Future Classroom

Technology is invading every aspect of our lives and will soon be a consistent part of the classroom. Luckily, there are many useful ways to utilize technology in class. With the use of programs such as Inspiration and PowerPoint, students are able to creatively express themselves and show what they know on a topic. With computers and iPads, students with disabilities are able to communicate more easily in the classroom. Being a future art teacher, I was highly skeptical on the possibility of using technology with future lessons.Taking Instructional Technology has opened my eyes to what technology is available for students and teachers. Written group work can be monitored through Google Docs; group presentations can be more colorful and organized through Inspiration. Review can become an interesting short video with Photo Peach or a fun game through PowerPoint. Other review games can be created through various available websites. Blogs can be a great way for students to keep up-to-date with different topics of interest but can also be a useful tool for teachers. For instance, I am currently following a few first-year teachers' blogs. This gives me, as a future teacher, insight on what should be expected. Also, I found that there is a large community of teacher bloggers who help each other with ideas from classroom management to new project ideas. Aside from staying connected, I can get students started on a project through Google Docs, get feed back from students or parents through the Google forms, and plan events easier with many different online tools. No longer being a skeptic, I look forward to my future classes and all of the new ways we can work with technology to make learning fun, inviting, and useful in the classroom.

Graphic Organizers in the Classroom

Graphic organizers are visual representations of relationships between ideas. One graphic organizers most people are familiar with is the story line, or "witch's hat" organizer. That gives a visual of how the beginning of the story meets the end of the story. Another organizer is the brainstorming web. The main idea is in the center bubble and the ideas or subtopics "branch" or "web" out from that. There are ways out there to spice up these ancient organizers and further engage students. The easiest way to do this is to add pictures. Students will be more drawn to images than text and it gives them a visual of each topic. An other way is to add color, and easy-to-read text. These can be great ways to encourage the students to show their individuality; have they create webs, trees (like a family tree)or maps covering vocabulary terms for a new section, the main ideas to a chapter for review, and even the different steps for math problems. Below is an example of a web covering the elements of art. This was created through a program called Inspiration,found here.

Podcasting in Education

Podcasting can be a great way to involve technology in the classroom.One way to use podcasting would be to give a quick summary on the class website about daily/weekly lessons. Another use for podcasting could be using it to post lectures for students to go back to and review. Students can express their knowledge or understanding of a concept by creating a short podcast to share with the class. This teaches the students to express ideas in a condensed, concise manner, as well as teaching them to speak clearly and fluidly.
Another great thing about podcasting is the ability to download them to different devices (such as an ipod or smart phone) and take it with you. As a teacher, downloading and listening to the student podcasts on the drive home can allow more time to grade all of those wonderful papers at home!
A downside to podcasts is that creating a podcast is not always free, and with the free places, there is usually a limit on time. Another downside is that there are no images for the students to see for examples; students have to just sit and listen.
Overall, podcasts can be used to help reinforce ideas in the classroom and students can learn new ways to use technology.



Below is a podcast I created. It summarizes Diane Ravitch On Arts Education, episode 6 the final part to her interview. Please make sure the sound is turned to an appropriate level and click below to here the podcast.

listen to ‘Summary of Diane Ravitch’ on Audioboo

Digital Storytelling in the Classroom

Currently, in Instructional Technology, we are exploring PhotoPeach and the power of using digital storytelling in the classroom. PhotoPeach is an interesting spice for slideshows; it gives a different spin to a presentation so students do not have to suffer from "death-by-Powerpoint". PhotoPeach allows a teacher or student to choose images, create quick, concise captions, add music (or upload sounds/voice,) and even create a quiz to keep students on their toes!

Now the question is can such a thing really be useful in the classroom? Absolutely. Simple shows like these can help students by bringing a new perspective to lectures. For teachers using this concept, review sessions can go by smoother through creation of a slideshow on main topics of an upcoming exam or just quickly recapping the last class session. Students can work in small groups on questions placed within the slideshow to test what they remember/what they learned. Students can use this as a new way to present reports or group projects. This can be a way for students to further customize their projects and embed part of their personalities within their work. Getting to create small quizzes for classmates can excite the students and it can also show how well the presenters understand the information through their ability to teach the other students. PhotoPeach and other digital storytelling ideas do not have to be an everyday tool, but they absolutely can be a useful one. 


