IPad Dreaming & Art/Math Integration

This post-http://theteachingpalette.com/2012/02/24/theres-an-app-for-that-ipads-in-the-art-room/ has me dreaming about how cool it would be to have an art room iPad. Planning on noodling around with a tablet this summer myself. Until then, we are wrapping up our stop-motion animation in art club, the puppets in third grade are also done, and we are wrapping up radial art in 5th grade (giant math integration, using vocabulary-perimeter, diameter, radius, & chord, plus 1:1 help with math strategies for dividing fractions in half). I am including a screenshot from a math/art gallery site:

Here's the link for this intriguing site on artistic math/ mathematical art-- http://bridgesmathart.org/.Check out the galleries, they are full of great project ideas! Final thought-I might even try to teach "digital mandalas" for students who are ready to move past "Typeface Face" in Photoshop, resource for that is HERE.

News/Views

NEWS: I'm very excited that one of my student's artwork was chosen to be displayed on a giant LED screen ("big screen plaza") at the National Art Education Association convention in NYC this spring (slide #133--a creative colored pencil drawing of a boy with a soccer ball for a head):
 School: Leighton Elementary School Teacher: Lois Schroeder-Girbino Artist Name: Ben Sequence #: 133 - Each slide has a sequence number in the lower right corner to let you know when your artwork will be showcased. Approximate Display Time on Friday, March 2nd/Saturday March 3rd: 5:46 PM EST* * Note: Be aware that while we hope the time-slots listed are accurate, we strongly advise arriving to the plaza at least 15 minutes before your display time, to allow for any small variances that may occur. The slideshow features ~500 pieces of work, and will display Ben's artwork for approximately 20 seconds before moving on to the next artwork. This slideshow will be shown in its entirety on Friday, March 2nd from 5-8pm (EST) and again on Saturday, March 3rd from 5-8pm(EST). The address of the Big Screen Plaza is 851 Avenue of the Americas (between 29th and 30th St.), New York City.

That's the latest scoop, and I'm pleased that some of the newest units I implemented as part of my backwards-design (this piece was a result of the UbD "avatar" unit discussed earlier) resulted in positive feedback and cool art.

 VIEWS: As for views, I am readying another reverse instruction video (screencast) and am looking for ways to streamline my student observation data. In both cases, these are tasks I have to do at home, but over the summer, I hope to get a nice repository of instructional videos and data tools organized for fall 2012. Just had our PD day, where the focus was the new Bloom's taxonomy "rigor/relevance framework", and designing inquiry-based lessons to support that. As always, I know that learning through the arts is one of the most cognitively rich and rewarding experiences for a student, and is what I aim for everyday in every lesson. I'm including a picture of the framework, and truly believe we are working in quadrant D most of the time in my art room. Fellow teachers came up with cool ideas, which sound a lot like the experiential stuff art teachers do all the time! Our group came up with a P.E., language arts/literacy, art integration unit idea---I always love connecting the dots with my peers :)

Mayan Codices Results

Fifth grade is completing their Mayan codices art project: accordion books that used symbol systems to portray each student's "story". Here's a photo of a Mayan codex (the Dresden codex) made from Amate (bark) paper:

The "Timeglider" introduction via Smartboard worked well, and I left the fine artist connection (Beatrice Coron) until the following week so students did not confuse the social studies standard with the art standard (and the past with the present). Thank goodness my students had a good grounding in the concept of "positive space" vs. "negative space", because cutting paper to create symbols (like the Mayans, symbols told the story, without words or drawing) turned out to be a skill some students still need practice with (linguistic learners had the most trouble, spatial learners the least). Also, although all the fifth grade was supposed to start the social studies portion of the unit as soon as we got back from break, about a third of the homerooms were behind. This left the discussion of the Mayans to "art", which took up some of the studio time, but we managed nonetheless (synchronization of integration pacing is always something to allow extra time for). The very good news is that students really liked doing something that related to a topic they were learning about in another area. Some things I adjusted to support learning as we progressed: 1) how to take complex images, like Wii remotes or a downhill skier and simplify for a paper cut-out; 2)cutting larger, symmetrical pieces, before cutting out details--for example a softball or football; 3) using current logos as examples of simplifying complex concepts. Here is an example of a cut paper accordion book from 2011 (prior to the Mayan theme being introduced):

One of the interesting aspects of the Mayan accordion books, is that students are trading them and "translating" the images, which is a lovely synectic activity, I've greatly enjoyed the stories my students have shared with me from their codices. Fourth grade is done with their "plot mountains" and "narrative planning sheets" for the cartooning unit, and we are (finally) moving into the cartooning portion. We covered Language Arts concepts including: introduction, rising action, climax, falling action, resolution (ending), protagonist, antagonist. Chunking the plot mountain first, then using that to fill in the first column of the narrative planning sheet was definitely a great Smartboard activity. Based on class polling, about 1/3 of third grade covers this material, slightly more in 4th, and in fifth grade they all do (but at different times). Lots of 1:1 conferencing on storylines. The main resources I used are at Read/Write/Think. Finally, the animations (thaumatropes and flips-video below) with third grade were very successful and students loved them! Such a simple way to demonstrate "tension" (3rd science standard) and "persistence of vision". I only wish we had done them on paper plates (larger) instead of index cards.

