AFM_art: the wired atelier*

Class Blog

2010-09-08T15:48:00.002-04:00

Unfortunately my two-blogging goals have not been met, but I am proud of what I've been able to do on my class blog. Until I have more time, I will not be updating this blog often (which is quite obvious!). I hope perhaps by Spring to be able to reflect more and have time to write!

Until then, enjoy any ideas you can glean from my class blog!
http://mrsmulloy.blogspot.com/

What Does Art Mean to You?

2010-08-14T22:17:00.000-04:00

What Does Art Mean to You?

Up and Running... soon.

2009-07-21T17:13:00.002-04:00

With the beginning of the school year quickly approaching, I will bid adieu to Summer and begin regular blog posts soon. My goal will be to post once a week on this blog, reflecting on the pertinent issues, experiences, and musings of integrating technology into the art curriculum, as well as sharing any relevant or exciting resources I found on my Webhunts. I will also continue the daily blog (http://mrsmulloy.blogspot.com/) for students and parents I started last Spring.
See you in August!

Back on the Net

2009-04-20T07:41:00.002-04:00

Students have been working online for several assignments lately which have turned out very well. One assignment to share involves the city of Chattanooga's voting on Public Art. Chattanooga is an arts-filled city, and has a strong history of supporting public art for its citizens and visitors. Our local museum, the Hunter Museum of American Art, has a Website which is hosting the free public voting for the latest series of artworks. Artwork is being installed at key points around the city like the zoo and the parks downtown.

The Hunter Museum's voting site, found here, shows the three proposed works of art, including information about the artist and the specific work proposed, as well as other examples of the artists' work. Anyone is free to visit the site, learn more about the art, and make a selection on which they think is the best choice for that spot in Chattanooga. The campaign has gone on several months now, with my students excitedly wondering which piece has won at the end of each voting period.

I am now incorporating the wiki into these types of online assignments. Instead of just having the students write their responses in the sketchbooks for review, students are creating their own wiki pages to respond to the artwork and propose their own choices for the city's Public Art. So, instead of their ideas sitting quietly unseen by all but me in their sketchbooks, or instead of them freaking out about having to talk in front of class and saying less than they are thinking, we both get what we want. Students share ideas and discuss, and they communicate using the tools they are more comfortable with. The wiki serves me again as an interactive platform for the students to propose ideas and make comments when discussing works of art.

See student responses (organized in folders by block) and online assignments on the wiki here.

AFM_art on Twitter

2009-04-17T12:20:00.002-04:00

So I am dipping my toe in Twitter to see what it can offer. I am not sure if it will just be an easy way to quick post links and updates, or if it has the potential to be another platform to communicate independently.
Stay tuned to see what I can figure out!

The Daily Podcast

2009-03-05T19:53:00.005-05:00

I am a big fan of the daily podcast. Although the selection for the secondary art classroom is limited, I have found a few free videocasts which I think really enhance the learning in my classroom. On an 85 minute block, it is imperative to break up the time to give the students a dynamic learning experience. I found that a 3-7 minute podcast is ideal for a "daily dose" of art history, news, even a look at careers and colleges. It can be a great starter, finisher, or break in the middle of a studio day.
Because of the inconsistency of some podcast series, I ran into a problem when I first started with having to preview tons of different podcasts to find something worthwhile, flashy enough for teens, and school appropriate. I find most on iTunes, but lots on The Education Podcast Network and Podcast Alley as well. I was a big fan of "Art History in Just a Minute" but only found 3 episodes. Bummer, it was really silly while being very informative as well. I have found a few great museum guides, college tours and interviews. The students enjoyed hearing Daniel Pink speak with Oprah on her podcast series; to them she added more credibility to his ideas!
We watch the CNN Student News most often, as it is most consistent (daily production) and seems to be the only real news some of my students ever see or hear each day. I believe being aware of the world and its issues is an important part of being educated, so awareness is key to art and aesthetics as well. This podcast is packaged for them and a lot like channel 1, but I am still searching for that great art history podcast. Maybe I will end up making my own!

