DAY 05: Wednesday, June 30th

Last day thoughts:

I have been pondering why I have come up with realtively few uses for Web 2.0 in my classes, and think I may be getting closer to it (I know, excuses excuses).

Using Tim's class as an example, his goal is to teach students about Shakespeare's Julius Caesar. It's the same thing I studied in 10th grade English way back when, and probably was on the syllabus in my parents' English class. So that is the same.  The difference lies in the almost infinite ways of teaching Julius Caesar-- lecture to them about the play, have them read it and then give them a test, watch a movie version, have them act it out in class, or what Tim did-- a really great idea-- have them create a movie clip with Shakespeare's dialogue, but translated into a different film genre. This project, making a movie scene, became a means to the larger end-- teaching the play.

In other classes, Web 2.0 tools are likewise used as a means to a different end-- teaching human anatomy, geography, biology, etc. And the extensive class time devoted to implement these ideas and use these tools to cover core content becomes the project.

In my class however, creating a physical painting or drawing or sculpture is the project, thereby relegating the Web 2.0 tools to a support role, not the project itself. Having students create a podcast about how to make a drawing, for example, probably wouldn't leave much time to, well, make an actual drawing. I can see assigning those students who take my class for honors credit these types of projects ("Create a video podcast that explains the theory of 3 pt. perspective, to be used as a resource for future students") to be completed outside of the normal class time. But I'm not sure how to fully integrate them as the project itself. Which is why most of my ideas so far involve rethinking how I use lectures and exercises and homework to teach art history and aesthetics and evaluating/discussing a work of art. Stuff that frames and supports the actual studio "making" project-- making stuff is already my core content.

As a complete aside to all of this, and thinking big picture about curriculum, our SAC work this year on the HOM has led me to think that almost every class really teaches Habits of Mind (HOM, see my earlier post), and the rest is just, for lack of a better term, "vocational training". Let's face it, I haven't had to use trig or calculus or (most of) chemistry since high school. Likewise, most people don't need to remember how to scale up drawings with a grid or blend charcoal to get by in the "real" world. What do we say when students ask why they have to take math? I always say that math teaches your brain to think logically. It teaches thinking. Art is the same way; most subjects truly are the same way. What if the only required classes all of the way through school were Gym, History and English (essentials, I believe, for all students)? What if everything else past, say, ninth grade, were elective? What if all classes graded on a HOM rubric? What if junior and senior year was customized more based on a student's interest and projected future, so they could get the "vocational" stuff they'll need? A future art school student could really get into the technical nitty gritty of art they would need for college, a future engineer could take lots of drafting and physics and whatever else they'd need. The same could hold for science, language, math, etc. What if the junior and senior year could involve a high degree of online courses, independent studies, and internships? What if?

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>whew<

Aside over...

Back to the SummerTech stuff. What I've created/worked on this week:

1. A wiki page for students to share and critique each other's Digital Photo work. I actually threw this together on Day 01 as a test to see how it could work/function, using a real student piece but fake text to try it out. I intended to immediately delete it, but didn't realize the editing functions were one way-- create/add but not delete, so sorry for the litter. I hope to create and use something like this for my Quarter 1 Dig Photo class this fall.
2. A moodle page I intend to use for my Intro to Art class. I am thinking about replicating a page like this for each course I teach, as I have time and the inspiration. The Intro page will hopefully have a variety of functions, like an essay blog for peer review and discussion, and a wiki page for students to brainstorm ideas throughout the quarter for the open-ended group project that ends the class. Also, I'm trying to think of how best to have students respond to their various HOM grades-- not just see what they got for the "Observe/Reflect"portion of a project, but understand what that grade means and develop strategies for how to improve in that area going forward. Would Web 2.0 would be a part of that process?
3. Little ideas for here and there, like using Jing to capture clips for Film class, or creating wiki pages for Independent Study students to document their work and receive feedback (in the past I've often had a hard time meeting with IndStudy students during the school day), or for Studio class students to document their public art projects and receive ongoing feedback on their long-term, self-defined projects.
4. Visual Communications overhaul. The greatest potential for Web 2.0 to be more fully integrated might be with the Visual Communications course. At its heart the course is about graphic design, but devoid of content/context this class can be a bit dry, technical, and ultimately a missed opportunity for higher level thinking on relevant topics. I've had plenty of offers to turn the course into a production studio for various school applications (sports schedules, brochures, presentation programs, etc.), but really resist that avenue. I really want the course to tackle the issue of Visual and Media Literacy, and teach understanding of how images are used in the media (advertising, marketing, "news", films, etc.) to manipulate opinions and emotions. The course runs less frequently than I wish, so there had been less opportunity to explore the most effective tools and approaches for teaching to this topic. Unfortunately, I don't have guaranteed access to computers during that class period, so I am reluctant to launch into a curriculum revamp for this class at the moment. But if that happens-- and in that class there would be oodles of opportunities for podcasting, blogging, etc.-- then I'll forward all relevant info to you.

Suggestions for next year...

Mostly centered around timing and structure. I would love to take this course during the school year, one day a (week? month? Maybe it could fall on one of those Thursday meeting days?), after school, for a specified length of time. I really benefitted from participating, but really really really want to start vacation (almost didn't sign up at all) and might have been able to focus more if I was doing this during the school year.

I also would encourage more skepticism, whether self-imposed or in the form of more frequent and rigorous peer feedback. I worry that in some cases the goodness of these tools is eagerly and excitedly embraced, and improved teaching/learning assumed, with the forest eventually being lost for the trees. (Is that metaphor right here?)

As much as I imagine this would not fly with others, I'd agree to a longer school year (an extra two weeks?) if once a month we were granted common planning and professional development time-- work a normal school day, but with no students...

Thanks for a great week!