5. Engage in Professional Growth and Leadership

ISTE NETS-T #5: Teachers continuously improve their professional practice, model lifelong learning, and exhibit leadership in their school and professional community by promoting and demonstrating the effective use of digital tools and resources.

a. Participate in local and global learning communities to explore creative applications of technology to improve student learning

b. Exhibit leadership by demonstrating a vision of technology infusion, participating in shared decision making and community building, and developing the leadership and technology skills of others

c. Evaluate and reflect on current research and professional practice on a regular basis to make effective use of existing and emerging digital tools and resources in support of student learning

d. Contribute to the effectiveness, vitality, and selfrenewal of the teaching profession and of their school and community

Technology: iPads, SmartBoard, Art Apps, any new technology

Activity/Lesson: I definitely believe this is an important standard to teaching and something I strive to do on a regular basis. When I taught in Connecticut, my husband and I lived near Yale University and the Yale Art Museum. The Museum hosted monthly teacher education days which allowed teachers a day to be students in the museum and learn from one of the museum educators both in a classroom and out in the galleries. In a few weeks I will be participating in the same sort of event at the Akron Art Museum. The great thing about these events is that it opens teacher's eyes to resources that are nearby, as well as keeps us learning which develops our teaching. I often learn information in these events that I take directly back to my classroom in the form of a new lesson and activity.
In addition to these days, participating in technology education and professional development days is very important. For instance, attending a SmartBoard workshop for educators where everything you can do with a SmartBoard is demonstrated and introduced would be incredibly helpful as I can take that knowledge directly back to my classroom to students. One way to use a SmartBoard in my art classroom is demonstrated on a project introduction day. On these days, I can project a work of art onto the SmartBoard and students can use the pen tools to circle areas of emphasis in regards to whatever we are talking about.

Reflection: It seems that activities like this would be a good way to reflect my professional development as I will be introducing new knowledge and updating my classroom in a timely manner in keeping up with technology development in our world.

Example: On an introduction day I may put up an image like the following work of Vincent Van Gogh's and have students go up to the smart board and make notes on the artwork along the lines of:

• Circle an example of the element "line" in this painting
• Draw an arrow pointing to what is "emphasized" in this painting
• Put a star on the items that "balance" out the bed in the painting
• Put the numbers "1" and "2" on spots that are demonstrating corresponding "complementary colors"

4. Promote and Model Digital Citizenship and Responsibility

ISTE NETS-T #4: Teachers understand local and global societal issues and responsibilities in an evolving digital culture and exhibit legal and ethical behavior in their professional practices.

a. Advocate, model, and teach safe, legal, and ethical use of digital information and technology, including respect for copyright, intellectual property, and the appropriate documentation of sources

b. Address the diverse needs of all learners by using learner-centered strategies providing equitable access to appropriate digital tools and resources

c. Promote and model digital etiquette and responsible social interactions related to the use of technology and information

d. Develop and model cultural understanding and global awareness by engaging with colleagues and students of other cultures using digital age communication and collaboration tools

Technology: Here I would use more basic technology - internet and computers - to promote digital citizenship as the focus isn't so much using new technology as it is using technology in a responsible manner.

Activity/Lesson: One way I will promote and model digital citizenship and responsibility is by demonstrating specifically to students how to gather information from online and transfer it into their own words for their own presentation versus simply copying/pasting which in turn leads to plagiarism. My 8th grade students will complete a "Mini Museum" project where they are asked to research 3 artists from 3 different art movements and they are to create an artwork that is an interpretation of that artist's works. It can be difficult for the students to understand how to "interpret" work versus copying it, so I will begin the project by demonstrating how I go about finding an artist, looking at their body of work and finding the commonalities, and then putting those commonalities into a new work of art. It is important that the students realize the difference between interpreting a body of work in style and commonalities versus copying a single work from an artist.

Reflection:

Example: The example I would demonstrate in class to my students is the following:

Beginning with the art movement Pop Art,  I have found the artist Andy Warhol. Here are a few images of his work:

Commonalities between Warhol's works of art:

• Recognizable images
• Multiple of each image
• Colors are not accurate to real life

With those three commonalities in mind, here is the work of art I created as an "interpretation" of Andy Warhol's work:

3. Model Digital Age Work and Learning

ISTE NETS-T #3: Teachers exhibit knowledge, skills, and work processes representative of an innovative professional in a global and digital society.

a. Demonstrate fluency in technology systems and the transfer of current knowledge to new technologies and situations

b. Collaborate with students, peers, parents, and community members using digital tools and resources to support student success and innovation

c. Communicate relevant information and ideas effectively to students, parents, and peers using a variety of digital age media and formats

d. Model and facilitate effective use of current and emerging digital tools to locate, analyze, evaluate, and use information resources to support research and learning

Technology: For this standard, I would use Blogger to develop an art room blog.

Activity/Lesson: This blog would be designed and operated by myself and would contain postings regarding general guidelines of the classroom, explanations of what students are working on, postings of student work alongside AudioBoo artist statements, and any upcoming news such as Art Shows or Displays. The blog would be a great way to connect parents to what their students are doing in school as well as give students some pride in having the chance to show off what they've done in the art room. As this progresses, I could give some student ownership to older students to create a post and put up material that is approved by myself. In passing on some ownership, I would be passing on to the students my knowledge of Blogger and teaching them about a new tool. 

