Jane Eccles @ Station Gallery
After graduating from high school almost twenty years ago, it was such an opportunity to be able to see the most recent works created by the person that had inspired me to become an art teacher, Jane Eccles. With fellow BHS graduate, Rob Clement, we were packed into a small, beautiful gallery space at the Whitby Station Gallery for a brief artist talked. After a long and successful teaching career, Jane has been continuing her own personal works creating a show consisting of paintings of women’s dresses. The gallery was filled with friends, old collegues and generations of past students who were inspired by her. I was very pleased to see the large turn out for her show. Although it had been almost twenty years since I had seen her, she welcomed me with a big hug. Very admirable, considering there are students from last semester whose names I had already forgotten.
Of course, Eccles is never afraid to get right to the point by stressing the importance of her art show being covered on the front page of the Toronto Star.
New Online Resources
We all love and adore wordle, however, I’ve found an even more exciting online word cloud creator. Tagxedo is worth a look around.
Digital story telling iphone app storyrobe allows you to use photos from your iphone and add voice to create a video.
Oshawa Media Hub DDSB Presentation
Today I participated in an ongoing DDSB technology training initiative. To my surprise, the class wasn’t full! The DDSB tech talk website does offer many presentations online that are fantastic for anyone that doesn’t have the opportunity to attend these sessions.
The class began discussing the value of social media and how it has changed the way that we communicate. Awesome slideshow, from Adam Paul Green’s Blog.
Smart Ideas is concept mappying software that is suited for the student that needs to visually organize information. Of course, this is most of the student population since we tend to learn visually nowadays. Smart Ideas software is available on the DDSB network, however, the issue is that studetns will not have access to the softwar from home. Some great free online brainstorming sites are bubbl.us , wallwisher.com or gliffy.com .
Smart Ideas does offer many online resources and templates. Also the Ontario Software Acquisition Program Advisory Committee has it’s own online resources for smart ideas and other software, including curriculum connections as well as teacher take home rights.
Premier Tools 12.5 is a too bar that assists reading, writing and studging. In the help section it has fabulous ’how to’ videos. Talking word processor and PDF Equilizer. What could be really valuable with this tool is that the PDF Equilizer will read ebooks outloud for students, as long as it is in PDF format. Now that MCVI has it’s start of ebooks online through the library database, there are also many free ebooks online that are classics, many of which that are still used in school. It’ll be interesting to try out a Shakespeare ebook and see how it sounds! This would be great for ESL students, french students or any students with any exceptionalities. BUT, I think one of the coolest features by far in PDF Equilizer is that we can convert highlighted text to a MP3 file. I still have to play around with this, but what a great way to make your own audio books!
More resources: Plant PDF Ebooks
DDSB Moodle for the Media Hubs to continue the conversation. aaAA11!!
SmartNotebook
Arts Interface
Inspirational conference today at the Ontario College of Art and Design through the Ontario Society of Education through Art. Just the opportunity to be at OCAD as a participant, not just a tourist, is such a wonderful, inspirational opportunity. The purpose of the conference was to be introduced into ways to present the new visual arts curriculum. What I like about the new arts curriculum is the long awaited (and overdue) changes to what is considered ‘art’ and new ways we can introduce the visual world into the classroom. Finally, the arts curriculum is no longer as rigid and new courses are now available that will really allow students to incorporate their culture into a visual language.
Jane Dewar’s workshop on “Urban Art for Social Change” was by far the most inspirational part of the day for me…if not for any conference that I have attended. This is structured as a Grade 10 open course (AWA2O) and is just the answer for at risk kids (and really, any kid who isn’t engaged in the current arts curriculum. Who could blame any student for not really connecting to the art of old-dead-white-guys year after year, with over done exercises in shape and value and form…blah blah blah.
This 
course encompasses more than just an art credit but will give students a reason to come to school, feel connected to the school, take risks with their artwork and see how the can relate what happens in the classroom to their own lives. We try to connect with kids, but this course totally works on their level. In this class students make art robots, take part in guerrilla art and ‘yarn bombing”, create tags and graffiti, t-shirts and the ultimate final art project- making their own skateboard! To make this easy (and a successful project) skateboard kits can be purchased from roarockit.com ) I’ve tried to do all of the things that this course accomplishes within the current basic art curriculum but this does more…allowing a freedom for both the teacher and the student to really explore themselves and become active learners.
