AT Week 9

Here is the link to my screenr of my Avatar
The program was giving me fits and i never could get it to publish after starting over 3 times! So here I am, not exactly me, but a fun likeness!

http://screenr.com/Ews7



I am pleased to say that I am not totally stuck on the idea of dislike anymore, some of what we have talked about and read is helping me to see both sides of the fence.

Possibilities-Virtual World= i do love the idea of the avatar- I also like how brooks-young brought up the point that this is a great opportunity to address web safety as well as address the idea of image. I feel like this would be a good time to team up with the counselor at the elementary level and have her do some focused lessons on both prior to students building their avatar. The Avatar I built wasn't my favorite or as user friendly as I would like for my elementary leveled students, but I think will some searching there might be easier to use programs. This would be a great time to discuss how appearance is self expression at it's best, especially with my 5th graders. Whyville sounded like a great way to connect the students while they are in a very education friendly environment with great curriculum related choices.
Gaming="Students believe that there is value in using gaming technologies in school. The top reason they give are that games can be used to teach difficult concepts and that they are engaging." (Brooks-Young 89) The structure of a game closely resembles the structure of a well designed lesson plan. This is an interesting thought to me. It is true, a great lesson gives a prompt, challenge, and feedback just as a video game does. I think the instant feedback caters to this need for instant gratification that our youth have today. I like the idea of role-playing with games. It would be cool to have students role play with their avatars maybe as the artists or the teachers, teaching other avatar students about the art subject/artist of their choosing.
Limitations-Money, time, Internet access (things are blocked at school), permission- Once you get past these limitations that I typically face in my school, there are other limitations that any teacher could face. I also feel a huge limitation is that my students are computer savvy to an extent, but i wonder how well they would do with making an avatar. My thought is, there is 25 of them and only one of me for 50 minutes, which is not a lot of time to solve problems. I think to alleviate this problem I would have to make step by step instructions with pictures for each student to follow. Potentially get a volunteer to help in the computer lab during this time. I know that time is a big limitation. My students see me 50 minutes a week. We get around 40 meeting times a year. It would be nice if I could teach them how to do it, and then assign the play for homework, but due to district policy, my students are only give grades as follows: Plus or minus for behavior and effort. I highly doubt many of them would do this homework in 5th grade. I wish I could say that parents value the arts enough to have their kids do it for homework, but its all I can do to get them to finish their yearbook cover contest homework once a year. Sad but true. It was interesting to read the "common objections to classroom use of online and video games" section. It was like finding the suggested answers to every question I was thinking!  I still feel that even with the offered suggestions, this would be a bit of a hurdle to implement, if I can get over those hurdles, it would be a fantastic learning opportunity for my students as well as myself. And hopefully some bonus points.

AT Week 6

Social Bookmarking-
delicious.com/kschotte

Visual Lexicons- I am a huge lover of pinterest so here is my pinterest page and the second link will get you to my current inspiration board.
http://pinterest.com/kelleys/
http://pinterest.com/kelleys/inspiration-board/

Visual Thinking
Brain Mapping- I could not figure out any other way to show you my brain mapping except to use a quick screenr to give you the screen shot. But I attended the Fall MAEA Conference at Knob and finally got to learn a bit about the common core. So this is the start of my understanding and how the arts connects to the common core. I am hoping that this map continues to grow!
http://screenr.com/bRV8

Popplet- Here is a screenr screen shot of my popplet. I decided to work on a visual curriculum for my K-5 kiddos. It's amazing how much bigger this could probably get.
http://screenr.com/gXV8
http://popplet.com/app/#/515597  This is the direct link if this doesn't work.

VTS 1 Week 10

Lesson 4- I choose (with Mary's help-thank you) two images that related to the project my group was about to start.

After we VTSed these images we then read an article about the Australian Aboriginal Artists. They are making dot styled aboriginal art :) 

Here is the link to my video
http://youtu.be/wriGJSxEsKw

Assessing, Reflecting, and Planning

Student Engagement- I had 19 out of the 24 kids in the class respond, with 35 total responses. Still working on getting a few quiet ones to join in the conversation. Today they seemed less focused on their vts responses. My story telling friend who is usually very involved, was distracted, at one point he was playing with cups that were on his table and I had to take them away. You can here him drumming with pencils so I called on him, which helped, but he was not wanting to pay attention. This was the 4 day I had VTSed this image, they are usually the first group to VTS an image, and I was disappointed with the fact that this group had a few different ideas, but my other groups did not get bogged down by repeating the same ideas over and over. With the first image, they were very convinced that the people in the picture were making a rug, and what it's purpose was. The second image they were able to come up with many different ideas. It was interesting that they kept thinking the images were related, that one was in preparation for the other. Ideas such as location of Africa, or the beach were discussed, tools and materials, what was in the backpack, and even the fact that the woman looked poor to one child, but not to another. I really enjoy the way the kids connect to one another's ideas, and the politely disagree and then can provide evidence why. I am not seeing conditional language or flexible thinking yet... Should I be?!?!  I was not great a varying my questions. I think kids are learning to connect and slowing some are even building off each others ideas, this became very evident with a few and they would say, "I agree with (child's name) because.... And I think....."

