Blissfull Thoughts

Cool Cat Teacher Blog: Calling all Bloggers: Let's free slaves this Chris...

2011-12-20T08:03:00.000-05:00

Cool Cat Teacher Blog: Calling all Bloggers: Let's free slaves this Chris...: No joke. You have some time off. I'm asking you to: Take one blog post during the season to call awareness to human trafficking Make ...

Feeling Pensive

2011-04-05T20:35:00.000-04:00

I love creating art. I love viewing others artworks, I love teaching children about art. I should love my job.

My New CR-48 Chrome Notebook

2011-02-06T14:21:00.000-05:00

Don't believe everything you are told.

2010-07-22T10:27:00.000-04:00

OMG all these people accepting one source of information about Shirley Sherrod. First the blogger Andrew Breitbart claimed to have only seen part of the video he posted on his blog. From that sound bite the USDA and the White House jumped to fire Ms. Sherrod. Now they all are claiming that it was all a mistake and are sorry for what happened. Okay Breitbart is a professional journalist and should be use to checking his sources. Then the USDA and the White House, do they believe what ever they read. Don't they have interns to check these kind of things out?
Now I see why kids and adults are so easily sucked it to believing what they read on the internet.
AAAAARRRRRRRRRGGGGGGG!!!!!!!
Now I don't know a lot about Shirley's and Andrews political beliefs I'm guessing that they are far apart. But the story she was telling of her life up to that point is very interesting. She came from a rural souther town at a time of segregation and lynching. The part of her story that has caused all the controversy is about 17 minuets into the talk.

She tells of having power over a white man. Because of this encounter she realized her own prejudice.
Know the whole story and make your own decision.

''Blissful Thoughts'' - by: Phillip Cordero (Original Composition) on th...

2010-07-03T09:30:00.002-04:00

Found this while googling myself, it could be the theme song for my blog.

My Summer Project

2010-07-03T09:19:00.002-04:00

DSC02094
Originally uploaded by blisschan

This is my summer project.
I use to ride in college and then I got married and had kids. So I became responsible. Now the kids are grown and out of the house so I decided it was time again for some irresponsibility. Okay not too much irresponsibility I do wear a helmet and other safety gear. I also took a 4 day motor cycle safety course before I started riding.
But it is fun and Jan says that it rattles the windows when I start it up in the carport.
I just got through yesterday putting a few additions on the bike, a windshield and sissy-bar with back rest for Jan when she rides with me. The next big step is that I'm riding the hog to our family reunion about 250 miles from here.

Okay I’m officially confused

2010-04-15T22:46:00.000-04:00

In the Florida legislature we have had the very Republican Senator John Thrasher sponsored a bill that would effectively move the control of schools from the local level to Tallahassee. Today Governor Crist vetoed the bill and I’m sure he will be criticized by Republicans for this but it seems to me that Crist was holding to conservative thoughts by reducing the size of government and maintaining local control over the school districts.

Then tonight I was listening to the news and President Obama was announcing his plans for NASA. It sounded like he is proposing to reduce the size of NASA and encouraging private industry to take up the mantel of space exploration. Humm reduce government encourage private industry.

I can’t tell if they are following focus groups or their beliefs. But I'm leaning toward politicians not having an idea what they are doing.

Writing about Art

2010-01-06T19:36:00.000-05:00

Okay when I first decided to include a major writing component in my lesson plans for the first half of this year I thought "This should be fun!" like banging my head against a wall fun. But stubborn as I am I forged on with this idea.
First I had to plan on what the students would write about. I always do clay before Christmas break and knew that the kids would be very engaged with this medium. So that would be the subject.
One of the major pushes at our school and district wide is to improve writing scores and many of the teachers at my school have extensive training the techniques used to promote student writing. I decided to work with Donna Tippin a 4th grade teacher that specializes in teaching writing. She helped me design the lesson and created the handouts that I gave the students in class to help them write about their clay bowls.

As part of the design of the clay project I decided to have the students create "Story Bowls" This allowed me to teach both pinch pot and coil methods. I also had the students add a small figure to their bowl. I thought that the bowl and figure could be made by most students in one class. The figure also gave them something to create a story around in their writing.

So now I'm working on reading and grading all of these stories of clay. Each of these milk crates contains one classes writing, 18 to 22 students ceramic tales.

01-04-10

2010-01-04T20:34:00.001-05:00

01-04-10
Originally uploaded by blisschan

Today I finally finished organizing my students art writing portfolios. One box for each class. I have to keep the boxes on the hall because my classroom is so small but I'm lucky to have one because not all art teachers in our district have classrooms.

365 photos 2010

2010-01-03T16:18:00.000-05:00

I'm going to try again to take 365 photos this year, one a day and post then to Flckr and blog about them here. The first two were taken while on a visit to Jacksonville for News Year.
Jan and I spent New Years Eve with my sister Palmer Ann and her new husband Joe. We had wine and played games. Lots of fun.
1-2-10 was at Tim and Cheryl's house with other family and friends. Here the girls are raiding the refrigerator.

On 1-3-10 I received a very early text from our friend Leslie. At about 2am this Leslie while partying in Vegas she wondered what Jan was doing. I sent her this image.

Being as how I'm trying to keep this blog PG I can't show what was happening in Vegas, that will stay there.

By the Numbers

2009-10-21T20:48:00.002-04:00

While reading Wesley Fryer blog he spoke about a widget that Gary Hayes made that is a "clock" that tracks in real time the growth of social media on the web. Some of the numbers are very impressive. In the 300 seconds that I have been logged on to his blog there have been 815,983,251 emails sent globally. 2730 new members of Facebook. $73,980 spent on virtual goods, that is paying something for nuthin'.
If you have not started exploring social media you will be quickly left behind.

in reference to:

- Gary's Social Media Count | PERSONALIZE MEDIA (view on Google Sidewiki)

Hat Day

2009-10-06T13:22:00.001-04:00

This looks like a fun assignment. I'll have to get some of my parents to bring in old hats for the kids to use.

in reference to: Hat Day - Art Education 2.0 (view on Google Sidewiki)

Georgia O'Keeffe in Google Earth

2009-09-29T21:59:00.001-04:00

Came across this lesson in the Teaching Pallette using Google Earth to show the life of Georgia O'Keeffe. This is a great way to use Google Earth. On the web page there is also an embedded KLM viewer. KLM is the Google Earth file type and this allows visitors to the web page to also see an interactive Google Earth window.I have got to try this.

in reference to: Georgia O’Keeffe in Google Earth : The Teaching Palette (view on Google Sidewiki)

NSO

2009-09-24T20:25:00.001-04:00

New shiny object.
I have found that not only parents but teachers and administrators are taken with having the newest and slickest technology in their classrooms without thought to training and how the technology will transform the classroom. Teachers at my school all want documents cameras and interactive whiteboards but many that have been installed are used for no more than expensive whiteboards and overhead projectors. But for some as time goes by and they become comfortable with the technology they begin to use it for more. But I think with proper training and mentoring and the time to do those things more teachers would hit the ground running with these technologies.
Last year when we installed a dozen SmartBoards at our school the classroom set up did not allow easy access to the the SmartBoard by the students but I have noticed this year that teachers are changing their classrooms around so students can more easily access the interactive board.

in reference to: Interactive technology access does not guarantee good teaching and learning » Moving at the Speed of Creativity (view on Google Sidewiki)

Google Tool Bar?

2009-09-24T20:12:00.001-04:00

OK I wanted to try Google Sidewiki but I'm not so sure about the tool bar.

in reference to: Google Sidewiki (view on Google Sidewiki)

Summer Fun

2009-06-28T20:14:00.004-04:00

This summer I have been playing more with online social networks and PLC. Most of the tools I am exploring are ones that I have been using but now I'm trying out new ways to use them.

For example the image to the left is a screen shot of my Seesmic desktop. This utility allows me to better organize, sort and search my Twitter account. Using this I am able to follow "friends" who are attending the NECC this week. Using this tool I am able to learn about workshops and lectures that they are attending as well as ask the attendies questions about their experiances there.
I have also been discovering new ways to use Flickr. I can follow other users and see what they are posting as well as comment on the images. I have added as Flickr friends some of my Twitter friends and with this I can follow through both words and images what they are doing at NECC. That is pretty cool, next year maybe I'll go.
I have been using Flickr this year to document an image for every day of the year and through that I have met a few new Flickr friends throught their comments on my photos.
Now I have noticed that FaceBook has created a link between my "Whats on your mind?" on facebook and my blog. This is in addition to the to Twitter and Flickr link on FaceBook.

Google Wave

2009-05-31T23:04:00.000-04:00

Wow, This will be something.

Picture a day

2009-05-29T06:00:00.004-04:00

I have been taking a picture a day since the first of January without missing a day. Yesterday a took a picture that I'm not sure that I can post on flickr. Not because of the content but because of the way the image is created.
I just discovered a Microsoft site that allows you to have a group of images combined into one "Synth". With this you can use your mouse to move around an area. I did one of my classroom.

