IEP: Creating an Artists Web Page

For my IEP project I chose to discover a way to post my artwork online. This is something I have wanted to do for a long time, yet never found the time to do it, until now. I began by photographing artwork that I have made in the recent past. I transported all work into the classroom as the set up was more accessible here. I then set up the area to take photos, set up the lighting, carefully arranged the lamps, placed the artwork onto a black velvet cloth, and set up the tripod for taking good, steady photographs. I got through all of my artwork and uploaded the images, then began editing them. Finally I uploaded some images onto flickr.com and realized that the images weren't the quality I would like them to be. 

Round two of taking images, I took several of the same image and played around with the lighting a lot more than I had done the first time. I'd say the trickiest part of this whole process was taking quality digital photos. The best luck I had was with more classroom lights on, and turning the neutral light off. The photos looked closer to their actual color with the warm spotlight on them than they did with the super fancy neutral art light. The second time around editing was much smoother than the first, as I had recently just edited all of the others. I did not want to alter the images with contrast or brightness, so I left that part alone. All that I really did was clip the images and then saved them. 

Uploading the images to flickr.com took a while as the connection was rather slow. I searched for other potential websites to post the images on, yet I was unable to find one that I really liked. Some were more directed toward design, some cheesy, and some just not that nice. I chose flickr.com because I like the range of skills on the page, it's free, and they have a decent layout for the photos. All in all, I'm rather pleased with the results and even more pleased that I underwent a project that I have long been wanting to do.  I plan to use the images that I photographed to further develop my art portfolio and motivate me to continue documenting artwork that I create, now that I know how accessible it is to me.

My images are located at:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/stacydee/

My IEP Lesson Plans are located at:

http://docs.google.com/Doc?id=dfs8st5b_12fz44X47n

Online Community

My professional online community is alaskateacher.org I chose to write about my involvement with this website as it has been an important tool in my quest for continuing my art teaching career in Alaska. I have posted my resume and cover letter on this website and in turn the website contacts me when there are open art teaching positions in Alaskan schools. It has proven to be extremely helpful in this time of job search in this fine state.

       Not only does the website contain a list of available art jobs but it contains a list of other teaching jobs open in case I would like to get certified in another subject and pursue a teaching career in history or even math. In addition to supplying a list of jobs that are available in the Alaska school districts, this website provides general information about Alaska,  links to Alaskan school districts, and information on getting certified in Alaska.

The website has contacted me with information on virtual job fairs and job chatting conferences. Any time I feel that I might not want to look for a job, I simply check my email, and there ATP is, reminding me that a job is right at my fingertips!

If by chance I do get a job in Alaska, the website contains incredibly helpful information regarding relocation, transportation in Alaska, shopping in Alaska, and what to bring. Since Alaska is such an incredibly diverse environment, it is very helpful to know that I can go to ATP and quickly find the information I am looking for regarding everything I ever needed to know about getting a job in Alaska.

Thank you ATP!

Important Websites and why?

http://www.naea-reston.org

This is my first website. It is the National Arts Education Association loaded with great resources including updates on art education, funding resources, art education resources including a link to many other resources on the web, lesson plans, and jobs in art education.

http://www.princetonal.com

This website is great for art lesson plans of all ages, I've used it a bunch this year!

http://www.artistsregister.com

I chose this website because it has an incredible list of resources of all contemporary art tools from supplies to events to schools. It also includes an artists page of whichever artists have registered on their website complete with their contact information and link to their website. It is a great tool for an artist.

Assistive Technology for Reading

I. Stacy Naden suga_bb@yahoo.com 03/22/2008

Assistive Technology for Reading Hasselbring and Bausch

II. Overview of Article

This article was about using more assistive technology in the regular classroom. A study was done at the University of Kentucky and found that most schools only utilized assistive technology on low-incidence special education students. In 2000, the Kentucky Dept. of Education decided to implement a program centered on assistive technology called text-reader software to help students with learning disabilities, specifically to help them with their reading and writing skills. The results were positive. The article then went on to discuss other assistive technology programs such as READ 180, READ, WRITE, & TYPE!, and Read Naturally. The goal of the article is to provide information to teachers as well as evidence supporting the use of assistive technology programs in the classroom.

III. Bulleted Reference Points

• Assistive Technology
• Text-Reader Software
• Kentucky Department of Education
• Read & Write Gold
• word prediction
• Reading Interventions
• READ 180
• Des Moines Independent Community School District
• Learning Disability
  

IV. Reflection and Significance to me

This article was certainly informative. Unfortunately, we don't do a whole lot of reading in the art classroom thus far. I would love to see an art classroom that functions around reading. I think this information is very helpful for a school district to have in order to better utilize their technological supports. I can see how assistive technology would help students in their learning providing individualized feedback and support where most students with learning disabilities just get shoveled around with the rest of them in the regular classroom. I can see how such programs would increase reading and comprehension skills which are crucial for students to advance at in order to successfully navigate today's educational system.

