Wow! What a fast slow ride it has been! I can’t really beleive the end (or the begining ?) is here. It’s so much a metaphor that it reminds me of how I feel about this class. It has been really difficult much of the time, mostly completing projects at such a fast pace with very little expirence. It faintly reminded me of when I returned to college after 20 years and wasn’t very fluent with computers or processing programs. It was like tourture trying to figure the stuff out under a strict deadline and then getting caught up on little things or a button that I would hit inadvertantly! I wish someone told me there was a back button! I did get through it and I am better for it now! This class is alot of the same I think that everyrhing is important and I do not take anything for granted becasue I may need it for the future. On the other hand it is hard to justify all the hard work because of the different constraints that go along with this knowledge. Not being able to use, not having time to master the programs and not all of them being relevant to what I am trying to accomplish. But all in all I really did learn a lot of new things and I do hope to be able to put them to use in the future (if they don’t change on me!) And I do see myself as being a teacher who is a life learner and someone who likes to keep up with the times so I will try to use my new knowledge and pass it along to my students!

Wow! It is so close to the end of the semester and I am assessing the value of the things that we have learned about and should be using. I feel that all everything has been very interesting and could be useful if only the schools would take a chance with unblocking the resources. Personally i do feel they are valuable and having said that I go home many times and show my own children things that were tauhgt. Of course sometimes they are way ahead of me but others they are not. The only problem is that because most schools have these things blocked there is not a place for them to use them as constructive tools rather than only personal entertainment. This can be overcome by presuring by teachers, parents, students and especially bussinesses and community. Otherwise the great divide between students and teachers will become deeper.

Today my post will talk about my students who have basically shut down and are not completing much work. The spring fever bug has already caught on and they cannot focus and do thier best to finish the year off on a strong note. I guess this is pretty much normal and should be expected but none the less is still frustrating for teachers. I am hoping that the spring break will help refresh them and they will return with some much needed energy to get them through till graduation. In the meanwhile I will also get some much needed rest and recharge to keep me going!!

It feels like it has been forever since I last blogged. I guess it has been awhile since the last time was right after my paper was completed. Well we are talking about powerpoints and all of the pros and cons that go along with them. I do believe that even at a basic level they can give good learning opprotunities but have even thought about how brainless they can become once you know exactly what your doing. I realized this while my own son was making a PP a few years ago becasue he was blowing through the project so fast. Cut copy paste. Thats all you have to do? I would ask him. Well I feel that is all changing and students need to show some substance behind all the great pictures. I will be sure to add specific guidlines that can help curb this problem.

Using Technoolgy in Visual Arts Cirriculum

The subjects of art and technology have generally not been thought of  as being integrated into the same units but in recent years the technological advances have made these two subjects inseperable. Many of todays programs have made it possible to be as or more creative in the process of making art by offering great freedom in the tools that are available. Some beleive that by using computers or technology an artist is not “hnd making their art work. To this mindframe I must disagree and argue that it is in the nature and in the history of  artist to be on the cutting edge of tools avialble to them. I wrote my paper to show how technology can be intergrated into the cirriculum and that is because I feel it is very important that students have the opprotunites that they deserve to use tools that are of their era and interest. I have had great fun in producing art that is generated by using computer programs and believe that is it just as creative, thought provoking and can convey messages as well as any type of art.

Wiki project is awesome! I really love being able to work collaboratively with others especially since I am the only art teacher where I work and I at many times feel isolated. This brings a whole new perspective to lesson planning because I can get together with others in the same situation without actually getting together! Although, it’s really hard to give up that perosnal contact too. I feel it has alot to do with whatever you are used to and change is always hard at first. You know those brain paths are hard to change! Well, I think that this week has been kinda of a turning point because I am feeling open about trying new things on the computer and internet (such as blogging) and not feeling the anxiety along with it. That’s a good thing!

What a long week at school! Spring is in the air but that does not necesarily mean that is a good thing. A few weeks ago we found out that we only have 4!!!! confirmed graduates and students are not very serious about ending their high school careers on a positive note. Many will have to take summer courses to make up credits that they failed in their seinor year! For example MANY will have to take gym over along with their math and English coursed. I am very disapointed and generally disgusted with the system. In many ways I don’t blame these kids for acting the way they do. They are bored out of their minds and we are not teaching them what they really need to know instead of tedious facts that they will never have to recall or use again. On the other hand why can’t they just jump through the hoops to get to the other side that is definately where they want to be? We need to teach our students of today how to learn, how to get the information they are looking for and how to do this quickly and with depth.

Opps, I forgot to blog last week! Well here it is. I was pretty interested about Twitter because I had never heard of it before but it seemed that all week long that’s ALL I heard about on these morning shows as I am getting ready for work! Like, it sounds kinda of interesting but not so much that I went out to try it. Sorry. But, it is obviously getting huge and people seem to like it. It is a great example of all of this technology going mainstream other than for what we have “traditionally” used the internet for( research). Well I do beleive that many of these applications are the wave of the fututre yet it still is difficult to completely let go of the past. I am afraid if we all just switch to internet info or as Will Richardson put it “flexible nomadic learners” we could possibly lose important information in a catastrophic event or as easily as through the “grapevine”. I know I am being really dramatic here but I could equate  something happening to our information comparable to the great loss of the ancient  Alexandria Libray! Strange but it does cross my mind!

  I beleive that much of what has been taught to students int he past is very different than what needs to be taught now. It is more important to teach people how to get and use the imformation that they are looking for rather than teaching them about the actual information. In theory this is easily done but after so many years and generations of being taught in this way it is very difficult to turn the corner and teach the concepts rather than the content. An actual lesson to teach students the importance of  finding useful relevant and factual information is so much more valuable to studnets in this day and age that enough of it is not happening. I think it is becuase the value of this type of knowledge is not easily measurable or documented and therefore teachers or organizations (like Regents) may not be able to asess its value like it has in the past. The excersise that was completed in class is a great example of how to show students the importance of acquiring accurate information and being able to verify that info to themselves and others. I think a good lesson would be to have students do an opposite excercise and have them find bogus info on a topic that they feel they are fluent in. For example, someone who knows about the Holocost may document bad and false information that is floating out there instead of factual information. This may make the idea of finding abd info out quite obvious and given from a different point of view. All having been said we have come a long way with internet but we are only inthe beggining of our journry and we need to be able to get a handle on the information that we as people and students process and this should be taught at an early age so that is becomes second nature to new learners and future generations.

This week I am thinking about our state of economy and how this is going to affect our public school systems. I, as I am sure many others, know that something really needs to change and this needs to happen fast in order to start changing things for the better. I am not really sure how this can take place becuase of the complexities that are involved. Before I returned to school to persue a teaching degree I thought that much of what is going on is black and white. Things that could get fixed easily. Well it has not taken me long to discover that things are not so simple. Many of the issuses that are facing not only urban schools but suburban schools will take major overhaul to solve. I am not sure of exactly what needs to change but I am sure that everybody need to get on the same page and come to some sort of agreements as far as what is acceptable to them as administrators, partents, teachers, students and community members. This concept will be very difficult and may only be accomplished from region to region, for example. I thinks that many of the problems that have risen come from just that. That people that are supposed to be on the “same team” don’t agree and/or don’t know and follow policies that are put in place let alone issuse that sould be outlined for people to follow. I also beleive that all people will not like policies in place but they must follow the protocol unless somehow cleared to do otherwise. In short our problems are very complex and difficult to solve but not matter what is done to shift for change.