Art Room Showcase 2010: Space Organizing

Posted on 27. Sep, 2010 by in All Posts, Clssrm Mgmt, Organization and Preparation

Last year we asked our readers to send us pictures of their art rooms. The response was tremendous and our Flickr gallery really shined with your submissions! This year, we added a new twist! You gave us a closer look into what makes your art room work with bins, posters, drawers, and binders.

There were so many great ideas and unbelievably clever storage solutions that we had a hard time picking only three photos. Congratulations to our three winners Tara Conover, Jessica Houston and Amy Kratochvil for their creative organizational solutions! You can view their photos on The Teaching Palette’s homepage.

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Thank you to the following art educators who shared images of their 2010 art space organizational tips:

  • Tricia Fuglestad
  • Carleen Michener
  • Katie Jarvis
  • Jodi Youngman
  • Dawn Lagerstedt
  • Elizabeth Burns
  • Hannah Salia
  • Dusti Moran
  • Melissa Giglio
  • Cynthia Borne
  • Tisha Burke
  • Tara Conover
  • Denise Pannell
  • Sarah Brooks
  • Amy Kratochvil
  • Jeannette Anthos
  • Jennifer Leban
  • Kristen Peck
  • Kim Colasante
  • Clare Butler
  • Theresa McGee
  • Hillary Andrlik
  • Jessica Houston
  • LeAnne Poindexter
  • Samantha Melvin

If you would like to add your organization images to our Flickr set, we would be happy to add them! Send your photo, name, school, and brief photo description to info@teachingpalette.com.

If You Want Someone’s Attention . . . Whisper!

Posted on 17. Sep, 2010 by in All Posts, Clssrm Mgmt, Off-task Behavior

The following is a guest post written by LeAnne Poindexter.  She teaches art at Lowes Island Elementary in Sterling, VA.  You can also follow LeAnne on Twitter.

One of the recurring fundamental concerns that I hear from art teachers is noise level control! Just about every teacher I’ve ever talked to has come up with one way or another to let their students know when the noise level is out of control. I’ve heard of using traffic light symbols, wind chimes, using “My Turn/Your Turn” signs and many, many more.  I stumbled upon a magical way of making my students aware of when their noise level was too high!   I have a magic wand that I refer to as “The Whisper Wand”…don’t laugh; it works for me!  The story goes like this: Whisper Wand needs a lot of sleep.  When the noise level gets too high, Whisper Wand “wakes up” (a.k.a. Mrs. Poindexter waves the wand and presses the button) and the students know that they are talking too loud. (I tell the kids that I think they would much prefer for me to do that than yell at them, they always agree!)  The first time Whisper Wand wakes up it serves as a warning.  I tell the students that if it wakes up again, it’s REALLY hard for him to get back to sleep so we have to have silent art for five minutes.  I actually have kids ask me to wake up the Whisper Wand because they are disturbed by the noise level! They LOVE it!

Can’t see video above? Try viewing on YouTube.

Wii Interactive Whiteboard Tutorial

Posted on 14. Sep, 2010 by in All Posts, Tech Stuff

Instead of being envious of teachers with interactive devices such as Smart Boards, I found the next best thing. I was able to use free software, a Wii Remote (Wiimote), and an infrared pen to make my own Interactive Whiteboard for about $50! I created the tutorial below so you can make your own Interactive Whiteboard yourself (probably without even consulting the your school tech).


Having trouble seeing the video above? Try it on YouTube or our iTunes Podcast

Directions for creating your own interactive whiteboard:
Hardware you will need:  A projector, Wii Remote (Wiimote), infrared pen and a computer (Mac or PC) with Bluetooth capability.  Free Software Download here (download before attempting to connect to bluetooth)

Step by Step: (Based on using a Mac. PC models may have slight variations)

  1. Download and install software created by Johnny Chung Lee.
  2. Open Bluetooth on your computer (if you don’t have bluetooth, an external device can be connected)
  3. Next, open the back of the Wii remote (where the battery is located) and press the red button to let the computer and Wiimote “find” each other via bluetooth.
  4. Open software and press buttons 1 & 2 at the same time on the Wii remote (you will see a “searching” indication on the software at this time).  Software script will start to show on computer – give this a minute to load all the script.
  5. Look for the ”searching” message to to show a battery level (blue in color) and a “not calibrated” message.  Now, you are set up and ready to turn your whiteboard into an interactive whiteboard.
  6. Plug in your projector to your computer so that your computer projects on the wall.
  7. Set Wiimote on a stool, table, or taped to the projector while pointed toward the projection wall.  For quick setup, you can also use tripod with an attachment to the Wiimote.
  8. Click “Calibrate” on your computer
  9. You will see an “+” in the upper left hand corner of the projected screen image.
  10. Use the infrared pen to click on the middle of the “+”.
  11. You will see a green check-mark appear  (if no check-mark, then adjust the Wii Remote to a different angle and redo the calibration)
  12. Next check the “+” that appears in the upper right corner  (continue clicking with pen to get each corner)

NOTE:  You will NOT see a light with the infrared pen. (Infrared is not visible to your eye.)
At this point you should be able to interact with your computer on the wall!!!!

