Digital Story/Video

Today we used iMovie to create digital story videos. This was really easy, and looks high quality and professional. My video is a brief overview on the life and work of one of my favorite artists; Andy Warhol. I will definitely be using this program again to create videos for my students, not only about artists, but also for step by step lessons and visuals about overarching concepts, art movements, and history lessons.

Excel

Today in TPTE 486 we learned how to create interactive spreadsheets using Microsoft Excel. This allows students to input information into a document to answer questions that you have created. The spreadsheet will let them know if the answer is right or wrong, and what grade they can expect based upon their finished assignment. This will be a great tool to use to create quizzes in the classroom for memorized facts or vocabulary, like the one I created below.

Inspiration

Today we learned how to use Inspiration in our TPTE 486 class.  This is a great tool to create idea web diagrams, and flow charts for students to access links and information on different concepts.  You can open web pages thru hyperlinks and create notes for each entry.  This will be a great tool to teach art movements in the art classroom. 

Photo Scavenger

This is the Google Presentation version of my scavenger hunt photo album.

Scavenger Hunt

Today in tpte 486 we did a photographic scavenger hunt!  My list to locate was shape based, and for an elementary level.  I used my camera phone, which takes good quality photographs, then used Photoshop to edit, and Picasa to create the album and gallery slideshow you see below.  This is a great idea for a lesson that could be used in the classroom to incorporate technology and would be applicable to any grade level.

My scavenger hunt list was to locate: (this is in order on the slideshow)
Something that is a cylinder
Something that is a cone
Something that is a corner
Something that is a face
Something that is a hexagon
Something that is an octagon
Something that is an edge
Something that is a rectangle
Something that is a sphere
Something that is round
Something that is a triangle
Something that is a square

Picasa

Picasa is a great tool for sharing, posting, and viewing photo albums online.  It is super easy to use and very convenient, with a drag and drop interface.  Picasa is also integrated with gmail and the other realms of the google universe like blogger and picnik, which i used to edit a couple of the photographs.  You can post slideshows of your albums, and share them with everyone or specific people you choose.
And best of all, it's free!

Picasa would be a great tool to use in the classroom to share images with students that they may need for  specific projects. You could also share photos from events, of finished projects, and "in progress" classroom assignments with students, parents, and fellow faculty.  This would be a great way to share photos from events with everyone too!

Blogging on a Blog about Webquests about Webquests

Today we learned about Webquests and the possibilities of using them as an online assignment or tool to supplement lessons in the classroom.  They are pretty useful and provide lots of resources online to allow students to work on assignments using reputable and safe online sites.  Some webquests seem a little poor, and have broken links or are poorly laid out.  I also didn't like how the ones we looked at in class were a little antiquated and not dynamic at all.  None of them included things that really draw students in on the web like interactivity, Youtube, or Flash.  Another good thing about webquests, however, is that they allow a great opportunity to have students work together on the steps of a project or independently gather information and then come back together to draw conclusions and produce a finished product or project.  I also think it may be slightly hard to use webquests in the art classroom, as they may take too much time away from students working independently on art production.  I could see using webquests to facilitate art history projects and art criticism though and they would be super effective for this. 

Using Wikis

Yesterday in TPTE 486 we learned how to use wikis as a Web 2.0 teaching tool.  Setting up wikis is free and easy and has the possibility to provide a number of opportunities for students and teachers.  Wikis allow users to post information and create a community of insight and editing.  All users can edit the information if wanted in the wiki, and all of the pages can be linked and connected to one another.  This will be a great tool to set up class pages for my art classes when I start teaching.  It will be a great tool to compile websites, links to artists and artworks, pages that include tutorials, and also allow student discussion on artworks and class projects.  Wikis will also be a convenient way to keep in touch about assignments and progress on artwork and homework.  Students could even create new pages on the wiki as an assignment to contribute to the community.  I can't wait to incorporate this tool into my classroom and provide even more opportunities for my students in creating a community of artists providing insight, inspiration, and constructive criticism to one another.

More great (educational) art sites. (but aren't they all educational?)

Another great art museum website (and favorite museum I had the pleasure of visiting in NY):  http://whitney.org

Interactive Sistine Chapel (this is mindblowing): Interactive Sistine Chapel

Interactive art museums worldwide, through the Google Art Project

Website Review

Today I reviewed the Guggenheim Art Museum website for my 486 class.  It was pretty informative to really focus on the validity of a webpage and how user-friendly it is.  Evaluating something like a website isn't something I think gets thought about much, but is an integral part of using the Internet.  It is important to find reputable sources and sites, and really looking at how a site is built, ran, maintained, and laid out is crucial to its reliability and usability.  I generally don't have a problem not using reputable sites or being able to tell if a site is a safe resource and to a certain extent being able to notice whether a site is legit is something that is a sixth sense to a degree if you grew up using the Internet.  If not, however, doing an evaluation or review is a great way to really delve into this concept and way of thinking.

The Guggenheim site is a fantastic one, and I highly recommend it's use for artists and art educators alike.  The Guggenheim in NYC is one of the most amazing museums I've had the pleasure of going to and I hope to visit it again as soon as possible, as well as the other worldwide locations of the Guggenheim if I ever get to travel anywhere near them. 

The museum's website is : http://www.guggenheim.org

Intro

My name is Ethan Pignataro and I am pursuing my Masters Degree in Art Education, focusing on the secondary level. I graduated from Georgia Southern University in 2005 with a degree in Printmaking and Photography. I will be interning starting this fall at Bearden High School with Mrs. Flowerree Galetovic, my mentor teacher, who was Knox County’s Teacher of the Year in 2009 for grades 9-12.

I have some experience working with children and young people. At an early age in middle school and high school, I did a lot of volunteer work with the Interact Club, shadowing elementary teachers and helping them in the classroom setting. I also volunteered for a short time at a Lions Club Camp for the Blind in Waycross, Georgia, working with students that had visual and hearing impairments as well as other special needs. Recently, I have had experience with young people while volunteering for UT’s University Assisted Community Schools program at Pond Gap Elementary school last Fall. This was a great experience, and I learned a lot especially about working with younger students since it was quite some time ago that I shadowed at the elementary level. I also recently (last semester) completed my practicum/field experience at the high school level which I completed at Bearden High School, working with all grades and class levels from Art I to A/P and Honors students.

Main hobbies of mine revolve around art, music, and video games. I love drawing, as I have since I was four years old, and love creating pencil, pen, and ink drawings, paintings, and small books/zines as well as photography here and there. I also collect records, which I have done since I was in high school and I have quite a large collection of music. I am slowly trying to teach myself how to play electric guitar, but I regrettably haven’t had much time for that since I decided to go back to school last year. My favorite way to unwind when I have the time is to put on some loud music and play Xbox 360 for a little while to completely zone out and get out of my head for a little while. My favorite games include Bioshock (I & II), Borderlands, and Limbo.