You have to upload a small viewing program which to me is a drawback but other than that it is pretty cool.

Finally!

2009-05-15T09:49:00.007-04:00

OK I can finally write about something my wife and I have been working on for about 9 months. No it's not a baby. But it was for my baby.
As you may know we have taken up quilting but we did it for a particular reason. My daughter Jessica is getting married this weekend and when she and Jarod announced their engagement a year or so ago we decided to give them a memory quilt. I looked into having one made and WOW were they expensive. I thought "shoot I could make one cheaper than that!" So Jan and I took a class in quilt making and set out to make them one.
Last September we picked out fabric and sent out fabric squares to friends and family that indicated they would participate. We asked that they put some type of memory of Jessica or Jarod or the couple on the square and then send to back to us by January 31. That would give Jan and I three months to put it together.
Well the last pieces did not arrive till the end of March with one coming much later than that.
We gave Jessica and Jarod the quilt yesterday at a picnic in their honor. They loved it and Jan and I are very happy to be able to give to them what will become part of their history.
Oh and the late square, that was from my brother and it received a place of honor on the back making this a two sided quilt!

Doormet Gourmet Delivery

2009-05-11T20:52:00.003-04:00

I have a friend who blogs about food so I thought I'd give it a crack.
Tonight I stopped at a place down the street called Doormet Gourmet Delivery. It is an interesting place, very urban. The decor is minimal, black glossy chairs, wood tables, tecno club music playing.
The staff was very friendly and helpful. On the counter was freshly baked garlic flatbread and according to the gentleman behind the counter was made from the same dough as the pizzas. The owner explained that he and his brother worked on perfecting the dough for a year. It was very good.
The menu offered fresh salads, pressed sandwiches, pastas, fried rice, and brick oven pizza. It was hard to choose, I ordered a sizzling steak sandwich, marcala pasta with grilled spicy Italian sausage and the southwest fried rice.
We split the sandwich 3 ways and shared the other . All the dishes were very good and there is enough of the marsala left over for lunch.

Paid it Foward

2009-04-29T19:41:00.012-04:00

Almost two weeks ago I read a post on Snippety Gibbet about the idea of paying it forward. You reply to a post and then make the same offer on your blog. In return you receive a gift. This offer seems to be traveling around the craft and art blogs.
I had to jump on that because I had been reading Snippety Gibbet for quite a while and I knew that she is very creative and that her gift would be something interesting.
Today a box arrived in the mail. Bo and I were very excited!
So I rushed inside to open it up. Wow, bubble wrap the tension was palatable. Bo could hardly stand it.

So I peeled back the bubble wrap and there I was looking back at me!It also came with a variety of outfits,
Lederhosen Me.

Pirate Me.

Before Jan came home I found a place of honor for the portrait of me. Jan suggested I hang it in my classroom, what's up with that?

Pay It Foward

2009-04-18T08:55:00.005-04:00

My RSS feed has close to 200 blogs that I try and read. This is becoming close to impossible to do while holding a full time job. And so far I haven't found a way to make a living being a full time blog reader. So I've started to create sub folders. And then sub-sub folders.
This is a reply to a blog that has made the cut to that rarefied group, Snippety Gibbet. I enjoy reading this blog because it is a connection to a world of art and crafting as well as a bike ride or two. Today the post was on "Paying it Foward" This is kinda like one of those pesky chain letters or emails. But rather than something dire happening to me if I did not follow the instructions of sending it on the post came with a promice of a mystery gift made by the author of the post.
OK I was intrigued with this so I followed the thread back on her post. This lead me to "Pink Feather Paradise" and from there I was lead to "The ramblings of an everday mummy" . Both of these blogs are very cool craft and such blogs.

Well here is what this is all about.....
Here's the "official" part I lifted from her blog: "The first three people to leave a comment will receive a hand made gift from me
the only thing you have to do is participate and carry on the gift giving to three more people...
as soon as you have left a comment do a "pay it forward post" on your blog and continue the giving.
I will contact the first three comentee's to get their addresses."

Green Friday

2009-04-02T19:12:00.002-04:00

Most times I have blogged in the past it has been an exercise in personal reflection or something has my dander up. This is different, like an assignment, sort of.

OK, a green classroom/art program.

At first I could not think of ways that that my art class was green. With the number of students I teach we run through quite a bit of paper and the sharpeners on the tables grind through a forest of pencils. But we do have a recycling program at our school so some of that paper ends up in the recycle bin and the kids are not using electricity with the hand sharpeners (plus getting a little exercise).

So I started looking around my room to see what I do that could be considered “green”. First I noticed this pile of cardboard that I pulled out of the dumpster a while back. I used these as part of a descriptive drawing lesson.

Next I saw my buckets of recycled clay. I only buy clay 2 of every 3 years. On the third year I use all the scraps from the previous years. This also helps my budget. I also help my budget by collecting crayons that are broken. Often classroom teacher have boxes of broken crayons at the end of the year that they would throw out If I did not collect them. I always tell the kids that crayons are one of the few things that work just as well broken as whole.

All of the small containers that I use on the tables are recycled. Plastic cups and plastic food containers. All different shapes and sizes. I even have some plastic cafeteria style plates and bowls that I saved when the district stopped using washable dishes and went to throwaway Styrofoam trays.

Many of the tools I use in the art room are recycled. Recycling seems to be a natural part of the creative process, seeing something new in an object. One of my students favorite projects are the Art Rockets. In this project we recycle plastic into rockets that we then blast off.

Our district has gone green with the art curriculum in recommending a digital version of the art textbooks we use. These take up a lot less space and no trees are cut down for them. Just 5 CDs.

On a personal art note this year I am creating a picture a day and posting them on Flickr. 365 images in this project and no paper, film or chemicals are used. I’m not sure how this project will be shown at our yearly teacher art show. But the way technology changes I’m sure by then I’ll have a way to display them.

Now if I could only figure out how to recycle minutes so I would have more time.

New Blog

2009-02-27T17:07:00.000-05:00

I have been quiet for awhile on "Blissfull Thoughts" because I have been doing a photo blog on Flickr. As I previously stated on Saturday, January 3, 2009 I have challenged myself to post a photo a day. Some days this is quite a challenge because I have also made the requirement of myself that I create the photo I post on the day I post it. I usually think about the photo while driving in my car so I have a few photos in and around my car. Some days it is easy and ideas for images just happen other days it is a struggle. but so far I have been able to keep up with my challenge. I have also found that when posting the image It is easier to find something to blog about.
Interestingly enough most of the images I have been posting were taken with my camera phone. Probably because I have it with me and It is really simple to use. The photo of the pipes below was taken with the phone on the right.

Getting it free no more

2009-01-31T11:28:00.000-05:00

Well after 17 years the big antenna is coming down. Yes the Blisses are getting cable. Our kids grew up in a house without cable. I'm surprised that the authorities didn't come to our house with accusations of child abuse. Right now I'm looking at the Verizon truck in our front yard and wondering what it will be like with hundreds of channels. It may be too many to choose from.
The roof looks kinda empty with our the big antenna it was a landmark.
Now I wonder if anything good is on TV?

Hovering Helicopters

2009-01-26T23:12:00.000-05:00

The SuperBowl is in town and the fun has started. The stadium is only a few miles from my house and I could see the helicopters hovering over the NFL Experience this afternoon. There were three and the only thing going on that I know of is the NFL gift shop is open and the NFL Experience which is a field full of football like games for the kids. Traffic is terrible around the stadium and the surrounding area. As the games gets closer I will probably be trapped in my house.

365 day 25

2009-01-25T13:02:00.000-05:00

I have been photographing and posting a photograph a day for the last 25 day. I try and force myself during the day to create an image of find a moment that should be preserved. Some days it is easy others I forget till late in the evening and have to come up with something.
I have been using my cell phone camera for many of the images. It is quick and I always have it with me. I am going to start using the images as part of my blog because I'm having difficulty finding time for both so I might as well combine them.
Today's photo is of my daughter Jessica and her fiance Jared.

They came to Tampa this weekend for a quick visit and for Jessica and her mother Jan to go over some plans for her wedding. Jared is learning to tread carefully when offering his opinion about any thing related to the wedding. Good for him that talent will serve him well in marriage.

Off Line

2009-01-13T21:16:00.000-05:00

Last Sunday I was checking the times that "24" came on and on the search result page I saw a site of Jack Bauer jokes. I should have known better.... This is what popped up next. Then page after page of ads started appearing on my page. Ooh pull the plug switch off the computer too late the damage was done.
I first tried running several virus, spyware ect ... programs that I have. Then I did research on the site that was the start of this. It appeared that there was no cure for the problem. I kept my computer off-line and tried to work the problem but every time I connected back on-line the windows would start popping up.
Aarg!!! Next I tried logging on as another user and as an local administrator on the computer. Oooh no problem, humm the issue was just with my profile on this computer. Ok I can solve this, just delete the problem user, me.
Fortunately I have been very careful as of late to be backing everything up in multiple locations. All of my bookmarks are stored on Foxmarks my photos on Flickr and music on an external hard drive and server.
This wasn't as bad as having my computer just flat out crash but I figure that even if that had happened I still would not have lost very much except time.

