Looking Back, Looking Ahead

Wow! As they said in those old Virginia Slims advertisements, "You've come a long way, baby!" (Thankfully, that was a long time ago and those cigarette ads are banned.) In any case, I feel like I have come a long way, baby, with my technological skills since we started this class back in September. I am proud to say that I am no longer a scaredy cat about technology, and I definitely gained confidence with my new skills!

While I still want my art students using hands-on materials when they create art, I am also embracing many new possibilities for using technology, both with my students and professionally. I found making the YouTube video of the bamboo Sumi-e painting to be particularly useful. Besides showing the class the video to introduce the painting techniques, I was also able to have students watch it independently in order to reteach the steps, as well as show it to students who were absent on the day of the introduction to the lesson. I did not abandon doing a real life demonstration,  but having both means of showing the students the techniques was really useful. The students were very impressed with the video and even applauded at the end (and I took a bow)! There does seem to be something different about the way students attend to video that enables them to focus more. Maybe because the lights are turned off when a video is shown,  so they are drawn to looking at the screen and are not distracted by other stimuli. I believe more kids got the hang of the painting techniques quickly by having the combination of video along with the live demonstration. I think now I may have to do a whole series of "how to" YouTube videos for art!

Taking this Dominican technology course was good for me, as it forced me to put effort into projects that I would not have had the self-motivation to tackle. I needed the outside force of an assignment to make me persevere with the tough ones. Creating the website was so daunting at first, as there were so many aspects that were completely new and frustrating to figure out. By the end of the semester, when creating a second website for the WebQuest, it came together fairly painlessly, as the process was familiar, and even fun! (It also helped to use wix rather than weebly, as it seems to work more intuitively.) I was so pleased to get a chance to work with Mona on the WebQuest, as we created a unit that we are now really excited to teach with our 5th graders. Had we not had this class together, it is unlikely that we would have found the many hours of time to put together such an appealing unit. That said, we are also more likely to incorporate more technology into our teaching now that we have seen so many new and exciting possibilities! Now maybe I have the needed self-motivation to tackle new tech ideas (but I will still probably need the occasional shove).

The idea of having a Twitter account was not at all appealing to me before, but as the coursework made me delve into it more deeply, I found it led to many meaningful conversations and ideas. I do plan to continue to follow Twitter, and will tweet or retweet when inspired. It's funny, but I didn't even know what the terms tweeting or hashtags really meant until getting exposure to Twitter over the past months. Getting some familiarity with techie terms makes me feel like I am a little more in the loop now. My own kids (who are in their twenties) are impressed with my new tech abilities. My daughter is now going around the house singing the blues song that Mona and I created on our WebQuest. I guess it's a catchy tune, but she still said we were dorks!




https://audioboom.com/posts/5369638-teacher-blues

It was enjoyable to take the class with the variety of District 90 staff and get to know everyone better. We do have District 90 tech refresh classes that I will certainly take and hopefully I will see everyone at those as well. I am so glad that I signed up for this class! When I look ahead, I am excited about trying out the many new ideas we explored over these past few months. This is just the beginning!
Thank you!

I wish everyone a very happy winter break and a fabulous 2017!!!!

Reflective Blog Post #5  Educational Technology Research

Technology Addiction: Concern, Controversy, and Finding Balance

https://www.commonsensemedia.org/sites/default/files/uploads/research/csm_2016_technology_addiction_research_brief_0.pdf

This research article discussed the issue of internet addiction. There is considerable controversy about defining internet addiction, since there are so many different activities that are social and interactive, and would not be considered pathological. The amount of time spent using the internet is not really a good measure of addiction, because the internet is used in so many ways. However, the American Psychiatric Association suggests that internet gaming disorder (IGD) is a condition that needs to be addressed and researched more before identifying it as a mental disorder. Studies show that brain scans of individuals meeting the criteria of IGD show similarities between individuals with substance abusers and pathological gamblers. Gray matter density is lower, and this area is associated with executive functioning and impulse control. What is not known is whether obsessive gaming causes a change in the brain or whether people with certain brain structures are more likely to be addictive gamers. There are also studies linking IGD to a possible genetic component. Clearly, internet addiction can be serious and should be studied more thoroughly in order to understand how it might impact a child's development, cognitively, socially and emotionally.

