Meet the Glog: The Attraction of Interaction

The Creating and Synthesizing Minds described in psychologist, Howard Gardner’s landmark book, “Five Minds for the Future (2008) are closely linked. One takes what is known and filters what is useful and illuminating to synthesize. To create one builds on synthesis to make something new by pushing the boundaries on what is known, setting forth in new practices and unanticipated directions. At EduGlogster , you create a Glog, a visual communication poster board with interactive web parts. It takes the disciplines of synthesis and creativity and links them to digital media. You get creative with what your mind has synthesized on a topic and build an interactive playground. For the learner, it gives them the opportunity to show not only what they know but just how well they can choose the best of the best and put their own creative spin and mark on what they have learned. It is very easy to get fancy with Glogster without the intellectual depth. It should not be about grabbing things, making them look pretty, and throwing them on a virtual board. The elements of your Glog should appeal to a variety of learners and learning styles. There should be parts that command the learner to interact in challenging and fun ways. An assessment component is crucial to the creation of a Glog. The Glog participant is given multiple opportunities and formats to learn. As an instructor and creator, you need to know if your participants are learning the content with higher level thinking skills. Games of skill or cognition, a song or audio file that delivers a melody or important speech, a visual experiment or visual clip can all be elements that deliver the content to your learner. For my classroom, I created a Primary Colors Glog focused on a 1^st Grade Standard of Learning for the Visual Arts. The student will identify and use the primary colors (in art)-red, blue, and yellow. Colors in pigment vs. light are different so I specified in art. In the Discovery Learning writing prompt, they are writing about what objects and feelings their favorite primary color evokes. They have to know the primary colors and their association with objects and feelings. This particular Standard of Learning is applicable to all of my students, Prek-2^nd grade Art. I would like to start using it as whole group learning tool, whether it be a select group of students or a collection children and adults at back to school night or a shared resource for educators in my building and beyond. I would like to use it as a learning center activity for the art room, their classroom or the computer lab. There is an attraction to hands on technology that goes hand and hand with art. My students would look forward to meeting the “Glog” and making their own.

Gardner, H. (2008). Five Minds for the Future. Boston, MA: Harvard Business Press.

Let's Get Creative

According to psychologist Howard Gardner (2008),"The challenge to the educator is to keep alive the mind and the sensibility of the young child." They are uninhibited and wide open in creativity and its exploration.What does adding technology and digital media do to their creative juices? It amps them up! This week I had the opportunity to talk with some of my students about creativity with digital media and technology. We talked about what they have done, what they do with it in their free time, and what they would like to do in art class.The students I spoke with are rising 2nd graders.

I started by asking them what they like to do in computer lab with their free time. Most of them liked Primary Games and Starfall. Both combine basic skills with game strategies.Mrs. Eagle, our computer lab assistant, focuses on parts of the computer and typing skills for our youngest learners. Typing skills start after Christmas for 4 and 5 year olds as they need to learn the alphabet first. Starfall has many basic games around the alphabet and colors for them to start.The girls like a game called Fashion Dress Up and the boys like sports related games. Half our students do not have Internet access at home. Jazmine's family does make use of the public library for Internet. Another student said that he played with Xbox at home and was allowed to pick out and play mature themed games.The students who had Internet access at home went to educationally based websites and had games at home that focused skills, strategy, and entrepreneurship like Build a roller coaster from Discovery Kids.The students were all interested in story making or presentation web tools to go along with their art work.Most had used story making web tools at the beginning of the school year but had trouble recalling the details. They were also interest in trying more apps that could alter their image which we had experimented with and presented on Artsonia.

Below are two of the Project Based Learning presentations students shared today in summer school. Most of the students typed the information they shared on a separate piece of paper. I held their art work while they read what they had learned about the White House or Mount Rushmore (there were other topics as well) in their Internet research. The heading Jazmine and Me plays a small audio clip of the discussion we had.

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Jazmine and Me

Jazmine's White House

Emily's Mt. Rushmore

 Gardner, H. (2008). Five Minds for the Future. Boston, MA: Harvard Business.

Schooled in Creativity

Do schools kill creativity? I have three answers. Yes, in the past schools have killed creativity. Currently, a change is happening. In the future, schools will not kill creativity. These are bold statements but let me back them up.

If you view Sir Ken Robinson’s video (2007): Do Schools Kill Creativity?, he starts on 3 positive notes.

1) There are exceptionally creative people. I will make the assumption that some of them are educators.

2) The future is undetermined. So we have the ability to improve schools.

3) Children have a huge capacity for creativity. If we rise to the challenge, they will meet us and carry us into the future.

However, he goes on to say all children have creative talents and we squander them. In his opinion, schools should treat creativity with same importance as literacy. I would agree. Schools have followed a traditional model. Take language, science, and math, the important subjects and you will go to a university and have a good job. Now many people need a Masters to stand out from the pack and still finding a job is tough. According to Howard Gardner (2008), preschool children have a natural affinity for creativity. So why do we “squander” it? The standards education employs have nothing to do with creativity and set the bar low for those who have traditional talents. Furthermore, those who don’t have an aptitude of standardized tests or have talents not recognized by standardized tests are not going to be able to show their knowledge or creativity. Do we really want everyone to be standard? The answer is no if we are going to survive the future economy or state of the planet.

Here’s what going to happen and some of it already is. Education will become individualized. Students will be learning online and will be able to choose their instruction. In a county neighboring mine, in an affluent area, kindergarteners are expected to be doing their homework online every night. This is required. Public education will be learning from home. This will be the school’s version homeschooling for those who can afford it. Many school divisions give their students laptops however many parts of my county do not have internet access. The public library is going to have to get a lot more stations or the county is going to have to go wi-fi. Of course I am only talking about technology as it is now. These children can’t supervise themselves so maybe they will come to school and check into their own stations. This is how it is and how I have heard it is going to be. It will not be possible to live and be educated without technology.

Young people are resourceful and not afraid to ask questions in social media or online websites. They are able to go to many sources quickly to seek their answers but they are going to IM or text a friend to see if they already know where to look. I was surprised many have online mentors. How did they find these mentors and will school teachers be replaced by these online mentors? Why do they need to ask a teacher when they can find their own online expert? What does this expertise cost? Technology is the key to their social and educational lives. I have synthesized this information form a report called Project Tomorrow. Although the study was published in 2010, the information is still relevant.

Gardner (2008) mentions Google’s practice of letting employs work on a project of their choice one day a week. I think that would be an excellent idea for schools. Classrooms teachers have common planning on Fridays at our school so I propose that during that planning students are allowed to pursue a project of their own interest while another adult is supervising them in the classroom. Gardner (2008) recommends that students learn the art of critique so they will know the difference between constructive criticism and criticism they can ignore. When I looked up “critique for a young artist” an entry from Esty (2012) caught my eye. Under that heading, a 21 year old artist was asking for a critique of her online Esty shop. A savvy 12 year who had an impressive shop herself, responded to give her a sound and encouraging critique. They are both impressive business women and their creativity is taking them into the future.

Etsy.(2012) Art Critique: Art Critque for young artist. Retrieved from http://www.etsy.com/teams/9314/art-critique/discuss/10371967/.

Gardner, Howard. (2008). Five minds for the Future. Cambridge, MA: Harvard Business School Press.

Project Tomorrow. (2010). Creating Our Future: Students Speak Up About Their Vision for 21st Century Learning. Retrieved from http://www.tomorrow.org/speakup/pdfs/SU09NationalFindingsStudents&Parents.pdf

TedtalksDirector. (2007, Jan.). Sir Ken Robinson: Do Schools Kill Creativity? [Video file]. Retrieved from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iG9CE55wbtY.

Art is Being Fearless: My First Prezi

As a person who can get lost in the details, synthesizing and disciplined mind sets are skills I hope to train myself in and continue to develop right along with my students. Howard Gardner’s (2008) Five Minds for the Future make sense in their order, as singular principles, and as scaffolding structures in support of each other. For a Disciplined Mind, you become an expert in your content area and keep honing your craft. The Synthesizing Mind is active, gathering and filtering important, relevant information to utilize and illuminate content. Prezi , in its non-linear beauty presents the poetry of these two Minds.

The artist in me loved having a canvas to create in Prezi. My Prezi, Purposes for Creating Art, explores a kindergarten standard of learning that is open to interpretation. I went to some quotes from creative innovators for inspiration. We must have synthesis and discipline to create if we want to communicate and share our ideas, effectively and efficiently. My students are in the youngest grades but I do see them working in teams, not belaboring the details like me, to create their own visionary Prezis. If you know where information comes, scout the sources, and tell your own story of truth, it’s powerful. 

I have already talked to some of my colleagues about collaborating and Prezi would be an excellent tool. Classroom teachers have access to more computers to use with their students than I do. I have more flexibility in my schedule then they do. I can see this being a match made in Project Based Learning heaven. Web access, we and students have access to, is filtered for internet safety which is appropriate. Discovery Education, Promethean Planet, and Sharepoint are common areas classroom teachers and I have to share. We can utilize Prezi integrating Art to enhance core learning in the classroom. Art in isolation loses hope so I am looking forward to sharing what I know with others and learning from them. My students are going to love this. 

Gardner, H. (2008). Five Minds for the Future. Boston,MA: Harvard Business School Press.

Synthesize This.

I admit that synthesizing is not a task that comes easily for me. I am an information hoarder. I usually find so much great information that I can’t use it all. To synthesize is to gather content from appropriate sources and perspectives integrating it into a coherent whole. Synthesizing should be taught at a young age, a skill that would keep developing to become a lifelong discipline. My task this week was to review a digital resource and how it can be used for synthesized understanding of my students.

The first website I tried was Voki.com. On the site, you can create avatars to deliver your content or to use the avatars on your own website. I thought for an art teacher this would be outstanding. I did make an avatar and completed a script for my back to school welcome. It was underwhelming. Unless you sign up for a classroom account, your free choices are limited in avatars and clothing. It was hard to find an appropriate avatar and attire. The avatar choices were odd and the clothing choices seemed risqué for young children viewing. Another user commented about this and they remarked that they had to use what animation was available. It made me think that they did not create their own content. They plug it as a classroom site so appropriateness should be a priority. The voice and the avatar did not feel like they matched up well in my opinion. This sight lacked choices and integration qualities that I was looking for. Perhaps I just did not locate them but I did a lot of work for little result.

http://www.voki.com/pickup.php?scid=8356222&height=267&width=200

This week, I used the site, VoiceThread.com to create an interactive slideshow presentation on Empathy and Leadership. I like that you record your script as comments and others can add comments as well. I was only required use one picture with the presentation but I used more. I limited my presentation to under 3 minutes in length so it would hold the viewers’ interest but still include valuable content. You can add, link, or embed images, audio, video clips and edit content. You can upload your headshot so people will know who you are when they click on your comment. Once you share, others can make comments, and you can click on their head shots to listen. I like what was available for free from this site. You are limited on what is free but I would check into upgrading because I liked it and the students could use it. Storytelling is a way for students to create their narrative about what we have learned. It involves application for multiple learning styles.

There were many other resources I tried this week and need to investigate further. I will have access to my classroom in a couple weeks so I am anxious to try them out. Meanwhile, I need to synthesize my resources.

Empathy and Leadershipoicethread

Edudemic - http://edudemic.com/2010/07/the-35-best-web-2-0-classroom-tools-chosen-by-you/

Gardner, H. (2007). Five Minds for the Future. Boston: Harvard Business School Press.

Art as a Way of Discovery (Education)

Most of the time when I mention famous artists, my students' eyes glaze over. They have no point of reference. The conversation goes something like this:

Eager student with hand in the air: "Is he dead?"

Brilliant art teacher: "Well, yes but..."

Less eager student, hand all over the place: "So he lived back in the old days like my Grandma?"

In the past, I would have had pictures up on the white board by the artist, of the artist, my art sample/s, and previous student sample/s. Now I still have those things,art supplies, a projected image, and demonstrations at the ready but I also have a digital media clip to enhance the lesson. So now...

The brilliant art teacher says: "Take a look at the video clip, ladies and gentlemen. We will step back in time into the life of Vincent Van Gogh with the art explorers, Mati and Dada."

Art with Mati and Dada: Van Gogh

This 7 minute presentation is an interesting introduction to the artist, Vincent Van Gogh, focusing on his style of painting which is what I want my young artists to know. We usually complete a project in a 40 minute class so it is important for an introduction to be brief.  When you cut down to the essentials of the video, I would only need to show 4-5 minutes of the video. My age group is 4 to 8 year olds so it is important to have frequent yet smooth transitions. This presentation would engage my visual, audio, and kinesthetic learners. My kinesthetic learners are great at helping me set up and transition.

I'll admit as an art teacher I did not have much luck with Discovery Education and United Streaming. I used it in our subject areas but not directly as an art source because all the art resources were old. Now I find all sorts of things to explore especially in the web tools section. 

Hooray! Digital media is art friendly and vice versa.

Citation (APA)

Porchlight Entertainment,  (2009). Art with Mati and Dada: Van Gogh. [Full Video]. Available from http://www.discoveryeducation.com/

Life as They Know It

This link has videos with kids telling you what it is like to be an artist with no arts education in school(Primo), a special needs child explains her time in school (Tessa), and three other students tell their stories about literacy,science, and standardized testing. 

http://www.takepart.com/i-am-education

Video Credits are given at the site and the videos are also posted on you tube. Credit belongs to the authors and the students.

TakePart, http://www.takepart.com/i-am-education. Retrieved July 1, 2013.