BP15_2009123_One MinuteMessage2

BP13_200912_PeerReviewMcGrew

Can't talk about the big brother without sharing little sister, a big addition to the soda constructor family.

This Web 2.0 is more my style because it incorporates freehand drawing and animation. Obviously geared for the young, which is what I am at heart. Moovl gets high marks for giving the mind something creative to do. Sometimes kids just need to play and explore. Even the grown ones. Enough said.

POSTED BY DEIRDRE HUGER MCGREW AT 7:08 AM


1 COMMENTS:

Joan Marie Western said...
Moovl, sounds like I need to talk to little sister about her soda constructor family and how they can help my elementary art students develop new concepts and interact with animation technology. Thank you Deirdre, This would be a wonderful Web 2.0 Tool to experience at the elementary level art classroom. Bye, I have the need to construct and converse with little sister about Moovl. Talk to you soon after my exploration of Moovl.
DECEMBER 13, 2009 12:03 PM

BP12A_2009123_Tool#4 Globster.com

http://jmwestern.edu.glogster.com/traditionalglobster-poster/

Globster is a web 2.0 platform that easily allows users to upload photos, videos, text, audio and more to create a unique online, interactive poster. Educators can register at http://www.edu.glogster.com/register.

Globster is a new and creative digital outlet for educators to help keep students engaged and to make learning more fun! Globster has a simple and easy interface designed to introduce basic concepts to students allowing them to publish and share their creations and to collaborate with other users on joint efforts. Globster’s web 2.0 platforms is a valuable learning tool that can be integrated with several core subjects including math, science, history, technology, art, photography, music and more. This web 2.0 tool fosters advancement of skills as students progress through grade levels. A virtual, digital, educational platform that transcends age, gender, background, subject matter, grade level, school type, location, etc.

Globster has a secure, private, safe platform that can be monitored directly by teachers. Teachers can rate Glogs by clicking the stars on a five-star scale underneath every Glog. Educator Resource Library with links upon request to a vast Diigo resource area. Educators have complete control of all student activities within your account's profiles and dashboards. This includes being able to manage adding/deleting students, changing/lost passwords, student profile information, student settings, and all messaging and comments. 

Finally, everyone can view your class Glogs by regulating the progress status of Glogs with the following settings: Unfinished, Finished and Public for All. Globster new and creative digital outlet has enabled me to place lessons to our classroom on Globster and be able to compare the old traditional art techniques of design a poster to the new digital methods in Globster for my action research project. This is shown above in my poster lesson I designed in Globster. My students enjoy all the amazing improvements in their own artwork as well as with the other students within my visual art Globster classroom.

BP12B_2009123_Tool #5 Tikatok StorySparks

I found an easy and inspirational bookmaking Web 2.0 tool, Tikatok StorySparks, for differential with my students in art for the elementary level, which I feel would be a great motivational tool as well as cognitive. Student creates his or her own stories. And watch them develop into actual book with hard copies.

In art class we can intergrade this with a study about illustrator and what make up a story? We can intergrade Language arts into the arts and technology realm. Student can collaborate with one another by choosing their art pieces and editing their storybook. This Web 2.0 tool can help learners of all multiple intelligences, as well as enhance the right and left-brain learners during collaboration. Students create ideas for the story, draw and name their characters, apply their artwork into their storybook.

I like this Web 2.0 tool because it is fast and easy and it is cost efficient. Tikatok StorySparks allows the art teacher to teach book making and illustration through language arts and enhance critical thinking skills. Tikatok StorySparks allows the learner to view storybooks and writing from different perspective and utilize different learning strategies as well as collaborate with the publisher for a real life finished product. In visual art class we teach art as a visual communication technique in solving communication problems. Tikatok StorySparks enhances these teaching methods by allowing the student to come up with many different creative solutions, while working in groups or individually.

Tikatok StorySparks, can be used as a summative assessment in art by developing an end of year portfolio for the elementary levels. Art teacher just need to make sure they take photos of the students work and save them to the web sites photo file under my photos and create individual hardcover books for presents to their parents to take with them for the years work. People still like something to that is tangible and keepsake, when it comes to their children.

