Teacher Practitioner Reflection

Purpose: To share a classroom application with members of your professional learning community. Wow, there are so many to choose from. I think my favorite was claytionary as a way of formative assessment. It was so much fun for the kids and I. The students were so excited and having a great time. The kids were hooting and hollering which was really fun to see. Luckily, there was not class around us so I didn't need to shoosh them. It also got kids who normally did not interact with each other, interacting with each other. That was one of my favorite things. I would like to implement more of these type of social learning opportunities. With 1 to 1 Ipads it is important to keep the kids social, rather than in their own individual worlds. Step 1: Reflect back over this last school year as a lot has happen for you and your students. We incorporated Ipads 9-12 as a 1 to 1. It is still a learning process as to which programs work best and when the Ipad should be used. I used more formative assessment approaches and I used a more holistic rubric for my summative assessment on one assignment. I had to kids try new things with me such as inside/outside circle, When someone claps twice, walk and talks, critiques with post its, backwards design units that continues to be reflected upon and updated my website. I made videos that would be used for flipped classroom. I have done a lot of reflecting constantly on my teaching and the relationships I have with my students. I can also say that the project art club was successful. We will be having an art club for 2014/2015!! The kids and I are very excited. I also was able to have many beneficial conversations with my RB2 community, my critical friend and my SAGA group. 5 Changes you made with regards to your practice. I worked together with my students to concur our technology challenges. I tried new ways of formative and summative assessment and I found myself reflecting a lot about my teaching and my students. 4 Different ways your students learned this year. They learned through real life experiences with the Raku Workshop (used all 5 senses except taste), hands on projects, using technology as a new medium, used brain based learning and multiple intelligence and created more of a community in the classroom. 3 Great things your colleagues would say about you and/or your classroom this year. I think they would say that the students liked the extra opportunities to display their work in shows and contests. Staff appreciates the mini murals that went up around our bare school walls. They were happy to see new technology being integrated into the classroom. Congratulated me on getting the art club started at the high school for next year. Worked as a team to get the proposal set for the Adobe Creative Suite Design and Web premium for next year. 2 Changes you would like to make for next year based on what happen this year. I would like to incorporate more of the Ipad assignments into my curriculum. I will also be incorporating (hopefully) Adobe Creative Suite Design and Web premium. 1 The most important thing yours students will take away from being in your classroom. Understanding processes of art techniques, appreciating art history, proper vocabulary, a comfortable and safe environment within their art community and will be able to critique their own work and others.

Action Research Reflection

I incorporated the Ipad into my classroom and collected data to measure if it was helpful or harmful in the art classroom. I assigned the students to draw one of their sketchbook assignments on the Ipad using Adobe Ideas app. I had them first download the app and then we went over a quick tutorial using Air Server. This made it so that the kids could see what was on my Ipad or even other students Ipad on the Smartboard. I actually had a student that was familiar with the app give the lesson. I was asking many of the students do something they are not comfortable with. The students have Ipads access in all of their classes and they were pretty reasonable about the assignment. When it was due the following week about the same amount of kids turned theirs in as usual. There were a couple that had "technical difficulties" and that can be hard to make judgements about what is fact and what is fiction. I gave the kids a participation grade since it was new to all of them. There are some conflicts, because the students can use layers to draw over another pictures which means it would fall under copying or tracing. Some of the students were very surprised at how long it took to draw a quality picture. Some mentioned about 5 hours and the class requirement was 1.5 hours. I think with more practice this will become just one more medium the kids are familiar with. I was very happy with the results of this project and I will be putting it into my curriculum for next year. My question for my action research is if the Ipad is helpful or harmful in the art classroom? I am looking at changing assignments to incorporate the Ipad, but I am weighing if past methods are better or new technology ones. Which projects will be the post enriching for my curriculum? I collected my data by having the students fill out a google survey. I had them answer if they had used Adobe Ideas before or something similar? If they liked the assignment? How important it was to them? If they would prefer to do a hand drawn sketchbook rather than an Ipad one? I needed to know what experience they had with drawing apps and if it was important to them. I had mixed reviews. This the responses I got: https://docs.google.com/a/byron.k12.mn.us/forms/d/1MIwUBKPXkewhQY05qc87TAmNrjh_liMfSs43NIPR3iI/viewanalytics With looking at the responses I got I think that doing the sketchbook assignment at least 3-4 times a quarter will build their confidence and familiarity. The next step will be to add the Ipad sketchbooks into the curriculum for next year. My goal would be to have half of the sketchbooks assigned to be designed on the Ipad. My next step if we get the software, Adobe Creative Design and Web I a proposal in then they will transfer their Ipad sketch to the PC computer to add layers and fonts. I have decided what the pc part of the project will be yet, but there will be many more manipulation possibilities with this software. This would give the sketchbook more meaning and permanence. This would also further my technology goal.

Brain Based Learning

The methods used in the art classroom for brain based learning are as follows: Drawing and Art: Spatial (Multiple intelligence) and Tactile Kinesthetic (Learning Style)- We use this everyday and most of the kids really enjoy doing hands on work. Brainstorming- Verbal linguistic (MI) and Auditory (MI). We do this before every project. It gets the ideas flowing and the students can bounce ideas off of each other. Games- Interpersonal (MI) and Tactile Kinesthetic (LS). Kids really enjoyed playing games. We played claytionary and they were in groupd of 4. Each person had to take a turn using the clay. kids were racing to find out the word that they would need to show. Kids also got points earlier in the hour showing their answers in their groups on clipboards with dry erase markers. They had a great day and I was able to formatively assess them. The kids also worked with students they wouldn't normally work or interact with in class. Music- Musical rhythm (MI) and Auditory (LS) Students find this very motivating. Gets them in their flow. Technology- Spatial (MI) and Visual Tactile (LS)- We use Ipads in the art classroom. My students are questionable about how much they like to use them and if they are the most efficient tool. Visual - Spatial (MI) and Visual (LS)- Lots of visual examples and references for students. Along with demonstrations for them to learn from. Field Trips- Naturalist (MI) and Tactile Kinesthetics (LS)- Students get real world experience when they do the raku clay workshop. This trip actually comes to us and appeals to all of the senses. This is a great and well liked experience.