I love collaborating with my colleagues.
Google Docs is a widely used tool for us in this arena. It makes so little work of having to form documents as a committee, take presentation notes, work on a policy with many people all at once, and also to share resources. The process eliminates so much wasted time. It's almost like a work-based chat room, but with the focus on creating and refining the document smoothly and efficiently. Kudos again to google!
Another resource shared today from our Science guy is Thinkfinity! We received an introductory training session, and two hours later, we're still playing with the applications on our SMARTboards. While the Art content was directed toward inclusion of Art education in other content areas :( the information is relevant, helpful, and timely.
Wednesday, August 26, 2009
legal documents and gMail
For those of us whom have multiple e-mail accounts; hotmail, work, professional society accounts, etc. Most e-mail services are now allowing you to import your e-mail from other accounts, and to send from your original account too!
This is probably old news for many people, but it became a great help for me today. I have 100mb available on my work account. Inbox, Sent Mail, and anything sent to the Deleted folder - it can all only total 100mb. E-mails from parents and/or students can be legal documents - and you never know when they will be necessary!
I signed up for a gMail account from google. This is the e-mail google offers, and you no longer need to be invited to join. My hotmail accounts, and work accounts are now forwarded to there, where e-mail isn't deleted, but archived! I also have 8000mb for use with all my e-mails. At the end of each semester, I can archive the work e-mail and burn a back-up disk, whereas I did not have the ability to do that from our work e-mail system.
Of course, of course, all this is limited in most schools by a very strict firewall and highly limited access to the internet. However, if you do have the access and ability, make it easier on yourself!
This is probably old news for many people, but it became a great help for me today. I have 100mb available on my work account. Inbox, Sent Mail, and anything sent to the Deleted folder - it can all only total 100mb. E-mails from parents and/or students can be legal documents - and you never know when they will be necessary!
I signed up for a gMail account from google. This is the e-mail google offers, and you no longer need to be invited to join. My hotmail accounts, and work accounts are now forwarded to there, where e-mail isn't deleted, but archived! I also have 8000mb for use with all my e-mails. At the end of each semester, I can archive the work e-mail and burn a back-up disk, whereas I did not have the ability to do that from our work e-mail system.
Of course, of course, all this is limited in most schools by a very strict firewall and highly limited access to the internet. However, if you do have the access and ability, make it easier on yourself!
Saturday, August 22, 2009
new growth, little sprouts
I'm sitting out on the patio of my apartment this morning, enjoying the cool weather from the high marine layer. I don't enjoy my patio as much as I ought to - it's a very public place, viewable by anyone passing by. A small brick wall, and a low hedge separate the public from the semi-private space. When we moved in, we chose this particular unit because of the beautiful maple tree that provides a leafy green shade. I'm glad to be out here now before the leaves drop in the fall.
So, this hedge has a lot of new growth. Perky leaves of a lighter green that are sprouting up from the old dark green hedge. The leaves are so new and healthy, that I'm hoping they won't be trimmed anytime soon. They're not quite baby leaves, almost full-sized, but still that gorgeous light green that radiates youth, energy, optimism.
Suddenly, I think of my incoming Freshmen students. I can't wait to meet them!
I finally caved against the ridiculous internal battle of whether to buy an easel or not to buy an easel. My table-sized easel is perfect for how I paint now - definitely not as large as when I was in school, and now with acrylics instead of oil; a change prompted by pregnancy, and now continued because 3-year olds are neither patient, nor disinterested in painting.
Having a work-in-progress out and readily accessible when returning home from the school is far more satisfying than flopping down in front of the TV, trying to dull away the stress of the day. As I sat in front of the easel, thinking I'd get about twenty minutes of painting in before having to return to chores, I felt my entire mood relaxing a lot faster than it used to. I processed thoughts internally with the paintbrush in my hands and some music on in the background. Amazingly, my three year-old became inspired and began drawing next to me. An hour had passed before we realized it, and all was calm in our home. What a difference it made in the day!
So, this hedge has a lot of new growth. Perky leaves of a lighter green that are sprouting up from the old dark green hedge. The leaves are so new and healthy, that I'm hoping they won't be trimmed anytime soon. They're not quite baby leaves, almost full-sized, but still that gorgeous light green that radiates youth, energy, optimism.
Suddenly, I think of my incoming Freshmen students. I can't wait to meet them!
I finally caved against the ridiculous internal battle of whether to buy an easel or not to buy an easel. My table-sized easel is perfect for how I paint now - definitely not as large as when I was in school, and now with acrylics instead of oil; a change prompted by pregnancy, and now continued because 3-year olds are neither patient, nor disinterested in painting.
