Graduate Work
Showcase
"All knowledge is connected to all other knowledge. The fun is in making the connections."
Arthur Aufderheide
Showcase of Work
On this page I will be showcasing my work as an art educator and technology integrator. I have divided my showcase into 3 main sections; The transition to Teaching for Artistic Behaviors (TAB), Leadership and Technology Integration and Using Technology for Assessment . To learn more about these sections and the individual work that makes up these sections, please continue reading.
Transition to Teaching for Artistic Behavior (TAB)
Before I started my journey into the Master of Arts in Educational Technology (MAET) program, I was interested in TAB and had read a few books about how the TAB studio worked. However, through my educational process, I deepened my understanding of TAB and ultimately switched my k-4 curriculum to follow the TAB philosophy. When looking at my various work over the last several years, the transition to TAB has been a big theme. When I look closer, I feel as though the transition was influenced by two sub-themes; the maker movement and personalized learning.
Making Connections
This popplet, showcases the importance of learning transfer and being able to transfer your learning from school to the outside world. I find this worthy of showcasing, as within TAB students are focusing on art that relates to their world. They are creating artwork that is important to them, and inspires them, just as any artist would. Through their artwork they are able to create artwork that connects their interests to what they are learning about in art, their classroom and outside world. Such as, a third grader drawing their favorite superhero, using proportions and values to make them look realistic. You can read more about learning transfer here
Learning
While many of the projects I completed during the MAET program made connections to TAB, this last piece that I am showcasing helped solidify the importance of TAB. This is an infographic about my personal theory of learning, which highlights what I learned about learning. Reflecting on this, I see the importance of students being able to learn and experience art as an artist learns and creates art.
The art of making
I dove deep into the maker movement during my first semester of the MAET program. I made several connections between the maker education movement and the TAB studio. You can read more in-depth about these connections here and check out the infographic that I created highlighting TAB and makerspaces.
This blog post also supports this connection.
Personalized Learning
I choose this showcase piece, as I learned about the importance of Personalized learning, and how personalized learning is a wicked problem. This piece is a group presentation on finding a solution to personalized learning. Through the creation of this presentation, I was impacted even more about the importance of TAB and teaching students to follow their interests as artists.
These blog posts will provide more information about personalized learning and wicked problems, as well.
Leadership and Technology Integration
Being an elementary visual art teacher wanting to integrate technology, led me into becoming a leader within my field. When I first started to integrate technology into the elementary art curriculum, I saw a void with the use of technology and art, especially at the elementary level. Below, you will be able to see how I have tried to fill this void by becoming a leader and some of the technology that I have integrated into my curriculum.
Professional
Learning Network
I feel this popplet was an important step in becoming a learning with the elementary art world. Taking a look at your Professional Learning Network (PLN), is the first step in becoming a leader and a learner. By creating my PLN, I was able to see where I could learn and where I could lead. It helped me to see my network and the potential places of influence, not only on other but on myself. After creating this PLN, I made more connections with other technology leaders on social media to share our passion for technology integration within art education.
Technology and
Art Education
Throughout my MAET journey, many of my courses focused on the Technological, Pedagogical and Content Knowledge (TPACK) Framework. I have found this to be very important when thinking and planning to integrate technology into the art curriculum. I created this short video introducing the connection between leadership, art education and TPACK.
Professional Presentations
The MAET program has given me the confidence and skills to become a leader and present on using technology in elementary art to fellow art educators at the annual Michigan Art Education Associations (MAEA) fall conference. The presentation I am featuring here is the latest presentation I gave this last fall about using paper circuits with fourth graders. Within this presentation, you can view my students creating artwork that includes paper circuits. I have also included links to my two previous presentations.
Using Technology
As I learned about the Stanford Design Thinking Model, I worked through the problem of practice (PoP): elementary art teachers are struggling to use technology in meaningful ways. As, I have been testing out possible solutions to this PoP, I remixed a planning and assessment rubric for art teachers to use, to help guide them with technology integration.
Using Technology for Assessment
Within our district the elementary art teachers have created common assessments to assess students understanding of their grade level color theory concepts. Through my MAET coursework some new technology skills have emerged that have found a place within my curriculum, in regard to assessing.
Google Drawing
I created this house color wheel to help fourth students understand the concept of the analogous color scheme. This was a concept, that I intended to turn into a 3D model for students to manipulate. However, I found that putting the color wheel on the smartboard and sharing it with students in google classroom or seesaw, is also effective. Students are able to move the houses to the streets to create analogous neighborhoods, and I can easily assess whether or not the student understands the color scheme.
SeeSaw for Assessment
I started exploring using seesaw activities for formative assessments. I initially created an activity for first grade that assessed the concept of overlapping shapes, you can read about that here. Since then, I have also created an activity for kindergarten students to draw a rainbow, in color order. Seesaw activities are great for formative assessment, as I can see a thumbnail of all students’ drawings and quickly assess as a class where we stand with a concept.
First Grade students completing the overlapping shapes activity in Seesaw