Integrated Lesson Plan- Week 11

Integrated Lesson Plan

Subject: Art

Grade Level: 9th Grade

Lesson: Figure in Motion-(short animation using clay figures)

This lesson will be used in a unit for the figure in motion.  The objective of the lesson will be to teach students about the anatomy of the figure and how it moves.  We will then use what we have learned on the anatomy and motion and create small clay sculptures as our characters in a short animated film.

The first session will be done independently, in which the students will have the opportunity to learn the bascis of the human form. They will be required to have a sketchbook with various drawings on the sketletal structure, muscles and joints.  They will need to research and use the biology labs as references.  The sketches will then be analyzed and shared with the class for discussion and critique.

Once a basic understanding of the figure is established, a trip will be arranged in a local dance studio, where the students can sketch freely and put together what they have learned of the anatomy of the body with motion.  They will have quick gesture drawings which will allow them to see how the body can move and how the joints and muscles they have studied come into play.

The student will then be put into groups of 3 to 4 and will have to come up with a short story which will be used for their animation.  Once all storylines are reviewed and approved, the students will be responsible for setting up a backdrop(stage& props) for their scenes.  It can range from nature, interiors, or whatever goes with their story and should be painted on mat board or cardboard. They will be required to have a least two characters made with a wire skeletal system (which they can use their earlier sketches to reference)  and plasticine(clay) covering which is very pliable and durable.

Lastly, after all the backgrounds, props and figures are created, it is time to create the animation!

They will use a digital camera and take 20-30 shots , moving the figures and the scene slightly in each shot in order to created the movement for the final product.  The completed animations should be no more than 3 minutes long.

The images will be uploaded onto the computer and compiled using Microsoft Movie Maker to complete the project. Using this program, the images and arranged and shown at the right speed so the characters come to life.  Music and dialogue are optional.

This lesson will not only teach them about the anatomy and motion of the figure, but it will allow them to use what they have learned and bring it to life.

Week 10- Texting

Over the past years it is evident that the use of technology has been a major part of kids everyday life.  They are either texting friends, posting thoughts and photos on facebook or myspace, sharing personal information with each other, which is a great way of communication, but this could lead to inappropriate misuse of technology which we have seen in this weeks lesson.

 

Kids taking their lives because of the simple mistakes that kids have been making for years.  Trusting the wrong people and not thinking of the repercussions of their actions.  Lets face it they are kids, most of us have made pretty stupid mistakes at that age as well, the only differencce is that with technology, the information spreads quickly to large masses and there is always a record of it that the child can't seem to escape.

I believe that a parent should be responsible for teaching their child the proper way to use the technology they are allowing their children to have access to.  Their should be  boundaries set, which will allow their kids freedom to explore, but should be monitored for inappropriate behaviour.  Parents need to take a more active role in knowing their kids and looking for clues which show signs of trouble and informing their kids on what is safe and what could be a potential threat.

As for schools, I feel strongly against having cell phones use during school hours.  Is there really a need for it?  If there is an emergency, the school usually has access to all the parents information. Unfortunaltly, that is not the reality and kids have access to their cell phones during school hours, so it would only make sence for the school to teach kids the right way to share information and the repercussions for using technology in the wrong way. 

Fair Use

As defined in the Copyright 101 article, fair use allows for protected work to be used or copied for educational purposes and does not require the permission to be copied.  The four factors which help define fair use include:

1) the purpose of the use
2) the nature of the work
3) the amount of work used in relation to the work as a whole
4) the effect of the use on the market or income

How fair use applies to education:

Many educators either are not aware or choose not to take into consideration the copyright laws when preparing for lessons or showing material.   After reading these articles, things that I thought were acceptable obviously are not fair use.  We need to take into consideration that the work should be used for educational reasons to support our ideas.   Students need to be made aware that using the material for instructional purposes is acceptable but need to be aware that when using material outside of education, permission must always be granted by owner.  After taking that quiz and realizing how horrible I had done, I really feel that it is important for me to educate myself on what is acceptable and how to use the information properly.

Technology Information Matrix-Assignment 8

In this blog post I have chosen "Animal Story: An Informal Narrative" 1-1 as my example which is listed under the Active Learning and Infusion category in the Technology Matrix.

In this lesson, the students were to do multiple assignments which involved the Everglades.  The students went out on field trip with their parents to the Everglades park, they had a guest speaker, read related books and researched on the Internet.  They were then required to take the information and use it new and innovative ways.  They created a mural, short stories, slideshows, gameboards and even created a news broadcast.  The students were exposed to not only the real world experience and traditional learning methods, but they were able to explore with different types of technology, such as Ilife, Iphotos,Imovies and sound files to create their final project.