Of course working in a building like OCAD is a real treat. I spent the day drooling over the iMac filled halls and computer labs, but also the smell of oil paint brought back so many great memories of art school. We were fortunate enough to go on a quick gallery tour after lunch were we were able to meet a few artists who spoke about their work. The day was gorgeous and the train ride home gave me the opportunity to catch up on my tweets.
The Importance of Professional Learning Networks
I work at a wonderful school with supportive administration and fellow staff members. However, I find that I still need to look outside of my school for information that will help me in my classrooms and with my curriculum. Developing a professional learning network is a fabulous way to stay on top of current issues and trends related to your interest. For me, I am looking at implementing digital technology and its role in the visual arts curriculum. Having your own customized PLN is a fabulous way to look into other classrooms from around the globe and discuss challenges and successes with other teachers.
I had started out using Google Reader, Diigo and Delicious to follow blogs from other educators but then found it difficult to stay on top of reading all of the articles. Also, with so much great stuff out there, I couldn’t cut my lists down so that they were manageable. Twitter has been the best solution for me so far. Every morning with my cup of coffee I do a quick scan on Tweetdeck to see if there is anything that I can use for my own research. Sometimes I come across information that I think will be useful for other teachers and twitter makes it easy and simple to pass information along.
Who To Follow?
The people I follow are usually from conferences that I attend and blogs that I have been following, but has become more specific as I begin focusing upon art education. The benefits of using twitter is that I can follow author’s whose books I have read. Now I can stay on top of their blogs and new books as they are written. I can also follow the creators of Hootcourse, Moodle, and Twibes and talk to them directly, keep informed of any changes and improvements, and speak to them directly if I have any questions.
Hashtags
Hashtags are invaluable for finding information about a particular topic. #ecoo2010, for example, lets me follow all of the planning and registration information for the upcoming Educational Computing Organization of Ontario’s upcoming conference. But also, it lets me see what’s happening in other conferences around the world that I would not otherwise be able to attend- I can acess their presentations, wikis, LESSON PLAN HANDOUTS and even watch live streamed video of some of their presentations. #moodle allows me to see how other people are using Moodle. #edubook allows me to particpate in an online book club’s discussions about education and technology. And of course, when Corey Haim died, #coreyhaim, kept me on top of the details even faster than the internet did.
From Twitter “Stalker” to “Talker”
The challenge is actually joining the conversation on Twitter. I joke and say that I am a Twitter “stalker” because I have been following a number of people I highly respect for over a year now. I have learned a lot from their posts, and have also learned a lot about their private lives too- their camping trips, kid’s birthdays, when they like to have coffee, etc. So when I do see them in person again at a conference, I know lots about them, however, they don’t know me at all. It first starts with realizing that I do have important things to say. I feel most comfortable at the moment through my blog until I become better and writing in a 140 characters (less if you want to be retweeted!). The benefits of “talking” on twitter is that, believe it or not, there are people out there that ARE interested in what you have to say and it feels great to be apart of the discussion!
@theresawyatt
How Digital Technology Changes the Way We Look, Think and Talk About Art: An Argument for Change in the Secondary Visual Arts Curriculum
Abstract
The “elements and principles of design” serve as the “building blocks” for the existing secondary visual arts curriculum and direct the creation, application and analysis of art in classrooms. This formalist approach to art has become obsolete in contemporary society and as a result, limits a student’s opportunity to become critically engaged with art works. Digital technology offers new ways of organizing the high school visual arts curriculum to promote a deeper, more engaged examination of visual art that extends beyond the walls of the classroom. Here I explore a series of articles that propose promising new curricular models that demonstrate the potential of technology to transform the secondary visual arts curriculum.
