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.

Multiple Texts Assignment

I am working on my Multiple Texts Assignment which include various texts for art history lessons. I have come up with several different types of text to use for this exercise. I am wanting to use some of these in my Reader/Writers Project as well because I feel that elementary students are not getting enough art history lessons within the art classroom. If I start early with them then they will be more prepared for middle school arts and humanities classes.

GIST Summary Writing

I am excited to use this new technique with students. I know that I struggled in school with this task and using the steps discussed on page 45 of the Frey, Fisher, and Hernandez article will help struggling students in all context areas. This is such an important technique that students have to know how to do especially once they enter college. I think that we need to focus more with our students how to summarize without plagiarizing!

Chew On This: Podcast

Art & Spanish Group Podcast Link:

http://spanishartgroup.podomatic.com/

First of all, I have to say that my stomach will never be the same after reading Chew On This. I have decided to never eat fast food again and to be more aware of what I put into my body. Plus, I can't wait to read Fast Food Nation. It has been a long time since I picked up a book and could not put it down...thanks for bringing my love for reading back to life! I have already passed the book on to my husband to read. Anyways, I enjoyed reading this book as well as working in our group on the podcast for my first literature circle. I am still confused about some of the technology that we can use to make different versions of these, so more information on this would be extremely helpful. Our group did the literature circle different than what the traditional roles are supposed to be. (what can you expect when you have a group of artist working together). I am excited about the book that we choose for our next literature circle.

Adolescent Literacy: Chapters 5 & 6

These two chapters have made me think about what a “text” really is and that photographs and various images are TEXT. The question is how do I really convince my students of this concept? Also, how do I successfully guide them through this process and know that they understood it because it is an acquired skill that develops over time? Learning to read a piece of art is a very different task. I think that the best strategy for me to use with my students is to walk them through several critiquing exercises. I feel that this should be started when they are in elementary school on a simplified level. Teaching them the steps of how to critique and how to express their thoughts about various works of art will make all the difference within my classroom.

Before this class, I had not read a graphic novel and I did not realize that they have become a part of our curriculum. These are going to be so beneficial for students in any art class. Most artists are visual learners and I know that incorporating reading in this form will be beneficial to all of us. However, I think that it is so important to clarify to them what these are and that they are not comic books or a form of manga. Graphic novels provide more opportunities for higher level of thinking to take place.

Adolescent Literacy: Chapter 7

I found this chapter to be the most helpful that I have read so far for me as an art teacher. Vocabulary is the basis of what I teach and the terms/concepts can be really confusing for my students because they are so specific for this subject area. I was thinking today how hard it is for some of my students to grasp the art vocabulary and that the visual vocabulary cards will be extremely beneficial for them to use as a remembering tool (plus it connects to art). I was just drawing/expressing the terms visually but I think that it will help the students more if they do it instead. The examples in this chapter are great and they have given me several ideas on how I can use these with all levels of art students. During my student teaching semester, I discovered that reviewing vocabulary terms with my elementary students before and after our activities helped my students learn how to not only understand the vocabulary but to be able to use the terms properly.

Adolescent Literacy: Chapters 4 & 15

A few thoughts about these two chapters…

I feel that in both of these chapters, my main thoughts/ideas/concerns stemmed from thinking about my teachers and their strategies and techniques they used to teach their students.

I think that many of our student’s issues about understanding and inquiry has resulted from the “curriculum obesity crisis” we as teachers are faced with; our students can not focus their attention on the concept that we have introduced before it is time to move to the next one. I feel that many of my teachers that I had when I was in school would switch so quickly that I got lost in the shuffle of concepts, especially if it was in a subject that I struggled in as a student. Why can’t our curriculum be linked and connected among the teaching subject areas. For example, as an art teacher, I have had students tell me that there is no math or science in art, because “this is an art class”. This process of thought disturbs me.

Another issue that I have been thinking about is how do we convince students that learning from their struggles and challenges in our subject areas is beneficial to their development? This quote from Chapter 4 made me think harder about this question, “move beyond the idea that all students must study the same thing at the same time” (p 37). If we can help our students make the connection with the material being taught to their personal interests it will benefit them as individuals, not just fitting in our curriculum to prepare for their tests. Building INQUIRY== MOTIVATION & UNDERSTANDING. I believe that teachers need to change along with their students in order to meet this generations needs.

Adolescent Literacy: Chapter 10

This chapter is right on target of what we have to do to tap into our middle and adolescent students...incorporate their style into our teaching. Online discussion panels are a great tool to use to help our students open up with each other and get comfortable with expressing their thoughts and ideas. I know that when I was in high school, I did not voice my opinions as much in class discussions as I did in the homework writing assignments that followed the discussions. I think that it is so important to give our students time to think about their thoughts before we just throw them into a discussion. This can be a wonderful form of group collaboration as a way to promote socialization with all of our students.

So about this literacy crisis that the world thinks is occurring...don't you think that we need to change our school standards of what classifies as a textbook? For instance, have you taken a collage coarse where the is no "textbook" but a packet that you buy that has various resources that are bound together, which is used as a text in the class. Don't you think that if students were exposed to various types of resources on learning the material that I could interest them more?

Adolescent Literacy: Chapter 1

I have to be honest that I was a little confused about what all adolescent literacy entailed when discussing it during today's opening class. I thought that I knew what it meant; however, I have learned just through the opening chapter of this book that it encompasses much more than I had ever expected.

I agree with Kylene Beers perspectives on the issues of adolescent literacy that all of us as teachers face in our classrooms. While reading her article "The Measure of Our Success", I discovered answers to many of the questions that I have asked myself about high school students living in today's society. I was intrigued with the stories of Derek and Collin. I was able to relate their experiences to those of my own when I was a high school student. During last semester at my secondary student teaching placement, I had many students just like these two individuals in my classroom. I was able to capture their interests by incorporating what inspired them to create art into their various Media Arts assignments. If a student is passionate about a topic or concept they will push themselves to try, leading them to success. Students want us to understand them and respect their interests...they just want their voice to be heard. In schools today, I can see where students get frustrated with what they are being asked ("required") to learn, mostly memorize and then regurgitate back on numerous tests that are MEANINGLESS to them. What can each of us do to encourage our students' interests in the subject area in which we teach?