Social Bookmarking

Social bookmarking is the latest of web 2.0 that I have discovered. OK it’s probably a discovery that has already been found by many before me. But I still find it exciting. This is yet another way that information can be saved, stored, organized, and shared with others.

del.icio.us is a website that allows users to create editable pages of links. This could be a great tool for teachers. Now we can easily save and share web sites with other teachers and students. Here is a link to my del.icio.us page. http://del.icio.us/ChanBliss here you will find a link to a video that explains social bookmarking.

As I play with this I’m sure that I will find more things that can be done with this “technology”. I guess on a basic level it allows you to carry your favorites with you.

Learn, teach, learn, teach

I’ve been reading other blogs about using web 2.0 in an educational setting. I guess as with any emerging theories there are many different opinions of how web 2.0 should be used in the classroom.

Some see the use of the web, blogs, podcasts, wikis, MySpace, Flicker and other collaborative web based tools to be liberating and empowering. Others cannot understand allowing that much unscripted, unsupervised activity in a classroom or any learning environment.

Being a classroom teacher I understand the need for control. Conversely as an artist I understand the need for freedom in a creative environment. The challenge now is to balance the two needs.

Of course mistakes will be made but those mistakes should not be a signal to return to the old ways of teaching. With the speed of change happening teachers must learn to teach as they learn. Learn, teach, learn, teach… It is a brave new world that is recreating itself faster than we can get use to the old one.

Painting the Tampa Museum of Art

This week I have been having my students create visual reports of their visit to the Tampa Museum of Art. It has been very interesting seeing what they found interesting.

Of course most of the boys really liked "American Detritus"by Andrew Junge.

The hardest part of recreating this artwork was that it was white. I had put out on the table tempera paint, crayons and colored pencils. With all those colors available many of the HUMVEES became very colorful. Well so much for realism.

Question to my students

I'm not sure how many of my students or parents of my students read this blog. But if you do and you or your child went on the field trip to the Tampa Museum of Art last week I have a question for you.
Tell me a fact about a work of art you saw at the Tampa Museum of Art.
Oh and I am planning another field trip for the classes that missed this one.

Shanghai, China

I am listening to a podcast by Wesley Fryer from a workshop he attended in Shanghai, China given by Alan November. He posed an assignment in his workshop that I found fascinating. Give a class the assignment of creating an entry in Wikipedia. This sounds fascinating. Grade school students creating an entry in the worlds largest encyclopedia. Then connect the recent changes to an RSS feed. That way they would see when changes are made to their article and what the changes are.
This would be really cool. I just looked on Wikipedia and there is no entry on Andrew Junge the artist that created the Styrofoam HUMVEE American Detritus. I am going to have my students create that entry.

415

That's it 415 students to the Tampa Museum of Art in 4 days. 23 different classes grades 2 through 5. Some of my teachers have already had their students do some writing about their museum experience and they had a great time. The boys favorite piece was the American Detritus by Andrew Junge. Well the girls liked it too. I happened to be passing by when Mrs. Mallons second grade class was at this exhibit and they were all around it on their hands and knees looking under the sculpture. I imagine that kids are the few that have viewed American Detritus from that angle.

Over the hump

OK three down, one to go. We had the smallest group go to the museum today and for the first time all three buses that we ordered showed up, go figure.
Mrs. Halls TMH class came today. They are so much fun. We were in the gallery with the display from the National Sculpture Society and spotted the piece by Richard MacDonald called "Leap of Faith". Bobby began by trying to imitate the pose. Then the other six got into the act, I was very surprised when Ishmael got into the act. He twisted up into a pose I didn't think was humanly possible.

Day two at the museum

Day two of the art museum marathon and 117 more of my students have visited the Tampa Museum of Art. They all seemed to enjoy the trip in spite of the heat. The boys really liked the Styrofoam Humvee. But I think the hit of the trip was at the end. When we went out the get on the buses one bus and both drivers were missing. I figured that they had gone to lunch and would eventually return. The kids all sat along the curb and began pumping their arms up and down at the cars. Then it happened... a car honked. Oh what joy! They all cheered and began pumping their arms at every car that passed. By the time the missing bus and drivers arrived all the kids were focused on getting cars to honk and were hesitant to leave.

Visit to the Tampa Museum of Art

Today began the first day of a 4 day marathon field trip to the Tampa Museum of Art. Today I brought 6 classes of about 110 students and 16 parent/chaperons. Other that it being a little warm during lunch the students and adults had a great time. The docents at the museum told me that all the children were very behaved and interested in the art that they were seeing.
the students took advantage of any shady spot they could find.

Budget Cuts?

And we thought this couldn't happen.

Pipe Cleaners, Googly Eyes Cut From Elementary School Arts Budget