Art Criticism 2.0

2009-03-03T08:07:00.008-05:00

The art criticism wikis are now completed and the students presented their work to the classes. Check the Student Art Critiques Folders on the wiki http://mulloy.pbwiki.com/ for examples! What a rich learning experience for my students and me! I really did hear some amazing insight into the artists and their work. I feel like completing the assignment on the computer not only added to their interest in completing the critique, but also enabled them to have a wealth of information on the artist, work, time period, culture, etc. a new window and click away. I found several groups of students conducting more research than needed just because they were interested! One student grabbed me on a computer lab work day and had this to say,

"Mrs. Mulloy, look at what all this woman [Augusta Savage] did! She wasn't just
an artist, but she also started a school called the Savage Studio in Harlem for
other African-American folks to learn about their history and culture
through art! How cool is that, especially for a black woman at that time?!"

How exciting for my students to get excited about Art History! I wonder what else a wiki can do?!

Also, I have already had great success with my daily blog for students and parents. http://mrsmulloy.blogspot.com/ I had one student absent for a week and a half because of family illness, and the blog was a great tool to get her caught up on activities, assignments, and announcements. It is also a great record for planning and reflection purposes. I often get so busy I can barely remember what we did yesterday, much less last week, and this blog will no doubt help in many ways!

Art Criticism: wiki style

2009-02-24T21:52:00.006-05:00

Since the students responded so well to The Wired Atelier wiki as a tool to explore and share information, I decided to try it with art criticism. Instead of having students write art critiques and read them to the class or just turn them in for me to read as a culmination of my introductory unit, I have assigned the students partners with whom they will create a wiki page Art critique.

After learning about the Harlem Renaissance and its artists (I figured February a fitting time to study this Movement), the partners have chosen one work of art by a Harlem Renaissance artist to critique. They have quick access to great information on both historical references and images, as well as specific instructions on writing the critique, all online at their fingertips. I can actually see the huge leap in understanding after one period of "surfing and gathering." It's funny how they hate the idea of "research," but they sure do love surfing around finding information and pictures! Whatever they want to call it is fine, but that's what I call research!
I can't wait to see the results in their finished critiques. I have no doubt that these will be the best first critiques written ever!

Other tech news: I created a new classroom blog this week for my students. I don't know about you, but catching up absentees and parent involvement are two tough issues to perfect, and I'm hoping my blog will aide in both those areas. Starting this week, I am posting a brief synopsis of each day's activities in class, including what we did, what we talked about, and any important announcements or due dates given. I find it only takes 10 minutes at most after dinner to post, and by that time I have a broader picture of the day but can still remember the details. Students and parents can now access class information 24hrs a day to get a peek on exactly what went on in art class that day!
Check out my classroom blog (http://mrsmulloy.blogspot.com/). I'd love any feedback you have!

Students using the wiki

2009-02-19T21:28:00.004-05:00

I introduced my students to my new wiki today (mulloy.pbwiki.com), and they ran with it completely. I introduced them to wikis in general (they all know wikipedia but don't know the editing feature isn't unique to that site) and led them briefly around The Wired Atelier before they started exploring. I find my students need time to "fidget" with the technology before they can really concentrate on the content of the online lessons I do. I assigned them my What is art? reflection to get acquainted with posting; most caught on quickly. Once they found the discussion page, they were rolling. They were discussing facts about the Shepard Fairey/Copyright case I presented, debating points in their arguments, and some even posted insightful comments on the discussion page. It was one of the best intro lessons I've done online; they sparked immediately!
Hopefully their interest will continue. In the mean time, I will get my wiki organized and looking slick with more great content than my students can handle!
I am also working an idea for a lesson involving art criticism and partners making wiki pages to present to class on their critique. That might be a good change of pace from the traditional written art criticism!

Wiki what?

2009-02-18T10:57:00.009-05:00

I learned about wikis 2 weeks ago, and apparently my interest was piqued. See this article or this video for more info on what a wiki is and how it can be used. I have enjoyed beginning the process to produce my own classroom wiki, The Wired Atelier for students, which I hope will only grow and become a vital part of my Visual Arts curriculum. The opportunities for individual and collaborative work within this malleable new medium should excite my students. I hope they will spend some of their time online engaging with this fun, fresh new technology. Please keep in mind it is still a work in progress and I'm a newbie!
Check out my first discussion topic; I hope the students respond well!

Discussions on The Wired Atelier for Students

2009-02-18T10:49:00.002-05:00

Where do the Visual Arts and Technology meet?

The Wired Atelier.