BP12C_2009123_Tool #6 Masher

Masher is an effective web 2.0 tool, that educator can use extremely fast to create new innovative videos to prime their students before a lesson. I’m using Masher as a tool for implementing technology slowly into my visual arts curriculum, by using Masher as video “Hooks”. I am enhancing my student’s motivation for new material knowledge on introducing new units and lessons through Mashers videos and photos. Student become more interested in the new material using videos that are creative and different for each lesson, therefore they visual see different perspectives in the visual arts and communication at the same time acquire new knowledge. Masher’s video and photos have a large selection of library video clips like BBC Motion Gallery, Rip Curl and more.

In my visual arts class students can put together videos and photos of their work and present them to their peers with words and special effect in no time at all. My students can then share their work with friends and family at the end of the year. Masher is a great resource to add to an e-portfolio with a new media asset developed by my students.

Educators can use Masher as a new platform for teaching new material and enhance learning strategies and strengthen knowledge to the learners of multiple intelligences, as well as Jensen’s theory of the right brain left brain methods. I believe that Masher is a great way to different teaching strategies to those students that need accommodations. It can bring forth critical thinking skills into my gifted visual arts classroom. Masher will enhance collaboration and peer evaluations as well as assessments both summative and formative by designing a collaborative collection of art work from a particular class and critiquing with a set performance based rubric. Masher can also give direct feedback to students immediately after viewing their videos. This can only enhance or improve my student’s artwork, along with motivate them to create their best.

BP10_2009122_PeerReviewWest

I surfed high and low for a tool that I thought my students could and would use. Here is an animation program that does not require you to understand code or be a great artist to use it. They can work by themselves or as a team to develop a stage performance using their own personalized avatars (actors). It not only would be engaging but can be collaborative as well. The students could very easily use this as a delivery system for homework or a summery of some kind. I believe that the students would get a great deal of enjoyment and inadvertent learning from using this application. I know I will by using it myself! Another application along the same lines is Dvolver but is only supported by windows and not mac. Dvolver could be a little more versatile than Stage'd but I will have to play with Stage'd a little bit more to make that determination

BP14_2009123_PeerReviewMcCurdy

MICHAEL MCCURDY - EMDT

SUNDAY, DECEMBER 13, 2009

BP12_2009123_Tool#4(GameClassroom.com)

http://www.gameclassroom.com/


For this blog entry, I am researching the Web 2.0 tool, GameClassroom.com. “Game Classroom is a one-stop web destination for accessing high-quality educational games, and homework help for K-6 students” (GameClassroom.com)


I have taught music at the elementary school level for 10 years as of this post. Because my initial undergraduate major was electric engineering, I have always stressed the importance of learning core subjects to my students. There would be many times where I would integrate my music curriculum with the subject material being taught in the homerooms. So GameClassroom.com seemed like a resource I would like to research in order to share with the core subject teachers.


GameClassroom.com is not directly collaborative as many other Web 2.0 tools, such as Flickr, Blogger, Wikia, etc. It is, however, very INTERACTIVE. Students who go to GameClassroom.com are not passive participants in their learning. Because the content is based on educational games, GameClassroom.com students are active participants in their learning.


GameClassroom.com allows students to select from two main categories: Language Arts and Math (as of this posting there is not a section for Science. Each category is separate skills for each grade. And each skill has a specific topic. Suggested games in the GameClassroom.com can be found in each skill level. The games give instantaneous feedback to the student. Games for lower grades have excellent demonstrations and are designed for the beginner learner. Games for older students have visual instructions and are designed for the older learner. The game engines do not frustrate the learner, so he or she is able to focus on answering the questions by whatever means the games use. Interestingly enough, I found it rather insightful to practice my skills on games for all ages. I realized that my teaching skills would benefit from occasionally playing these games. I found it interesting to compare how I present content to how the games found on GameClassroom.com present content.

There is so much good content on GameClassroom.com (except for the lack of a science section) that this is a highly recommended Web 2.0 tool for all elementary school teachers.