Besides looking at internet gaming disorder, the article discussed other dangers of excessive internet use, including exhaustion and loss of relationships. Other studies looked at technology use as a source of tension in families. One study found that 1/3 of the parents of 8-17 yr. olds struggled to limit media and tech use. Another study found that 54% of the children surveyed felt their parents were on their devices too often and 32% felt unimportant when their parents were using their phones. Still another study showed college students checked their phones for texts every hour or less (every 10 minutes). Still another study explored multitasking and it being a risk factor for mental health problems.

Not every study suggested negative outcomes due to excessive internet use. For teens, the internet offers new ways to engage with others and even maintain relationships with peers. Some studies suggested that posting on Facebook is related to narcissism and a decrease in empathy, while other studies showed a positive relation to perspective taking. Common Sense Media (2012) did a study and found that children between 13-17 years preferred face-to-face interactions with their peers and 52% felt social networking helped their relationships with friends.

The conclusion of this article, addressing the many studies involving technology addiction, suggested a balanced approach to using technology, with adults role modeling for children quality usage of media, as well as making sure time is also spent disconnecting and engaging with others off-line.

Having explored this article and others, I think looking at technology research can be valuable to educators, as it is good to be thoughtful about our use of technology with our students.

TECH TAC TOE: CLICKER SENTENCES

Clicker Sentences app

Clicker Sentences, by Crick Software, is a writing tool that allows emerging and struggling writers to create sentences from a word bank grid. The teacher enters a sentence set and can determine whether there is a model written or spoken sentence, whether words are in alphabetical, random or guided order, and a picture can be added as well. The great thing about this app is that sentences can be highly personalized, according to the student's interests, so writing is more motivating. There are also pre-made sentence sets. The app allows the student to hear the sentence they create, enabling the student to make corrections to the word order if it is incorrect.
Clicker also has other writing apps, including Clicker Connect and Clicker Docs, which are apps with different levels of support for word prediction. Unfortunately, the app is rather expensive, costing $32.99. Clearly, it is an app that would not be used widely in a classroom, but it is very helpful for students with learning difficulties, as it enables them to be successful with creating sentences and stories independently. I am having great success with this app, particularly for students who have very poor fine motor and keyboarding skills. Writing and typing can be laborious for these students, and they often lose interest in the content when so much effort is put into the production of writing or typing, so with Clicker apps they are able to produce written content by simply tapping words.

https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/clicker-sentences/id575603433?mt=8

TECH TAC TOE: EDUCREATIONS

Educreations: TESSELLATIONS - link

Educreations is an app that is an interactive whiteboard and screen casting tool. It can be used by teachers and students to demonstrate a concept, simultaneously drawing and speaking.
I tried using Educreations to demonstrate how to create a tessellation. It was a rather frustrating experience, but that could be because I was watching game four of the World Series at the same time! I believe the app is probably more useful for explaining math operations and other types of lessons than for art. In fact, looking through their featured lessons, there was only one example of a visual art lesson, about color families.
For the tessellation lesson, I had to recreate the drawing over and over, as I found it very hard to talk and draw very accurately at the same time. Part of the problem was I made unwanted noise from moving the iPad and I did not want the shuffling sound, as it was distracting. I could not just redo the sound, so each time I had to redo the drawing as well. I also could not save the first introductory slide, so each time I had to start completely over, importing the image, adding type and speaking again. It would have been better had I been able to start with a shape, then copy and paste the image to show how it could interlock with itself, but that was not possible. The app has its limitations, but there are definitely some useful possibilities for both teachers and students. I like the fact that one can import images and draw directly on them, as it can be really useful for offering visual explanations.
However, I think many people would have the same problem I had, with drawing and talking at the same time. If there was the ability to narrate after the drawing was made, the app would be easier to use.

TECH TAC TOE: Blabberize

Blabberize: Roosevelt High 5 Rules -link

Blabberize is a humorous tool that can be used to motivate students, particularly as a way to share oral information in an entertaining way.  Blabberize is a photo editing tool that turns a photo into an animated talking image. I decided to try it, using a photo of our school mascot to share our school's "High 5 Rules". The tool was simple to use, although getting the mouth to line up took a little experimentation to work reasonably well.
Blabberize could be a creative way for students to share a report on a particular character from history or from a novel.  This could be a great tool for oral presentations, especially for students with special needs, who may have a hard time getting up in front of their peers. It allows for repeated practice when recording the audio. An uninspiring assignment could be turned into a really enjoyable experience with this tool.