Trouble shooting tips:

  • If you have trouble connecting to bluetooth. 1. Make sure you have downloaded software. 2. Continue to press Wiimote buttons 1 & 2 or press and hold red button located under battery cover. 3. If you don’t have bluetooth, you can use an external bluetooth.
  • If software does not connect to Wiimote, be sure you have waited for all of the script (code) to load. Try hitting buttons 1 & 2 again. Keep Wiimote still and wait a minute or two for first time setup.
  • If you have trouble calibrating on your whiteboard with infrared pen, try moving location of your Wiimote slightly and make sure nothing is obstructing its view.
  • If you’re still having trouble, talk to your tech at school (they will probably love the challenge).

Optional Extras: Wiimote Mount and tripod, software upgrade to Smoothboard ($30)

Some fun websites to try . . .

NGA Kids
Build Your Wild Self
Surreal Painter
Detail Detective
Mr. Picasso Head
Looking for more? Try the resources in this LiveBinder:

Do you have any other websites that might be useful for an Interactive Whiteboard? Please let us know in the comments area below.

Arts in Education Week: Program Communication

Posted on 12. Sep, 2010 by in All Posts, Educators in Art

We wanted to celebrate National Arts in Education Week by offering ways to improve art program communication among colleagues, students, and the school community. In any classroom, communication is always an important ingredient for achieving success. But when we stop to think about the many people that we come into contact with each school year, what are we really communicating about our art program?

Ways Art Programs Can Communicate :

Colleagues, Fellow Teachers

  • Work as a team. When you have a student acting up in class, talk to his other teachers. Find out if his behavior is happening other places or perhaps there are family issues or peer conflict. It is amazing how much you can learn about a student in 20 seconds. Work together to develop a strategy together to empower everyone.
  • Seek teacher input when connecting to the classroom curriculum. Often it will help you create a deeper level of learning in your own cross curricular lessons.
  • Don’t expect other teachers to read your mind. If you have a procedure or system that involves other teachers then keep the lines of communication open. Create an art room newsletter for your colleagues.

Parents

  • Artsonia is a fantastic communication tool. Create project descriptions as a way to communicate your learning objectives to all artwork visitors. Let the parents, friends, and relatives hear about the art concepts that they have discovered. Share the creative process and celebrate success. This fall, Artsonia will be adding a teacher newsletter feature. You can even customize specific grade-level parents to receive the e-newsletter. If you’re new to Artsonia, see these tips and tutorial on getting started.
  • Start a blog, Facebook Fan page, website or Twitter feed. Many upper level teachers use these tools with their students, but they are also useful for parent communication. Here is how a Facebook page is used to communicate with parents. Need help getting started then check out this post on How to Create a Facebook Group for Your Classes.

Students

  • Take a moment to acknowledge individual student work and accomplishments. Mail a postcard or send a note home with an individualized message letting a student know what a great job they did or that you noticed how hard they‘ve been working.
  • Visual, Auditory, and Kinesthetic. We have all types of learners in our classroom – teach your concepts or classroom procedures in a way everyone can understand. Write your procedures in multiple places in the room, say the directions out loud and then have the students retell the direction to someone else in the room, and get up and move.

Community

  • People wont know what is going on in your classroom unless you tell them. So you say you don’t like to toot your own horn? Get over it . . . now. Your program is too important to be humble. Take pictures of interesting activities and send them in to the local newspaper with a description. If your picture is good, they will use it.
  • Create public art for your community and with your students. Art teacher Ian Sands from Apex, North Carolina works with his high school students to create fantastic community art exhibits.

Know Your Administrators

  • The fist line of administration we need to work with is our building principals. They hold the keys to scheduling, building budgets, space allocation, teacher evaluations and more. Your principal can be your biggest advocate in many situations. Help your principal out by contributing to your building community.
  • Sign up for committee work. There is often committees that focus on whole building or issues such as safety, staff development or technology. Be active in new building initiatives that reach beyond the art room like Peaceful Playgrounds. Volunteer for some of the miscellaneous projects that pop up from time to time such as signs, posters or creating that paw print stencil to mark where kids should stop at the crosswalk. Helping others will build good karma that comes right back to you.
  • Get to know the upper administrative team in your district. Introduce yourself at the end of an Institute day. Join a committee that works at the district level. Invite them to art events at your school. They love to see what the kids are doing and escape the office. It also gives them a chance to see your program in action.

In a time when budgets are tight and every program is under scrutiny how we communicate is more important then ever. Be an advocate for your art program.

This post is a part of Craig Roland’s Synchronized Blogging Event celebrating Arts in Education Week! [Synchronized blogging is "where a group of bloggers agree to post on their own blogs on the same broad topic on the same day" (Wikipedia)]

Read more from our other fantastic synchronized bloggers about how to celebrate National Arts in Education Week:

The Art Teacher’s Guide to the Internet

Wonder Brooks Extraordinaire

Mrs. Gillespie’s Blog

The Carrot Revolution