Webquest Wonderful!

This project was actually not too hard, once I figured out the best (easiest) way to get what I wanted out of it. It took me a while, though, and a few wrong turns... to get to the end result. At one point I was so frustrated that I wanted to just give up... but then I read on the class discussion pages that someone had success with a site called zunal.com, so I decided to try it. Zunal.com made creating a WebQuest easy. I knew what I wanted my Webquest to look like, and zunal.com helped to make that vision a reality. I tried several times on google docs, to construct a WebQuest using google sites, but I wasn't getting anywhere with it. Thank heavens for the class discussion pages! I have frequently turned to the pages to read through where others have asked similar questions already... It's a great way not to bug Dr. Pierce (or anyone else for that matter!) if not absolutely necessary.
My WebQuest is one that I definitely plan on using in my classroom. I created it to go along with my own personal experience of meeting the Inuit people and learning a great deal about them on an extended stay in Alaska several years ago. It will also serve as an excellent launching point to show my own Inuit artifacts to further help them in the creation of their own Inuit sculpture.
One thing that I do want to say though, as sort of a personal criticism. When I found the example WebQuest on webquest.org, I thought... "so cool! I can do that!"... and then as I began struggling I realized that it would take MONTHS to create a WebQuest of that magnitude! So my WebQuest is no-where near the awesome-ness of my selected example work. But I certainly gave it my best shot!
Overall, a terrific final project. A great way to finish this course!

Fun with Data - Narrative

Did I mention I love Excel... It allows those of us not quite gifted in the numerical world the opportunity to appear as though we are! What a great, easy way to create files and organize and save data. It's wonderful to just enter the magic functions where needed and then - Poof - it does the math for you! This is my finalized Excel document and here is the Narrative relating to the data. Very cool project!

Fun With Data - Manipulating Raw Data

Okay... so this part of the Excel project was a little bit more tricky. It definitely took some time to figure out how to do the functions for each part, but once you figure it out it's relatively easy. I kept having wierd problems like an orange box that came up above the cells that I made to show the percentages and numbers required. I tried and tried, but couldn't make the orange box go away, so I just saved my work and took a break, and when I reopened it, it had fixed itself! Excell is a great program to use for any kind of business application. I use it to create my art supply order for school every year.

Fun with Data - Formatting

I really enjoyed this project. It took a few tries to figure out how to do everything, but once I got it I loved it. I like organization... and this project really fed my desire to organize and categorize everything possible. After fixing the Excel pages I uploaded it to google docs. When I uploaded the file it seemed to change a few of the formatting details, which I was easily able to fix on google docs. Overall a great assignment, a few glitches, but nothing I couldn't sort out on my own.

Assessment forms

I was so focused on completing the next project that I failed to complete this one. I do not give written tests in my classroom. The projects that they create are what they are graded on. I utilize authentic assessment. Sorry, but I like the Excell project... and have focused my efforts on it instead.

Assessment - Rubric

I use rubrics for every project that we create. It is the best way for me to grade student art work as objectively as possible. The students are shown the rubric before they begin the projects so that they know what is expected of them. I created a rubric on Rubistar for a pottery project that my 7th graders will begin next week. I did have some trouble uploading the rubric to google doc's, but when it failed to upload google doc's gave suggestions of how to copy and paste in to a new document and then save it. It worked perfectly and was an easy fix.

Movie Maker

I love Movie Maker! It is such a great program. I use it to teach my 8th graders about current trends in art, which are very technology driven. Specifically, I talk about the work of Bill Viola. He is a brilliant "media" artist whose work is meant to create strong feelings within the viewers. I learned how to use movie maker during a summer technology class that I was taking. I have done the movie maker project with my 8th graders since then. It is amazing what the students create. This is my example project that I only had one hour to create during that summer class. I show it to the students as an example of how to create their movies. Also, I have included a few example projects created by students. Also, to meet the requirement for this project I found a powerpoint online for an artist that I am introducing, and followed the steps to turn it into my powerpoint movie. It was very easy!

Google Presentations

Okay, so here is my Jeopardy game again... as posted int he last blog. I am just re-posting to meet the requirement for this assignment.

