Technology Activity

The technology activity that we did during class today was extremely beneficial. The amount of resources that I was introduce to today is going to help me a great deal in my teaching. Bradi and I worked on two ToonDoo Cartoons for art history, which are attached our blogs. Using technology in an art classroom unless I am teaching at the high school level is not as accessible as I would like, due to the fact that many elementary and middle school art teachers do not have classrooms. "Art on a cart" has become way too popular with JCPS schools. However, I feel that I can modify some of the writing activities in the DZS Book, chapters 2-6 to use with my art students. Overall, I am excited to try these resources with my students next year.

This I Believe...

This I Believe...that all students no matter what classroom they are in should be able to voice their opinion through writing. All students should have the opportunity to learn how to write as well as the chance to push those boundaries exploring the unknown. During my student teaching placements, I witnessed many students developing and being inspired by their creative writing pieces that I incorporated into their art lessons. Further art creations stemmed from their experiences of creative writing. Students need to be taught the mechanics of writing but also have opportunities to write freely. Too many constraints can prohibit students' creativity. I know that I will use various types of writing assignments in my art classroom, not matter what grade level I teach.

Adolescent Literacy: Chapters 11-13

These chapters brought me back to when I was in high school....I loved to write. Any extra moment I had, I was creating something having to do with words and incorporating writing into my works of art: paintings, sculptures and especially photography. However, throughout high school, I remember my teachers always pushing me to rethink my thoughts, edit, revise, correct, and in the end my writing became their writing (if you know what I mean). They pushed me too far. I believe that if my teachers had not made us write so many research papers and allowed for several creative writing pieces as well then I would not feel so bitter about this topic. However, in the end I still love to write and express my thoughts.

I have also seen through my student teaching what not teaching correct spelling can do to students. In my art classroom, students were constantly asking if they spelled words within their creative writing assignments correctly. I have so many mixed feelings on this subject.
I promise as a teacher that I will let my student's voice be heard in their writing because it should not always be about following the rules. Freedom within writing is good. I love to combine writing and art.

Group Book Trailer

Our group finished our book trailer today and we had a blast creating this movie! The "art folks" read the graphic novel The Invention of Hugo Cabret by Brain Selznick. This book is now my number one favorite book that I have read so far. I am amazed by the detailed drawings that are incorporated into the story and I can not wait to use this book where ever I teach. Anyways, I recommend everyone to pick this one up and enjoy. I loved working in Movie Maker and I am going to try to work in the other movie making programs as well. I loved how this project makes the story come alive for students and will make them want to read the book.

Adolescent Literacy: Chapters 16 & 17

I just have a couple of comments about these two chapters. First of all, I can not get the statistic of 7,000 high school students drop out everyday in the US. This is a scary number because if we don't do something than what is going to happen to our education system! What can I do to help convince my students to stay in school?

In response to assessment, I feel that it is my fault as teachers if my students fail their tests/assessments. We need to slow down, which relates back to the obesity curriculum crisis that we face, and take the time to reteach the information our students do not understand. If not, they are just going to get lost in the shuffle. Plus, we need to be teaching relevant content to our students.

Springfield Township: Voice of Vocab Podcasts

This is an awesome strategy for teaching students how to learn new vocabulary words. I wish that I had learned vocabulary this way because this would have helped me not just learn the vocab for the test. This technique would have made me remember the vocabulary that I studied in my English classes. It would be helpful for students to download these to their iPods and listen to them as a study technique. The podcasts are giving me many different ideas that I can implement into my art classroom. This would be a great way for my students to have an online storage of art vocabulary terms.