Oh! those darn kids, what are we to do?

2009-01-06T21:31:00.000-05:00

Last Friday I read April Griffins blog “Things we used to teach our children...” and It really got me thinking.
First whether we, as teachers should be teaching manners and civility in the classroom. I have come to the conclusion that the answer is no. Should we demand civility and good manners from students? YES. But not spend valuable class time teaching it. I then thought about how my children learned manners. And I think it was from many people.

We were lucky that our children had many kind and loving people in their lives.
When they were young and went to day care we had “Big Mama and Big Daddy” take care of them. These two were great Big Daddy had retired from the military and some how talked his wife Dig Mama into opening a day care in their home.
Big Mama was the drill sergeant and Big Daddy was a big teddy bear, the kids loved it. And in their home my kids learned how to be friends with others and to play nice. They still have friends from that time.

Our church also played a big part in the lives of our children. Mrs. Flossie ran the childrens ministry and she taught the kids the power of a quiet voice. No one acted up in her Sunday school. If they did they were quietly but firmly redirected. My son was redirected often.
As my children became older they were Acolytes at our church and that taught them poise before a crowd.

My children were also involved in Scouts, both Boy and Girl Scouts. I think Scouts taught them that there is a time and a place for everything. My son went on in Scouts to become an Eagle Scout, a very proud moment in both our lives.
My daughter worked in high school at the YMCA and there she learned how to work pleasantly with other even if they really pissed you off.

Did my wife and I teach them anything? I hope so but probably not as much as we would have hoped. But we did provide as stable home environment as we could. Do I think that a school could have taught them to become the fine young adults they are. No it is too big a responsibility for one group or organization to handle

Happy New Year!

2009-01-03T12:01:00.000-05:00

Ok I’m a few days behind. With Christmas break and all I’m just taking it easy.

So did everyone make a New Years Resolution? In the past I have made ones that were relatively unattainable: loose weight, make more money, grow hair, and others that well after a week or two lost their attraction.

So this year I decided to do a resolution that WAS attainable, one that I could and would do.

Take, post and comment on Flickr a photo each day for a year. I’ve seen and read of others that have taken on this project and most have said that it was a fun way to explore their lives. We will see. So follow me on my Flickr site and I’m sure some of the photos will be commented on here in this blog.

To do

2008-12-21T17:51:00.000-05:00

I wish I had more time before Christmas. I'm only about half way through the to-do list my wife gave me.

Empty Bowls part 3

2008-12-20T23:19:00.000-05:00

The kids in a circle bowls are very easy to make.
Each year for the Empty Bowls food bank fund raiser have my students make bowls that while retaining their childhood exuberance for art also contain a certain elegance and sophistication.
The past few years I have used a slump mold with my students. I made this slump mold using a large salad bowl that I filled with plaster. With this bowl shaped lump of plaster my students can form their bowls.
For the kids in a circle bowl the students used gingerbread cookie cutters to form the little people from slabs of clay rolled about ¾ of an inch thick. Then we placed the cutouts on the mold slightly overlapping with a little slip to help them stick together. I removed the clay from the mold when it was leather hard. After bisque firing I had the students paint the figures but each student could only glaze one figure on a bowl. That way each figure was very different, just like the kids.
Another bowl that the kids and I have done using the plaster slump mold is a hand bowl. After rolling out a slab I had the students trace their hand on the clay and then cut it out. This hand print was then placed on the slump mold along with about 5 other hands. Depending on how you place the hand prints on the mold the bowls look either woven or like a flower.
I’m sorry I don’t have any pictures but my art classes are only 45 minutes long and we have to start and finish clay projects in that time and it is hard to find time to take pictures during the process.

Change

2008-12-09T21:22:00.000-05:00

Sometimes even when you know change is coming when it happens it is still a shock.
1982 while still in college I first used Polaroid film as part of my chosen profession. Yes I had used Polaroid before, my parents had a huge Polaroid camera I think we got it in the late 1960's or early 70's. It was great and we took it everywhere.
But in college I began using it as part of my professional photography. I then used for the next 17 years all variates of Polaroid film. During the height of my professional photography career I would use two or three boxes of film a day. To check lighting, proof shots for clients, record ideas, ok locations,props, models with art directors.I cannot imagine shooting without it. I even carried a timer and thermometer with me to use the film as a backup to my light meter. (Polaroid develops at a precise rate according to time and temp)With that knowledge and a good lab I very rarely had over or under exposed film.
About 2 years ago I first heard rumblings that Polaroid would be ceasing production but today I read on a web site imaginginfo.com that December 2008 is the last month of production. No more, the end, find something else to use, start stockpiling.
I'm sure, no I know that there are kids that have no idea about Polaroids but they sure were fun. I really enjoied pulling that film apart and seeing the image. The excitment of being on location and relizing that I was down to the last few sheets and I knew that the art director would want more, they always wanted to see yet one more Polaroid.
I think I still have part of a box of 54 stored away. I think I'll take some Polaroids on December 31 in memory of a friend.

Empty Bowls part 2

2008-12-07T21:07:00.000-05:00

Last month I wrote about the Empty Bowls project I did with the students at Mary E. Bryan Elementary and I promised to post pictures. Well as always the project did not get finished till the last minute and I forgot to take pictures till I was delivering the bowls to the Second Harvest Food Bank. So just before I took the bowls in I opened up one of the boxes and picked a bowl. The only place I had to shoot was on top of my car with my cell phone. Ok not the best situation but here is one of the bowls. They did turn out very cute and the kids had a great time personalizing each figure.

Sewing in class

2008-12-04T19:29:00.000-05:00

This year I wrote a grant to create a quilt with my students. For this I needed to teach the kids to use a sewing machine. When I gave my classes an impromptu survey about 2 or 3 students per class had used a sewing machine, usually with a grandmother. Not very many but by the end of next week all 500 of my students will have sewed two straight seams.
All of my students will participate in this project in some way. Today I have the two TMH (Trainable Mentally Handicapped) and I had them sewing or at least sitting in front of a machine watching how it was done. It is quite interesting sewing hand over hand.
I also found it interesting how well the boys did. They would watch the demonstration and study the mechanics of the machines and do quite well with their first experience with sewing.
This week all the students are making small bags to store the clay trivet in that we have spent the last month making. All are looking froward to being able to take home this treasure.

Sometimes my head just hurts.

2008-12-02T18:06:00.000-05:00

One of the blogs that I regularly read is "Wired Top Stories". On November 24 there was a follow up story on former Connecticut school teacher Julie Amero who had been prosecuted on pornography charges. From this she faced 40 years in prison.
Then on December 1 there was another story about Lori Drew. She was the mom that created a fictional MySpace page that eventually drove a 13 year old girl to commit suicide. For this she now faces up to 3 years in jail and $300,000 in fines.
Why do I get the feeling that we are not on the same page.

FAEA Tech Workshop

2008-11-01T15:37:00.000-04:00

Web 2.0 Presentation

View SlideShare presentation or Upload your own. (tags: faea art)

Last month I led a workshop at the FAEA State Conference on using the new web 2.0 tools in the art classroom. I originally signed up to present this workshop last February. Over the next few months I created a PowerPoint, handouts and wiki describing how these new tools could be used in the art classroom. By the end of May I was satisfied with the presentation and I put it aside to work on other projects.
Big Mistake!
In September I revisited my wiki and was surprised to find that many of the tools I had featured in my presentation had changed or I was using different tools. I realized that the presentation could not be on specific tools or exact way to use web 2.0 in the classroom but must be about the evolving nature of web 2.0 and learning in general.
So!
My presentation became totally web based. No powerpoint, no handout except for a business card with the url of the workshop wiki, my e-mail and more. Also did I mention tha the theme of the conference was Green. You can' t get much greener only using one sheet of card stock for all the handouts in a workshop of 15.
But!
Doing the workshop in this way I was able to and did make changes to the presentation up to the last minute and even added to it during the presentation. And by having the presentation in wiki form and the workshop was in a computer lap participants were able to add their thoughts and ideas to the wiki.
Also!
By having the workshop web based I was able to use the equipment available at the site the workshop was given, less wear and tear on my back lugging all my tech tools around. Just show up with a pocket full of cards and I'm good to go.

