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Educational Blogs
http://coolcatteacher.blogspot.com- This is a blog that goes over how to teach the generation of kids that we have in the schools today. It has posts about how to deal with cell phones in the classroom and different types of technology that the students have access to and using that in the classroom.

http://www.freetech4teachers.com- This blog was very interesting. It had different video clips you could use in your classroom for different subjects. Like the latest post was an interview with the last living veteran of WWII.

http://kidsblogs.nationalgeographic.com/kidsnews- This one was my favorite...they post news clips but towards kids so they can stay up to day on current news. They make each story very understandable and have different pictures and everything for each article.

Blogs I subscribed to
http://www.the-girl-who-ate-everything.com/-Food blog
http://www.pinkdivagolf.com/blog/

Final Posters!!!!!!!

MIlk Jug Mask

Batik

Sketch up assignment

Sketch Up Work

Clay Animal

Wire Sculpture

Watercolor Resist

ABC Sketchboard

Color Wheel

Watercolor Techniques

Pinch and Coil Pots

Aboriginal art

Andy Warhol

O'Keefe Watercolor

Collograph

Bamboo

Lamp Shade

Snowflake

Art Assessment

When I hear the words assessment and art in the same sentence it makes me cringe. I feel like I have always been creative but I have never been very artistic, especially when it comes to realistic work. I’m fine being abstract. I have never been too keen to someone critiquing my artwork. I really don’t like even showing my art. As I was reading I found some ways that I would like better then other ways to assess and be assessed considering artwork.

The article, “Assessment in Art”, It states a list of ways that you can assets your students. These include portfolios, journals, integrated performances, group discussions, exhibitions, videotapes and computers. I want to go over a few that I really like along with a few that I don’t really agree with.

I really like the idea of a portfolio. The students don’t have to share with anyone else but their teacher and they are able to describe their work. The article had a checklist that the students would do. Some of the things to include in their portfolios would be and introduction, a table of contents, the process of how they got their final product and of course the final project with self evaluations and the students feelings about the artwork. I think this is really effective because it allows the student to explain their art and the thought process they went through to get it.

Another assessment that they described is a journal/sketchbook. This method is still going strong in college. I think it is a very effective way to have students show their work. I was previously studying landscape architecture and in most of my classes we had to have a sketchbook that we were constantly using to show our process of thought and how we got our ideas. It was easy for me as a student to use it because I always had it with me and at anytime I could pull it out and write or draw something that I had just thought of.

I guess when I heard class discussion I was thinking that the students would stand in front of the class and show their work which is what I thought was not right at all. As I was reading I realized that I was totally off. The class discussion would include talking about what the requirements should be on a certain project and peoples feelings on them.

I don’t really agree with exhibitions. It would include a students showing off their artwork to other students. I think it is great if there is a student that really wants to show off their work but what about those who are embarrassed about what they did cause they can’t draw as well as their neighbor.

I think the idea of using computers is a great idea. I had to make a digital portfolio here at college and I really enjoyed it and it looked so clean and nice. It might be hard for a kid to learn but all they would need to do is scan their work into the computer to create a portfolio.

Picasso and 8 Textures

Think about your elementary experience. What are some projects you remember? I’m assuming that most of them that you remember had some sort of art integrated into it. Those were the projects that we all liked in school. They were fun and you were still learning in the process of also being creative. For example, making your name in macaroni, making a presidents face with cotton balls as their beard, making a turkey out of your hand and making a rainbow out of jello to name a few.

It is important to integrate art into your classroom. When we are talking about integrating the three domains it means cognitive, psychomotor and affective. The cognitive domain pertains to the mental processes of perception, memory, judgment, and reasoning. This would be integrating art into your main subjects like math, social studies, science and so on, which I will touch on a little later.

Another domain is the psychomotor domain and the multisensory area. This is learning with our bodies. This would be like acting out a piece of art. One of the elementary teachers I work with was telling us about a project they did where the students picked a president and did a little presentation on them. The day of the presentation they dressed up as these presidents and acted like wax sculptures until someone came and hit their bell and they lit up to tell the people about the president they had. They were literally works of art just standing there.

