Cool Links: Highlights from the National Art Education Conference School librarian Melissa Techman attended NAEA in New York and gleaned some great art-infused ideas for the classroom and media center By Melissa Techman The annual conference of the National Art Education Association (NAEA) featured hands-on fun, resource sharing, and thoughtful discussion on harnessing the power of art to enrich all disciplines. ©2012 Seth & Laura Freeman www.sethfreemanphotography.com Just like librarians, art teachers view themselves as interdisciplinary instructional leaders who support critical thinking and help students acquire knowledge that’s often neglected in a “teach-to-the-test” world. John Maeda, President of the Rhode Island School of Design talked about cultivating innovation and the critical role of art in his keynote presentation. Museum educators met to share programs to entice and involve young users. Here are some ways to borrow from art educators’ toolkits: iPads all around at NAEA.
Teaching With Glogster: Using Virtual Posters in the Classroom Grades 3 – 5 | Lesson Plan | Standard Lesson A Musical Prompt: Postcards From the Concert Students won't miss a beat in this musical lesson that combines listening with personal response on a postcard. Grades 3 – 6 | Lesson Plan | Standard Lesson Color My World: Expanding Meaning Potential through Media Using different writing/drawing materials (e.g., markers, color pencils, pastels, etc.), students learn how to communicate different moods and/or feelings to support their written ideas and how authors do the same through their work. Grades 6 – 8 | Lesson Plan | Standard Lesson Learning Clubs: Motivating Middle School Readers and Writers Students participate in learning clubs, select content area topics, and draw on texts—including websites, printed material, video, and music—to investigate their topics, and share their learning using similar media. Grades 9 – 12 | Lesson Plan | Standard Lesson Exploring Consumerism Where Ads and Art Intersect Grades 5 – 8 | Lesson Plan | Standard Lesson
Barrow Media Center Today was National Digital Learning Day. I honestly didn’t plan anything specifically for the day, but rather looked at what we were already doing today and highlighted it. Using technology as a natural part of learning to both consume information and create it is a big part of our media center vision and mission. I appreciate this day to highlight the great work going on around our country, but I didn’t feel like I needed to go over the top with planning digital learning, when it’s already a part of what we do. Here’s a glimpse of the kinds of learning that took place today in the Barrow Media Center. 11 students used e-readers to download samples of multiple books and read them to make decisions about what e-books they will commit to readingTwo enrichment clusters used iPads, desktops, and laptops to explore different ways of using these devices. How do you celebrate digital learning day every day? Like this: Like Loading...
Twiddla - free online team whiteboarding and collaborating Twiddla is a free service that lets you hold online meetings. There is no setup or signup to use it. You can mark up websites, graphics and photos or use a blank virtual whiteboard. It works on any browser or operating system. It's great for virtual meetings, conference calls, help sessions, study sessions, etc. for teachers, schools and students. There are paid versions with more features. Here are some screenshots of it in action.
Kathy Cassidy -- Blogmeister This spring, our class has been working with other classes around the world--sharing and learning together. Several collaborative projects have resulted. The book below is one of the products from that collaboration and contains pages created by various PreK - 2 classrooms from around the world as part of the Flat Classroom Project. Each of the participating classes focused on "A View From the Window" of their school in a different way. Our page (containing photos and text created by the students) is first, but it is fascinating to see what all of the other classes have created as well.
The Technology Integration Answer (Well Almost...) Earlier this year our group adopted the TPACK model of technology integration. What is TPACK you ask? Basically, it takes the approach that planning for technology integration shouldn't be an event. You can view this presentation to learn more. According to the feedback we have gotten from the folks who have embraced it has been overwhelmingly positive. Recently I came across something that you can also use to make technology integration easier for you and your staff. There are actually 2 that you can take a look at. The first is the original from The Florida Center For Instructional Technology at the University of South Florida. The other is an adaption from Northern Arizona University. (You will want to visit each of the sites where these live because both matrices are interactive.) Down the left hand side of each is the learning environment. As you progress you move up the integration level and as your learning environment changes the types of integration change as well.
Discover It! One of the biggest teacher complaints about technology roll out and integration is lack of training. I'll be honest...there is a part of me that finds this to be an excuse to not use technology. It also disheartens me to hear someone say this because I wonder how we are to inspire a passion for learning if we don't model this ourselves; particularly with things we are unfamiliar with. When I have a material and/or tool that I think my students will find beneficial in their learning, one that has multiple ways to use it, I use a Responsive Classroom® practice called Guided Discovery. How do I see Guided Discovery being utilized with teacher technology training? First, I would use a Responsive Classroom® practice called Interactive Modeling, to show the group how to turn the device on and unlock the screen. opening and closing apps (which may include switching between apps)moving between screenspressing and holding an appopening and closing app folders how to use a few apps
Our Second Graders Are Piloting Evernote At Van Meter I love the words on the Evernote site... Remember everything. Capture anything. Access anywhere. I have always thought..." As stated on the Evernote for Schools site, "Keep a lifetime of learning at your fingertips. The possibilities are endless on how Evernote can be used within our schools by students, teachers and the school community. As I started working with the Evernote for Schools pilot program, I wanted to do a project that would include using multiple devices (iPads, iTouches, laptops and desktops) and the new eBooks in our library collection. After I set up the Van Meter Evernote Group, I invited Tracy, Mindy and the rest of the staff and secondary students to join. We also worked together to brainstorm what type of project we wanted to do using Evernote. In my initial conversations with Evernote, they told me about Skitch. The students would research animals and communities within the eBooks. I then gave them this simple instruction... And they were off!
VoiceThread Docents on the iPads Our second grade teacher, Ms.S., was ready to “upgrade” a traditionally taught unit on reptiles. We met to discuss how she could incorporate the 5 C’s of 21st century skills as well as support new emerging literacies. The basic idea was to upgrade a typical report, using books from the library to research and fill out a “research” template on a piece of paper. “Upgrading” meant to find ways to go beyond the traditional text based resources and local classroom community and AMPLIFY… the skills being introduced or supported…the reach students’ voices (in a myriad of media) have…teaching as a skill of learning…the audience they are writing, talking or presenting to… With that in mind, we came up with VoiceThread, as a tool to allow for this amplification to happen. A docent is defined as 1. 2. The classroom teacher set up a visit from our local Reptile Store, who came to school with live animals. Here are the logistics of how I set up the VoiceThread to be used with the iPads. Like this: