All I can say is Wow! My eyes
have been opened to the myriad of ways I can sustain instructional media in my
art classroom. I have met and learned from some amazing people, each one with a
creative and original perspective that inspires me.
I had no idea what I was
getting into when I chose the topic of this presentation and the tool I would
use to present. Technology in the Art Room for Young Children has become a passion of mine. In addition to my awesome
classmates at Wilkes, I met two amazing art educators doing what they do in
their own fabulous way. I now have a love/hate relationship with Powtoon. Free options struggles and time
constraints issues could not hold me. I challenged myself and had fun. I bowed
and I conquered. If timing is everything I am doomed. If everything happens at
the right time, someone is smiling upon me. I am grateful for the feedback,
insight, time, and patience everyone has given me.
Here's the a link to my Powtoon. The Catch-22 was I couldn't download my slide show if I wanted to keep my videos within my presentation and I couldn't save my videos in a Powtoon movie so I could download it. Of course it is a work in process and I need all the advice and help I can get.
Feedback would be greatly appreciated. I do have to click to advance as it is a slide show but when I watch it, I am able to view everything in order including the videos. I am pleased with the flow and placement. I hope it is the same for the viewers. Wow! There is a learning curve for animation no matter how easy they say it is. It was so much fun. I hope I got the hang of it and it is not a glorious oops.
I was having difficulty accessing my curation tool today (They are doing work on the site. I am always lucky this happens when I visit.) I still need to edit. I have lots of sources that are not included in my Powtoon presentation but on topic. The first page of my curated topic is pro hands on art and the 2nd page is pro technology in art class.
I included only a portion for my Powtoon as it was 9 minutes long. I love that it is technology but it has the look of kid's drawings. Brillant, Mr. Gallo.
Please and thank you for comments about the presentation. I hope to review everyone's who has posted theirs asap to give feedback. I am excited to view them.
First
off, I will admit after researching I know little more about gamification in
education and the intrinsic and extrinsic motivators (had to look them up) than
when I started. I got overwhelmed quickly when my kindergarten coding squaredidn’t work. I am pretty sure my urge to cry and throw up was
because I am already sick but I can’t be sure. I did come back and figure out
what I was doing wrong 2 days later.
I should have gotten my four year old to
help me the first time. I am a video game failure. I am the person people give
the controls to when they want a game to be over. To pick two games to use in
my Prek-2nd grade art class, I go old school and low tech- 7 up(we don’t have 7 up either, it’s 4 or 5 up)
and Telephone (You see boys and girls when I
was a kid they had these devices called telephones and there was etiquette and
whispering…). I am sure that is not what this blog is supposed to be about.
But I take heart:
Game Face: Motivation
Games use “intrinsic motivators like challenge, control, fantasy
and curiosity, plus extrinsic motivators like cooperation, competition,
recognition so teachers can nudge students toward being inspired to learn.” (Mark Relf,
speaking at CompTIA'sAcademy Educator Conference in Phoenix quoted by M. Peterson, 2014.)
People over all over the world are spending 3 billion hours a week playing
video and computer games. If the game requests I get on Facebook are any
indication this number should be higher. Even I came back and completed my
code. “Gamification
is the use of gaming principles in the
field of education in order to get students involved, engaged, and
excited about learning.” (Pappas, 2013). We do employ online educational games,
best guess rewards, trivia and riddles, and
the occasional traditional game in the art room and throughout the school. We
offer Nintendo Wii reward parties for high level AR goals. Being a primary
school art room, we have play and creativity incorporated into our lessons.
Last November, we made turkeys and bull’s eye targets. We had target practice
with a mini Nerf football. Girls and boys were evenly matched in skill. This
year we dressed our “Jive” turkeys up and did “The Hustle” under a disco ball.
I am not competitive or anything but most of them couldn’t keep up with me.
Neither of these activities is quite a game but they sure are fun. We are
moving constantly. There is little time a student has to be in one place. Our
video gaming capability is low in the art room because of connectivity issues
in the room and the lack of access to devices. I do my best to incorporate
technology in the art room even in the trying circumstances. One of our best
guess games is to guess how long a technology glitch will take to fix. Honestly,
we have 45 or 30 minutes a week to get creative in art so I don’t feel the need
to apologize if we don’t have game time every week. The thought of gamification
with my art students ages 3-8 years old makes me ponder a few thoughts: Why not
just get our hands on art instead? or Why don’t we just go outside and play? I
don’t imagine taking away creativity and play for the sake of being glued to a
screen. It has to mean more than that. With games, there is mindful and
mindless.
Artists
and Gamers Have Similar Motivation
Creating
something from scratch, making artistic choices, improving artistic skill
through practice and moving to a higher level of creativity in art are similarintrinsic
motivators to gaming. Extrinsically, cooperation and recognition are important
components for young artists. Are artists’ competitive? Yes, some want to be
the best. It is irksome to some that it is not measured. I do give out art
rewards once per semester. I used to have Art Student of the Week and Art Class
of the Week. It was hard to keep up with the rewards I funded myself. More
often than not, the honors were not announced weekly. We have art portfolios on
Artsonia bringing recognition to our artists. It makes me keep up with our
competitive stats. Without grades, we remove the fear of failure in our art
class. By removing their fear of failure, we encourage students to be creative
and learn much like gaming.
Game
Time, Double Team
I
am especially fond of activities that combine Art, Science, Math, Language
Arts, Citizenship and a healthy dose of competition. I see ideas and see the
art class in them. I see an idea and see the game in it.
Here’s an activity that can be a game.
How
many magnetic objects can you find in the tray? An individual can compete with
classmates or work in teams to find the most magnetic objects. Math is used
counting the objects. Color and shapes are used in the activity. We take turns
like good citizens do. We study the science of magnets and put them to work. It
looks like fun so I want to line up and try it. I like the idea, in art and
games, students aren’t afraid to fail and learn outside their comfort zone. I
have told you I am a video game failure but I’m really not. I love to play
games for the fun and skills of it. I take a chance not fearing failure. I am
able to come back and try a better way the next time. Now that’s good
gamesmanship.
Bonus
Points:
Are
video games art? My answer is yes. There is artistry in the skill of creating
games and images. If they weren’t art, no one would play them. The eye would
move elsewhere.