The Nets for Teachers standards that best apply to this lesson were:

1. Facilitate and Inspire Student Learning and Creativity

A.	promote, support, and model creative and innovative thinking and inventiveness.
B.	engage students in exploring real-world issues and solving authentic problems using digital tools and resources.
D.	model collaborative knowledge construction by engaging in learning with students, colleagues, and others i face-to-face and virtual environments.

2. Design and Develop Digital-Age Learning Experiences and Assessments

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

3. Model Digital-Age Work and Learning

A.	demonstrate fluency in technology systems and the transfer                                                   of current knowledge to new technologies and situations.
B.	collaborate with students, peers, patents and community members                                   using digital tools and resources to support student success and innovation.

   

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.

Well after finally allowing myself to push through what I thought was going to be impossible, I realized that I knew a little more about technology or at least found a way to understand it than I was giving myself credit for.  I believe that I am probably at the Adaption stage, I definitely want to push myself further and be able to engage the students and allow them to use technology to their advantage the way this 4th grade teacher did in her class.

Week 7- Impressionist Podcast

Podcast Powered By Podbean

In this podcast, I used Impressionism as my main focus to discuss what was reviewed in class as well as what is to be expected on an upcoming exam. I used the podcast to review the movement, techniques and artist and how what they have learned is to be used in their next weeks assingment.

I found using the podcast as a great tool for teachers to use to help their students review material that was covered in class as well as for students who must miss class and can easily get the information at home without falling behind. I would be very open to using podcasts in my class, not only for my students, but it acts as an organizer of materials covered for the teacher as well.

Week 5 Slidecast

Welcome to art[1]

View more webinars from Artist79.

It is great to see that there is another way of delivering informantion to our students and parents, which can be delivered and accessed easily. In art, this would be a great way to create study notes which would have slides of various art aided with audio, and easily viewed as a study aid from home.

Week 4 Assignment

Using Google Docs to create a slideshow was not as bad as I had imagined. I was able to easily compose the slides and add photos and text. This would certainly be a useful tool in the classroom if it were used to post a student's work that could easily be viewed by the class and teacher. Also, embedding the presentation into a blog makes it easy to view without opening up seperate documents.

Week 3: Rough Draft-Lesson Plan

8.1 Educational Technology:

All students will use digital tools to access, manage, evaluate, and synthesize information in order to solve problems individually and collaboratively and to create and communicate knowledge.

Strand: A-Technology Operations and Concepts

Grade: 12

Content Statement: The use of technology and digital tools requires knowledge and appropriate use of operations and related applications.

Cumulative Progress Indicator (CPI) 8.1.12.A.4:

Create a personalized digital portfolio that contains a résumé, exemplary projects, and activities, which together reflect personal and academic interests, achievements, and career aspirations

Content Area:  Visual Art

Students are expected to know how to set up a webpage which will have multiple tabs to include a résumé (word document) and digital photography of works of art

In this activity students will be able to have a collective representation of their work and achievements throughout their 4 years of high school.  The digital portfolio will include a résumé, 10 to 15 of their best works of art from various mediums, achievements and future aspirations.

Grade 12: AP Studio Art Students

-students will select 10-15 pieces of art from various mediums to be mounted, labeled, dated and digitally photographed to be uploaded onto personal webpage

-each student will set up a webpage which will exemplify their creative background as future Artists-depending on concentration (i.e.) ceramics, illustration

-upload completed résumé

-webpage is to include separate tabs for each component: résumé, portfolio, etc.

The students will have a complete package which will be easy and effective when applying to schools which can easily showcase their artwork and accomplishments.  This is also a great project to learn in order to keep a current portfolio for job searching.

Week 3: 21st Century Skills

The New Jersey Core Curriculum standards have been established as a framework for educators to follow in order to assess the progress of each student by the completion of each grade level and content area.  The standards are broken down into 9 content areas and are organized by grade level.  These standards can be very useful to an educator to outline the course as well as keep track of the student’s individual progress. 

But, will these standards allow for educators to work creatively and freely without the pressure of having each student meet these curriculum goals? In my experience, each student is unique and may learn and grasp ideas in different ways, but only relying on the core curriculum standards may hinder the educator from seeing a different perspective and teaching creatively. Although I have yet to be challenged with these issues, I find it very important for me to understand and incorporate these useful standards into my assessments, but still keep an open mind to the progress of each student.

