Interesting article. I use twitter for my PLN only and know that others have used in their classrooms. Perhaps reflective of my age and limited personal use of social media, I need to get comfortable following students on twitter, etc.
Our school has strict limits on how we can communicate with our students. Some education would be needed to make the admins comfortable using Twitter with our kiddos! They need to join the current century and I find it odd that it is the oldest person on staff pushing for these things!
One thing that really scares me is the privacy of the students. I’m not comfortable with the social sites enough to know that I’m keeping my students safe. It also seems like you have to teach about the tech and know what guidelines to set, as well as teaching the lesson. Is there place to access these guidelines and appropriate use of it for someone who is not familiar with the social mediums?
The article really got me thinking about how to take what I am already doing in my classroom and taking it to the next level by publishing on the web. I still think the content and curriculum need to come first and the technology should be a way to support that. I don't want to spend too much time having to teach a new technology, but rather find ways that fit into what I am doing that don't require a lot of prior knowledge to use them. I also like to use sites and apps where the students can explore and use them pretty easily without much instruction from me.
The idea of web 2.0 is interesting, and I'll admit, I've never been clear on the criteria defining web 2.0. But I do like the idea that content no longer comes from one source to be consumed by the masses, but now is created by the masses, for the masses. I look at the internet now and imagine it like drawing with a stick in the sand, only to evolve and develop over the years into something we're probably not even capable of dreaming up right now.
Integrating tech into art, I feel, can be tricky. I've friends who are art teachers, and I feel they may toss tech into the lesson just for the sake of doing it. I do like how the article talks about students doing a "digital gallery walk" which we do in art class! 4th graders upload their claymations (next year, it will simply be stop-motions!) and they walk around, looking at what everyone has made. They are also uploaded to the school's servers.
Meme's. Everyone needs to look up what memetics IS. There's a theory that part of the reason Trump was so successful this election cycle is due to an online internet campaign involving "pepe" some frog looking thing. I'm not sure what to think about it, but meme's are definitely a quick and easy way to get an idea across. They can be very persuasive, but they themselves are rather devoid of content. And in that, we need to be MORE wary of what's being said. Everyone talks about how we are in an information age, and I agree with that, but we are now entering a subset of that age, with people able to create an infinite amount of content, known as the dis-information age. I think (I hope) we come through this being more conscience and wary consumers of information, meta-observers critiquing sources and intent of internet content.
All in all, technology does have a place in the classroom. But as an art teacher, as someone who is trying to cultivate creativity and fine motor skills in little children, I am wary of when and where to use it. Part of my gripe with creativity is (I think) students are too plugged in to other people's narratives. Video games, television, movies, it's all scripted and plotted out for the viewer. Ask a child to create a character, and some of them look like I've asked them to solve a physics equation. Or ask a student to draw a circle in a rectangle, and their fingers that are used to effortlessly swiping a screen can't do it. So the real question for technology being used in an art setting is how it may enhance a lesson, and not just be added for technology sake.
Super long post, I know. This was an interesting article and class, and there are definitely some great takeaways.
I found it interesting that having students post projects, comments, etc on social media might make them more thoughtful about what they write/show. Maybe the product would be more "final draft" when they know others will be reading it.
I too thought it was interesting that having students post their projects on the internet might make them think again about what they post online as well as internet safety in general. I think this is a great idea for the older kids as social media is definitely an interest to them, not sure if/how it would work for second graders though. One other thing from the article that stuck with me is that before each teacher started their new project they spent time with their students showing them how to use the app or technology. This is something that we really stress on in second grade before we start a project and it just goes to show that it's important at any age. This was a great article and I really enjoyed reading it. It makes me think of what we do in second grade and now what else we can do!
7 comments:
Interesting article. I use twitter for my PLN only and know that others have used in their classrooms. Perhaps reflective of my age and limited personal use of social media, I need to get comfortable following students on twitter, etc.
Our school has strict limits on how we can communicate with our students. Some education would be needed to make the admins comfortable using Twitter with our kiddos! They need to join the current century and I find it odd that it is the oldest person on staff pushing for these things!
One thing that really scares me is the privacy of the students. I’m not comfortable with the social sites enough to know that I’m keeping my students safe. It also seems like you have to teach about the tech and know what guidelines to set, as well as teaching the lesson. Is there place to access these guidelines and appropriate use of it for someone who is not familiar with the social mediums?
The article really got me thinking about how to take what I am already doing in my classroom and taking it to the next level by publishing on the web. I still think the content and curriculum need to come first and the technology should be a way to support that. I don't want to spend too much time having to teach a new technology, but rather find ways that fit into what I am doing that don't require a lot of prior knowledge to use them. I also like to use sites and apps where the students can explore and use them pretty easily without much instruction from me.
The idea of web 2.0 is interesting, and I'll admit, I've never been clear on the criteria defining web 2.0. But I do like the idea that content no longer comes from one source to be consumed by the masses, but now is created by the masses, for the masses. I look at the internet now and imagine it like drawing with a stick in the sand, only to evolve and develop over the years into something we're probably not even capable of dreaming up right now.
Integrating tech into art, I feel, can be tricky. I've friends who are art teachers, and I feel they may toss tech into the lesson just for the sake of doing it. I do like how the article talks about students doing a "digital gallery walk" which we do in art class! 4th graders upload their claymations (next year, it will simply be stop-motions!) and they walk around, looking at what everyone has made. They are also uploaded to the school's servers.
Meme's. Everyone needs to look up what memetics IS. There's a theory that part of the reason Trump was so successful this election cycle is due to an online internet campaign involving "pepe" some frog looking thing. I'm not sure what to think about it, but meme's are definitely a quick and easy way to get an idea across. They can be very persuasive, but they themselves are rather devoid of content. And in that, we need to be MORE wary of what's being said. Everyone talks about how we are in an information age, and I agree with that, but we are now entering a subset of that age, with people able to create an infinite amount of content, known as the dis-information age. I think (I hope) we come through this being more conscience and wary consumers of information, meta-observers critiquing sources and intent of internet content.
All in all, technology does have a place in the classroom. But as an art teacher, as someone who is trying to cultivate creativity and fine motor skills in little children, I am wary of when and where to use it. Part of my gripe with creativity is (I think) students are too plugged in to other people's narratives. Video games, television, movies, it's all scripted and plotted out for the viewer. Ask a child to create a character, and some of them look like I've asked them to solve a physics equation. Or ask a student to draw a circle in a rectangle, and their fingers that are used to effortlessly swiping a screen can't do it. So the real question for technology being used in an art setting is how it may enhance a lesson, and not just be added for technology sake.
Super long post, I know. This was an interesting article and class, and there are definitely some great takeaways.
I found it interesting that having students post projects, comments, etc on social media might make them more thoughtful about what they write/show. Maybe the product would be more "final draft" when they know others will be reading it.
I too thought it was interesting that having students post their projects on the internet might make them think again about what they post online as well as internet safety in general. I think this is a great idea for the older kids as social media is definitely an interest to them, not sure if/how it would work for second graders though. One other thing from the article that stuck with me is that before each teacher started their new project they spent time with their students showing them how to use the app or technology. This is something that we really stress on in second grade before we start a project and it just goes to show that it's important at any age. This was a great article and I really enjoyed reading it. It makes me think of what we do in second grade and now what else we can do!
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