Wiki's!

Wow-another great new internet (intergalactic) world to get lost in! I really enjoyed the Wiki that explored Flickr, and one of the educational Wikis that shared Web2.0 collaborative techniques ( Classroom20wiki). While I delved into these-like I delve into non-fiction, I really enjoyed the look and unbelievable "breadth" of the Welker's... How does one get a Wiki that organized, complex and fascinating and still have time to teach? For those of you unfamiliar with the life of an art teacher-just image teaching 3-6 preps a day, with curriculum you have to design and write, collect reproductions, jpegs, images to scan, create Power-point presentations to show visual motivation, teach technique, context, motive, create creative-problem solving objectives, manage 35 students armed with a wealth of media/weaponry and then set and break down labs every hour of every day....have I adequately shared my mania with you? Anyway, you see how I marvel at the time commitment that all this seems to involve. The time thing seems to be what gets in the way here for me. I would love to see teacher's meetings held on Wiki sites! Certainly, sharing and give and take would be accomplished, new and old business would take place, real open discussion of ideas-collaboration...instead of memo meetings, no place for new business, held at end of day-I can't function now time...perhaps I am getting into muddy water here-so I will stop! :)

#9 of 23 Things!

EEK! I am failing behind! I did so enjoy playing and exploring with the Image generators -especially BigHugeLabs! The site was easier for me to move through. ImageGenerator.org seemed to have so many pop-ups, and was so cross-indexed that I found myself easily getting lost or far afield. After much play, I created a great list of creative problem solving projects for my Advanced Printmaking class. This list will be a jumping off point for them in selecting a project to complete that will take the place of a written final exam. (Better to have a work of art to add to a portfolio, more experience in creating visual documents, and less tedium for me!) I've attached an art-trading card that I easily made on BigHugeLabs. The idea of making trading cards based on famous or contemporary printmakers is one of the choices my students will have for their final project. They can create 20 cards based on famous printmakers in history, or 10 cards based on contemporary, regional new artists. I got so excited about all of the need Ideas, I created a list of over 10 projects for student perusal. They can also generate ideas, and run them by me for my approval. Very Cool for enrichment. (I did point out that students' art could not be simple stealing of site templates, but create own work from these ideas.)

Fun with Flickr...

I really loved the Spell with Flickr-but could not figure out how to save the image to be able to use it in blog, on Powerpoint, in handouts....What is the trick? And, in the midst of teaching a Printmaking/Commercial art class, Spell with Flickr so amazingly addresses Typography, Advertising, use of color, shape, size, layout...with lettering. So, back to the original question--how do you get the words created there into any other format? Flickr montage was great, a bit limiting, but cool, and I really liked the color picker, but am still trying to figure out ways to use it in class as a resourse, other than, wow, that's a cool trick. The Flickr-Kaleidoscope software trick was also very cool, since this year for the first time, I've introduced Kaleidoscopes and Mandalas. Kids are doing nice work, but next year I want this to be more impactful, and personal, so I will be looking quite closely at all aspects of how I present this unit and its connection to the spiritual, cultural, historical significance. If I can figure out the Flickr-Kaleidoscope program it would be neat to save work digitally in Flickr and be able to have students create moving effects.

7th Think! Uploading Photos into Flickr

Wow, one could get lost in the neatness of this--organization that can be cross-indexed to the millionth degree, and, the act of uploading, while deleting from one's hard-drive the multitudes of jpegs, images, downloads....I need more time! As to classroom uses, remember I'm an art teacher, and can never have enough visual resources! How great to be able to save images from web sites-works of art, reproductions, videos...and create public sites for classes to reflect on lesson objectives. Students could also add their work to own blogs, flickr accounts so that specific student groups may compare works, creative thought process...Wow, a world of applications here! Again, I am going to need more than a few personal assistance, or much more time!