Here is the project I created using PhotoPeach:
Primary, Secondary, and Tertiary Colors on PhotoPeach

Classroom Tools: Twitter

In my class on using technology in the classroom, the idea of Twitter being used came up. I have never been on Twitter myself and have only seen it twice, one time being for this class. A story was shared about a man who used Twitter to come up with a lesson. He "tweeted" that he needed a lesson about farms because his students were going to visit a farm for their field trip. Through a friend's friend, or something similar, a video was set up by two teachers about their farms. The students then had a virtual tour of a farm in place of the outing.

In that instance Twitter can be useful, but it was used outside of the classroom by a teacher that wasn't distracted by the initial purpose of Twitter. An other story shared gives a better idea. One class had found an animal skeleton on the school property and wanted to find out what animal it was. One student used Twitter to get responses, one student used email to a museum or something of the like, and one student actually did the research. Of course, the student using Twitter found out it was a raccoon first. The problem I have with this use of Twitter is the fact that the student let everyone else answer his or her question for him or her; there was no work involved on the students part. This teaches students that there is always someone else that can do things for them. So in this case, though it is faster, I do not think that Twitter should be used.

On top of why it is use (ie. lesson plan help or student question) a bigger reason for Twitter to stay out of classrooms is the distraction factor. If a teacher tells the students they can use Twitter for class, they will want to look at their popular tweets or what have you and forget about the assignment. For the teachers to use it as a quick means to communicate and ask for help, yes it is a fine tool, but the distraction for students to try to use it in the classroom makes me think that it should not be implemented.

RSS Feeds and Blogging: Meant for the Classroom?

Blogs can be useful tools. Students can find different blogs on the same topic and compare the entries. This could allow them to either further understand a concept/topic or to learn about different points of view outside of the classroom. With finding all of these wonderful blogs, students can learn to organize and keep up-to-date on them by using RSS feeds. I currently have a few useful blogs on my iGoogle and have found that using an RSS feed allows me to keep up with all the information and keep it all organized.

On of these helpful blogs is called, "Art Teacher's Guide to the Internet." This blog is a wonderful tool, not only for art teachers, but any teacher. The author of the blog tried to give personal experiences and shares other teachers' stories a well. There is actually a section called, "108 Web Tools and Resources," which includes everything from sound effects to wikis to art education and online sketchpads. Finding a blog like this, as a future educator, is absolutely helpful. Keeping this in my RSS feed will allow me to know when something new has been posted.

In addition to content specific blogs, I have found the blog of the US Department of Education. I find it very important to understand what is going on in the education of our society. The Department of Education talks about the budget, about educational acts, and about reforms to name a few topics. With all of those topics, the RSS feed can keep me organized if I become more interested in one topic over another and/or allow me to stay current with the recent issues examined.

Marriage of Classrooms and Technology

In my experience of technology being implemented into classrooms, technology can be a tool but should not be relied on. There are teachers who have rely on technology so heavily when it has failed they have not been able to quickly adjust to a lesson without it. The example I have involves a day of death by Powerpoint and a reliance on  technology for attendance. Of course, the system failed and the slides were unable to be projected for the class. The students waited around for 20 minutes before being told to leave after signing a paper for attendance. The idea of having informational slides can also lead to laziness and overloaded pages; all of the information is on the slide and some of my past teachers have read them word for word, providing little interest in the subject for the students and even themselves. 

Implementing technology into the art classroom can be hard because students need to get their hands into the media. A computer or image on a screen cannot allow the viewer to feel the texture of clay as it changes from slip to a fired pot. Feeling the way graphite scratches on paper differs from the way charcoal smudges the same surface cannot be completely understood through a picture. There are smells that go with each media; smells that cannot be expressed through electronics. 

Technology can be a useful tool in the art classroom. For visual arts, technology can provide an easy way for information distribution. There are websites that allow family to get involved with the students' artwork. Students can get excited about their art and share it with who ever they choose. When used correctly, Powerpoint can be helpful, mostly with sharing images and allowing students to listen to the information. Tutorials on different techniques can be useful to some students to use as a reference outside of the classroom.