More Thoughts on Design Thinking & Reverse Instruction

Lots has happened since the new year started which kept me from blogging, but I am caught up on grades, comments, and display work (for now). Also, the Master Teacher Portfolio is done and submitted (over 60 hours of work went into that, but I found it to be very reflective). So, now I can finally write about how my "design thinking" unit with the fourth graders ("The Wallet Project") went, here's some observations: a) in a nutshell, very successful based on engagement and student feedback; b) I need to give myself some time to photograph these projects, because as soon as they were done and assessed, students wanted their wallets back because they either wanted to use them or give them as presents; c) letting the students do multiple prototypes and the mindmaps, although time-consuming, really was a very successful pacing strategy. I only have one picture to show from the project, but the variety of media choices definitely inspired this artist to get very creative (duct tape over cardboard with puff paint and scrap fabric bow ties):

Here is a great site for educators with a downloadable resource foe "design thinking": http://www.designthinkingforeducators.com/ Very recently, districts nationwide have been adopting "common core content" standards, and the idea is that we need to go deeper with knowledge aquisition, promote argument and interaction with developing the knowledge, and "design thinking" is all about that!

Isn't that what robotics competitions, science fairs, debate clubs, etc. are all about? I am trying to bring that "vibe" to the everyday classroom, for all of my students (all 700+ of them). Experiential, investigative learning should be for every student, especially the ones who might not learn via "standard" classroom practices (e.g. auditory/linguistic). This brings me to reverse/flip instruction. I've been able to implement some front-loaded videos and instruction via my school website, www.lgirbino.com. Fifth graders watched a class tutorial on shading in class, plus watched the video on their own, and this year was the year shading using values was most successful! Furthermore, students asked for the website that the shading examples I put up on the Smartboard was from (a first), and wanted to do more exercises (another first). Here's the link from "artyfactory": http://www.artyfactory.com/portraits/drawing_techniques/pencil_shading.htm Additionally, third & fourth graders accessed cartooning exercises on their own for several weeks before we jumped in with whole-group instruction. Of course, I cannot expect a lot of students to be doing "art homework", but I do try to plant the idea that expertise comes from practice, and that fun resources for practice are available---"here's some to try from sites that are safe and kid-friendly." Recently, students are starting to ask me, "Mrs. Girbino--are you putting that link on your website?" And that's how I know the strategies I've implemented this year are taking hold. (During second semester, I hope to have more videos uploaded that are student-directed).

2012 & Beyond

If there is a theme to the first week back in art, it would be "integration". Third grade just finished some adorable 3D cartoons I call "critter cubes" (see below, plus 1 clay piece from 5th) based on the Apex HS art guru, Ian Sands' "Zonkey Street". This necessitated some discussions about "word bubbles", spelling, and other LA issues I had not anticipated (note for next year :). Then, 4th grade is moving into our big Anime/Marvel cartooning unit, which involves cartooning (of course), but also, planning narrative and the "plot mountain". Bonus--cartooning involves using PROPORTIONS ! Then, as noted in a prior post, we are doing accordion books in 5th grade again, but looking at the Mayan codices for our inspiration. Additionally, I'm almost ready to post a few more reverse instruction tutorials on Vimeo. Interesting aside, as we were beginning cartooning practice this week, a 4th grade student specifically asked me if I could post the cartooning source on my webpage, wwww.lgirbino.com, so before the next class, I did. Took half a minute. Then, I reinforced the resource via Smartboard the rest of the day. For some students, this is no big deal, but for others, they really do want extension information. This was a good way to end my week...So in 2012 & beyond, I envision more overlapping of core and complimentary content in a very organic, yet specific way.

Timeglider

Basically, experimenting with another presentation app, Timeglider, & made a simple one for a core content integration in 5th grade social studies: Hint: click on "start", then "list", dates start at 1200.

Technolgy and Robotics and Art Intersect

Found these two beauties on Google+ and had to share on my blog (Ted Talk above) & 15 things teachers and students can do with Edmodo. As for tech in the art room, working through the bugs of rotating students on the art room Macs for Photoshop. This year, I'm letting students take up to 3 sessions to complete their "Typeface Face", which helps for the process, but messes up the art schedule and is a management issue only saved by major organization and lists. Some of the spatial learners struggle with PSD initially, the task is bringing everyone into the ZPD. I'm thinking of having jump drives be an art room supply, then we could do Photobooth stuff, Pencil, etc., without worrying about print cartridge costs...