Recently,
in one of my Art program classes, a student came to me very sadly
relating how much he felt cheated by the lack of art instruction he
had received in his elementary school. When he was in elementary
school she had very much wanted to learn to draw. I understood where
the student was coming from because when I was in art class, I did
not receive much guidance. I am a self taught artist and I learned a
lot of skills that I in turn teach to others. Art may be difficult to
teach but if we provide a time for students to sketch out ideas, we
can help them process that design into something concrete.
An idea that can help promote art in schools and outside of school is using Flickr. Flickr is a site that promotes images around the world. Flickr is like you tube but only for pictures. Teachers can scan the work of the students and post in on Flickr account which can be the name of the school. You can organize this pictures by putting them in a set by year. Students can come back years later and look at their progress.
I think that a program like Flickr can be beneficial to students in art class. In today's society our students need more visuals in the classroom and need to interact with the lesson more, rather than simply taking notes or listening to a lecture. The best way to do this is to incorporate technology, somehow, in as many lessons as possible. Flickr serves as a great tool for students in art, because like you say it is similar to youtube but only for pictures. I like how students can come back years later and look at their progress. For students who wish to pursue art in college or as a career, they can use this site to serve as a resource for their artwork portfolio, or to show their progression throughout their school years. As a future math teacher, it would be interesting to see if a program similar to Flickr becomes available for math. It would be very cool to have sites like Flickr for every subject area for teachers to use in their classes.
ReplyDeleteI think this is a great inspirational tool for your students. There are other similar social medias you can use for this such as Pinterest and Instagram. However, the issue with these social medias is that the use of them needs to be monitored. For example, you can give them a snapshot of a couple of pictures you found on Flickr and have them pick one. This way you are monitoring them but at the same time giving them options. Either way, this is a great inspirational tool and a way to perhaps share the work of your students with other students by connecting with them on Flickr.
ReplyDeleteI like the idea that you brought up in order to integrate Flickr into your classroom. The classroom and hallways walls have a finite amount of space, and everybody's artwork cannot be displayed. Using Flickr, you provide a way to display everybody's art. I also like how you mentioned that students can view their artwork long after the class is done so students can see how they progress. In order to add to your lesson, I can suggest that you can have your students go on the classroom Flickr account and critique their peers' art pieces. By doing that, you create a democratic atmosphere. I think doing this would motivate students because they enjoy having their artwork displayed for everybody to see. However, not everybody likes publicly displaying their artwork, but that is a problem that precedes technology. Also, inspiration in the arts comes from everywhere, so students seeing other students' art can serve as a springboard for some great inspiration. Maybe I can use this in the English classroom by creating a unit that revolves around getting pictures that relate to a book, but I would have to think about it. A lot of the Social Media sites that I hear about on the class blogs are new to me.
ReplyDelete