Thing 23

Wow...10 weeks is up?  I have enjoyed this journey more than ANY other professional development...HANDS DOWN!  I have walked away with so much knowledge...the kind of knowledge that leaves you wanting more - which is the knowledge (as educators) always strive to give to young minds.  23 Things has done that.  I want more.  I want version 2.0..is there one?  Could there be one?  I started out on this journey thinking - ok...I will learn a few cool things, but now I have set up some amazing tools that I can use personally, professionally, anything. 

When I started I assumed that a lot of the blog "stuff" was for Star Trek lovers (please no offense was meant), but now I'm trying to talk my parents into some of this stuff.  I show everyone I can about RSS feeds and how much time they can save you, I tell everyone about my wiki site - that I made and that people can change!  It does lend it self to rethinking the whole "mine" mentality.  Once it's out there it is no longer "mine".  It takes us back to the days in preschool when we were learning to share.  If I have something that someone wants, we need to shart it. 

I want to digitize everything I do in the classroom.  Well, maybe not everything, but a good majority of how I give information.  I have already uploaded many forms that I pass out.  Now instead of recopying things over and over, I tell the students where to get them from. Hopefully it's saving a little paper, but also helping students who may have forgotten their folder at school.  The information is accessible all the time...how crazy is that?  I teach fine art, traditional non digital art.  There are things that I can't make digital, like the way students turn in their artwork, or actually showing someone where they could improve on something.  But there are so many possibilites where I can add technology in the way I present something, or help when they need help on Sunday night.  I can upload videos for the students, I can list the project requirements online, I could ask them for an opinion about an article I read from the New York times on Sunday afternoon.  It's truly endless.

As I have stated before, this experience has left me wanting more.  I don't want to just stop here.  I want to expand this knowledge into more avenues and areas of my life.  I'm not exactly sure how I will do this, but 23 Things has taught me to keep an open mind about all sorts of technology.  

My biggest "takeaway" is the wiki.  I have said this every chance I get...it has given me a forum to place MANY of the projects I have been working on.  It's the ultimate collaboration tool for me.  The ultimate.  I have used my wiki many, many times already and will continue to improve upon it and share it with more people. 

Thank you putting together an amazing program and allowing me the opportunity to use it.

Thing 22

My wikispace is.... http://pccsvisualart.wikispaces.com/

I have really enjoyed creating this wiki.  There were many projects that I have been working on - with some difficulty of where to put them when they are done.  The wikispace is a perfect location for them since it will allow other art teachers to upload some of their information too.  I see it as a potentially valuable resource as a professional.  I was reading some other peoples comments about using them for students - which would be great too...but I am using mine professionally. 

I feel like there are more options with a wiki than there is with a blog.  With a blog you can upload things - but with a wiki I feel you can gather more information and organize it better.  I am curious how to create a webpage now too.  I wonder if it is much different than a wiki...perhaps it would be the same but without the ability for others to add to it...which I guess would defeat my purpose for having the wiki.

I would like to use the blog strictly for discussion.  Perhaps in my classroom I would post an image - pose a question and then leave it open for discusion.  I feel that the wiki would allow itself more for information gathering - and not just opinions.  Almost like a fact finding mission where information would be entered and the students would access that information - a much improved course pack from college! 

Thing 21

Okay - I'm sold.  Where do I sign up?  I TOTALLY need to do a wiki!  There is a project that I have wanted to do for a while and actually started on paper.  After speaking with our art curriculum coordinator he mentioned doing something online and viola...here is my "canvas" do it on (sorry....).  I wanted to do a visual glossary of the elements and principles of design that would be accessible to ALL our district art teachers - and look, this is.  I'm so excited to do one of these....wow.  I don't see many hurdles - perhaps that is me being naive, but it seems pretty easy to do and keep up.  The wiki that I found was a districts elementary art wiki that had links to everything they do - power point presentations to what they teach, a link to the curriculum, images of student art work...everthing.  I'm totally motivated to do this now.

This is a worthy battle to engage in for our district.  We need some glue that binds us all together - a wiki seems like it could be it.  It would allow all teachers to input their ideas, suggestions and it would be something that would be a representation of what we do.  The possiblities are endless.

Thing 20

I use iTunes and I already subscribe to a few podcasts.  I love this.  I don't listen as quickly as I should - so I have several a library of ones that I haven't listened to...it's really starting to pile up on me.  But that's okay - one day I will get to them all. 

I don't really like Podcast alley.  I like to see descriptions of what things are and just looking at a LONG list does nothing for me...my eyes just glaze over.  I also didn't care much for EPN - there are rarely art related things that I can use - especially with art - it's a visual field.  I clicked on a balance podcast and nothing came up.  It may offer artist interviews - which would be okay....  This is where I like NPR - they have current interviews and I like how they interview...

I like the NPR search site and the iTunes...for me it just works well.  Perhaps because I am familiar with the shows on NPR and familiar with the iTunes format.

Thing 19

I already subscribe to "This American Life" from NPR....and I love it! I love that I don't have to be listening at the "right" time -that I can listen whenever I have a minute. I used to have an almost hour commute in which I would listen to it - it was perfect timing, but now... I have a seven minute commute - but I still get "This American Life" - I get to hear Ira whenever I want - it's awesome.

http://feeds.thisamericanlife.org/talpodcast


I have listened to "All Songs Considered" before from NPR - but never had thought of podcasting it...this is going to be dangerous for me. I love music and this podcast is right up my alley - I love hearing about new artists, connecting different genres together....ooh the possibilities.

http://www.npr.org/rss/podcast.php?id=510019

How would I use them in my work? NPR alone has dozens (if not more) art related podcasts that I could have the students listen to. To many students "art" seems so far away - so ancient - these podcasts could introduce them to some modern trials and tribulations in the art world -it's wonderful!

Thing 18

A very simple example of perspective. Good enough that I could use it as a introduction to perspective in my classes.

Two Point Perspective

View more presentations from Hans Christensen Middle School, Menifee, CA.

Thing 17

I actually reviewed two...remember the milk and 30 boxes.  Both were similar as far as they both can organize your life...or so they give the impression of.  I didn't care so much for 30 boxes because, being visual, I didn't like how the events looked in the boxes.  The words were cut off instead of starting on a new line.  Not a big deal - but being a visual person - I need it to look good as well as being functional.  I can see how I would/could use both though.  They both will alert you to things through either email or a text message...which I can set up on my phone...so there would never be a reason to forget an event...at least in theory.  I personally like to have a planner - an old school paper planner with me (I like to doodle) - now if rememeber the milk or 30 boxes let me doodle on the page - then watch out - they would be perfect tools... (not my doodle - I borrowed it from google - but it proves the point)