Week 8: Polling and data collection

I struggled with this assignment, but here it is.  It is odd how it does not show up in edit mode, but it is there when you view the blog.  At first I had an open-ended question for my poll, but as I drove home from the computer lab, I decided I was not comfortable with the risk of the open-ended question.  Responses are public immediately, and who knows what shenanigans people may try.


For my google form, I decided to try to get a feel for the staff impression of artsonia.com, a website that I have used for a few years now to showcase student art. I also want to know if it is still important for me to send out my weekly art update emails to staff.

https://docs.google.com/a/moundsviewschools.org/forms/d/1M-vVft3ienMZWrAL7N-pI9fthKUhQmB7eGNbrhlnh2c/viewform

This is a link to the google form.  I think it is fine for you to respond even if you are not a turtle lake staff person.  I will send a new one to the Turtle Staff if I decide this is a good way to gather this information.  This version is a little wordy.

Week 7: Cloud Computing

This assignment makes me happy.  I have already done sharing of google docs, so this process makes sense to me.  I'm glad the assignment forced me to figure out a few new things, like making the link public.

Here is a link to a list of vocabulary for my 5th grade art students.  I shared it with our Info Lit teacher last year, because we collaborated on the first unit of 5th grade art.  It is the plan to do the same this year.  Now I have shared it with two of our homeroom teachers, they might see connections between art vocabulary and other subjects.
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1qbAzkZ3avm9Jvo18mDJ4S9hLzoD2BsI_t5lIAWWQqOE/pub

I enjoyed the video in the SummerCamp 2.0 blog that explains how google docs is better than attaching things in emails.  That would be a good video to show in a staff meeting to help people to understand how it works. I found it helpful when I have a student teacher to have our lesson plans in google docs so we can both comment and edit and not wonder which version is current.  I could see this as a better way to collaborate with other art colleagues in the district about district curriculum and lesson sharing.

One way I could use this with my students: Students could start an artist's statement document that they edit throughout the year.  They could add photos and information about ideas they want to explore in their art.  I could add comments about how they could adjust the assignments to include some of those ideas.  This would have to be an extra credit thing.  There is no way I could comment on everyone's.  They could share it with another student or another adult so they could at least get comments from someone.  I would set a number of documents that I could look at each week.  Oh my.  What have I done?  I have just added another couple hours to every week of the school year, that is what.  Technology is supposed to make our lives easier, isn't it?  I will need to let this idea percolate for awhile.

Week 6: Study Tools

I think these activities fall in the category of "would be cool if I had the time".  Here is a word cloud that I might use as a first slide in a lesson to introduce the architecture of the United Kingdom:

http://www.tagxedo.com/artful/aa56f06c0ed84065

I also explored the timeline site, which I do think I will use, but I do not think I will have time to make many myself, there are lots already made that will work well for me.  No need to reinvent the wheel.

Just now I tried to use Quizlet, but after I typed in all the flashcard information and hit submit, it said the set did not exist.  (of course it didn't, I just made it)  When I tried to back up to see what I did wrong, all the information I just typed was gone.  It said step one was to create the cards.  Step 2 is to create an account.  Seems backward.  So I gave up on Quizlet.

Spicynodes was fun.  I created a mind map to go with the architecture picture above
http://www.spicynodes.org/a/2db57158041e4e53dd8477a88c8f0ee7

The problem with Spicynodes is that I can't seem to get an embed code.  I see the button to click, it just doesn't work.  It thinks and thinks and thinks.  So I put the link above.  If I can get this site to work, I think it might be something I will use.  It seemed to be a lot like Prezi in the way it looks when it is done.  I like the outline format of how to enter the information.  It looked like it was possible to add visuals, so I think I could use it to create lesson presentations.

OK, I tried again and here is the embed code.

I am at school now.  The word cloud doesn't work here, but spicynodes does.  I will need to have a tech person do the freeze and thaw thing to install "silverlight".

Week 5: Creating a YouTube channel

This was easy and very helpful.  This will definitely help me this school year.  I use videos often for demonstration, for introducing artists from history, for supplementing the content.  Some of my videos I took myself so they are in my home folder, some are on YouTube, some are on the mvvideos site.  Subs often found it challenging to figure out how to follow my lesson plans because there were so many digital items to pull up from so many different places.  It was suggested to me that I should put all my videos on a YouTube channel and I said, "Yeah, with all the extra time I have, I'll get right on that."  Well, now I have and it was so much easier than I thought because I had that step by step how to.  Thanks SummerCamp for that.

This video I took using the school's digital camera on a tripod.  I used it last year for 3rd grade.  Videos of demonstrations are so much better than trying to gather the students around me.  This way I can watch the students as they watch to see who looks confused.  Behavior issues decrease.  Everyone can see and hear.  All classes get the same information because there is no chance of me forgetting some important point.  Classes that have subs get the same information.  If students need to, they may hit "replay" during work time as I help other students.

Week 4: Screencasting

Back at it today.  I went on a trip to England and Scotland which was fantastic.  I looked for sculptures by this artist without any luck.  Most of his work is temporary.  The photographs are the lasting pieces of art.  I plan to include some pictures of the architecture I saw in other lessons.  This video is the review and directions for the practice lesson of the first unit of 5th grade art.  I will have to re-do or edit it before I use it because I did not realize that the cursor would have that yellow circle around it which is distracting I think.  I also have a long awkward pause at one point when I forgot what I wanted to say next, and I made a mistake in the directions, and I rambled a bit, sort of like right now.

I tried screenr first, but could not get it to work.  It kept telling me I did not have java installed, even after I installed java.  Screenr also triggered many security alerts, so I decided to try screencast-o-matic instead.  It seems to be very user-friendly.  One security alert window came up, I clicked that I wanted to continue, and so far so good.

Week Three: Digital Storytelling

I found this to be rather enjoyable.  I liked Storybird better than the other one visually.  The other one seemed too gimmicky.  The special effects were distracting from the content IMO.

I decided to create a story that I can show to my 1st and 2nd grade students on the first day of art class.



The aspect of this tool that I have not yet figured out is how to upload pictures of my choice.  For this story I chose from the selections that were suggested to me, and that was fine for this lesson.  In the future, I would want to use images of famous works of art and photos of artists and places and student art.  Does anyone know about how to do that?

As far as using this for student assignments, I do not see that working in my situation.  I would need access to a lab.  Usually the labs are busy testing, although I have not tried checking one out in a long time.

I have always noticed that students seem to find it easier to pay attention to a story than to someone talking.  Go figure.  If I could turn all my directions into stories....I think there might be a lot less of "what I am supposed to do now?"