Empty Bowls

2008-10-30T20:58:00.000-04:00

Every year my students and I participate in the Empty Bowls Project. This unit in my curriculum combines the study of ceramics and social awareness. Students make bowls that are given to American's Second Harvest of Tampa Bay to be used during the Empty Bowls Luncheon. At the luncheon for $10.00 you can get a bowl of soup, a piece of fruit, a roll and a bottle of water. And a ceramic bowl made by an elementary student of Hillsborough Schools.
For the past few years I have had the students work in groups to make bowls. This helps when we give them away and this way we end up with larger more interesting bowls.
This year the students are making figure bowls. We are using gingerbread men cookie cutters to make the figures. Then using 6 or 7 figures in a circle we make a bowl. Each student is responsible for one figure to make and glaze. I think that they will look very cool when done.

Nap-Time

2008-10-19T22:06:00.001-04:00

Nap-Time
Originally uploaded by blisschan

This is the result of a workshop I took this weekend at the FAEA conference in Orlando. It is called a bueprint or cyantype image. It is created by cutting a stencil and then placing the it on top of the photo sensitive fabric. This is pressed under a sheet of glass and placed in the sun for 15 minutes. After that time the fabric is washed in water to reveal the image.
Thanks Patricia Velazquez for the workshop.

Fridays FAEA October 17, 2008

2008-10-18T08:34:00.000-04:00

On Friday I took a workshop in the morning that was really challenging. Flash in a Flash. This was a workshop on creating Flash Animation. There is a lot to the program and I will have to play with the program before I feel comfortable with it.
I also taught a workshop called "Web 2.0 Publish to the World" I had about 11 people there and everyone seemed to enjoy it.
Here is a link to the second half of Fridays Keynote Speaker

FAEA Conference in Orlando 2008

2008-10-16T17:42:00.000-04:00

Today was the first day of the FAEA State Conference. I began the day with a Gallery Hop to various Museums around the Orlando area.
We first visited the Orlando Museum of Art and saw a very interesting exhibit called Provocative Parings. The exhibit was made by pairing works from the museums permanent collection that represented different points of view and or use of media. It was very good and in some cases funny, I laughed out loud at the work titled "Head Cheese".
The next museum we visited was the Mennello Museum. There we an excellent collection of works by the artist Earl Cunningham.

Later on Thursday we had the FAEA General Session with the keynote speaker Dr. Deborah Reeve. Here is the first half of her talk.

Updating my Jott. I've...

2008-10-13T16:42:00.001-04:00

Updating my Jott. I've updated my jott to a paid account and I find that I do use enough that it was worth paying for this. So its something that you shall look into Jott. listen

Powered by Jott

The Test

2008-10-08T22:03:00.001-04:00

I began this week giving the HCSD Elementary Art Assessment. Oh are the kids excited, come to art and take a test.
Now don't get me wrong I believe that valid assessments are an important part of education. But the thought that a single pre-test and post-test shed any light on a students growth in art or any subject is just foolish.
Last week while scanning the various blogs that I read I came across a video by Chris Lehmann and about a minute into the talk he made the statement that "good data cost a lot more than we are willing to spend". Ouch that hit the nail on the head. We create standardize who's main function as I see it is to create numbers masqueraiding as data.
I know that the FAEA is in the processs of creating a state wide standardize art test. This could be a good thing from what I have seen from a plemenary review of possible test questions I saw last year. but I'm not sure how the test will be paid for. Will it be part of a State mandated assessment like FCAT. Or will individual districts have the option of paying for and administrationg the art test? I don't know.
I do know that watching the students in my art class that growth cannot be measured during a single class. Often I see no growth at all untill all of a sudden a student gets it! But it may not be at the same time that other students "get it". So if I assessed at that time some would show growth and others not. Even if the other students "got it" the next week, that would not count. That is a problem. Do I have the answer, no I haven't gotten to the point in my education to "get it" .....yet.

Quilt Continued

2008-09-14T21:25:00.001-04:00

I have got pretty far on the quilt for the Harvest Festival this weekend. I have to stop now because I'm about 8 inches short on the border. Humm, I suppose in the future I should always get a little extra fabric. So tomorrow I'll finish the border and then work on pinning the batting and backing down. I think that I can quilt it with the machine we have at home. I did a little test today and made a little quilted potholder and the plain foot on the sewing machine worked fine, although I may have to put extra pins in to hold the layers steady.
Oh I'm feeling a little too domestic so I think its time for a beer and some football!

Second Quilt

2008-09-13T17:53:00.001-04:00

Well I had to open my big mouth at church last week. "Oh you know how to quilt? The Harvest Festival is coming up and that would be great for the craft booth."
Jan is out of town so I think I'll have some free time this week so I have challenged my self to finish the quilt before she gets back.
This one will be frogs and flowers. The fabric is washed and ironed and this evening I'll get the pieces cut. I don't know if I'll be ready to sew this evening but I'm sure I'll get started tomorrow.

ScribeFire

2008-09-12T21:38:00.001-04:00

I have just added a Firefox Add-on to my computer called ScribeFire. This add-on allows you to quickly post to your Blog with out having to start up your blog editor.
At first I thought that this was an interesting add-on with out much practical purpose but after installing and starting it up (you just click f8) I see that it may be useful. I'm posting this with ScribeFire.
The interesting thing is that the extension opens in the lower half of the browser window while the web page you are on remains open in the top part of the window with full browser capabilities. I see this as making it very easy to blog about information I find online.
One of the options that ScribeFire allows is Live Preview where the post is temporally published to your blog so that you can view it with your blogs formating. After you return to editing the post is removed from your blog.
This is pretty cool and I'll see if it increases the number of posts I publish to my blog.

It will all be obsolete

2008-09-08T23:14:00.000-04:00

I've been planning for a presentation\workshop that I am giving in October to the FAEA. The theme of the workshop is incorporating web 2.0 technologies in the art classroom. I began researching and planning for the workshop last February.
Some of the technologies I will be presenting I use regularly others not as often but I had prepared to present on all. I wanted to show the participants options on blogs, wikis and podcasts. As well as other ancillary web based tools.
Well in going over my presentation I have found that about a third of the sites\web tools that I had prepared for had already gone through significant changes.
This fact of web 2.0 (I use this term loosely to cover a very large and fluid group of tools I access via various electronic devices) changes and evolves at a progressively rapid pace.
So what you learn now will not be applicable a year from now. This makes this new media both very engaging and frustrating at the same time. PB Wiki has changed significantly 3 or 4 times in the year or so that I have been using it.
This creates an environment of continuous learning and I think that the workshop that I will be giving will have to reflect that fact. Participants coming to the workshop will be learning how to use the web to learn. They will find that some of the presentation I may have discovered only the night before while Twittering or reading over my blog feed.
This reminds me of the way very young children everything is new, exciting and they never know what to expect the next day. An adventure.
I hope no one wants a paper handout, I would have to bring a printer with me and print as the workshop was given. Even then it would not be current.

Finished my quilt!

2008-08-24T21:16:00.000-04:00

4 classes,4 weeks one hurricane later I have finished my quilt. For the first try at quilting or sewing for that matter I think it turned out fairly well. This evening during the closing ceremonies of the Olympics I was sewing up the last of the edge of the quilt. I was told by our instructor that this is typically done by hand even in quilts that were otherwise sewn on a machine. So my is done by hand. I think I got the hang of the blind stitch on the second side and I cut out the first side and re-did it toward the end. I was much happier with the result after that. Really there is only one mistake in the quilt and I'll leave you to find in the accompanying picture.
After learning how to quilt I have written a grant and I hope to be able to buy some quilting materials to use in my art class. I think the kids would enjoy the process, even if we only make little pot holder quilts.

Hurricane Fay

2008-08-17T22:09:00.000-04:00

Panoramic picture taken with my cell phone.

Gandy Bridge 2 days before Hurricane Fay blows by Tampa Bay.

I went for a bike ride today over the Gandy bridge. It is hard to believe that Hurricane Fay may hit us in a day or two. But then it always looks very calm before a storm. I just hope that all the kids tomorrow are safe getting to school. Yea thats right school starts and a day later a hurricane hits. I guess it can only get better!

Twittearth

2008-08-12T21:54:00.000-04:00

Oh! this is fun. I just found this yesterday and have become fascinated with Twittearth. According to the developers this site was made for fun. OK but I think it illustrates the power and reach of the web and social networks. Go to the site and watch the globe spin with twitts. This is all happening in real time and what you are seeing is a worldwide conversation. Wow! I showed this to a group of teachers and I think that it really opened their eyes to ways that social networks could be used in the classroom. Unfourtnatly most social networks are blocked from our schools.
(In the screen shot above each of the little figures is a twitter and the location on the earth is where it orignated)

Quilting

2008-07-31T23:29:00.000-04:00

"Oh my god" that was my sons reaction when his Mom told him about our new project together. We are taking a quilting class. Sewing is not one of those hobbies that I ever pursued. Oh I can sew on a button and at one point in my life I was studying sail-making. But that used waxed linen thread, heavy canvas, a BIG needle, and a leather sewing palm. Very butch.
Well now Jan and I have decided to learn quilting together, we are such "empty nesters". I was hoping for drinking and partying every night but alas it was not to be. So we are quilting.
It is kinda fun and I'm not bad at it either, Ok not great but I have been able to cut and sew a straight line.
We got homework tonight from class and this should be fun trying to sew on the sewing machine we have at home. I'm looking online for a 1/4 inch slant foot fro the sewing machine. No easy task because this was my grandmothers sewing machine before she gave it to Jan when we were first married. So it has some years on it. But I've found some of the feet we need and tomorrow I'm going to call a place here in Tampa that sells Singer sewing machines and see if they have any. Didn't think I'd be doing that last week!