The Limits of the Elements and Principles in the Secondary Visual Arts Curriculum
The elements and principles of design constitute a set of terms established almost a century ago during the modernist art movement as a way to systematically talk about the art at that time. (Walkup, 2001, as cited in Gude, 2004) This approach reduces all works of art into its basic ingredients. Elements of design include basic components of art, such as line, colour, shape, texture, form, space, and value. The principles of design are ways to organize the visual elements, and include balance, repetition, emphasis, proportion, variety, unity and pattern. (“Ontario Arts Curriculum Grades 9 and 10”, 1999, pp. 50-53) The terms for each of the seven elements and seven principles may vary slightly depending upon the teacher, however, the overall function remains the same- a simple, focused, and established path to understand art. (Gude, 2004)
The “7 + 7 concepts” (Gude, 2004) work efficiently in an educational setting when you can imagine they can be applied to all artworks, regardless of their medium, context or movement, however, Sweeny (2004) argues that this approach simplifies student understanding of art. Meaning in artworks fails to extend beyond its basic formal properties and are “inappropriate for meaningful connections to artwork and students.”(Gude, 2004, p. 3) Artworks can potentially be misinterpreted, and also partially and selectively understood. These “oversights” can have political, social and cultural implications. (Brown, 1989, as cited by Freedman, 1997) Viewing artwork through a narrow focus is also problematic because it reinforces that authoritative nature of art criticism, which is tightly bound by Western art history traditions, and is translated through a single source- the teacher.(Sweeny, 2004) With this limited view of art in our classrooms, we are controlling our students’ understandings of art rather than allowing them to mould their own meaning. The characteristics inherent to digital technology and the world-wide-web have “called into question the meaning of art and how we finding meaning”. (Ettinger, 1988, p. 55) Therefore, we must debate the legitimacy of our existing curriculum within the contexts of technology.
Art in the Digital Landscape: Potential Perspectives
Artists either learn or are taught to embrace obstacles and challenges and to
welcome mistakes as possibilities for expression or inventiveness.
We believe that studying and learning about art and artmaking
should echo this ill-structured, complex, and ambiguous process.
(Carpenter & Taylor, 2003)
Technology offers not only an alternative perspective to our current education framework, but also a contradictory one to the elements and principles of design. The benefits of using technology as a means to understand art can be seen through the flexibility that hypertext offers. The open structure of art criticism through hypertext is a more relevant method of looking at art because it can be applied to a wider range of art mediums, including everyday objects and images from our visual culture. (Russet & Piene, 2008) This framework permits open debate of the definitions of art, and the process of criticism itself. (Ettinger, 1988) A hypertext framework perspective is all encompassing, nonlinear, and void of any reliable outcomes. (Bellisario & Donovan, 2007) Student blogs, for example, offer limitless pathways to understanding through hyperlinked text, images and sounds as students navigate through an artwork. (McCoy, 2009) A blog’s ability to record and map a student’s cognitive processes (Carpenter & Tayjor, 2003) also exhibits their artistic growth over a period of time. (Overby, 2009) The focus upon the decision making process allows the process itself to “studied, analyzed and re-directed” (Ettinger, 1988, p. 57) and encourages “trial and error” as an essential element in the critical thinking process.(Freedman, 1997)
The networking and collaboration aspects of blogs introduce variables into the discussion of artwork, where students contribute additional perspectives to eachother’s understanding. The way students look, talk and think about art becomes an ever changing, ambiguous, process and offers an abundance of interpretations from an infinite number of sources (Freedman, 1997). Since the classroom teacher and textbook are no longer the authority on meaning, art criticism also becomes decentralized. (Sweeny, 2004).
New Curricular Models
Before introducing technology pedagogy (Delecruz, 2008) into the classroom, teachers must be sure to use it in alternative ways to the formalist approach for students to truly engage in the critiquing of artworks. Gude(2004) suggests organizing the visual arts curriculum around postmodern principles. Unlike the elements and principles of art and design, postmodern principles, such as “juxtaposition”, “layering” and “representin’”, are not meant as inflexible fundamentals, but concepts more directed towards understanding art made in our digital culture.(Gude, 2004) Facilitating student learning verses directing the classroom discussions is key to establishing a Culturally Responsive Teaching pedagogy in when integrating technology. (McCoy, 2009) Bellisario & Donovon (2007 ) refer to a Creativity Theory which describes ways technology allows students to “talk about their own art and to talk to each other”. (p. 4) Hypermediated art criticism (Taylor & Carpenter, 2007) is a framework of art criticism which explores the “symbiotic relationship between art criticism and technology” (p.2). All of these suggested pedagogies are helpful starting points in moving towards a curriculum that supports deeper, engaged student learning.