References:
GameClassroom.com (2009) Retrieved December 13, 2009, from http://www.gameclassroom.com/

Images:

All images are user-generated screenshots from http://www.gameclassroom.com/

POSTED BY MICHAEL MCCURDY-EMDT AT 5:21 PM
LABELS: EDUCATIONAL GAMES, ELEMENTARY, GAMECLASSROOM.COM, K-6, LANGUAGE ARTS, SCIENCE
2 COMMENTS:

Vandy said...
Games - you got my attention right away. I love games and especially in the classroom. Your bright images relay the light that games can bring to the classroom. Kids love 'em - even adult kids like me. I am bookmarking this site and might be 'flying the coop' of graduate studies to explore more games. Thanks Michael.

A fan of games galore,
Vandy

DECEMBER 13, 2009 6:29 PM
Joan Marie Western said...
I too like games! I love this site even if it does not much for art classes, but I know I can use them for fillers when we have half days or when the other elementary teachers need me to help out with math or reading. I checked out the kindergarten level and I think it would a blast to share with the teachers and their student to play with them. I too book marked this site. Thank you Michael.

Ti Play the game of life

BP11_2009122_OneMinuteMessage1

BP9_2009122FlickrLesson

Flickr is a great collaboration and community online tool that has the capability to connect and share a variety of resources for the art classroom. Flickr enables members to apply a variety of Creative Commons licensing to photographs they upload. As teachers we can help our students understand and apply the concept of intellectual property rights. Photos from Flickr’s various pools can be reproduced by students in a variety of ways and enhance their creativity and motivation in any art lesson.

One way we use Flickr in the art classroom is by establishing a class group from which each student is a member and posting their art pieces up for discussion. We can implement healthy art critiques as well as great peer feedback at the speed of light. A written art critique, and self-evaluation can be implemented at the same time through Flickr’s group discussion board. This helps students complete projects to their best ability, as well as develop motivational and higher thinking skills about the visual art. Student will establish a sense of accomplishment, as well as become members of an artist community.

Flickr can be used anywhere visual images are required, like in a PhotoShop Movie Poster Lesson, where the students research images using third party Flickr’s creative commons photo pools by typing in selected movie titles, approved by the teacher to create a movie trailer or poster developing their own approach to marketing that particular movie to the public.

Another Art lesson using Flickr, can be designing a magazine cover about artist careers, Creating motivational theme posters in visual arts advertising the art education. Developing their own portfolios and sideshow of the work to be presented to colleges or used as a summative assessment. On I particularly like it single image writing prompts called “Flicktion”, which can be used at the beginning of class to hook or enhance creativity in the art classroom.

BP8_2009122_Tool#3( Xtranormal)

Xtranormal can be shared, motivational and creative tool for the visual art classroom. I use this communicative tool to enhance student’s motivational skills and creativity in priming them for upcoming unit. It is a wonderful tool because it is free and can be shared for the class to critique, as well as instant feedback.

I also use this tool for beginning visual arts classes as a storyboard lesson final project. We take the drawn out storyboards or mockups and then try to emulate their original concepts with a twist of technology to create an additional visual communicative project using Xtranormal.

We share our movies on a classroom blog and VoiceThread to develop higher critical thinking skills as we discuss and critique the movies. This was an excellent idea because it freed me up with grading and allowed the students to grade one another with peer evaluation. This was fun and inspirational from an artist point of view. Xtranormal is a great starter tool for larger animation software programs for my visual arts classroom.

BP7_2009122_Tool#2 (VoiceThread)

VoiceThreadEd. is a web-based communications network for K-12 students and educators for creating and collaborating on digital stories and documentaries, practicing and documenting language skills, exploring geography and culture, exploring art exhibits and developing peer evaluations and critiques in the K-12 art classroom. Students can find and honor one another’s points of view. Students participate in Ed.VoiceThread only after being added by an educator or administrator with an Ed.VoiceThread class or school subscription. I would use this as a tool of communication as well as assessment, by setting up a VoiceThread class account and downloading students work for a class critiques and discussions.

Students are added via the online Administration Tool, one-by-one or by importing contact files. For each student, a first and last name is collected, along with any teacher, school and district information. Student email addresses are not required for participation. By default, a student identity/avatar only shows the pupil's first name. All other information is available only to the administrator. Educators are free to override this restriction if parental permission is received.

