Saturday, November 3, 2007

Multimedia-Jackson Pollock and Modern Art


Subject-ART

Grade Level-TWO

GLO- F. Photography and Technographic Arts

Take advantage of the visual art implications of any available technological device, and explore the potential of emerging technologies.

SLO-Included at this level: Emerging technologies, as available and applicable.

http://www.nga.gov/feature/pollock/process3qt.shtm

http://www.jacksonpollock.org/

The multimedia art component is coming much more to the forefront not, although the program of studies has quite a vague reference to media arts and the like because new technologies were just emerging in the mid-1980’s. This is when the Fine Arts sections were last redone.

Description

The first website is about the life of Jackson Pollock and there Quick time film clips of Pollock’s painting style that I would have the students watch. I would also have them look at some of the website guided by myself on the Smartboard. The next website is a fun activity that can be used by the students in the computer lab. Each student can make their own Jackson Pollock drip painting by moving the mouse around and clicking to change the colour. It is a lot of fun and interesting for the students.

Integration

I would integrate this into my classroom, but using both of these websites to introduce the Modern Art unit. I would end the lesson by having the students make drip paintings of their own during an outdoor art lesson, as it can be very messy.

Planning and Preparation

To prepare for this lesson, I would go to the first Pollock website and read the entire content. I would choose some relevant areas to show to the class during my Smartboard lesson. Before the class in the computer lab, I would bookmark the Flash clips for the students, as well as the other Pollock website.

Subject Outcome

The students will gain an appreciation for Jackson Pollock’s modern art process.

ICT Outcomes

Students will gain an understanding of the artist Jackson Pollock through websites featuring said artist. They will use computers to watch a multi media Flash clip on Pollock’s painting process with featured voice clips from the artist. They will make art with the computer and manipulation of the computer mouse.

Sunday, October 28, 2007

Reflections on Internet Safety

I decided on beautiful orange font colour today, since it is so close to Halloween! Enjoy!!

The internet is a dangerous place. It is also the future, so we must learn how to navigate it safely. Students are being introduced to the internet at a young age, so we should start this introduction with a 'internet safety demo'. If students are taking shop class, they must have a shop demo that goes over all the safety procedures and there is usually a booklet to read and a test to take before shop access is allowed. Why is it then, that we allow children access to the internet without such a demo? I feel that this type of demo for internet safety should be given at the beginning of each school, with age-related, relevant subjects updated frequently.

For teachers the WebQuest option is really great. With this program teachers are able to write up an internet, research-related lesson plan that includes links to websites of their choosing. Teachers can then take the time to screen these websites before allowing their students to access them. This is a good option for students that are just learning how to navigate the internet. It also cuts back on the navigation time, as the relevant websites are easily accessed.

Sunday, October 21, 2007

Spreadsheets in the Classroom

I was very impressed with what spreadsheets could do! I had never used a spreadsheet before my assignment and loved the ease with which I could calculate data. While using Microsoft Excel it was very obvious that spreadsheets would be used to calculate grades in the classroom. Another way to use them would be to keep ongoing attendance records. Lates and absences could be calculated at the end of each term to add to the report cards and children with perfect attendance and/or no lates could be rewarded for their efforts.


I thought that introducing spreadsheets into a grade two classroom would be a challenge, but looking back at the language arts lesson that my TA taught this past Thursday, I was inspired! She was teaching the class about nouns, verbs, and adjectives. She had created columns on the board, with the noun, verb, and adjective headings and the class brainstormed many Halloween-related words to fill the columns. If the technology was available, then this lesson could be transfered to a spreadsheet...whether it be through a smart board in the classroom, individual computer time or a projector connected to the classroom computer. It's a simple concept for a spreadsheet, but it could be made into a chart to see what the class liked the most as noun, verb and adjective and those words could be used in a Halloween poem.

Sunday, October 14, 2007

Discussion Boards

Using discussion boards in the classroom could be a nice way for children to learn critical thinking and writing skills. They will also be able to learn how to participate in an online discussion while learning about the subject on the discussion board. I do feel that discussion boards are probably only good for middle school and up, unless there is a LOT of teacher participation and this would be a time management issue then.

Five ways that discussion boards could enhance classroom interactions are...

1) The teacher could start a thread for discussion, therefore leading a discussion online.
2) The students could possibly interact with other classes around the city, province or country!
3) The students could gain valuable knowledge about discussion board topics.
4) The students would have a safe place to express themselves and even shy students would be able to participate in classroom discussions.
5) The students would learn proper discussion etiquette, plus grammar and spelling, by the teacher being the moderator.



Sunday, October 7, 2007

Concept Mapping Natural Disasters



This concept map of natural disasters would work well in a science unit. It will help students classify and organize data after gathering and identifying information. These are two of the ICT outcomes that fit very nicely into this lesson. Foundational operations, knowledge and concepts are another ICT outcome that this science concept map relates to.

