OKAY, LET'S DANCE!

Today, I got to step #7 on the 11 Tools, which calls for an on-line collaborative effort with other teachers. As the school art teacher, and as a socially-challenged middle-aged guy, I'm not a real collaborative, social butterfly. Coming out of my spider-hole to ask for people to work with me on a project filled me with a certain measure of dread. UNTIL I remembered a favorable response to an insect-painting project some of my classes did last year. It hit me: why don't I have the kids in question do their insect paintings WHILE their studying insects in science. And then, why not put pictures and narration of the project on Voice Thread? I've sent the proposal out and will see what the response is going to be.

Okay, I'm having a terrible time using an UN-user friendly thing called Voice Thread. The last straw for me on this thing was trying to embed the short project I had produced. How is it, that for Blogger, instead of wanting the usual information (e.g. account name, password, name of site) they ask for something called the "blogger's user name"? What IS that? I have no user name. I have an email address, a password, and the name of my site, none of which work with this thing. This is one of the reasons I'm taking my time finishing the 11 Tools thing. As much as I enjoy it, the frustration robs this course of some of its joy. Now, I'm writing in what I BELIEVE to be a LINK to what I made today. Let's see what happens: http://voicethread.com/share/2115731/.

HOW I WOULD USE THE SITE: I believe one good use for this site, once I get used to it and work through my annoyance, would be as a means of coordinating what my classes are doing in art with what they're doing in technology and, let's say, science. For example, if second grade were studying insects, and we did a crayon-resist painting project on bugs, an assignment in the technology lab for students could be to go a Voice Thread site created from photos of our work, and make comments on the pictures displayed based on what they learned in science, e.g. "We had to remember that, if we did an insect, we had to give it six legs, while those who worked on spiders had to remember that arachnids had eight. Oops! My spider only had six legs. Guess I need to remember that difference between arachnids and insects." And so forth.

Twitter was easier to start using. I see this tool as a way of reminding students of concepts and assignments due, etc. I could see sending out annoying twittrances about remembering the difference between atmospheric and linear perspective for the upcoming test, etc.

Technology and my art students

We are encouraged to get our kids involved with technology in the creation of their art. Here are two sites with which I'm now experimenting. This first piece was done with a digital photograph of a student's art submitted to a website called Big Huge Labs, where you can make the digital photo into a post card, a poster, a jigsaw puzzle, or, in this case, a "Hockneyized" polaroid-style artwork. The second piece, which I want to show you here on the blog, but which the site will not permit, was done on "makebeliefscomix.com. To see the comic I made on the site, click here on http://www.makebeliefscomix.com/Comix/?comix_id=1725971C494169. This second site is very easy for kids to use, since they can pick out their cartoon characters, "nuance" their emotions, write words for them, and they're done.

USEFUL VIDEO: I found this feature story on Texas Country Reporter, about a woman who, with a year left before she would turn her farm over to its new owners, went out and painted what she saw every day. In class, when we do units on painting from life outside, I find this video helpful since it attaches real human emotions to what might seem to the kids just an academic exercise.

Art and Physics

Now here's something I'd like to try. The artist in this video, Tim Fort, creates "events" in which he employs the law of conservation of energy. The results appear nothing short of miraculous to the kids when I show them one of these. Would it be possible to work up digitally-recorded art projects like this? I think so, and I think we're going to try to do so this year, perhaps as an end-of-year project, when supplies and materials are being packed up. Or maybe it would be better done if coordinated with a science unit on energy of motion being followed in other classrooms.

I set up this blog three years ago; a student tutored me in the process of setting it up. I enjoyed creating it, then left it to its own devices until now. The reason I'm renewing my relationship with this abandoned cyber-child is because my school district is trying to push me into learning and trying new things. Imagine that! I mean, learning and trying new things is okay for the kids, but . . . oh, wait.

I have found the process of getting started with the 11tools course frustrating and, at times, confusing, but you know what? That's how some of the best learning takes place. One thing I've learned as an educator is that sometimes, if kids are launching into a learning experience like it's just something routine and well in the middle of their comfort zone, they may just be going through the motions. I think a lot of the best learning for any of us happens when we come to the frontiers of what we know and have to start hacking through the wilderness of our ignorance. My kids complain when we do this, and I find myself wishing, sometimes, that I hadn't pushed them into a new experience with all of the complaints, inevitable disasters, and general messiness. But that's education - there's a place for routine and things we know well, but sometimes we have to "Lewis-and-Clark" it.