Changing Roles of Teachers

Redefining teaching....a scary thought! We have to connect, create content, collaborate, coach AND be a change agent? Whew! Things have sure changed since I graduated from college. At that time (back in the dark ages), a good art teacher just had to be able to teach a few skills and techniques and maybe throw in a little art history guaranteed to bore the kids. Artists by nature are not collaborators....we all want to do our own thing. So...how will this look in my classroom?

Connecting will be a fun change! Online critiques, sharing of images and ideas, blogs, wikis and voicethreads, oh my! What a wonderful way to extend the short time we have in class and to include more time examining art and talking about art. How exciting! Creating content is the really fun part of my job. I love to research and find new and exciting "starting points" for my kids...and seeing where they will lead. I am still not good at student collaboration. Too often, one of the team members does all the work (or most of it anyway). How can I make this more collaborative and less leader driven? Coaching is something I have gotten much better at doing, particularly since I completed my National Board Certification. Those videos were very informative! And finally, a change agent. Hmmm....this one may take more pondering and prayer!

The Read/Write Web is an exciting place to be in 2009....and in this financial crisis...one that can be accessed for the right price!

2009 and Digital Submissions

Happy New Year! 2009 will be a challenging one for me technologically speaking. My Scholastic Art Awards entries must be entered digitally and this was a huge problem last year. The national site did not have enough resources to handle the load of student submissions. We ended up doing it the old fashioned way....on paper! My AP Portfolio submissions will also be digital this year! This is a positive change as it costs us upwards of $1000 to take and process slides. The digital submission is ongoing and the photography results are immediate. The college board has moved into the 21st century! My 10 year old scanner has now been connected to my new Macs....yeah for Bill!

Marzano VoiceThread

AP Portfolio

Voicethread

I have been attempting to embed my Voicethread into my blog. However, the Voicethread automatically goes to Colton's Corner instead of my Digital Classroom by Smith! This is an attempt to trick it into the correct blog!

Stumble!

Stumble! is AWESOME! I have discovered so many sites through this process....sites that benefit my students and enrich my teaching. If I learn nothing more than this from the the Digital Classroom class, it has been well worth the time and effort! I have found inspirational web pages, great tutorials, and just fun places to explore. If you have not yet discovered Stumble!....check it out soon.