Having a work-in-progress out and readily accessible when returning home from the school is far more satisfying than flopping down in front of the TV, trying to dull away the stress of the day. As I sat in front of the easel, thinking I'd get about twenty minutes of painting in before having to return to chores, I felt my entire mood relaxing a lot faster than it used to. I processed thoughts internally with the paintbrush in my hands and some music on in the background. Amazingly, my three year-old became inspired and began drawing next to me. An hour had passed before we realized it, and all was calm in our home. What a difference it made in the day!
Thursday, August 20, 2009
sifting through the curriculum
The new academic year presents teachers with a good opportunity for reflection on the curriculum. As Art Educators we have a bit more flexibility here then educators in most other content areas.
Personally, I'll be changing my grading policy. I'm going to try basing my own system on point values only - not weighing grades. I'm not sure it will make a difference on my end of the grade dance, but it may make a great deal of difference to the parents and students. Hopefully it will clarify the students' stance in class prior to progress reports. Even with Powerschool online grading where parents and students have 24/7 access to grades, the weighted grades confused a great deal of our students and parents.
I'm also incorporating guided blogging, where the students and I reflect together on the topics and current events in our content area. I'm excited in learning about the research: students who blog interactively with their teacher improve their writing skills at a much faster rate!
The head of our English Department requested that we teachers all bring in and have on display our own college papers, marked up by our professors. It brings a human perspective, shows where we have made errors, and where we have succeeded. We have many areas to support literacy at our small little school.
Lots of planning and paperwork to do prior to day one, but it's well underway!
Personally, I'll be changing my grading policy. I'm going to try basing my own system on point values only - not weighing grades. I'm not sure it will make a difference on my end of the grade dance, but it may make a great deal of difference to the parents and students. Hopefully it will clarify the students' stance in class prior to progress reports. Even with Powerschool online grading where parents and students have 24/7 access to grades, the weighted grades confused a great deal of our students and parents.
I'm also incorporating guided blogging, where the students and I reflect together on the topics and current events in our content area. I'm excited in learning about the research: students who blog interactively with their teacher improve their writing skills at a much faster rate!
The head of our English Department requested that we teachers all bring in and have on display our own college papers, marked up by our professors. It brings a human perspective, shows where we have made errors, and where we have succeeded. We have many areas to support literacy at our small little school.
Lots of planning and paperwork to do prior to day one, but it's well underway!
Thursday, August 06, 2009
The beauty of the mythical Phoenix
It's amazing how renewal sometimes will surprise you. Like the mythical Phoenix bird.
A few weeks ago, the '79 VW Bus caught on fire. The fuel lines were new, we don't know what caused the fire - but I left the bonnet unlocked and someone may have tampered with the engine. It doesn't matter now. It's completely destroyed. The very next day, my Friend Joey posted some works of his on his FB profile. The Phoenix Woman is the image shown here. Joey Gonzalez is an amazing artist, and I hope he will sell me a print, (or a copy of the digital file)!
Because of the Bus' destruction - complete destruction - I bought a new car. While I was completely happy with my "hippy-mobile" , commuting 60 miles a day in L.A. traffic, I am so spoiled now with a 5-star safety rating, ac, power windows, power steering, airbags, and an integrated system for my iPod (books and podcasts during the commute!)
I also actually filled up my Mac mini's hard drive so much with the images and comic books that I CRASHED IT! A few hours at InVision Mac Services in Tustin, CA (HIGHLY RECOMMENDED) I have a MUCH bigger hard drive, and 2 gigs of ram. What I had with my mini was fabulous, now it's super-charged, ready to podcast and host sites, get back to digitizing my student's art, creating my own digital works, and keeping current with how to use the shiny new tools.
Destruction can be helpful at times. It makes room for bringing in something new.
Now, how can I incorporate this into my teaching or curriculum?
*in my experience, InVision's staff is far superior in support, knowledge, and helpfulness than any Mac store I've been to!
Sunday, July 12, 2009
ArtEducation2.0
I've recently had the time to explore the Art Education 2.0 social networking site. The site fosters collaboration with Art Education professionals, and focuses on the use of new technology in art classrooms.
It is a fabulous resource with many ideas and collaborative opportunities. There's a group beginning on how to use the Twitter application in your art classroom. Another group is working as a Special Interest group for ISTE.
Check out the sites and sign up!
It is a fabulous resource with many ideas and collaborative opportunities. There's a group beginning on how to use the Twitter application in your art classroom. Another group is working as a Special Interest group for ISTE.
Check out the sites and sign up!
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