As for embedding the powerpoint... I am still working on that... I have tried and tried and tried... now I am emailing for help.. so hopefully it will be done by this evening.....
** A great big THANK YOU to Debbie for helping me! It was so simple to embed it with your instructions!

Now for the PDF Presentation. I read in Google Docs help that it is not possible to publish a pdf file, so I hope everyone can see this!

I find the whole process of this powerpoint "saga" to be exhausting. I am definitely learning things I didn't know. But I am tired and frustrated with links that don't work (not just my own!), and attempt after attempt to get one little thing to go right. The assignment asks to post the issues I experienced, but I don't think that there is enough room in my blog space for all the issues I encountered! This entire powerpoint month (it seems) has definitely kicked my butt! I just hope to have met the requirements.

I do think that this is something that would definitely be useful in the classroom, but does the amount of effort expended give equal return in the classroom? That is the real question here.

Jeopardy!

I actually started this project over a week ago, and when I clicked on the "Jeopardy Example" link it didn't work... I just figured it was a faulty link and I went ahead and created my own Jeopardy game. I took an intructional technology class a few summers ago, and we learned how to make them then, fortunately I still had my jeopardy powerpoint from that class, so I simply updated it to my current content standards and objectives and created a game that we will use at the end of the six weeks as a review of the entire art class..... here it is.
Then on Friday I happened to click on the link just to see what the example looked like and that is when I realized that the actual requirement was to fix that "broken" template... now, as I stated in my previous blog, I do not have powerpoint on my PC at home - so, try as I might, I simply didn't have enough time to fix the broken template and redo the entire thing! Sorry, Dr. Pierce! I tried! I would like to say, though, that under the "Required" heading on the Action Buttons project description it does not say anything about fixing a broken template. I noticed that several others in this class also did not know that that was part of the requirement either. So enjoy my jeopardy game! I can't wait to try it with my students!

Powerpoint Webpage

I tried to do this part of the assignment at school this morning, and it worked this morning.... but now it seems that I must have done something wrong. I saved the project as a web page - but still cannot get FTP to work, so I simply linked it from the htm file it provided. I definitely messed up somewhere... and now wish that I did have Powerpoint on my home PC! Here it is.... or was..... I will try to fix it first thing on Monday.

Powerpoint Show

I love the concept of saving the Powerpoint file as a show, because I do not have Powerpoint on my home computer. I create my Powerpoint projects at school, because I only use them to assist my teaching. Being able to save the Powerpoint file as a show allows me to view my creations on my home PC too! What a great idea! My only hangup with this project, and the last - for that matter, is that I have not been successful in getting FTP to work properly. So I have just been importing the Powerpoint files onto my Google Docs page. I hope that's okay! Here is my Powerpoint project saved as a show.

Powerpoint

I love creating powerpoint presentations. I use them from time to time when I introduce new projects. They are great ways to include written information in a visual presentation. I created this powerpoint to help me introduce a project that I am beginning with my seventh graders. I hope you like it!

Podcasting.....Or Not

The podcasting assignment definitely fell by the wayside this past week... A family emergency has required all of my time and energy... and this coming week might still be alittle tough. I have made the difficult decision to cut my losses on this project - an attempt to try to forget the terrible week we just had - and move forward on the new projects ahead. So I will not be completing this project at all, as much as I hate the thought of leaving something undone in my planner! I will take the 5 point deduction and simply try to move forward. Sorry Dr. Pierce!

Web Album

I used Picasa Web album to complete this assignment. I found it to be a very quick and simple way to not only share photos online, but also to "back up" my photos from my PC. I have a hard drive backup, but I always like to know that my important pictures will not be lost in some freak accident that takes out both my computer and my backup drive! My web album has lots of various photos that are special to me. I hope you enjoy them!

PhotoShop Express

I love this program!! I have been trained with the PhotoShop CS2 version, but was never fortunate enough to afford to purchase the program... Teachers don't normally have $700 lying around to buy a photo editing program! Photoshop Express is a much, much more simplified version, but it still allows lots of creativity with photo editing. Here is my photo album showing some editing work on the photos of flowers that I have taken. So far I have been unable to successfully download the edited flower photos to my desktop... I will keep working to figure this out. But for the sake of completing the assignment, here is a photo of myself that I edited using photoshop express.