Frustrated

2008-07-30T17:45:00.000-04:00

Yesterday I gave a workshop to a group of art teachers. The theme of the workshop was incorporating digital tools onto the elementary art classroom. I used a wiki to present and demonstrate various ideas I have used or plan on using.

Some teachers caught on very quickly to the concepts involved, others struggled but kept trying but a few just gave up and did not try.

I was a little frustrated with the last group because I thought that if the teachers would just by try a little harder that they would get it.

Well today I have a little more understanding of the teachers that just gave up. I was working on my “second job” which involves rolling schools in our district over to Active Directory. Part of that process is preparing for folder redirection which is how users data is stored. I have a very small part of that process which is checking that users are in the right folders.

The other part is applying the group policy for folder redirection. I watched one of the network administrators do just that and I have no idea what magic he did. I could not even begin to duplicate the process or even describe what happened on the servers and domain controllers he worked on.

So those of you that were in my workshop and left feeling that the workshop was given in Greek I feel your pain. I’m not sure how many times I would have to be shown the process of “applying a group policy” before I got it if I ever would. But I’ll keep trying. And I hope that the teachers from my workshop will also.

Thats it. Now Austin...

2008-06-21T16:22:00.001-04:00

Thats it. Now Austin is tucked away in his dorm room, his bags unpacked, groceries on the floor, computer running. listen

Powered by Jott

Stop and think.

2008-06-16T19:25:00.000-04:00

I have been thinking about the 4 boys who lost their lives in the Little Sioux Scout Ranch in Blencoe, Iowa. This makes me think about all the boys who wear the Scout Uniform and what it can mean.
On a personal level I have seen my son grow to a man in Scouts. During his time in Scouts Austin went from a little boy who was afraid on camp outs and had to sleep in the same tent as me. To a young man who during his Eagle project went to a foreign country to help other children there. Scouting gave him the confidence to do that.
Listen to this story from NPR and think "shouldn't more boys be involved in Scouts" http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=91514659

Something else to think about.

2008-06-01T12:53:00.000-04:00

This is an interesting video by some students from the Savannah College of Art and Design. Now I'm not a big player of video games or even on-line games, except for Parking Wars on Facebook. I use to play video games in college but that was limited to PacMan and Frogger. When my son turned 16 my wife and I allowed him to get the video game Grand Theft Auto. After he got the game I sat with him and watched him play. There was a lot of shooting, stealing of cars, and other inappropriate things going on. And imagine my delight when he "earned" enough points to become a Drug Lord. But I watched the game with him and I talked to him about what was happening. I came to understand that what he saw happening on GTA was about as real to him as it was for me when I tried to hop from log to log in Forgger.
So as with any other technology or activities your children participate in the best thing that you can do to ensure that it is appropriate for them is be involved. Don't depend on anyone or anything else to protect them, likewise don't expect to place blame on anyone else.

Thinking Outside the Box

2008-05-19T20:17:00.000-04:00

I've been thinking lately about creativity, innovation and new media.
Firstly I have come to believe that the children that I am teaching are learning skills for jobs that do not yet exist.
I have found two examples of blending ideas and knowledge and talent to create a new way of seeing.

MUTO a wall-painted animation by BLU from blu on Vimeo.
This is a video created by Blu a graffiti artist and animator. Its an amazing video, really thinking outside the box.

in the above music video the band Get Out Clause used videos gleaned from London's vast CCTV security system to edit together a music video.

Now these are two examples of very creative, innovative thinking what will happen with these ideas I don't know. But there have been recent examples of very outside the box that have created new industries. Facebook, less than 5 years ago a student at Harvard created a way for other Ivy league students to socialize online. Now although its founder claims no plans to sell the company Facebook has been valued at between 1 to 8 billion dollars. Wow that is really taking anew idea to the extreme.

End of the year

2008-05-07T17:28:00.001-04:00

Only about 11.5 days left on the school year. It doesn't see possible. So many things planned but not yet accomplished and other things that I didn't plan on done.
I've actually got quite a few teachers at my school venturing into web 2.0 teaching. One is creating a wiki with her students about the history of the area around Mary E Bryant. Two other first grade teachers are working with their students creating MixBooks of art work created in my art class. Both of these projects are big steps for the teachers.

View this book full size or get a printed copy at Mixbook

Next year should be very interesting because the theme for the year is going to be " Learning through Technology" or something to that effect I'm not sure what that means or where that will lead us next year but where ever that is it should be an adventure.

Getting ready for College

2008-05-05T22:35:00.000-04:00

I'm sitting here with my son going over his college loan information. Ohh what an eye opener...for him. "Dad I have to start paying it back right after I graduate?" Yes I told him. "Bummer."
They all want to grow up so fast and then when kids get there it's quite a shock to find that the adults were not quite having all the fun that kids thought that they were.
I'm sure that my son will do well in school and its both fun and scary to see him growing up.

Tech day Wednesdays....

2008-04-30T17:45:00.001-04:00

Tech day Wednesdays. Spent the day today doing check, helping people fix some interesting problems and repeating things to people that I have repeated over and over about how to work with their computers. Over all, fairly successful day. I do have a fourth grade class that's creating their own web page about the history of the Tampa Bay area. listen

Powered by Jott

Eagle Scout Banquet....

2008-04-22T21:25:00.001-04:00

Eagle Scout Banquet. Tonight we went to my son Austins Eagle Scout Bankwood and along with, well over 200 other Eagle Scouts had a very nice dinner and he even won a subscription for the National Eagle Societies and he will get a membership for the rest of his life so we are very proud of him. listen

Powered by Jott

We're getting ready...

2008-04-18T19:29:00.001-04:00

We're getting ready to to a movie and we're watching Forgetting somebody. listen

Powered by Jott

MixBook

2008-04-14T23:13:00.000-04:00

I've been playing around this evening with MixBooks. This tool allows you to create virtual books using images and writing. This evening I made a book using artwork made by one of my first grade classes.

View this book full size or get a printed copy at Mixbook

This book only took a little time to create and distribute via this blog and a wiki I created.
To start I used a digital camera to photograph the students art as soon as it was finished in class. these files were uploaded in mass to the MixBook site. Once there I placed the images on the pages as well as wrote the story. Total time was under an hour.

The Previous Post

2008-04-13T22:18:00.000-04:00

This is pretty cool I have been messing around with some new to me web 2.0 tools. Jott, Sandy, and Blogger. Ok Blogger is not so new but the other two are. Jott allows you to sent a text message or e-mail by speaking into your cell phone. I use it to send e-mails to myself with ideas, thoughts, and to do items. I can also use it to respond to my sons text messages, much easer that trying to type in on my phone.
As the previous post shows I have also discovered how to use Jott to add posts to my blog with my phone. The first few words spoken are used as the title and then the rest is transcribed into the body of the post. Jott has a 30 second limit so the post will be brief but then most of mine are.
Sandy takes an e-mail and converts it to a daily calender entry. All you have to do is include the phrase remember or remind me in the e-mail and Sandy figures out the rest from the text of your e-mail.

I think I got this figured...

2008-04-13T20:09:00.001-04:00

I think I got this figured out. The ID is the number at the end of the link when you are trying to sign on to a post. So, this should allow me to blog from my phone. listen

Powered by Jott

Granny get your gun

2008-04-11T06:12:00.000-04:00

Often when I read about the workings of our political system and the laws that are passed by our elected officials I question their collective intelligence. Then I heard about the “Take your gun to work” bill that is soon to be signed into law by the Gov. of Fla. Wow I thought that's the craziest thing to come out of Tallahassee yet.

But upon closer inspection the law does exempt a few places of work. Schools, hospitals, and nuclear power plants ok maybe they are not so crazy. Places that deal with Home Land Security on first blush that is also a good one to keep guns away from but wait…. That would include everywhere elected officials work so without saying so our “Protectors of the Constitution” just took themselves out of the mix. I guess they aren't as crazy as I thought.

And while I am pontificating I’m really peeved about the IRS. Yes I just finished my taxes and imagine my delight when I discovered that I qualified for the Economic Stimulus Package. WooHoo $1200 free money! Oh but wait I have to send with my tax return a little more that that. So I send the IRS a check and then a few months later I get a little less back. Gee thanks! I think that the Government got the idea from those “mail in rebates” you have to do at Best Buy. I just hope I sent in all the forms, receipts, and little bar codes off the box.