BP6_2009121_AntiTeaching

The connections of the intertwined relationships between vast majority of learners and course management systems the answer to our education system of today depends upon the facilitator and the learner’s life experiences.

Setting up a personal learning environment might be the key answer to the CMS or PLE’s and web 2.0 tools technology establishing a groundbreaking start into our 21^st century educational systems. The Course Management Systems makes the instructors life easier to post information on the web and allows relatively easy creation of on-line course content and subsequently teaching and management of that course which include interaction with students taking the course. The learner might just loose their significant in regards to learning.

Teachers still need to implement researched based theories with real life situations to establish lifetime learners, as well as, motivation signifying their learners’ purpose in life. Student’s today are not all able to grasp the new instructional design platforms, but it is up to the teacher to guide their learners to a higher levels of thinking at any age level to build significance in learning. Teachers still need some guidelines and a well executed managed personal learning environment; where designed knowledge is established, like Eric Jensen’s brain-based theories and Gardner’s multiple intelligences, as well as, Bloom’s taxonomy to develop strong state and national standards for accountability purposes f for this new 21^st century new educational system.

As a learner content in a rote manner had no significance to me. It was only when applied my own knowledgeable life experiences and research then motivation became the answer. This developed a sense of self worth and purpose for my life long learning. The result where in my grades, most of my lower courses in college where low and when challenged with higher thinking and interesting content my grades where higher. I feel that when the students of the 21^st century learner need to be able to connect with the world around them to create and build upon communities to establish their life’s goals in education.

It is up to the teacher and the new schools to develop the right personal learning environment that will enhance our learners motivation and desire to learn through the CMS and global resources to establish life time learner for the 21^st new educational systems for the future of our students.

BP5_2009121_SocialBookmarking

I now have a social bookmarking platform at http://del.ic.ious/joanmariewestern. This made me think of marking up or highlighting a book of insightful details that was interesting to my world in art, as well as, sharing research with my friends. This was not the case when adding del.icio.ous to my iGoogle platform and sending RSS feeds and bookmarking my research topic for my action research project. The information started flowing at a rapid pace. Anxiety, overwhelmed, and chaos pop into my art mind. I soon discovered that I could tag my newly found links for others to read and share. Oh, a new way of looking at research. I could go to my iGoogle tag my bookmarks and receive my friends and colleagues combined resources. What a wonderful new technique of research. This excited me and made me want to discover more about social bookmarking.

What I found was many blogs site discussing the top 100 social bookmarkings, I tryout a few social bookmarking sites beside delicious, and found that Stumble upon is not user friendly, magnolia social book marking crashed last week and most of users bookmarks were not recovered. I also tried Diigo, which I am still working with as an art educator and complying research for my art curriculum. Works for me! Diigo, has sticky note and I can collaborate with other colleagues. I can highlight important notations, and share my research findings with other art educator. Check it out! It is easy and fun to collaborate, tag and bookmark with friends at http://www.diigo.com.

BP4_2009121_Tools#1 Sketchfu

Learn how to draw cartoons, comics, and anime at Sketchfu!

As an art teacher k-12, Sketchfu takes visual arts in and outside of the classroom. Sketchfu is a website where people communicate with each other through drawing. It is a collaborative teaching tool geared towards drawing that enhancing higher levels of thinking’s about the arts and developing vocabulary and literacy in a new platform on visual communications. Create anything that's fun, cute, or impressive. Remix each other’s work to make it more fun, cuter, or more impressive. Sharing and proper critiques on art work is encourage and allows the student to get involved with learning how to talk about art.

I was able to implement sketchfu into my elementary levels as a multimedia extension of lines and shape and color exercises. We made electronic holiday cards for our family and the results were impressive. Students not only learned the tools to draw with the computer but also learned the elements of art and principles of design at the same time developed their own artist community with their families and peers. This also enhanced critical thinking skills during our share time in class as we all reviewed one another’s drawings.

I recommend art teacher’s to try Sketchfu, for their classroom lessons. It is fun and exciting and opens up new doors for higher levels of thinking in the arts.

BP2_2009121_RSSFeeds

I choose five RSS feeds that would help me get involved with the art educators communities, as well as have updates to the latest news in my profession. The five RSS feeds I choose are 21st Century Learning, Art 21 Blogs, Art Educators 2.0 Blogs, Digital Art Education, MOCA and SCAD upcoming events.

