same goal… to soak up as much as we can while exploring Web 2.0 (and you thought I was going to say, “to earn an A”).
In July, I blogged about my general experiences with Web 2.0. Today, I will focus more specifically on the benefits and challenges of a wonderful Web 2.0 tool called a ‘wiki’.
Earlier this summer I designed a wiki for elementary art students. Although, I realize that I am not finished with the project plan, I previously believed that I had thought through and understood the concept of a wiki. I also assumed that I had considered most of what would be necessary to involve students in such a project. Now that I have had the opportunity to work on a wiki with other graduate students I have a much clearer understanding of the types of interactions and involvement required of students who will be working on a collaborative project of this nature. True to honest self reflection, I will let you know that it is a REALLY good thing that I have had the opportunity to participate and contribute to this type of collective knowledge prior to requesting similar participation from my own students.
The wiki is designed to allow individuals to pool knowledge and resources, build and expand on each other’s thoughts and work. Engaging in this collaborative effort with my classmates has been a terrific learning experience. While collaboration is nothing new to me, collaboration via technology has been a new experience. The following statements summarize my learning:
1) Collective knowledge is more powerful than that of the individual,
2) Individuals bring a variety of experiences and talents to the work,
3) Sharing the work can have benefits and challenges.
To summarize the first two statements, I will point out what may be obvious to most: we all think differently and have different talents and skills to offer to the whole. When these unique differences and skill sets are harnessed, collected, and used to create something new, awesome work begins to take shape.
Most likely my peers would agree that we are also quite pleased not to be individually responsible for developing the entire Teaching and Learning with Web 2.0 Wiki. Sharing the work enables each of us to fully investigate our own areas of responsibility and maintain some sense of sanity.
Additionally, engaging in virtual collaboration has provided me with learning opportunities that I will want to keep in mind as I facilitate student learning with technology. In the third statement, I mention that sharing the work can be a challenge. In other words, unless we happen to have an unusually close relationship, there is some level of unease when collaborating with others.
The challenges for me have been small… almost, but not quite, insignificant:
1) Deciding what to work on: I’m hesitant to take on a job that someone else might want, but don’t want to sit on it too long for fear of being left with a job I’d rather not have – What’s a girl to do?
2) Not wanting to offend: I also want to be considerate of my classmates, their work and writing styles. It is a challenge to review and edit someone else’s work when they have not specifically requested that you do so… will I come across as a know it all? Will he/she think I am a writing or design snob?
3) How will we credit the work? Apparently, we are not to follow the safe method of organizing authorship in alphabetical order… we are to decide which of us has done the most work and list authors in order of most contributed. Hmm, anyone else worried here???
I am a firm believer in collaboration and web based technologies make it easier than ever to engage in collaborative opportunities. While, I have complete faith in the intellect and talents of my classmates, it is important to think about the challenges involved in collaborative efforts. As a teacher, I will use this experience to discuss such challenges with my students and seek their input to develop strategies and protocols for these and similar issues.
few months ago; I could not have explained Web2.0. If you had asked me to make an educated guess I might have said that it was new web development software or that it might possibly have something to do with a social network. If you had asked me how it would impact teaching and learning in the classroom – I might have struggled to give an intelligent answer – Shock!
My ignorance has begun to fade with experiences associated with the IDT course I am taking at U of M. As a result, I can converse with somewhat, if not semi, intelligence on the topics of wikis, blogs, web-based tools, office suites, social bookmarking sites and widgets. Best of all, I feel confident enough to blog about Web2.0.
Web2.0
Just a few years ago, individuals uploaded information to the Web and the public retrieved information when it was needed – this is what we call Web1.0, or information retrieval. In today’s Web2.0 world, individuals not only upload information to the Web but also share information and collaborate freely. This is called the Read Write Web or Web2.0.
Today, individuals interested in collaborating on a particular topic are creating wikis to encourage others to contribute to and edit the content of a site (a favorite for teachers and students). In addition, bloggers who want to promote dialogue and feed back and are allowing readers to leave public comments. In order to pool and share Internet resources, people with similar professional backgrounds or hobbies are also forming and joining groups in social networks and in social bookmarking sites like Diigo or Del.icio.us. Furthermore, professionals and students are using web-based office suites like Google Docs or Zoho to peer edit papers and share data. The examples of Web2.0 technologies are growing daily. I have had the opportunity to try a few and will review some of my favorites here.
For starters, I have developed this blog and AestheTECH using a web-based developer called Weebly. Aside from being completely FREE, the simplicity of the development tool is its best feature. I would not hesitate to recommend it to a teacher (or anyone for that matter) to create his or her first web page. The drag and drop elements allow the user to add text and titles, video, audio, RSS feed and other widgets – all with out having to know how any of it works. The beauty is that really cool elements “just show up” on your page – Thanks for the catch phrase Dr. Grant.
Social bookmarking is also an awesome technology. I recently joined Diigo because I liked the idea of accessing my “favorites” from any computer. What I realized however, is that Diigo is much more than a place holder for web page links. Diigo also provides tools to highlight web page text, add sticky notes and share your favorite pages with the general public or with a particular group. In Diigo, group members and friends also have the ability to leave comments for each other.
Furthermore, social and professional networks provide excellent avenues for professionals or hobbyists to collaborate, discuss and share information. This spring, I joined Art Education2.0, a social network developed by Craig Roland on Ning. The entire purpose of Art Education2.0 is to bring together art educators, particularly those who have a passion for new technology. Members include veteran art teachers, beginning teachers, and individuals with a passion for the arts. With the current membership at 1,450 there are more answers, resources and opportunities to collaborate than I can begin to count. The benefits of this type of membership are amazing: I have a question, I just ask and a community of experts is available to guide me. If I find a new tool, source of information, or great lesson plan, I can post the information and make it available to others in the group. Wow, for a teacher who is usually the only one in her content area in the entire building (talk about feeling isolated) Art Education2.0 provides an amazing amount of information and support. A few years ago, I never would have thought that I would have ready access to a community of other art educators from around the world.
Finally, there are really fun tools out there that are free and fun to use for students as well as teachers. Anyone can create slideshows in Zoho, Google Docs, or Slideshare and embed the slideshow directly into a webpage, email or document. If it is news you want, it is simple to embed your favorite news casts or blogs directly into the homepage of your browser using RSS feed (and you don’t even have to know what RSS means): check out iGoogle. Two of my most recent favorite freebees are Toondoo and Mr. Piccasso Head. Here is an appropriate example from Toondoo (click bottom right corner to view).
In summary, it seems that developers and the public have decided that the benefits of sharing information far out weigh the benefit of receiving 100% credit. Remember the saying; “Two heads are better than one?” With the current Web2.0 technologies, we have thousands if not millions of heads collaborating – all for the purpose of improving information, software and technology. New ideas tend to surface when debate and collaboration take place and Web2.0 makes it possible to collaborate with anyone, anywhere, any time about anything – usually for free. Pretty cool.
I don’t know about you, but my brain is bursting with ideas for using Web2.0 technologies in my classroom this fall. Visit Web2.0 in Art. if you would like to read more. Feel free to leave comments and contribute art lessons incorporating new technology. If you have a lesson you like me to add, send me an email and I will be happy to include it, giving you credit - of course!
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