Eagle Scout

2008-03-30T19:43:00.000-04:00

On Saturday March 29,2008 My son Austin was presented with the rank of Eagle Scout. I am very proud of his achievement. Austin finished all the requirements for Eagle Scout just days before he turned 18. After that birthday he would have no longer been eligible for the rank but by waiting till the very end Austin was able to be a Scout for the maximum amount of time.
Austin started Scouting in first grade when he was just 6 years old so by the time he earned his Eagle he had been a Scout for 12 years. He will tell you he loved every minute of it. Camping, hiking, peeing on trees, building fires, and having adventures with a bunch of his friends. Austin also learned to be a leader, he leaned respect for others. He learned to be a man and I know that this is just the start of great things.

Austin job well done!
Love Dad

Strange Bed Fellows

2008-03-20T23:34:00.000-04:00

I am far from a one issue voter; I’m more of a stir the pot, turn over the apple cart type thinker. But there is one issue that I will be taking a serious look at this voting season. That is the arts and art education. I think that the arts are the canary in the coal mine of our children’s education.
While our policy makers point to the easily testable subjects as gauges of the success or failure of the educational system. Often those tests depend heavily on lower level thinking and questioning. The arts on the other hand by their very creative nature move past the lower levels to the higher levels of application, analysis, synthesis and evaluation. These are areas of critical thinking that will allow students grow as learners; developing the skills that they will need in the new economy that is developing around the information age of the 21st century.
Below is a link to the Art Vote page of the Americans for the Arts Action Fund with the different Presidential Candidates Arts Policy Brief.
Read and decide.

The Luck of

2008-03-13T21:56:00.000-04:00

Don't send a lame St. Patrick's Day eCard. Try JibJab Sendables!

Racing ahead, falling behind.4

2008-03-11T22:06:00.000-04:00

From the networking class I learned a very basic idea of how the network at our school worked and with that knowledge came the opportunity to fix every ones computer problems. Ooh didn’t see that coming. But also by having to solve many different problems gave me the confidence to include technology more actively in my lessons.

I created a web page that students could access at home. They were encouraged to work with their parents on writing about different artworks that I posted on the web site. Once a month I collected the “home work” and had the students discuss what they wrote in class. Some parents enjoyed the time working with children while others viewed is as a burden and just one more thing to do. OK this was using technology but this could have also been done with a handout that students took home and wrote about. I was doing something with tech that I could have done without tech. I still wanted to have the kids do things that they couldn’t do any other way.

One thing that I did was with a first grade class and their teacher. We created a claymation animation. This was doing something that could not be done any other way. In their class the students wrote the story or script. In my art class we created the clay figures then working during an enrichment time we all worked together photographing the figures and recording the students telling the story. The students actually photographed and moved the clay figures, with a minimal assistance from me. But I still did the computer work of putting together the animation.

Then earlier this school year I discovered the K12 Online Conference. This was a great resource of information of how others were using technology in education. I learned about other teacher used wikis, blogs and other web 2.0 tools with their students. Soon after that I began to create wiki web pages for my students to work with. I also used this blog to record and report on the FAEA State conference. I hoped that my fellow teachers that were not able to attend the conference could share, virtually my experience there.

http://blissthink.blogspot.com/2007/10/faea-state-art-conference.html

http://blissthink.blogspot.com/2007/10/faea-state-conference-day-2.html

http://blissthink.blogspot.com/2007/10/how-to-create-large-public-artworks-for.html

http://blissthink.blogspot.com/2007/10/drawing-from-students-perspective.html

http://blissthink.blogspot.com/2007/10/jive-foil-puppets.html

To be continued…..

Racing ahead, falling behind. 3

2008-03-02T22:01:00.000-05:00

At my first school I used Macs and with them I was good at organizing data from the classroom. I also used the computer to research and create overheads for my lessons. But that was the limit of the computers/technology in my classroom.
Then in 2002 I moved to a new school. This was a brand new elementary school with all new technology. All PC, OK new learning experience. Laptops, LCD Projectors, SmartBoards and document cameras. Wow a challenge to learn about all new stuff with all new stuff.
First thing I did was check out an LCD projector from the media center ( the school started out with 12) I then played around with PowerPoint till I could create a simple slide show of images.
I teach elementary art and it is a great advantage to be able to show large images if the artworks I am studying with my kids.
This worked out great for the first part of the school year but then I noticed that there were other goodies in boxes in the back of the media center. Time for me to browse for new toys.
I talked the media specialist into allowing me to "store" a SmartBoard and document camera in my room. Oh I was off and digitally running. And I was learning a little about PCs, I found them a little more awkward than Macs but I was learning.
I took a course called Intel "Teach to the Future". Teach to the Future is a good course once you get past the thought that this ia an ad for Microsoft. This class encouraged me to look at ways to not only include technology in the things that I did in the classroom but also the things that kids do in the classroom.
I began by having a weekly art class in the computer lab and having kids draw using MS Paint. This was great the kids were learning a new skill and found that the computers were more that just fancy game consoles.
But the things that I wanted to do with the computer in the classroom were outstripping my skills on the computer. I needed to know more that I could learn on my own. So I convinced my Principal that I needed to take a networking class that was offered by the district to a chosen few. I should have know better.
To be continued....

Racing ahead, falling behind.2

2008-02-23T09:39:00.000-05:00

Now that I have thought about my previous post for a few days I thought I would describe my journey of incorporating technology in the classroom.

I have been teaching for less that ten years and when I came into the classroom most schools already had computers in the classroom and they were networked together. But at that time the primary use of computers was word processing. Some were using e-mail but not for important communication that was hand written or printed out and sent via student to the teacher or placed in their mailbox. A few teachers were using "Learning" games on the computer.

Coming to teaching later in life and having used computers in my business I knew that they were capable of doing much more.
Keeping records was something that I always found tedious at best. And much to my early dismay I found that most teachers are very consistent record keepers. Computers also do tedious and consistent very well. We were using Macs at that time in the schools and Apple had a great simple program for creating databases. I used that to create a student behavior database and was beginning to create a grading database when our tech teacher said that the school owned a grading program Orbis GradePro. but no one used it but the software and instructions were in the box and I was welcome to give it a try.

Ooh I was in heaven. This program allowed me to keep track of students grades, attendance, seating chart and notes on the student. I was able to print out charts and graphs on my students after just a little set-up (ok that set-up consisted of typing in all 500 of my student names) But it was worth it because it gave the illusion that I was as organized as a veteran teacher.

The graphs and charts proved to the other teachers and administration at my school that I was some sort of computer savant. Because of this I was able to move into my room a really cool blue and white Power Macintosh G3 and the only scanner in the school. People came by to see that the computers in the classroom could be used for something other that showing screen savers of kittens or grandkids.

To be continued.......

Racing ahead, falling behind.

2008-02-19T21:13:00.000-05:00

I have been grappling with incorporating technology, web 2.0, and other "alternative" methods of teaching for the past few weeks. I have a Twitter group of educators and technology pioneers that I follow regularly. From this I read how others are using various technologies in their classrooms. Of course being very curious I follow links provided and discover new web 2.0 sites.
I also use an RSS feed to aggregate blogs that I read. This allows me to quickly scan what other bloggers are thinking. I also blog myself but not as regularly as some.
A web 2.0 that I have been using in the classroom is PBWiki. A wiki is an easily edited read write web page. I have been using this in my classroom having my student create web pages about their art work. The kids are very interested in publishing to the web but I do not have the time in my class to devote to an in depth study of wikis by the students.
Another wiki that I use regularly with web 2.0 is Wikipedia. Some view the information on Wikipedia as suspect because anyone can create or edit entries. But because of the rapidly developing aspect of web 2.0 wikipedia is often the only source of information. (That is why many of the references in this blog use Wikipedia) Often current events are updated on Wikipedia as they happen. I am writing this on the evening of February 19th 2008 and early this morning Castro announced that he was steping down as the leader of Cuba. Just a short time later that day contributors had begun changing the entry on Castro to include the fact that he had stepped down and his brother is taking power. I think that this feature of a wiki is very interesting.
I have also begun a lesson plan wiki to collect and share lessons with other art teachers. Blissart is also a PBWiki that I encourage other art teachers to add to, the password is #1art, go figure.
To be continued.....

February 14th

2008-02-16T12:29:00.000-05:00

The dark underbelly of February 14^th.

Last Thursday started off like most work days, coffee and a 25 minute drive to work. When I got to school I knew something was different, the kids. The kids were more excited that usual for a Thursday; then I remembered it was Valentines Day. The day of sugar excess. When I met the buses I knew that this was going to be a day to remember. Kids were getting off the buses with bags, boxes and other containers of sweets. And they were grinning from ear to ear knowing that moms had put special treats in their lunch bags, some already eaten on the bus.