Reflection: If students get enthused about an idea that they can take ownership of, it inevitably becomes something exciting and something they want to be a part of more and more. By posting current projects, parents have a way to generate conversation at home with their student. In posting student work, students gain some pride amongst their peers that their work was posted and parents can see what their students are doing when often times students throw their work away at school and don't take it home. This is a great tool to connect parents and students through the passing on of new knowledge. 

Example: The following is a link to an Art Blog I created while teaching in Connecticut.
Art Times at Grove

2. Design and Develop Digital Age Learning Experiences and Assessments

ISTE NETS-T #2: Teachers design, develop, and evaluate authentic learning experiences and assessment incorporating contemporary tools and resources to maximize content learning in context and to develop the knowledge, skills, and attitudes identified in the NETS·S.

a. Design or adapt relevant learning experiences that incorporate digital tools and resources to promote student learning and creativity

b. Develop technology-enriched learning environments that enable all students to pursue their individual curiosities and become active participants in setting their own educational goals, managing their own learning, and assessing their own progress

c. Customize and personalize learning activities to address students’ diverse learning styles,working strategies, and abilities using digital tools and resources

d. Provide students with multiple and varied formative and summative assessments aligned with content and technology standards and use resulting data to inform learning and teaching

Technology:I would love to use both NEARPOD and the iPads in general. With the development of Student Learning Objectives (SLOs) that schools have to begin implementing this year and next, I will need to begin formally assessing my students at the beginning and end of a semester of class. NEARPOD would be a fantastic way to assess students on terminology and definitions of art education, and using the video/photo/audio applications on iPads would allow students to demonstrate the processes they have learned in the time to show growth as well. 

Activity/Lesson: At the beginning and end of each semester of art, I will be giving my students an assessment to see what they know currently of the material that will be covered in the semester, and then what all they retained during the semester. I will use NEARPOD to have students work through an assessment which has them answer questions regarding different art terminology and will utilize both text and photographs. Students will work through the assessment at their own pace on either a classroom provided device (hopefully) or their own personal device and through NEARPOD on my own device I will be able to see their progress and results. In addition, students will utilize the camera app on iPads and personal devices to photograph and video themselves completing certain tasks for their assessment. These tasks could include building a clay pinch pot, or mixing a specific color with paint. The camera will allow students to accomplish assessments that would be hard to gauge on just a pencil and paper/multiple choice test.  

Reflection: The use of NEARPOD and iPads will work because it allows a much wider variety of assessment to take place. Not only does it allow for students to work at their own pace and in their own space, but it allows students to demonstrate their knowledge in a variety of visual ways as art is very much a visual/hands-on class. As well, I feel the assessments will work better using these technologies as students are generally more excited to complete tasks when they get to use any sort of technology, especially iPads. 

Example Assessment Question for NEARPOD:

This is a painting by Pablo Picasso. 

What is the KEY COLOR in this painting? _____________

Example Assessment Question for iPad:

Please record a video of yourself demonstrating the proper way to mix paint:

Middle School Student Shows How to Mix Paint

1. Facilitate and Inspire Student Learning and Creativity

ISTE NETS-T #1: Facilitate and Inspire Student Learning and CreativityTeachers use their knowledge of subject matter, teaching and learning, and technology to facilitate experiences that advance student learning, creativity, and innovation in both face-to-face and virtual environments.

Technology: There is a great iPad app called AudioBoo which allows for easy recording of voice and then easy sharing of that recording to blogs, social media, your own computer...etc. I would love to integrate AudioBoo with a blog I create about what is going on in the art room. 

Lesson/Activity: In regards to this standard, AudioBoo would be utilized to advance student learning, creativity and innovation through the use of Art Critique and Artist Statements. Typically, artist statements are written by the artist in regards to their work and often explain the types of materials and process used to create the work of art, explanation of the title, and reasoning behind the subject of the work. With younger students, writing a couple sentences about their work can prove to be very hard for a variety of reasons; elementary students do not have enough written language to create a cohesive paragraph, middle school and high school students are move concerned about grammar than content, or in general, it can be scary to write about art. Thus, AudioBoo allows students to speak about their work which is often much more free and easy to do as they do not have to think about how to transfer their thoughts onto paper. AudioBoo would be used by each individual student to spend 30 seconds to one minute talking about their work, or it could be used as an interview style where the teacher or another student asks the student artist a series of questions to help them talk about their work. Upon completing the recordings, I could listen to each recording as I grade student artwork and post the Boo's of select students alongside a picture of their work on the class blog so that anyone viewing the blog (parents, other teachers, district administrators...etc) would be able to hear what that student said about their work. This provides a more direct voice between the student and the viewer of the blog about their artwork and gives them a greater sense of ownership over their work.

As well, I can use AudioBoo in the classroom as a way to check understanding in doing assessments for Student Learning Objectives (SLO's). Students can be presented with an artwork along with a series of questions they have to answer about the artwork to demonstrate their understanding of topics covered in class such as color theory, and the elements and principles of art. These responses could be recorded on AudioBoo for me to play back when grading.

Reflection: 

In general, I believe AudioBoo can be a very useful tool in the classroom. Students in younger grades especially will enjoy recording themselves and hearing it back, while students in older grades will enjoy being able to talk about work rather than having to write as it is getting harder and harder to get school age children excited about writing. 

Example of AudioBoo Assessment Question Recording:

Piet Mondrian Painting

listen to ‘Piet Mondrian Critique ’ on Audioboo