I believe that seeing the concept map will help students classify in their minds and memory map. Not all students learn this particular way, but for those that do learn visually, the natural disasters concept map will be a great help and visual aid in their learning.

Sunday, September 30, 2007

My Art Lesson Plan


A Geometric Portrait

Paul Klee


A Primary Lesson Plan


Paul Klee is one of my favourite artists. He painted in a unique and personal style; no one else painted like he did. He used pastels, tempera, water color, and a combination of oil and water color, as well as different backgrounds. Klee valued the "primitive," and especially the art of children. He envied their freedom to create signs, and respected their innocence and directness.

Objectives

Students will create a 2 dimensional portrait.

Students will identify and use geometric shapes.

Students will identify the work of artist Paul Klee.

Vocabulary

color, resist, geometric shapes.

Materials: shape tracers including large circle, rectangle, square, triangle, oil pastels, 11"x17" white paper, orange tempera paint thinned with water and wide flat brushes.

Procedure

Ask students to recall having had their school picture taken. Tell them that was a photograph portrait but there are also portraits which are painted. Show the print of Senecio (Head of Man) by Paul Klee. Have students draw a portrait of someone in the class or themselves using geometric shapes that they have outlined or have drawn themselves. Have them press hard as they color in the shapes with the oil pastels. Paint the drawing by dipping the brush in the wash and moving it from one side to the other across the top. Dip again, slightly overlap and paint a second row. Continue to the bottom. If the layer of paint is too thick you can blot with paper towels to allow the pastels to show through. Allow to dry.

Assessment

  • uses geometric shapes to create a portrait
  • uses materials appropriately
  • participates in discussion

Integration of Technology

Students will use an illustrator computer program to create another Paul Klee type portrait using the same basic principles. For example, they will put geometric shapes together to create a portrait and they will apply an opaque mask or another effect to entire portrait to create the illusion of paint.

Source

Modern Art-Elementary Lesson Plans

Written by Tabitha Ward

http://members.aol.com/TWard64340/modern.htm


GLE-General Learner Expectations

Reflection, depiction, composition and expression.

A Learning Experience

Opportunity should be provided for experiences that contribute to:

-a knowledge of the vocabulary of basic art terms and expressions appropriate to the student’s level of development

-skills and techniques necessary for meaningful self-expression by the child

-an understanding of art media, materials and processes and their appropriate use

-an understanding of the expressive content inherent in visual forms.

In Depiction, the basic skills of image making are developed using one of more of the three reflective areas as referents. These skills are developed according to forms and their proportions, actions and viewpoints and the qualities and details of those forms.

SLE’s Specific Learner Expectations

Depiction

Component 4-Main Forms and Proportions: Students will perfect forms and develop more realistic treatments.

Concepts A, B, and C

A-Shapes can suggest movement or stability

B-Many shapes are symmetrical

C-Images can be portrayed in varying degrees of realism.

ICT Relevance-Processes for Productivity

P3-Students will communicate through multimedia

>create a multimedia presentation, incorporating such features as visual images (clip art, video clips), sounds (live recordings, sound clips) and animated images, appropriate to a variety of audiences and purposes.

>Access available databases to support communication.

Why use technology?-the fine arts curriculum is so outdated that using any type of technology improves the lesson because it adds the current world to the old world. It puts art in a more up-to-date context. With this particular lesson plan the children will learn the art historical way to create a Paul Klee-type portrait and then they will integrate illustrator-type technology to create another portrait. I hope that it will give the students an appreciation for both types of art making.

Saturday, September 22, 2007

The Good and Bad of Technology Integration

Technology Integration in the classroom is something teachers deal with on a daily basis. It is the actuality of living and teaching in today's urban society. The article "Linking Technology, Learning and School Change" by, Alan Feldman, Bob Coulter and Cliff Konold, discusses one particular teacher's journey to technology integration in his classroom. William took the initiative to work toward a smooth transition, which did not happen over night. It took a lot of work and cooperation with many people to make it happen; including Laura who concentrated less on hardware and wires and more on integration . It also took several years before he was able to work with technology so easily that it truly enhanced his unit and lesson plans. The point is that it did enhance his lessons. His classroom was able to cooperatively learn with other classrooms around the country and thus gained a much more accurate and deeper understanding of the lessons William had taught them.

Unfortunately this type of integration can only happen in a school that is lucky enough to have technology support and sufficient in-school computers. The funding is just not there in many communities, although there are people, like Nicholas Negroponte, who are working to make computers more accessible to all individuals. He is spearheading a project called One Laptop Per Child. If we are able to overcome the financial limitations, I believe it is just a matter of time before all classrooms are technologically integrated.