Reflection on Things

When 23 things began, I had no idea I would become totally immersed in the program. In fact, I remembered thinking it was a big undertaking and time commitment and maybe I would do some but probably not all of the offerings. I found I did enjoy the challenges put forward each week and was amazed at how much I was learning. Some of my favorites topics were; Photos and Mashups, Video and Voice Threads and Exploring the Web 2.0 tools. I think Twitter is a total experience and I am still tweeting! I liked the fact that new topics became available on a weekly basis rather than all at once....this made it more manageable. However, the amount of time I put into the program was far more than I had anticipated. This was by choice and my desire to comprehend and fully experience each opportunity. Even so, I want to go back and re-visit some of the areas more extensively. I realize now that I had no idea of the possibilities and potential Web 2.0 had for me professionally as well as personally. ...so thank you tech team for opening those doors!

thing 22

I explored several different Web 2.0 tools and apps after scrolling through what seemed like the never-ending list! I experimented with flockdraw.com, a simple (very basic) drawing tool and fotobabble.com, a way of adding a vocal comment to your pictures. There was also a myriad of twitter tools available, Twitpaint, Twistory, Tweetvite...too many to name! My favorite was tuberadio.fm, which is a music video player with organizational capabilities. You type in an artist's name and all of his/her albums will pop up and you select your favorites. Play lists are created and stored. The lyrics, a bio and a list of similar music is also available as well as the ability to purchase. Videos can be set to repeat or play randomly. I found and filed all my old Motown favorites!

Thing 21

Twitter was an interesting and fun diversion. For me, it provided updates on what was going on in other people's lives in a more personal and often entertaining way. The 140 character limit added to the blog experience ...no rambling here. I liked the idea that you could reach out to a bunch of people in real time and still be going about your usual business. It does seem a little voyeuristic and that can be addicting as you follow what other people are doing who may have no connection to you, ie.I am following Martha Stewart. Do I really need to know she is at a christening in Tennessee this week-end?
Professionally, I am following artinfodotcom but I really don't like it in this venue maybe Google Reader?

Thing 20

I can see where slide share could be of benefit and add to the teaching experience. I found I had to look through a lot of presentations to find what I was looking for. In the search engine if you are too specific, it grabs on to other words in the title and takes a turn in the wrong direction. Nevertheless, using self-portraits as my main theme, I began sifting through a variety of entries which ranged from someone's wedding album to various postings by individuals as well as class projects. I found a middle school entry which provided a number of examples of student work which could be of use when presenting a self-portrait unit to my own students.

Harrison Middle 8th Grade Self Portraits

View more presentations from Harrison Middle School.

Thing 19

It is easy to lose track of time while exploring podcasts! I eventually narrowed my search to the arts and subscribed to the National Gallery's lecture series. One podcast that I particularly enjoyed was about Edward Hopper, narrated by Steve Martin! I spent some time at Podcast.com and influenced by the good weather we have had the last couple of days, I checked out gardening and discovered a number of video podcasts from the PBS show The Victory Garden. I had heard of podcasts but had no idea of the scope, availability and accessibility of these broadcasts.

Thing 18

This exercise started out fairly simple as I chose the easy option. I added my favorites to TV shows, vacations and favorite animals. It was fun to read what others wrote although it lacked the collaborative element that I thought was an advantage in a wiki. I decided to create my own wiki and so joined wikispaces and tried setting up my own. This was not so simple and I spent a lot of time trying to navigate the site and trying different tools. I thought it might be a good way to do some departmental planning and that is a possibility I would like to explore.

Thing 17

What I began noticing as I checked out some wikis was the amount of information packed into each site. I looked into Art 4cast which was a collaborativee effort involving 30 teachers. The main page had all the topics such as scheduling and calendars, art curriculum and lessons being taught, suggested sites and resources for art teachers. Each of these topics led to others. An hour had gone by and I had't even made it through all the content. I liked Creative Web Tools for and by kids(8-12yrs,) which provided an on-line gallery and dialogue. A Dutch art ed site offered a pay for art lessons wiki..something I had never thought of but might consider at some point?? It was apparent that many of the web 2.0 tools we have explored are a big part of the wikis.

Thing 16

I seemed to gravitate toward the visual widgets. I spent a lot of time looking at some of the avatar offerings. I know some of the students use similar sites for fashion design. I think the widgets can add to a layout...it's all in the design, some times less is better! After browsing through some of the 3,056 additional widgets/gadgets, I was definitely on overload.

Thing 15

This was an interesting concept...not that easy for me and as you can see from the results, I am very much an amateur! For my use, at this point the LCD projector is working for me when I have to demonstrate a particular concept..I'm not sure I need to record it. I guess if you wanted to e-mail or post it on YouTube, it would be necessary.

Thing 14

I was thinking of ways to use voice threads with the students....a possibility would be to post a work of art, one that they are not familiar with and have them pull out information just from observation. Or you could do an online critique of student work similar to what we do in class as in peer analysis but others in the community could comment as well. Students would benefit from input from their class, the teacher as well as other interested in student art.

Thing 13

I have used YouTube quite a bit in the classroom and have found it especially helpful as another way of engaging students and reinforcing a concept I am presenting. I like the easy access and the fact that they are not too long. I viewed one of the videos on the top 100 ed. videos, Vincent Van Gogh. It was a comprehensive survey of his work put to music, "Starry, Starry Night". I would give it a 10! I have included a video that was amazing to me in terms of creative use of a non-traditional medium to depict Germany's invasion of the Ukraine during World War II. Unbelievable!!