Newsletter Reflection

For this project, my goal was to provide interesting and useful information for the learning community around my future classroom. I decided that in order to do this, I must create a newsletter that people could use not only to keep up with my classroom, but to also learn something about art just from reading the newsletter.

Creative Process:

• I wanted to make my newsletter visually both adult and kid friendly. To do this, I made sure to use bright colors and images that people could connect with immediately, even before reading the text. For example, I included images of globes to represent the "take action" section.
• I chose a color scheme that would compliment my newsletter without being overpowering. Using this color scheme throughout the entire newsletter helped to create a visual flow.
  

Technical Process:

• I decided to create my own template using a table. In retrospect, this took up some time since I had to get used to the tables in inDesign. Next time I may try using a ready-to-go template for convenience.
• Something that sped up the process considerably was creating cell and table styles--I really underestimated how much time this can save! Along the way, I learned how to use more specific features that I had not yet figured out back when I created my resume.
  

Adobe and Apple: Art Education Resources

On the Apple website, the resource I found to be the most interesting and useful was iLife--a software included on Macs that features a variety of tools allowing students to create slide shows, documentaries and such. Teachers are also using this software to introduce topics to students in a way that catches their attention. Today, and in the future, I think it is important for us to remember that we should be able to utilize the same tools we provide our students with. iLife is one way to do this. I could have my students showcase their work through a slide show, and even have a critique of everyone's collections of work at the end. On the other hand, I could use the slide show feature to introduce them to a group of artists' work.

On the Adobe website, I was drawn to the tools provided to incorporate digital storytelling into the classroom. Using something like this in the classroom allows students to see projects on a more complete level, as there are many different aspects that must be considered when creating a digital story. Not only do students learn how to use a new medium, they are also given the opportunity to leave their mark in a sense, or create something personal. This program also introduces students to the art process, as there are many steps that must be taken to reach the finished product.

Blog Reviews

A. How did you decide which blog to review?

Based on the blog assignment about parent involvement, I decided to review blogs of two individuals who are both parents and future art educators--I think that this perspective is unique.

Blog 1

Blog 2

B. Why did you select the individual posting to comment on?

I selected the postings about parent involvement because I felt it was applicable to what I was hoping to learn about this perspective of being a parent and teacher.

C. How could you use a Blog in your classroom as a communication tool? If not, why not?

I could use a Blog in my classroom to get parent's feedback on unit themes or other classroom topics. On the other hand, I think that this system could have some limitations:

• Not all parents may know how to use this tool
• There are safety issues involved--I would have to confirm the identity of parents before allowing them to view and post on my blog
• I would need to find a way for parents to consistently participate in the blog
  

InDesign Resume

I was extremely intimidated by InDesign at first because I had never used it. After poking around the program and viewing the video tutorials made available to us, I felt much more comfortable although, I'm no where near efficient with the program. I plan to keep going back to the tutorials for guidance.

In the future I plan to work off of this resume and apply some more creative aspects to the overall layout--I think where I am right now with it is a bit boring and not exactly eye-catching.

Technically, once I got the hang of using character and paragraph styles it made things much easier, faster and most importantly, consistent. It's a great tool for creating a visual cohesiveness and professional appearance to documents such as resumes. I would like to spend more time experimenting with this tool in the future.

One aspect that I did not yet get a chance to try out in InDesign is playing around more with designing actual letters--I'm curious as to how to connect the tools used in Adobe Illustrator and this program. I think this could help me with making my resume a bit more unique and personalized.

Parent Involvement in Art Education

Through my experiences observing this semester, there was one thing all three teachers I met could agree on--compared to other subjects, there is a lack of parent involvement in art education. All three teachers reported that at open houses, they usually had less than 10 parents come through the door, despite the fact that they (the high school teachers) teach more than one classroom full of students or, in the case of the elementary school teacher, see every single student in the school.

Seeing as much of the communication and socialization today takes place on the internet, these two RSS feeds could provide a more convenient and effective way for parents to be more involved in the art education community. I think that even sending a newsletter home with these links as an invitation to parents to stay up to date with what their children are learning could be a good start:

ePals RSS feed
As a future educator, I plan to use ePals in my classroom. This feed links to blogs in which parents discuss the safety and effectiveness of ePals, and the ways it connects students all over the world. The ePals RSS feed could be used by parents to encourage bringing learning out of the classroom and into the home environment.

The Artful Parent RSS feed
I feel that many parents do not come in to events such as a school open house because they do not understand why the arts are important to a child's education. This feed features blogs by parents of a wide range of experiences with art education, which can encourage other parents who are unfamiliar with art to become more involved. Seeing that other parents and not just art teachers value art in schools can help keep art classes in schools.