Interactive White Board is a great technology tool that can be utilized in the classroom at any age.  The tool does not require any typing for those students who cannot read or write yet, but it could include it for those who have more technology skills. Using simply visuals can generate infinite possibilities of class activities with the IWB.  It also keeps students active and moving around rather than sitting in a chair for a long period of time and having their eyes glued to a computer screen.

I think incorporating the use of IWB in my art classroom could have great potential as to what possibilities there are of including art lessons.  The variety of options in the toolbar encourage use of many elements of art such as colors or shapes or lines.  Teaching lesson plans consisting of the basic elements of art would be undoubtedly super easy with this technology tool, and some lessons on the IWB could provide a motivational change from the usual art classroom activity such as looking at famous artwork in textbooks.

Scavenger Hunt Slideshow

Lines Scavenger Hunt

Scavenger Hunt of LINES!

Well, this week was a fun outdoor activity! The activity consisted of a scavenger hunt (regarding my specific subject area of art) where several teammates and I had to search for various types of line, such as wavy line or curved line.  We searched right outside the building, and could find everything without a problem! Lines are everywhere. Also, what was even better, was the fact that we could use our iPhones to capture photographs! No camera was required nor was a cord required! iPhone is great technology in the way that one can easily upload photographs or videos to a computer through the Dropbox App.  Now, in order to apply this use of Dropbox to the classroom through the App, I would use iPads instead of iPhone becauase iPads would allow for more classroom management and control over what activities are used in the iPad (for example, you can discourage calls or iMessage better with the iPad).  They would be more appropiate for the classroom. After uploading photos to the computer, anything is possible with them! The students can create powerpoints, glogs, edit photos through Pixlr, or even upload to Blogs or Websites! All the possibilities with photographs can highly encourage and motivate students to learn in new ways other than traditional lecture. In addition to use of the Dropbox and photo editing tools, the scavenger hunt itself is a great way to get the class active and engaging in learning outside the classroom.

Digital Images

Digital Images have multiple uses nowadays.  Ever since technology advanced in the 1990's and 2000's, the access to technology such as digital cameras or anything that captures images has skyrocketed.  In addition, there are even free tools on the web that allow anyone to edit digital images.  Furthermore, the easygoing accessibility and editing methods of digital images has encouraged the use of them in the classroom among educators and students.

I think digital images allow people to see the world from a different perspective than they would if they were there in that moment.  Digital images can motivate students to become interested in photography, which is an art subject I would like to incorporate into my art classroom curriculum.  Aside from digital photographs as art forms, they are also ways of capturing special moments in the classroom and demonstrating them online for parents or other people to show current events of my instruction and student activity/projects. 

Web 2.0 Tools in the Classroom

This week was an introduction to the use of Web 2.0 Tools in the classroom.  Web 2.0 tools are of valuable educational use, as well as free for all.  They allow for students and teachers, even parents, to use the web beneficially for a tremendously better classroom environment when used appropiately. To name some of the tools, they can include Wordle, Pixlr, Google Docs, or Animoto.  Some tools promote editing of images while other tools encourage creation of virtual storybooks on the web. 

Once the class divided up into groups, my group was assigned to get acquainted with Pixlr and learn how to work with digital images using this tool. I think Pixlr is very interesting in the ways you can edit a photo without having to have Adobe Photoshop or other programs that you have to download onto the computer.  I think Pixlr is an extremely flexible web tool in terms of how much you want to edit a digital image. Instagram, which is a photo editor app on iPhone and Android, is what Pixlr reminds me of in the way that both allow you to add filters to images in one step and not having to add a bunch of layers like one would in Adobe Photoshop. As an art teacher, I think Pixlr undoubtedly could be a part of my classroom activity that students engage in and learn how to create art in digital form.