One very important standard that is constantly changing with our environment is Technology.  Today, everything we touch and do involves technology.  It is our responsibility as educators to move with the times and be prepared to use technology in our classrooms. We should be able to adapt our teaching style to keep the students engaged and give them the tools to thrive in our technologically sound society but at the same time give them the opportunity to be innovative.

In the Chatham High School video, Old School, New School, which I consider a very high tech school, we see two very different perspectives on teaching.  Firstly, we are introduced to Steve Maher, a history teacher, who believes that kids are exposed to so much media, that there needs to be a way to capture their attention. He teaches his class using smart boards and podcast sessions to keep his students engaged and interested. He keeps a very open mind to how the students collect information and use it.  Mr. Maher is aware of our fast paced society which demands immediate answers, and is willing to consider this new way of learning and teaching.

The second point of view comes from Rose Porpora, an English teacher, who considers herself a “Dinosaur” in terms of using technology in the classroom. She feels it is very hard for kids today to keep their focus due to the overexposure to technology.  She speaks of the kids having trouble “carving out meaning” when they are not exposed to immediate answers. 

The two teacher from Chatham H.S. seem to have a disconnection in their teaching approaches.  Frank Draper, a Science teacher, from the video Integration of 21^st Century Skills: Hydrology, is a great example of an educator which incorporates the best of both worlds.  He takes his students out of the classroom and into the field to conduct research and experience the work first hand.  After the students observe and collect data, they are exposed to technology by means of computer simulations and are able to see the effects of their experiments in different locations around the country through Google Earth. The students are learning practical lessons as well as being able to use technology to organize their ideas and thoughts. 

Although, I still have a lot to learn about teaching and integration of technology into our classrooms, I find myself wanting to learn more about how to help my students to think on their own as well as use technology as a tool instead of a crutch, to know how to find answers and to know what those answers really mean.  I want to be part of a school and a district which has strong teaching values, but that also is willing to advance in the direction of technology to keep up with our students and give them the most out of their education!

Assignment 2- School District Website

After searching a few school district websites, I was really pleased with the overall feeling I got from the Haledon School District site.  The opening home page showcased the students in a slideshow which depicted them in various activities, such as concerts, plays, commutinty service and a graduation ceremony.  It was a great display of the overall feeling and character of the school district. It was colorful, cheery and very inviting.

Aesthetically, the site is very well organized and balanced, with easy to find tabs for students, teacher and parents.  The site made it very easy for parents to access the latest news and updates from their child's school.  The informtion included everything from PTA meetings to sports schedules.  Most importantly, it had webpages for each faculty member, which had the teacher's information as well as updates on assingments and links to resourseful websites pertaining to that particular subject. 

The student link was my favorite.  The students are a click away from educational brainteaser sites to the school's library media center.  They have quick links to museums and resources from around the world, as well as reference resources which they can access from home. Overall, Haldon School District really makes it a point to to involve their students in the new way of using technology, which will be such a benefit to them as they move through school and life.

Week 1

So, this is my first time ever setting up a Blog, and I was a little hesitant at first but realized quickly that it was quite simple.  I would say my background using technology is limited to the basics.  High School is when I first became familiar with the Internet and began using it a s a resource to collect information.  As I went on to college, using technology became a little more important, in that communicating with professors and students was crucial, especially for group projects, where getting together is almost always impossible.  Today, using Smartphones and social networking keeps the information at your fingertips at all times, the latest news, emails and the web.  Although I am cautious about social networking sites like Facebook, I do find other sites such as LinkedIn to be very useful in networking for my job as well as connecting with previous classmates and professors.  In today's economy it is always useful to have a strong network which you can rely on to generate more business.  I'm hoping that this class can help me broaden my knowledge of technology and open my mind up to new ways of using this tool.

One great way of using technology as a tool was demonstrated in the article "Four Takes on Technology".  There were some interesting ways that technology was used to not only better the students but the teachers as well.  In Students Teaching Teachers by Hsueh-Hua Chuang and Ann Thompson, they describe how the students take the GenYES course to learn valuable skills which they turn around and mentor their teachers.  The students create a video embedded power point project, which allows the students to gather the research from various places, analyze it and produce a new useful tool to teach others. This is a great tool and one that I relate to very well.  Being an artist, it is very useful to quickly watch a YouTube video which demonstrates a technique in minutes and can be applied immediately.  As a visual person, it is much easier for me to see the step by step process of a technique instead of reading about it.

I have made it through my first blog and am excited to learn new ways to improve my technology background. I'm hoping this class can not only improve my skills but help me understand how to use technology as a tool for more future students.

-Emilia