Conclusion
The foundation of our present-day visual arts curriculum in high schools is no longer able to support the immense changes technology has brought to our society. With the learning tools that technology offers, it is time to now assemble alternative approaches to the way we look, think and talk about art in our classrooms. Through hypertext, social networking and online collaboration, secondary schools have the potential to offer a decentralized, limitless, visual arts curriculum that is inclusive of a wider range of art mediums, interpretations and learning styles. The challenges of creating a new approach to art making and meaning is great, however, in its current form, students are vulnerable to a narrow minded, powerless and deficient understanding of visual art.
References
Bellisario, K. & Donovan, L. (2007). Virtual Classrooms: The Intertwining of Cognition, Creativity, and Technology. In C. Montgomerie & J. Seale (Eds.), Proceedings of World Conference on Educational Multimedia, Hypermedia and Telecommunications 2007 (pp. 1610-1617). Retrieved from ERIC database.
Carpenter, B.S. & Taylor, P. G. (2003). Racing Thoughts: Altering our Ways of Knowing and Being in Art Through Computer Hypertext. Studies in Art Education, Vol. 45, No. 1 , 40-55. Retrieved from JSTOR database.
Delacruz, E. M. (2009). Art Education Aims in the Age of New Media: Moving Toward Global Civil Society. Art Edcuation , 13-18. Retrieved from ERIC database.
Ettinger, L. F. (1988). Art Education and Computer: Building a Perspective. Studies in Art Education, Vol. 30, No. 1 , 53-62. Retrieved from JSTOR database.
Freedman, K. (1997). Visual Art/Virtual Art: Teaching technology for meaning. Art Education , 6-12. Retrieved from JSTOR database.
Garoian, C.R. & Gaudelius, Y. M. (2001). Cyborg Pedagogy: Performing Resistance In The Digital Age. Studies in Art Education , 333-347. Retrieved from JSTOR database.
Gude, O. (2004). Postmodern principles: In search of a 21st century art education. Art Education, 57(1), 6-14. Retrieved from JSTOR database.
McCoy, A. (2009). Web 2.0 Tool Promotes Learning in Creative Expression Arts Methods Class. In I. Gibson et al. (Eds.), Proceedings of Society for Information Technology & Teacher Education International Conference 2009 (pp. 701-706). Retrieved from ERIC database.
Ministry of Education and Training. (1999) The Ontario Curriculum Grades 9 and 10. (pp. 50-67)
Retrieved from http://www.edu.gov.on.ca/eng/curriculum/secondary/arts910curr.pdf
Overby, A. (July 2009). The New Conversation Using Weblogs for Reflective Practice in the Studio Art Classroom. Art Education , 18-24. Retrieved from ERIC database.
Russett, R. & Pience, O. (2008). Sky, scale and technology in art. Leonardo 41(5) , 511-518. Retrieved from MUSE database.
Sweeny, R. W. (2004). Lines of Sight in the “Network Society”; Simulation, Art Education, and a Digital Visual Culture. Studies of Art Education , 74-87. Retrieved from JSTOR database.
Taylor, P. G. & Carpenter, S.B (Fall 2007). Hypermediated Art Criticism. The Journal of Aesthetic Education, Volume 41, Number 3 , pp. 1-24. Retrieved from MUSE database.
Art, Music and the “At Risk” Student
I speak from my own experiences with school and the frustrations that I felt in high school and university. I know that if it weren’t for art and music that I would have not felt that I belonged in school,would be completely lost in this world, and would be miserable today. My passions were supported and it is these passions alone that have let me survive to this day; my passion is what motivates me, gives me purpose and brings me joy.
I’ve been fortunate enough to share my experiences with so called “at risk” students. I am pleased that I have not taught any of these students so that when I am working with them, I have no prior judements of them- I accept them for who they are hopefully in an environment were they do feel that they have purpose and where they can share their passion- in the end, be accepted for who they are.
I came across this video that is a brillant ad for wind energy but it really also speaks for these students I am working with.
Another powerful resources for art and its role in learning can be found from the Orgean Public Broadcasting site in the Teaching Creativity: Is Art the Answer series. I found many of their videos inspiration in not just the art curriculum, but in ways art can be infused in all subjects.