The last of the three domains is the affective domain. This is relating to the students feelings and emotions. This is very important to use art in this domain. Art is a way to express emotions, which the students can do. The affective domain meets needs such as creativity, meaning, and self-worth. I think these are all important things for students to have.

An easy subject to integrate art into is social studies. This is because of the visual cultural approach. There is so much art in each of the cultures we learn about growing up. Art is just an aspect of culture therefore there is plenty to study and plenty of activities you can do. There are many things about a culture that we can learn through art, these are time, continuity, change, people, places, environment, individual development and identity, groups, institutions, power, authority, governance and so much more.

In an article I found called Art Across the Curriculum: Bilingual or Mainstream Classroom a teacher described ways he integrated art into other subjects and I really liked his ideas. He states that he organizes four art projects a month that deals with that month’s theme. He talked about examples like in September he did fruit prints, color mixing and straight line and curved line designs. For math they discussed fractions like whole, half, one-fourth and so on. To integrate art they looked at the different fruit prints as each fraction. For science they guessed what colors they would make when they put two different ones together. They would also measure the paints, which is also a science thing. “Integrating art across the curriculum brings novelty and breaks the daily monotony of "classroom work." Students enjoy exploring and tapping into their creative side. Art unifies teaching lessons and is the accent to classroom Lesson Plans,” states Jesus Lopez the author of the article.

Another article(Bringing Arts into the Classroom) I read stated that research showed that quality arts-integrated learning helps to even out the learning process for all students of all intellects and physical abilities as well as different social and cultural backgrounds. The article states, “Students engaged in the arts develop strong critical-thinking skills and problem-solving techniques and gain greater appreciation and tolerance for new and different ideas and people.” I agree so much with this article. Art is something that all students like to do and when you are that young your peers won’t judge you on your abilities, which can happen in some of the core subjects.

Arts should always be integrated into the classroom in all subjects. I think it really helps students learn in different ways then the norm and the boring. I found another article that included 15 reasons that the arts are important in the classroom. I’m not going to list them all but I am going to end by listing a few that I really liked: They are languages that all people speak that cut across racial, cultural, social, educational, and economic barriers and enhance cultural appreciation and awareness. They integrate mind, body, and spirit. They create a seamless connection between motivation, instruction, assessment, and practical application--leading to deep understanding. They improve academic achievement -- enhancing test scores, attitudes, social skills, critical and creative thinking.

Why teach art?

Why teach art? When asked this question the first thing I think of is fostering creativity in children. All kids are creative but some of them don’t know how to show this creativity. Along with that is imagination. So many kids have such a vibrant imagination but we would never know. Through art we can see the kids imagination show through. There are so many other reasons to teach the arts in schools.

“By exposing children to creative experiences, we give them the gift of a rich and memorable childhood while laying the foundation for a lifetime of creative expression - all topped off with a heaping helping of important learning skills.” I love this quote I found by MaryAnn F. Kohl. As previously noted fostering students creativity is one of the main reasons I think art should always be included in schooling.

In the reading, The Arts and the Creation of Mind it states, “One important feature of the arts is that they provide not only permission but also encouragement to use one’s imagination as a source of content.” I could not agree more. At times in schools kids are reprimanded for using their imagination because it is not what they are focusing on in the classroom. The arts allow the use of imagination and are encouraged to do so. Another quote from that text that I loved was, “The arts provide a platform for seeing things in ways other then the way they are normally seen.”

Our text emphasizes many different reasons that there should be art education in the school systems. They include cultural understanding, national needs, making the ordinary important and special, personal communication and expression, general and artistic creativity, vocations, aesthetic awareness, literacy and cognition, a core participant in learning in school and a different way of learning and communicating in school. The ones that stick out to me when I read through them were making the ordinary important and special, personal communication and expression, general artistic creativity and aesthetic awareness. These things are things that art can teach so easily.