Reflective Practice- The VTS lesson has gotten very comfortable, in fact as I watched myself, I feel like it maybe getting too comfortable. I have to admit, I was sick that day, and went home from work an hour later. I noticed a sense of rush and unfocused about myself as a result of how I was feeling. I need to force myself to give better wait time, talk slower and more clearly, give some wait time between the child's response and mine (more time to think through my thoughts). I do feel like my paraphrasing is getting better as I'm getting more comfortable with the process. I think I just need to spend more time mentally preparing for each image.

Planning- For the future, I need to practice my wait time. I also want to practice slowing myself down in my responses. As I said earlier, I need to find the time to be more mentally prepared for these images. Overall I am excited every day that I VTS, it is excellent to see this side of my students!

VTS 1 Week 9

Week 9-Teacher's choice proposal

I was looking through the different options of "Saint George and the dragon" I ran into what I hope is a great choice:

 

 The Dragon Leaps Around in the Grand Occasion

 By Zhang Qing-Yi

 

link https://www.orientaloutpost.com/proddetail.php?prod=2fa-dragondance&cat=8&nl=y

 

I plan on VTSing this with my 4th grade group! I have 24-26 kiddos depending on the day they visit. They are fairly well rehearsed in VTSing as well. I thought this might intrigue my quieter boys. I really like the movement and the different characters. I feel like there are so many different things happening in the art work that we will have plenty to VTS about for the full time.

Let me know what you all think.

AT Week 5

What is the role of art education (or art educators) in teaching students to be media literate digital citizens?

This can sometimes be a tough question to answer, based on limitations and policies. My role as an art educator as well as art educations role, in general, for our students to be medial literate, is big. We, a department whole K-12, have the opportunity to expose our students to digital media and applications that most other areas cannot. We have the opportunity to teach them skills that are highly sought after in the 21^st century. With the younger students, I am a bit more limited. Many of these limitations stem from inexperience with the kinds of programs that would give my students the opportunities they need. In my personal situation K-5, currently get a medium level of exposure to technology. My curriculum is very much centered around the basic foundations of art. My goal with my masters program is to further my abilities to teach my kids how to become media literate. One of the vital things I feel I need to share with my students is the artistic side of reading. Not words, but symbols and designs. This world is so full of digital media that uses little to no direct words, but uses interpretations. Art’s role is to teach students to interpret and understand what they are seeing all around them. “Young people tend to trust, believe, and be highly influenced by the information they see and hear, whether it is provided by a teacher, a news outlet, a friend, or a website.” (Rosen 150) I also feel it is our role as art teachers to teach them to questions the things they are seeing, as well as teach them how to have different opinions.

I also struggle with this idea due to the fact that I have students who cannot think outside of their box. Imagination is not something that my student walks in to the art room with anymore. I am teaching many how to be imaginative, and sometimes it is like beating my head on a wall. “Creative play has dropped 94%. They don’t know how to amuse themselves or calm themselves down. They regurgitate what they have already seen; they are not required to make up their own storyline. In a way they are being told their imagination is not good enough.” (Consuming your kids) What a powerful message our world is sending to these minds we are molding. These students are so sucked in to their digital devices that they miss out on the opportunity to be a kid and just play! Again here I am at the cross roads of play and the future…Why is it that they only seem to briefly intersect, not intertwine? Kids are no longer have the self-esteem to use their imaginations either, “The fundamental message that I need something outside of myself to play is really tragic and harmful” (Consuming your kids).

“A 1999 survey shows that people are hit with 3000 ads per day” (Killing Me Softly). It is absolutely unbelievable what kinds and how many ads are thrown in our student’s faces daily. I decided to watch some “children’s channels” after watching this weeks documentaries. During a commercial break, they showed 2 commercials that pertained to a show, and 4-5 commercials specifically aimed at the purchasing of products. Our kids are being programmed by the advertisements to “need” things that were once a luxury. Not to mention the amount of content that has sexual innuendo with commercials and TV programs. And we wonder why we have so many young mothers (whole different soapbox topic). Marketing is also selling their values. “Advertising, it sells concepts, tells us who we are and what we should be” (killing me softly). They spend so much time studying our kids because they know they are the real “buying power” and kids give the marketers what they want, “cradle to grave brand loyalty.”  I have brand loyalties but mine are brought on by usage of products and their competitors, truly sticking with a brand because it is quality, not because it’s the it thing. My students even behave this way when it comes to toys- the marketers hooked them early on. The marketing world has also showed parents that giving their children what they want will make them behave. Wrong, smart parents do everything in their power to keep these ideas from themselves and their children. I could not agree more when they said our society has “The right for children to grow up and parents to raise them without being undermined by the marketing” (Consuming your kids). As we raise these egocentric children who need instant gratification, who have a give it to me, right now kind of attitude, we are setting them up for failure in the real world. It’s a scary thought to think what this generation could do to our governmental structure and not to mention their spending habits-hello national debts crisis…again!

