Tech & Art Reflection by Amy Anderson

classic Classic list List threaded Threaded
1 message Options
Reply | Threaded
Open this post in threaded view
|

Tech & Art Reflection by Amy Anderson

Amy Anderson
What can exploring art do for enhancing and developing career skills?
Art can be used to help students who are struggling to learn to perform or to express what they have learned by using drama to act it out, art to interpret or to express, or music to make it more personalized and motivating. Using art as a way for students to express their learning will help build confidence and an alternative way of thinking- which are great skills to enhance and develop career readiness in children. Including children of all abilities into the learning culture is extremely important so that children care about what career they might choose in the future. If children are made to feel that they are inadequate, then they will surely make life and career choices that reflect that.

What types of technologies have you used that shares a link with art? Include at least one link to a technology that could be used in the classroom.
I have used iPad apps that allow children to choose, drag, and drop items to build bigger pictures like avatars, pizzas, cakes, Jack-o-Lanterns, and Christmas trees. These end in an art project, but they are being used to help my  kindergarten students strengthen their fine motor muscles in their hands. These apps require students to think ahead of what they want their finished product to look like. The apps encourage spatial reasoning, hand-eye coordination and expression. These apps are also teaching students computer skills like drag, drop, click, and that green means "yes" and red means "no."

You can find similar activities on abcya.com here:
http://www.abcya.com/kindergarten_computers.htm#holiday-cat

What are your "takeaways" from the article and videos?
I really liked the reading tutor in the first video. After watching her student slide the letter sounds together I made a mat like that to use in my guided reading group tomorrow! I know more than a few children who are working on the exact blending skill she mentioned.
This is my first time teaching in a school that has an art teacher. The Blick's video stuck with me, too. I thought that having an art teacher would mean that children would be leaving art with projects at least once a week. I am seeing that is not the case. So, I look forward to incorporating weekly art lessons as I have done in the past. I have found that children who struggle at math and/reading are always happy to make art projects. They need to have something they are good at and to connect with the community of learners who are experiencing the same thing, but interpreting it differently. It is good for struggling students to connect. For children who easily succeed at school, it is important to experiment in a way of thinking that has no right or wrong answer.