IEP Proposal

I am interested in creating a website for myself with my art work posted for viewing. I am planning on doing this with flicker.com. I am also interested in learning something about html so I may have a little better understanding of how to create my very own website. I would appreciate any feedback or advice you might have on the subject matter.

The Overdominance of Computers

I. Stacy Naden suga_bb@yahoo.com 02/25/2008

The Overdominance of Computers Lowell W. Monke

II. Overview of Article

This article was from a point of view that feels that technology is being used at such a young age that kids are becoming dependant upon it without learning other very important developmental steps such as morals, relationship skills, outdoor activities, the arts, time unstructured play, and conversations with adults. The author feels that technology is being placed in classrooms without any valuable skills being emphasized or learned by students. Computers are aiding in the students development and replacing the other very important things. The author doesn't think that computers are helping any longer, rather he thinks they are hindering education and should be utilized at a more developed stage in the education process such as high school, where the students can utilize computers as a trade and gain the necessary skills to use them. The overall point is that computers are debilitating rather than enabling when they aren't used as an aide in teaching other, more valuable human skills.

III. Bulleted Reference Points:

• Essentials in the early years
• Moral preparation
• Authentic experience
• Technology users work in the abstract
• Great power and poor preparation
• Are computers helping achievement?
• Machine dominated lives
• Computers in high school
• 67% of nursery school students used computers in 2003
• The cost of failing to compensate

IV. Reflection and significance to me

I find the author's point of view interesting. What I see in classrooms is not an over use of technology but rather, an under use of technology. I see a select group of students benefiting and focusing on the use of technology in their daily lives, yet this is an economic discrepancy. I think what the real problem is, is that there aren't good teacher to student ratios in the classroom to give them the adult interaction and conversations that they would truly benefit from. Perhaps, if the budget to increase technology in the schools were applied to increasing teachers in teh schools, then I can reason that eliminating technology at a young age would be wise.

I see the world depending on technology and functioning in the ways of technology. I don't see this as a problem derived in the schools, it's only mimicked by the schools for the purpose of participating in the economy. The quality of simple human interactions is minimized by cell phones, i pods, and general overpopulation. Human relationships are devalued and unnecessary when you can have friends on-line, play video games, or watch TV.

When kids learn to depend on technology at a young age, the outcome is similar to the essential school experiences as listed in Monke's article. The fault, as I see it, is not of integrating technology in the classroom at a young age. That may be a small fraction of an addition to the overarching problem of western society devaluing human relationships and replacing them with things that money can buy such as technology. This happens because it produces a very large profit for several people.

Creating the Rubric

Creating the rubric was easy after having done the project myself. I think if the assignment would have been to create a rubric before the project was assigned then it would be rather difficult to assess the elements of the digital story. I was able to reflect on aspects of creating the story that I had trouble with or that I would have done better on, and I selected those for the foundations of the grading rubric. I thought it would be important for students to develop a solid and thorough story map, seriously considering the content of their story. I also thought it was important for students to be creative and really strive to find unique elements to add to their story. I also thought it was important to assess the students use of technology. Did they use it to the best of their abilities? Did they try to learn new things? Did they utilize the transitions, auditory, and visual technical elements available in the movie making program? Finally I had the students assess themselves and their work: Did they do their best work, could they have done better?

I'm pleased with the outcome of the rubric, I think it's a good rubric to use in an actual classroom setting where the students are expected to create a digital story. If I were teaching this I would outline clear outlines in the beginning of the project, teach editing tools in the classroom, and give the students more specific guidelines in creating their stories.

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Digital Story Rubric


Evidence of Planning= 30 points

(15 points) Story Map is a thorough plan of the digital story
(15 points) Story line is engaging (it has meanining, climax, conflict, resolution, etc.)

Creativity= 30 points

Digital story contains unique elements:

(10 points) visual
(10 points) auditory
(10 points) content

Use of Technology= 30 points

Used the movie making program to the best of your abilities:
(6 points) read tutorials if there was an element that was unclear
(6 points) editing
(6 points) sound bytes
(6 points) smooth transitions
(6 points) story line flows with editing elements

Rate yourself: 1-10

How do you think you did?
Are you happy with the final results?
Would you have planned more if you had more time?
Would you change anything about your video?
Could you have used class time more wisely?

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Total= ______/ 100