Interactive Art History
Online Art History Resources
I’m already thinking ahead to next year- mostly because I love making and designing and am procrastinating from marking. Below are the beginnings of some great art history resources to help students understand art history and to enjoy it@
Mr. Picassohead A fun way to learn about Picasso’s abstract style by making your own Picasso Head drawing. It can be saved and put into their online gallery.
Architect Studion 3D- architectural design inspired by Franklin Lloyd Wright. You can create your own building and explore it as a 3D model. This would be great for a grade 10 perspective drawing class.
Museum Box is a really great tool not only for art, but a way to visually desribe a historical event or to make an argument. It allows text, images, videos, links and files. Very visual and many lesson plans for teachers.
Awesome web-based tool for songwriters! At Jamstudio You can write the music online, save it, change tempo, key signature, style, everything! I hope that this isn’t blocked at school because this is a great intro to basic recording, song writing and music theory.
Visual Acoustics combines the familiarity of simple paint programs with the intricacy of musical production. Brushes, consisting of one of four instruments, are painted across the screen to play notes. Brushes can be built up to create complex musical visions.
Even very young kids can compose original pieces using Morton Subotnick’s Creating Music. Just draw a song using a virtual sketchpad and your song plays back in real time using a QuickTime interface.
Mad Lib is a good one for drama to get kids writing scripts.
One way to address Earth Day this week and integrate environmental science into your art curriculum is through the interactive website Phototropism. This website allows you to create your own virtual sculptures using futuristic materials that react to environmental conditions.
Panoramic Photos in Photoshop Elements
Just thought I’d give this a try. This was really easy to do using Photoshop Elements, using their Photomerge option (see tutorial here). All I had to do was open up the series of photographs I had taken, then go to ‘file’ and ‘new’ and select the panoramic option. It automatically stitches my open files together!
Digital Books
I read daily with Jaxon. I am amazed at his love for reading and how he is now reading books to me (by looking at the pictures). He is at the age now where he is started to pretend play and make up his own stories, improvise lyrics into familar tunes and even invisible friends have started showing up, in a matter of speaking. With my grade eleven parenting class we have been looking at favourite children’s stories and the many ways stories can be told. I was inspired by Robert Munsch when I took Jaxon to see him in Lindsay a while back and the way that he told his stories, personalized them and involved his audience. So, as an experiment, we made interactive digital story books by retelling our old favourites in a new way. Additionally, with more and more books becoming digital, I thought that this would be a powerful tool for my students to learn.
I began with “Scaredy Squirrel” by Canadian Author Melanie Watts. This and another one of her series, “Chester”, I believe to be excellent examples of how young children can interact with books by predicting outcomes and seeing others points of view. The value of this is from how the internet has changed- our kids our now commenting, and interacting with web 2.0 so this project works on many levels.
We used Photostory and Microsoft Powerpoint transformed into Active Inspire Flipcharts (so we could scribble on them). However, as I continue researching, I am finding more and more exciting tools for making digital books. Here is an example of my reading of Scaredy Squirrel.
Zooburst allows you to make 3D books on their site. I signed up for an account, but there seems to be a delay to get approved. This would be good as interactive story telling for elementary students…or stuff like…”What does a doggy say?”.
I’ve made my own Zooburst here- it’s unfinished, but you get the point.
Mixbook allows you to create free books online, kind of in the form of scrapbook from digital photos. This would be a great exercise for an “about me” project or even a personal journal or poetry book perhaps. The only cost comes from printing the book, which in the end, may be a nice outcome. What makes this site better than what Walmart has to offer or other book making programs is that there are much more font choices, more room for text, and that the program can create automatic books for you if you wish.
Bookrix is great because it offers free books online to read BUT I think the really neat thing about this site is that you can upload and advertise your own digital book. Students could write their own book and “digitally” publish it here. Others could write book reviews or comment on the book.
Panraven is fabulous for creating dynamic digital books. Students can add photos, text, videos and sounds. Beautiful templates, easy to use and students could even collaborate. I could see how this could be useful in co-op for presenting and reflecting upon their experiences. And, you can still order a traditional printed book.