Reflective Post:   Digital Tattoos

The parallel between between getting a tattoo and one’s digital image or footprint is an interesting one. What we choose to share in social media cannot be erased completely, so it is important to consider carefully what is posted. Tattoos can be expressions about one’s love, religion, status, a tribute, or simply decorative. Similarly, a person can use social media to transmit all kinds of information about one’s relationships, interests, religion, status, political beliefs and other expressions. It is critical to understand the permanence and power of putting something out on social media and to consider not only the audience for whom the message might be intended, but also others who may be able to view it. Just as one may regret getting a tattoo after a drunken escapade, one might regret posting an opinion in a moment of anger. Additionally, future prospects for education or employment could suffer by a poor decision.

Digital literacy is an area that must be given serious consideration in the classroom and should be an essential part of the curriculum. Not only is it important for students to learn how to gain technological skills, but they should gain wisdom about how to use technology so they benefit from it. Many people can be hurt by using it unwisely, particularly in regards to social media. There are many aspects to technology that need to be considered in the classroom. Besides needing to be informed about smart use of social media, students also need to be critical about the reliability of information they may get on the internet. Brianna Crowley wrote an interesting article in Education Week, addressing digital literacy.  In this article she provides helpful resources to explore related to digital literacy, including strategies for online searches and understanding bias and authenticity of information. She suggests Google A Day challenges for students to learn how to search for meaningful information and watching the TED talk, “How to Separate Fact and Fiction”. 

We cannot assume that students can figure this out on their own. 

What Digital Literacy Looks Like in a Classroom

By Brianna Crowley

http://www.edweek.org/tm/articles/2014/10/29/ctq_crowley_digitalliteracy.html

http://www.ted.com/talks/markham_nolan_how_to_separate_fact_and_fiction_online

https://www.google.com/intl/en-us/insidesearch/searcheducation/lessons.html

DIGITAL STORYTELLING

I used iMovie to create my digital storytelling project. I decided to make my project on a Sumi-e painting technique that I teach my 5th graders each year. The students need to learn precise brushstrokes for this technique and learning how to hold the brush is essential for success. I always demonstrate the various brushstrokes, with the students standing around the table and watching me. Our students all have their own iPads now, so I am thinking that by having the demonstration on a YouTube video, the students can watch and replay the video so they can get additional instruction on the techniques used to create a bamboo Sumi-e painting.

I made an iMovie many years ago, and most of the process came back to me fairly easily, as I remembered how to drag the desired clips, add transitions and text. I purchased lovely meditation music from iTunes to play in the background, but I was not able to figure out how to make the music play behind my narration, even after watching tutorials. I needed a tech support person to show me how to layer the sound, but I gave up and decided just to play the music at the beginning and end of my demonstration. Additionally, I read a warning about using copyrighted music on videos that are put on YouTube, so I abandoned the idea of using my purchased music and chose a jingle from the iMovie selections. I did have a hard time figuring out how to make the volume of my voice match the volume of the music. Again, there are some steps in iMovie that are simply not intuitive. Fortunately, our tech specialist at school was able to show me how to change the volume within clips.

I also had trouble embedding the YouTube video into our class wiki page. I was able to follow the directions fine, apart from pasting the frame code into the html of the web page. That is where I had to ask another classmate for help.

I did think my demonstration was a little rushed, since I needed to keep the video under four minutes in length, and if I did it again I would have my cameraman hold the camera horizontally, as the frames were vertically shot, so did not fill the screen. I definitely think there is a real value to making more demonstration videos for my art classes, particularly so students who are absent or need reteaching can refer to the lessons. I also felt it was much better to narrate the lesson, rather than to talk while demonstrating. This allowed me to focus on the technique while I was being filmed, rather than worrying about my voice and what I had to say. Without having had the requirement of using narration, I don't think I would have thought about that as an option, and I thought it definitely worked better. In the same way, when our students are creating videos in school, using narration might be a better alternative to filming with sound, as the audio is generally poor in a school setting, with too much background noise.

As with any new tech project (creating a web, blog, movie, etc), I learn best when I am able to see someone demonstrate the process. I am definitely a visual learner! That is exactly why I thought making the iMovie of the Sumi-e painting might be useful for my students. I can't describe with only words how to hold and use a brush. In the same way, if I watch a tech demonstration (slowly presented!) I can grasp the procedures far more clearly.

https://youtu.be/Z7tci-TEywM