Other Art Blogs

So for my final class assignment I need to find another blog that relates to my area of study. ART!! So this will be a nice transition to when I start my own topics.

Blogs in the Field

The blog that I am going to be commenting on has a highly extensive repertoire of art topics. It is filled with many posts about different styles of art and the artists that create the work. The blog I am referring to is called Lines and Colors. You can check out the full blog HERE. The author of this fantastic blog is Charley Parker who is an accomplished artist and web designer among a few other traits. The blog has been going on since 2005 and has a huge archive that most anyone could find something that interests him or her.

I think this blog could easily be a great resource for teacher and other artists. Being exposed to many types of art is important and sometimes it is hard find something new to teach. A teacher might not even know that an art style is out there. For example I was looking over the site and came across Vector art. After looking over the post I did realize that I knew what it was, but I don't think I would have know that this particular type of art was called Vector art. In fact, the previous post has an image of vector art that I created in a basic digital art course. This just shows that even if a teacher has seen a particular art form they might not know that much about it or don't know how to look it up to know the name of the genre. Resources are key to any teacher and this blog should be one of them.

The Lines Behind the Image

(these are all of the vectors)

 From last time

Original

Technology in schools

Alright there folks another assignment here. This time I'll be writing about an article that I read about Technology in the classroom and then give my opinion on what I thought. Fell free to comment about things you have read.

The classroom today is so much more than a chalk board and a teacher giving a lecture to students while they take notes. In today's society there are more and more advancements in technology. However, some parents are worried that students are just becoming distracted by the tools that are suppose to be helping and assisting them in their learning journey. 

Laysha Ward writes an article for the the Huffington post about what technology in the classroom means for the children in their future jobs. You can read the article HERE. Ward talks about how some parents are concerned about the use of technology in the classroom and how instead of helping our children it is in fact distracting them from actually learning. Yet, others would argue that without the technology a teacher wouldn't be able to connect with students for high "engagement and achievement". As the article goes on Ward brings up "Blended Learning"which aims at making students ready for life after high school. Blended Learning is also aimed at reaching students individual needs instead of the limited levels we can provided students in a non-digital school system. In the end Ward concludes that technology is in the future no matter what, so why not give it a try in our schools today.

As for what I think on the topic of technology in the classroom is a trick topic. I was raised in a home with a computer that didn't have internet access until high school. So I'm a little slow on the uptake. Yet I do have to say I've been in some schools that use iPad and similar products to help students at different learning levels work on subjects at there own pace. So I can obviously see the benefit of learning and working with technologies in the classroom. I would definitely at least try new tools as they become available.

So how far should we take technology in the classroom? I'm not sure but the future will hold more models and examples of how we can use technology for the best.

A little intro and a teaching philosophy

So I'm in this class and we have to do a few projects before I can get to the actual idea of why I chose to pick the name Art Extras. I'll tell you why before I get to the assignment portion. I picked this name because there are many things about art that I want to know about that I was never taught or there wasn't time in the school year to get to the finer nuance of tools or supplies. Art history is also something that I feel has slipped through the cracks in my education so I plan on doing some research here and there too. So now that you know what I planning on writing about bare with me as I do my next couple of blogs assignments.


My Teaching Philosophy

As my carefully thought out resume objective reads my goal is " To work as an art educator in a non-traditional classroom setting that is collaborative, community focused and uses technics such as Visual Thinking Strategies to promote high level thinking skills and active engagement". This is basically saying that I would like to work in a place something like an art museum or art program that works with schools to do awesome community projects.

Originally I wanted to work in schools because of the experiences that I had growing up. In elementary school, at least how it is cemented into my brain, teachers I felt had given up on me. Even after I was labeled as a child with a learning disability I still felt nothing changed. The one thing that is completely seared into me brain however, is a conversation with my fifth grade teacher. She was talking to me about going to middle school and how I would do at a new school or something of that sort, I don't remember the full conversation. She used this analogy that has stuck with me over the years and is one of the pivotal moments as to why I wanted to become a teacher. She said something along these lines: that some birds learn to fly and some birds never learn to fly. Basically what she was telling me was that I was going to be the type of student that would never succeed in life. This has been my motivation. This is why I wanted to become a teacher. This is something I never want a student to go through. I used this moment as a motivational tool to prove people wrong. Not everyone will have the reaction to a conversation like this, some will shut down, use it as an excuse, some will internalize it and sabotage themselves into failing. I do not want to become that teacher.

I want to be the teach that doesn't give up on students. A teacher that gives everyone a fresh start and new chances to succeed. I want to create projects that students have the chance to succeed at even if they think they "aren't good" at art. I want to create an environment that students feel comfortable in and have the freedom to open up. I want to be a teacher that students look back on and remember that their hard work payed off and they left with a deeper meaning of what art can do for them.

A book that goes along well with this is "The Dot" by Peter H. Reynolds. Everyone has a chance to be good at art.

This Is Me

Hi! My name is Kate. I'm a 22 year old students at the University Of Wisconsin Oshkosh starting my fifth year of school. Now that you know where I go to school let me tell you a bit more about myself and how I got here.

Lets start with my family. I come from a bit of an unconventional family. The people I would consider my brother and sister are technically my half siblings, though I have never looked at them that way. They are 41 and 36 and both have families of their own and now live in different states. Our mom is the common factor between us and I love her the most. She is probably the only reason that I made it through school and got into college. It is because she cared about me, fought the schools I was in, and advocated for my rights. Now she wasn't one of those crazy moms you dread for the most part, she just knew at an early age that I was going to need some special assistance to get me where I needed to go.
Now that may sound strange but in reality I'm just telling you in a roundabout way that I have a learning disability. I was diagnosed right before forth grade. It wasn't during the school year because the school I was at didn't feel that I needed any testing. They just thought I was a lazy and stupid child. However once I got the help I needed I really started to do well in school and by the start of high school I was an honor role student. This was drastically different from my D'd and F's I had received in elementary school. For that I need to thank my mom.

Some other interesting factoids about me would be... I can swing dance. I want to be an art educator in the museum setting. I like to go on really long walk as long as I have someone to walk with. I like screen printing (not like printing on shirts... the fine arts kind). I'm sometimes really odd. I wish I knew more about the world. I've been to Ireland and LOVE it... I would totally live there.