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.

Additional Thoughts #1

I think I'm going to use this blog as a sort of professional diary, adding new thoughts about my profession as they occur to me. Yesterday, I was attending a district meeting of my colleagues during which some of them were recognized for special achievements and exemplary teaching. I felt the usual twinge of jealousy toward those individuals and their achievements, but I was also inspired by their example--this got me to thinking about what they're doing that works so well. I'm sure what follows is, in no way, a complete formula for success; I simply offer the next few statements as observations:

(1) Successful art teachers learn from the successful endeavors of their colleagues; they cull ideas from each other.

(2) Some of the most successful art teachers are those who believe that they should provide as many opportunities as possible for their students to show their work and be recognized for their achievements.

(3) Many successful art teachers enliven their classroom experience by learning, and then teaching, the use of the widest possible variety of mediums available to them.

(4) A successful art teacher is sometimes willing to spend out of her own pocket in order to provide special materials beyond the limits of her budget and supplies available within her district.

Just some thoughts, none of which are new or profound. I just want to put these observations down in a form where I can think about them more formally.