Something that I didn’t really think of that is awesome is the fact that the arts can reach kids who can’t be reached through any other way. In Champions of Change: The Impact of Arts on Learning it states, “The researchers found that the arts provided a reason, and sometimes the only reason, for being engaged with school or other organizations.” Why not teach the arts when it can reach some kids that are troubled with school.

In another article it stated that it has been proven that early exposure to visual art, music, or drama promotes activity in the brain. Why wouldn’t you want to teach art if it can help other subjects as well. If it promotes activity in the brain students can find different ways to look at different subjects and problems. Another article backs up this fact with this statement, “Brain research confirms that Arts education strengthens student problem-solving and critical thinking skills, adding to overall academic achievement, school success, and preparation for the work world.” For all these reasons I think art is so important to teach.

What is Art??

When asked what is art, Leo Tolstoy states from his book What is Art?, “To evoke in oneself a feeling one has once experienced, and having evoked it in oneself, then, by means of movements, lines, colors, sounds, or forms expressed in words, so to transmit that feeling that others may experience the same feeling - this is the activity of art.” This is the excerpt that I agreed most with. When I see art there is always an emotion behind what it is I am looking at. It could be strong or weak but I am still feeling something when I look at that piece of art. Art can be found anywhere and everywhere. Looking around you right now I bet you can find something that pulls an emotion from you, whether it is a piece of work on the wall or something that someone is wearing.

In the first prompt, there was a picture done by an animal, a man and a baby all three which I consider art. I would not be able to tell which artist did which piece and it doesn’t stretch my definition of art at all. Looking at those pieces still evokes an emotion in me. It maybe confusion yet the colors and the randomness in all of them bring a smile to my face.

The second prompt included the picture of the bike wheel and the toilet. I wouldn’t’ consider this art. There is no emotion that the artist is trying to portray and I don’t feel anything when I look at it. I know many people would argue that that for a fact is art. I think the only way that would be considered art would be if it was at an art museum. If there was a urinal in the bathroom and it was signed you would not think to yourself, “Wow that is a real piece of work.” You would probably just blow it off and use it for what it is made for…peeing. I know there are many things found that can be considered art that are not created for example natural landscapes I would consider art because when I look at some of them like the mountains I feel calm and serene. This doesn’t mean all things that are not created are art though. Wikipedia defines art as, “…the product or process of deliberately arranging symbolic elements in a way that influences and affects one or more of the senses, emotions, and intellect.” I disagree with this statement. I don’t think art is always deliberately made. At times art can happen as an accident and still evoke an emotion in us.

The third prompt shows something that was created then erased. I still consider that piece art. When I look at it I feel confused and I want to know more. What was originally created and then erased. I feel a little empty because it was erased and there should be more. The act of erasing in a lot of cases can very easily be considered art.

One form of art that is looked to negatively is graffiti. Do you consider graffiti art? Graffiti makes you think. In an article called Why is Graffiti Considered art they made a statement as to why it is, “The subversive act of painting graffiti illegally in the first place is a statement within itself, and the works are meant to communicate things, too. Graffiti artists use symbols, words, letters, pictures, murals, and tags to express what they have to say both to each other and to the public at large.” They are portraying an emotion that they want many people to view and think about.

Does art have to be beautiful? Another definition I found goes as follows, “the quality, production, expression, or realm, according to aesthetic principles, of what is beautiful, appealing, or of more than ordinary significance.” I think there are many pieces of art that are not considered beautiful or appealing but are very artistic. Anything portraying some dark image could be gruesome and gory but would still be consider art because it is portraying an emotion and making you think. For example, the painting "Cronus Devouring His Children". by Francisco de Goya is a painting of a Titan eating a person. It is in no way beautiful or appealing but it is definitely art.

What is art? This is a question that is always asked and answered in many different ways. Art is different from person to person. Some may think that a urinal with a famous persons name on it is art. I say its not but that is just my opinion and not everyone else’s. I think that art has to portray a feeling and make you think. Others may not agree with that. Art is what is aesthetically pleasing to you. Look around you, what would you consider art?