So my job is plain and simple, yet totally complicated when it comes to the politically correct BS I must abide by. So here it is… unfiltered. My job is to show my students a world of creativity that is inspired by their imagination. Those imaginations are clearly going to have to be developed in my room. I also vocalize the importance of play, whether it is outside or inside, but just good old-fashioned play. Our imaginations grew with every step we took as children because we were give the power of creativity and play. We were given the power to think for ourselves and act upon those thoughts and learn from our mistakes. Even if it meant falling on our faces, but hey if I turned out all right, I know my students will too. I am here to foster the kind of learning, questioning and deciphering that teaches my students to be life long creative learners. If that avenue includes technology, then bring it on and I will be happy to learn with them! I loved the interview on the today show, she said it is our job to teach the children, “It’s safe to come to you and ask questions, you don’t have to have all the answers.”

Parents are no longer holding themselves or their children accountable. As teachers we are the students accountability partners. We are here to teach them what is socially acceptable behavior, even if that is not what they are taught at home. To mold their little growing brains and show them the power of themselves. So back to the art educators role. My role is not just to shape their minds but also to set them free on an adventure of creative learning. I hope to teach my students to question the ads and symbols they see daily and interpret how it effects their lives. These are some of the most intelligent kids, yet they have little common sense, nor have they learned how to filter all of those things coming at them. Art opens a door to a visual world and teaching our students this new language that is not verbal.  

Hopefully all of my preaching on my soapbox made sense. This was a topic that needed digestion time. A topic that is truly ever changing, as is our world, and as we should be with it.

VTS Week 8

It's always interesting to watch someone else VTS. This teacher did a great job of paraphrasing, gesturing and making connections to what others had said. I thought it was interesting that he never used Q3 and that he asked the questions in his own terms. I like that when he was trying to remember everything, he was willing to go back and check with a student to make sure he didn't miss what they were saying. Also, He offered up Frida Kohlo's name, and i'm pretty sure the student did not remember her name. I feel like this gave the kids more information than they needed.

VTS of Lesson 3 Image 1

This week I did the image above with my 4th graders. This week seemed harder, almost as if they are getting sick of having to do this. I still have the same kids getting engaged, and the same kids are silent. Not wanting to push them out of their comfort zone, I don't want to call on them if their hand is not up, but I think our next VTS lesson is going to be this way. I liked Mary's suggestion that I should call on those kids first so that the answers haven't been said. Those who are getting involved are doing a great job of developing thier answers. They seem to get stuck on two ideas: the idea of sick kid with a mom taking care of her, and the idea of whether they were at school or daycare.

 

I was proud that I was really good at the point of my finger comes, "what more can we find, (student)".   I remembered to add this with every child's name I said. My focus for this lesson was always using Q3 and paraphrasing. I felt more comfortable with my ability to paraphrase this time :) I am in search of an image that will suit these kids and fit into our next project, I feel like they are getting board with the images we've been using. Maybe we need to spice things up a bit.

I also took the leap to VTS 1st grade. I selected an image from our print curriculum and we VTS'ed it!!!!!
It literally just occurred to me that there is so much more to see in this image, but my projector is so dark we are missing more than I realized! Guess I need to find the Brighten and contrast buttons.
So, It went really well with the first group. I explained that we were going to VTS and image, what that meant and that we were going to spend more time looking at art from now on, not just making it. So I rolled right into the sessions, and they were fantastic :)  I was very pleased, we went for 15 minutes and I had to stop them so that we could work on our assignment. I noticed with the younger ones I have to keep them aware that we are only sharing one at a time. I have VTS'ed this image with 3 more 1st grade groups. Day 2 was a train wreck, because my blind student was at the back of the room reading a book and it was super distracting for me and the kids. I had a hard time hearing the kids and was not able to paraphrase as well. I hate to ask them to leave, but next time I am going to ask her to take him in the hall or something and read for 15 while we VTS so I can get things going right with the kids. Very difficult and sensitive situation, so I will be treading lightly.
Overall I am please with those who were willing to share, but there was always at least 5 per class that were done after about 2 minutes and off in their own world.

Great week in the VTS department, I think I might try it with my 5th graders at the start of our next project.

VTS Week 7

Common Core

I must admit, my experience with CC has been very slight. I have been in a few meetings were they briefly discussed a few important ideas. I am ready to be educated on this topic, especially looking forward to the CC workshop at Knob! And my art department is looking at bringing someone in to discuss CC with the art teachers for our next PD day.  My fellow teachers have been through several meeting about CC so far (they let the art people do their own pd that day).

I am finding it difficult to voice my opinion/attitude based on my inexperience with CC. My one concern I feel I can voice is, Is CCSS just another buzz things, you know the it thing of school. Is this here to replace "no child left behind" and do it right, or simply a new name with a few restructurings? Needless to say I need more knowledge.

After our think tank session, I am convinced from what little I was able to see of the standards, VTS fits in so well it's crazy. I was totally amazed that all of us were able to look at a short list of items with reading and we could fit VTS in, in every way!  This makes me so happy to be on the front end of a movement that is actually going to do something great and still meet the mandates of the state. Go VTS!!!!