When the first group of the day came to my art class (something that on a normal day excites the kids) they were buzzing. I had them stay in line before entering my room and asked them who had Valentine candy for breakfast. About ten hands went up. Then I asked who had candy on the bus, more hands. From that brief survey I determined that about 80% of the class had already exceeded their daily consumption of sugar. Time 8:15am. This was going to be a long day.

The next two classes were about the same. Most lasted about ten minuets till I yelled for them to work in silence. Even then kids were falling out of their seats and spilling their paints more than usual.

Then I had a fifth grade class come in. I could tell something was up because the teacher informed me that she had already told them that they had better behave. I reluctantly inquired as to why? She told me that before coming to art that the class had reenacted the Boston tea party and then eaten Valentine candy. Thanks a lot! Like that Star Trek TV show where Captain Kirk Starts moving so fast he disappears, some of the kids were getting a little faint around the edges. By the end of class 3 cups of paint water had been spilled and a few papers destroyed by overly vigorous erasing.

The day pretty much continued like that till dismissal, and then it really went downhill. Of course some of the buses were either late or missing so the kids had to sit and wait. Left to their own devises while waiting for their bus the kids found many ways to get on each others and my nerve. Those that were not fighting or crying were throwing up. I blew my whistle and had them stand. Then they had to put their arms out and make sure that no one was near enough to touch and then sit silently waiting for their bus to take them home.

I’m thinking of going to the school board and asking that sugar be declared a controlled substance that cannot be brought within 500 feet of a school.

Web Filtering/Censoring

2008-01-25T22:08:00.000-05:00

Photo by Billy Abbott

Recently my school district started blocking most blogs as social networks. This got me to thinking about the usefulness of filtering software.
From what I can see the WebSense filter blocks sites according to broad definitions of the content of the sites. So if a site is associated with other sites by name only then that site is also blocked.
Now image if books in the library were "filtered" in the same way. The other day a book from our library was brought to the administrations attention "My Mom's Having a Baby" innocuous enough right? Well when one of the students brought this home and showed it to her parents they looked through the book and found the following passage "The man puts his penis between the woman's legs and inside her vagina". Now if books were filtered by words or author then this book may have been filtered along with all other books by Dori Hillestad Butler. If books were filtered by the publisher which would be similar to the network a web site is associated with then many more books would be blocked.
Am I proposing that kids be given open access to everything at school, no of course not. What I am saying is that web filters are a very blunt tool and do not do a very good job. They give the illusion of safety with out teaching kids how to be safe on the web.
If you teach swimming, kids have to jump into the pool.

Photo by Glennharper

What I Make

2008-01-21T14:37:00.000-05:00

Found this video on another blog and thought it was good, a little harsh but good.

Science project looking for an art connection

2008-01-13T22:03:00.000-05:00

So now all I have to do is figure out an art project that I could connect this with.

Nationwide Insurance Company of Florida

2008-01-12T17:11:00.000-05:00

My wife and I just received a notice from Nationwide Insurance Company of Florida that our homeowners insurance was being canceled. Or in their feel good words "non-renewed" which I’m sure some corporate wordsmith really enjoyed writing. Apparently the main reason for canceling our insurance was not from not paying our insurance bill or making too many claims (we have made one in the 19 years we have lived in the house). No our Nationwide Insurance was canceled because of L.I.F. or Living In Florida.

Our house has survived, with out damage, several hurricanes. We have prepared our house for the next by trimming trees and preparing plywood covering for all our windows. We are ready and so is our house but apparently the only risk Nationwide is willing to take is if our insurance payment might be late, and they never were. So after 19 years Nationwide just up and bails on us.

Thanks A Lot Nationwide Insurance Company of Florida.

Now I guess that Nationwide Insurance Company of Florida can’t take all the blame. The Florida Legislators in Tallahassee also need some of the blame for this happening. In their “Show me the money” attitude the Leaders of Florida allow insurance companies in Florida to keep their books separate from their parent company. So I send money to Nationwide Insurance but it really is only Statewide Insurance.

What will I do you are thinking. Well Monday I’ll go with hat in hand and ask my agent if there is an insurance company that till cover my home, the one that has had one claim in 19 years. To me that looks like a pretty good risk.

Nationwide may be on your side, but not on mine.

Coveritlive

2008-01-08T20:22:00.000-05:00

Here is another way to use web 2.0 for collaboration

New Story Telling Tool

2008-01-04T16:09:00.000-05:00

OK, found a new site called Bookr. It allows you to search tags of images in Flicker and paste the images in to a Bookr "book" This is a very simple example.

As you can see when you move your cursor over the corner of a page it flips up and turns to the next page. You can also read it in full size by clicking the bar under the book to the left.

I "discovered" Bookr while reading a post on my Twitter account.

Day after Christmas

2007-12-27T08:02:00.001-05:00

12-26-07

Today the weather was great. About 70 degrees and sunny, a good day for a bike ride. I have been trying to ride every day this break and decided to take a long ride today. All the way out to the Davis Island seaplane basin. I had my phone along and took this picture at the dingy dock. I spent some time resting there watching the sailboats bobbing in the slight breeze. It was a perfect ride.

Helmets?

2007-12-26T15:40:00.000-05:00

OK I'm all for kids safety but I'm thinking that someone in Milwaukee is getting cabin fever. In the above picture police from Waukesha put radar guns on kids sledding down a snow covered hill. ( see story) Is this creating a problem where none exist? I mean in the snow you are, well I am, bundled up in about ten layers and a couple of knit caps. With all that padding you are just gonna bounce around. I guess in Florida surfboards will soon come equipped with life jackets and helmets.

First Up on Christmas

2007-12-25T08:09:00.001-05:00

I hope everyone has a wonderful Christmas.

I am sitting up with the dog waiting for everyone to get up and I'm looking at the tree. On the tree is a history of our children written in ornaments. I see ornaments made by little hands and remember the great joy in their eyes when we put them on the tree. Some of the ornaments we made at home, some were made at school, some at church, and some they made themselves just because my children felt that something was missing from the tree. I don't think at the time I realized how these simple objects would so soon become treasures.

Merry Christmas to all.
Chan

Student Web Pages

2007-12-24T07:44:00.000-05:00

My students have been working on their web pages for about 3 weeks now. I began by training about 5 students (that is the number of laptops that I have set up in my classroom) on the use of PBWiki. Then these 5 were responsible for training the next 5. This way I could continue with the regular instruction of the class and students were responsible themselves for learning to create their web pages ans for catching up on what I had been teaching in class.
So far most students are accepting the added responsibility.
I have even had reports of students working on and teaching about web page creation during their computer lab time. I am especially pleased about this development because from my observation most time spent in the computer lab is spent playing "educational" games.
I'm hoping that from this other teachers will encourage students to use their time in the computer lab for the creation of more original works.

last week or so

2007-12-09T23:13:00.000-05:00

The last few weeks have been really something. Austins football team lost to Armwood knocking them out of a chance to go the the State football championship but he still has a ring from last year. The next day Austin passed the final step toward achieving the rank of Eagle in the Boy Scouts. For that I am proud, he has worked very hard to make that rank. We will be planning his Eagle ceremony for sometime in February. Then a few days later he was accepted to the University of Central Florida. He seems excited and scared at the same time. It is a big step.
Now Jessica not to be outdone came to Tampa this weekend to see Austin in his final Madrigal Dinner performance at Plant High School. Both of our children have grown so much because of the Chorus program at Plant and Mr. Yost. But a few hours before the final show the mail came and in was a letter from a hospice in Tallahassee. Jessica had applied for an internship there and the letter was offering her one of 4 that they award each year. And it comes with a stipend, even better!
I am very proud of both of my children and all that they have done.
Oh and I put up our Christmas tree this afternoon:)

Art and The Test

2007-11-26T21:54:00.000-05:00

From the
a story about standardized testing and the arts. In the article one paragraph caught my eye,
"From the while both the Department of Education and the federal government identify the arts as vital to a good education, the grades -- and the standardized testing approach -- fail to acknowledge the central role subjects beyond reading and math play in a child's education. Arts education may very well be the "incomplete" in these report cards."
In Florida the State Art Education is in the process of developing a standardized test for the visual arts.
Now is this a good use of our time? I'm sure that politically it is a good idea. A test will add legitimacy to the arts in the eyes of the ones that hold the purse strings. But will the students learn because of it? Yes, in the areas that are tested, but with 100 or so questions how large an area of art could that be? (Wow that sounds like what is said about the other test)
Unless the art test is perceived as only a part of assessing what a child has learned in art. In visiting other art teachers and their classes each class is as different as the style of art that each teacher prefers to work in. How can that variety be assessed in a single standardized test?