Online Graphics - Crappy Graphics

I created a Venn Diagram using the Crappy Graphs website. I took a classroom poll today during my Honors Art class to see which type(s) of art the students like the most and made a Venn Diagram to show the poll results. I thought it was a neat tool, and would be very helpful for some teachers. However, I don't really see much use for it in my classroom. Here is the link to my graph:

http://crappygraphs.com/user_graphs/?id=2763

Online Graphics (Kids Zone)

The graph creator on Kids Zone is an excellent way to quickly create an informational visual aid. I don't use graphs very much in my field of teaching, but if I ever needed to this is definitely where I would turn to.
The first part of this assignment was to quickly research and evaluate the NAEP mathmatics test results for 4th graders in WV and Nation wide. We were to compare the averages from the year 2000 through 2007. The results didn't really surprise me, although the one thing that I must say for WV is that in almost every instance our scores did increase... and they NEVER decreased... which I think is a small victory for us. At least we're making progress.
Here is the graph showing the data results:
http://docs.google.com/Doc?id=dfbq2wx3_17cjpgvkd2&hl=en
The second graph that we needed to create was one about WV's number of students with IEP's versus other low income states. I viewed this information and determined the best way to create a graph showing this data was to show the percentage of each state, because WV has a much lower population that the other states, and the information related to the exact number of students appeared to be misleading. I again was not surprised by this information. It seems that we as educators are constantly jumping through hoops to meet the needs of MANY students with IEP's. I was, however, shocked to see just how large the percentage of students with IEP's was in comparison to other low income states.
Here is the graph showing the data results:
http://docs.google.com/Doc?id=dfbq2wx3_19fn4gjwf9&hl=en
The sources used to gather the information needed to create these graphs are as follows:
http://nces.ed.gov/nationsreportcard/states/
http://www.infoplease.com/ipa/A0104652.html
The Kids Zone graph creator used is :
http://nces.ed.gov/nceskids/graphing/classic/

Image Capture

The Windows Paint program is always fun to use. I guess I just never really thought about making a lesson out of it. I would love to do a self-portrait project with my students where they take a photo of themselves and use the paint program to "paint" their bodies and backgrounds around their heads. Here is my example:
http://docs.google.com/Doc?id=dfbq2wx3_154gtdgjhb&hl=en
I had alot of fun making this self-portrait!
The specifics of my picture process are as follows: I took a jpeg photo of myself that was 640X 480 pixels and copied and pasted it into the paint program, then I cropped my head and copied and pasted in onto a new paint page. I then erased around my hair and any background in the photo, and began to create my body and background. I used the eyedropper tool to try to match my skin color in the photo to my hands (although they seem alittle dark!). If I had more time I could have improved the image... but it will do for now.
I definitely plan to use this as a mini project to teach self-portraiture, technology integration, symbolism, ect.... Great Idea!

Desktop Graphic

Because I am an Art Educator, using any type of graphic program is pretty much second nature. It is essential to my program that I know how to use different types of technology to assist my teaching. Art class without visual examples is like a canoe without paddles! When I begin new projects with my students I usually have digital example images to project for the project introduction. I create the digital images mostly by finding images online of the artist or style of art that we are studying and use them as the starting point of the project. This is an example of a painting created by Franz Marc during "the blue rider" period in art:

http://docs.google.com/Doc?id=dfbq2wx3_3ds8dtjc3&hl=en

I also utilize pictures of student work as both examples and non-examples. Here are some examples of a students work in progress and then in it's finished state:

http://docs.google.com/Doc?id=dfbq2wx3_7d8pxcqfr&hl=en

http://docs.google.com/Doc?id=dfbq2wx3_9hh5t2bgt&hl=en

http://docs.google.com/Doc?id=dfbq2wx3_115r9mg4dm&hl=en

While I usually save the examples that I have personally created to show "in person," sometimes I do include my personal examples in the digital introduction to the lesson. This is a picture of one of my watercolor paintings:

http://docs.google.com/Doc?id=dfbq2wx3_13hj39kvcz&hl=en

I am also well versed in PhotoShop, and was specifically the CS2 edition. Unfortunately I do not have PhotoShop on my PC, and only 1 computer at my school has Photoshop... so finding a photoshop project that I have made that I can upload has proven difficult. I created our school-wide Positive Behavior rules poster using Photoshop, and the posters currently hang in every classroom in our school... If I can't find a way to get the project file, then I will simply include a photo of the poster that I created using PhotoShop. I hope that will work!