I feel that all of these RSS feeds will enhance my profession as an art educator of visual communications K-12. The RSS Feeds bring the latest working knowledge to my attention, rather than spending the extra time to research. I can then apply my new acquired knowledge to my profession immediately. The visual arts field is constantly upgrading and by establishing these RSS feeds allows me to know thee the latest technology and new teaching methods to apply directly to my teaching. by reading up on the latest developments and discussions, blogs or issues in a community setting, like 21st Century Learning, Art 21 Blogs, Art Educators 2.0 Blogs, and Digital Art Education gives me instant feedback and a sense of belonging to the art educators world. It will help me be innovative and motivated to try new techniques through other art educators into my classrooms.

The RSS feeds like, MOCA and SCAD will help me further my professional career as an art educator. I am able to bring the latest knowledge about the arts and share new and innovative ideas with my high school students from a university or college level. The information that these RSS feeds give, helps my profession develop a strong curriculum that is appropriate for the college they want to attend. These RSS feeds save me time because they are sent to me and I do not have to go search for them, I can then concentrate on making new and creative lesson plans for all levels I teach. Its establishing a new art educators community; where I can discuss, develop and contribute my ideas to a profession I love.

BP1_2009121_iGoogleScreenShots

BP3_2009121_EduUses4Blogs

Is A Blog like a symposium? Yes, why? Merriam-Webster defines symposium as a formal meeting at which several specialists deliver short address on a topic or on related topics (Symposium, 2009). In the 21st century classroom the specialist are the students are digital natives in terms of blogging.

In education writing about writing can be dreadful and tedious tasks. Depending upon the topics discussed, even the material presented by educators needs to set the standards and enhance motivation within a classroom blog. Our digital natives are quick to respond to a symposium-like platform defined, by Merriam-Webster, “as a social gathering at which there is free interchange of ideas”(Merriam-Webster, 2009). The use of blogging in an educational setting can make or break learning for these students. If educators don’t implement the higher levels of constructive questioning, students will find the blog dreadful and tedious assignment. Motivation and creativity are key concepts to consider when developing a blog for visual arts classrooms. These restless natives still desire the need to fit into a community and be able to freely express their ideas and opinions about related topics discussed in the blogs. Their creativity and motivation will enhance learning during the building or compiling of diverse perspectives from their peers.

Researching some ways I could implement a higher learning skills using blogs for my classroom was more difficult in finding “the” list of uses, than I thought. I found a few creative and innovative suggestions on the Web 2.0 in the classroom blog. The post entitled, "33 ways to use blogs in your classroom and in the educational setting", list the following suggestions:
"Create a blog which lists creative writing prompts or striking visual images. Encourage students to post after self-selecting a prompt/picture. Let this evolve so that students begin writing the prompts for other students.Create a blog where students describe a typical day at school. Invite other same aged students from different global locations to contribute the same type of information on the same blog. Let students ask questions and leave comments to gain cultural awareness. Students can then begin to share/compare thematic units being learned, novels being read, field trips being taken, etc.Create a blog that displays information and characteristics of various art movements. Post famous art pictures and have students comment on the prominent characteristics of each. Let students find and post examples of various movements and techniques in art they find" (Black, 2008).

I can see how these suggestions can be implemented into my art classroom environment by creating a writing prompt using visual images and having my student respond to the prompts by writing critiques about famous paintings. This creates a symposium-like platform that bring together my specialists collaborating and forming new ideas. To create a blog about art and the american student will enhance global perspectives and cultural awareness through the arts. I can even guide and prompt my art student's discussions toward new various art movements, and make realizations about their art movement of the 21st century learner. Blogs can strengthen student’s ability to critical think and spark new creative ideas, as well as establish collaborative high-developed 21st century communities where the digital native strives to be a part of.


References
Black, J. (2008, October 21). Re: 33 ways to use blogs in your classroom and in the educational setting. Message posted to http://web20intheclassroom.blogspot.com/2008/10/ways-to-use-blogs-in-your-classroom-and.html

Symposium. (2009). In Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary. Retrieved December 15, 2009, from http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/symposium