Shift Happens

2007-11-25T17:32:00.000-05:00

On my other blog I am hosting a discussion of Dan Pinks book "A Whole New Mind". This is a project to not only get the art and music teachers to read the book but to also introduce them to blogging as an instructional tool. In my research for the blog I came across this video. It is very powerful.
It is on teacher tube and I hope that it will not be locked-out by the district.
I am currently trying to incorporated 21st century skills into my classroom instruction. Students are beginning to create their own web pages of their art work. Next week I will be teaching them about internet safety using NetSmartz. Then after introducing how to use PBWiki I will have small groups work together and create their own art web page. When my students get some of the pages done I'll post the URL and you can take a look. It's small but it's a start!

Happy Thanksgiving

2007-11-22T11:37:00.000-05:00

Student Web Pages

2007-11-15T22:22:00.000-05:00

For the past few months I have been reading and studying about using web 2.0 in the classroom. I am now in the process of involving students in the creation of authentic writing about their art on their own web page. They are very excited about the prospect of reaching a very wide audience with their art and writing. I am using a wiki space called PBWiki and it is very easy to use. I have created a site for each class I teach and each student in that class will have their own page to work on.
This week I gave them all a very brief overview if the project. I started by explaining that we would be using a piece if art that we have been working on from the beginning of the school year. I photographed the art and the students wrote about their art. I showed the students how I use paper and pencil to plan out my web pages and that was what they would be doing.
I have always had a difficult time getting students to write about their art in my class but with the prospect of writing to the web most students took off. Many wrote on both the front and back of their papers. Whoa what a hook!
Another feature on PBWiki is the comment section. This allows students and others to make comments about a page and the content of that page. I think that this will also be a powerful tool in getting the kids reading, thinking and writing.
Next week I will be showing the students and interactive net safety presentation. The district is asking that we do this and I think that it is a good idea to explain to the students what to look out for while working on the web.
This should be fun.

This is funny

2007-11-07T06:21:00.000-05:00

Ok sometimes I just gotta laugh:) Especially at politics.

Trying Something New

2007-11-04T14:54:00.000-05:00

Last Thursday at our monthly art teacher meeting I suggested that we create a book study group. At professional day last month our supervisor Margaret Griffin handed out Daniel Pinks book "A Whole New Mind" to all the art teachers and to the music teachers.
For those of you who have not read Dan Pinks book it is a very interesting take on what lies in our future.
Well I thought that this would be as good a time as any to introduce the concept of blogging as a form of cooperative learning. So I created a blog for that purpose and sent out a call to all the elementary Art and Music teachers in Hillisborough county to participate.
Its been two days and I have only had one comment posted.
I know people read the bolgs, or at least they have told me that they do but getting them to leave posts...
I figured out how to have more that one moderator on a blog so I may ask for volunteers to help. That may spark some interest.

School Bell

2007-10-28T01:24:00.000-04:00

I just finished reading an article by S. Paul Reville in Education Week titled “Stop the Narrowing of the Curriculum by ‘Right-Sizing’ School Time”. This article speaks to one of the issues that I have thought long about in an interesting way: the time that school is in session. From as near as I can figure school sessions are determined by a hold-over from when we were an agrarian society and the travel/vacation industry. School days are determined by bus schedules and teacher contracts. The one thing that seems to be left out of the equation is what is best for a child’s education.

Paul’s article speaks to yet more issues affecting the scheduling of schools, No Child Left Behind Act, and standards-based reform. These two issues also seek to control school time by forcing teachers and administrators choose between time for achieving proficiency in the core subjects and other untested subjects like art, music, social studies and foreign languages.

With the advent of web 2.0 classes are no longer bound by the walls of the school or the time of the bell. Students will be able to attend classes on their schedule and when they are ready to learn. Collaboration can happen between students in the same class but other schools. Teachers from other areas could tutor long distance.

I think that we need to rethink the way that school time is scheduled. Schools should be look at round the year calendars. Evening and weekend classes should be offered through out the grade levels, students should not think of learning only happening between 8:00 and 2:15.

Rain Rain Rain

2007-10-24T22:05:00.000-04:00

Oh my what a deluge today. It started raining today on the way to work then got harder when the buses started arriving. Students were coming in late because of power going out. I had to delay my art assessment today by 15 minutes because of late students. I was so flustered that I decided to make an announcement about the delay in the test and I made it right in the middle of my principals talk on the morning show, boy it just gets better and better The test went well in spite of the rain and late students. All the kids behaved well and took the art test serious.

2007 FAEA Conference Review

2007-10-22T22:31:00.000-04:00

Wow what a great 4 days! I came back to school today excited and renewed. Ok I did go to bed early last night but I woke up early this morning ready to get to school and see the kids and show them some of the things that I did/learned.
Carol Norman and the teachers of Orange County Public Schools did a great job preparing for the conference.
The speakers were very interesting and presented their vision of a very exciting and creative future.
If you went to the conference send me your comments about the conference and the workshops you attended.

Jive Foil Puppets

2007-10-20T16:44:00.000-04:00

Presenter: July Davis

This fun workshop involved designing and producing a marionette-like puppet out of heavy foil, various paints and markers, beads and wire. Although the initials impression was that it would be an easy project. This was not in fact true.

The project used heavy foil that we used to cut out parts of our marionette. After the parts were cut out we connected them with wire and beads. After they were together we painted them and some also embossed the foil with designs. The end product was very cool but it is not something that I would do with my kids with out major modifications.

Drawing from the Students Perspective.

2007-10-20T16:31:00.000-04:00

Presenters: Gena Brodie-Robbins, Amy Taylor

This was one of my favorite workshops. The pair started the class by explaining in a humors and entertaining way their way of approaching the art of teaching drawing. Gena and Amy added to this explanation research from many books.

The hand on part of the workshop was very interesting and covered four different approaches to teaching drawing.

If Gena and Amy offer this workshop next year I would recommend taking it, I know I will.

a recommended link: Click Here

How to Create Large Public Artworks for Children.

2007-10-19T15:44:00.000-04:00

Presented by Paula Allen and Raquel Ache Leonard

This was a very cool workshop that combined individual works of art with a collaborative background. The diversity of media allowed for everyone’s strength to shine.

We started by making a doll using a muslin blank doll with bendable arms. For this we used many different materials, Sharpie markers, acrylic paints, fabric, beads, yarn, wire, and other things from a grab box of found objects.

For the background of the mural we used a 5x15 foot bolt of muslin. For creating the picture large sheets for hand made paper were provided. We tore and cut the shapes to form a scene of the natural environment of Florida.

FAEA State Conference day 2

2007-10-19T07:53:00.000-04:00

Yesterday was very interesting. After the meeting in the morning I attended a workshop given by Karen Harris. the title was "The 'Upwardly Mobile': Sculpture in Motion. This was a very interesting workshop and the presenter gave us many good ideas on teaching children about the art of mobiles. during the workshop I recorded a podcast of the beginning of the workshop. you can find that with my other podcast at my podcast page. I also have some handouts that I will post at t later date (when I can get to a scanner). Later last evening I attended the gallery hop in downtown Orlando. There I met an glass artist by the name of Isriah. Isriah ia a glass blower and is also seven years old. It was very interesting learning about the art of glass blowing from a very knowledgable seven year old. After a little haggling we agreed on a price and I am now the proud owner of an Iariah original.

FAEA State Art Conference

2007-10-17T22:30:00.000-04:00

I leave tomorrow morning for the State Art Conference in Orlando. I am going to try bloging, podcasting, and streaming video from the conference. I would like to try and do real time streaming video but that depends on the connectivity at the hotel. Stay tune on this blog for more.

Vision of Students Today

2007-10-14T22:05:00.000-04:00

I have been thinking a lot lately about how "technology" will affect teaching. I watch my son study and he does multi task during his studies. He will be reading out of a text book and also has on online component, he uses his cell phone to compare notes and thoughts about the lesson with friends. Oh, and he also has his i-pod on .
This is how he studies at home but at school I'm sure he is sitting at a desk with a teacher at the front of the room writing on a white board or maybe using an LCD projector to show a powerpoint.
I'm not sure where this is all going. I'm not sure what the answer is or even what the question is. But I do know that things have changed.
I am just an immigrant to this new way of working. Right now while writing this blog I just received two Twitters on my group from the K12 Online Conference. I check them when they pop up and see where the conversation is heading. Often I discover something new.
Just read the Twitters back about 45 minutes and discovered that the Wiki of David Warlick's Pre Conference Keynote Speech Chat Transcript. This is the conversation that went on between the "attendees" that listened to his speech. The conversation went on long after the speech was over and because the speech was recorded attendees could re-watch the speech and refine their thoughts.
Imagine this happening in a classroom. Students able to compare thoughts of the class during class, review a video of the class in the evening and revise their thoughts. A wiki could be set up for each class for students to post, revise, and collaborate on notes from the class. The teacher would be able to view the wiki and then collaborate with the students and guide their thoughts after class. The walls and time of classes begin to break down.

Viki!

2007-10-11T06:20:00.000-04:00

While browsing members web pages on a Twitter session I came across this fun Widget. Voki lets you create an animated figure that speaks with your voice.

Get a Voki now!