The pictures that I take with my camera create very large jpeg file sizes, so I utilize a program called IrfanView to resize the file to a more manageable size. I save the smaller file to 640X 480 pixels. I uploaded my examples for this assignment using Google Docs because I was unable to get FTP to work this evening... weird... it worked just fine yesterday... and Google Docs was fast and easy. To further make sure that I have met the requirements for this assignment, I will add that the file that I linked to in the FTP assignment is, in fact, a Word Art document, and is technically a graphic example.

Still Images - Dale's Cone of Experience

This assignment is one that really resonates well with me. I teach ART... therefore visual examples are my life. I love to see information further backing what I teach, and how I teach. I guess everyone likes to have their specific profession affirmed. I know that what I teach is important... I like that other people can see that too. Here are my answers to Dale's Cone of Experience questions: http://docs.google.com/Doc?id=dfbq2wx3_2cbp6fsfj

FTP

This is an amazing tool that more people would use if they knew about it! It took several attempts, and some help from Debbie (Thanks Again Debbie!) from our class, but I got it. It is so cool! I will definitely use FTP! That way if I have any extra time during my planning period (unlikely!) I can open up my homework at school and work on it! Here is my FTP document:
http://www2.fairmontstate.edu/users/cwhite2/ftp.doc

My Web Published Resume

This assignment was rather easy, given that my resume needed only a few changes to be up to date. I was concerned that I would not do everything required because the class website that gives each project specification would not allow me to have access to the "document" - aka... the assignment. Once Dr. Pierce directed me as to what exactly to do... it was sooo easy! The assignments always sound so complicated when I first read them, but each of them are definite confidence boosters because they are so suprisingly simple and they make me feel very "Tech Savvy." Here is the link to my resume:
http://docs.google.com/Doc?id=dfbq2wx3_0ckjphcdw&hl=en

Photo Story

The "Who Am I?" assignment was made rather easy with the Photo Story software. I really enjoyed this project. Here is a link to my movie, which I have also included in my link list gadget:
http://www.teachertube.com/view_video.php?viewkey=06ee5715e5727c700725
I hope you like it! I think I still like the Movie Maker program better to create a digital story, because you have more control over the specific animations (zoom in, zoom out, ect.) for each picture. The only thing that Photo Story has that I wish Movie Maker would have is the panorama animation for pictures. I also must say that Photo Story is considerably easier to use, too. All in all, another great learning experience.

Current Technology Issues In My World

I teach art...so I am on the very end of the list for any new or innovative technology at my school. My ONE computer is still a Windows 98 system. I was able to get very old digital projector for my classroom, but that is where technology ends within the context of my classroom. Now, with that being said... I teach many different types of project-based learning activities, and my computer is frequently utilized by students to research ideas for projects. I also only have each group of students for six weeks, which is another issue in which I must cram as many of the WV Art CSO's into that six week time frame. In my 8th grade art class I do utilize one of the school's computer labs to have my students create "Me Movies" using Windows Moviemaker. Now, within my school I am also known to be fairly competent in solving technology problems for other teachers, and our Tech Coordinator has asked me to attend a National Technology conference with her this summer in Washington, DC, which I am thrilled to do. ( I am secretly hoping it might earn me an electronic white board for my classroom!) I really enjoy learning all I can to try to improve my teaching... and technology is definitely a great way to do so, but I will still remain true to teaching ART.... painting, drawing, sculpting, creating, imagining, problem solving... I will simply try to find ways for technology to inhance these projects.

My First Week of Ed Tech Class

This class is definitely high-tech!

I have learned more this week about technological

possibilities than EVER before in my schooling.

I love it! It is challenging me... pushing me to try new things.

I always try to incorporate as much technology into my teaching

as possible, and I am thrilled to learn new ways to do so.

I am looking forward to the next several weeks!