The Teaching Palette

iPod Nano Scavenger Hunt: Connecting Math & Art

Posted on 30. Jun, 2010 by Guest Author in All Posts, Cool+Creative, Educators in Art, Neat Video, Tech Stuff

The following is a guest post written by April Millian, a high school mathematics teacher in collaboration with Lisette Morel, a high school art teacher.  April and Lisette teach at New Milford High School in New Milford, New Jersey.

Background:

As a child I loved art class and excelled at mathematics, often creating artwork with a definite geometric flair.  However, it wasn’t until college that I developed a real appreciation for the connections between these two subjects. I was fortunate to spend a January term (a three-week class) in Greece for a Classics course studying of Greek art and architecture. Along with our two Classics professors, a math professor joined us. My initial thought was that it’s crazy to have a math professor on this trip. I mean, what was he going to teach us in Greece? I was standing in front of the Parthenon listening to my professor discuss the Golden Ratio and how it applied, not only to the ancient structure in front of us, but to countless other works of art. That is how my love of mathematics and its significance in art was born.

Fast-forward 13 years I, Miss Millian, am now fortunate to be teaching in a school that is technology-oriented with a fantastic art teacher, Ms. Morel, who shares my interest in relating our two subjects.  I was teaching linear perspective to my geometry students when I realized what a great topic it would make for a cross-curricular activity. Ms. Morel and I began to develop an idea for a video scavenger hunt at The Metropolitan Museum of Art that would combine the art with the mathematics behind it.

Teacher and Student Preparation:

Our objective for this interdisciplinary lesson was simply to introduce our students to and have them recognize and apply the relationship that art and math share. It is crucial to establish and maintain real-life connections in education. This connection brings relevance to the subject matter and to our students’ lives.

To prepare students for the interdisciplinary lesson plan I, Ms. Morel, introduced my drawing students and Miss Millian’s Geometry class to western and non-western viewpoints, such as Egyptian, Greek, Roman and Asian and their applications to visually documenting real life. Afterwards we discussed the Renaissance and linear perspective and how it was utilized by the architects and later by painters. For a real life experience I had our students step out into our hallways and view a one-point perspective. We also looked at photographs of homes and streets where students had to point out a one point, two point, high, low or normal vanishing points. While in Miss Millan’s Geometry class I used a document camera which I found to be extremely helpful in my demonstration and presentation to a large class. Our lesson culminated with a technology, art and math scavenger hunt at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York.

The Scavenger Hunt:

To create this scavenger hunt, we started off by visiting the museum ourselves to get acquainted with the layout and decide which pieces would be included in our scavenger hunt. We also took pictures of each work of art.  Then the real work began. We used iMovie to create a video that would take our students throughout history on a search for linear perspective (or sometimes the lack of it) in art. The students were armed with an iPod Nano for each group of two, and a question sheet that they needed to answer. The clues were recorded on the iPods by Ms. Morel and myself. They were also given visual clues, such as a cropped part of a painting, to help them find the correct work of art. To add a bit of challenge to the adventure, the first team to complete the scavenger hunt with the most correct answers received a prize of two prints we had purchased at the museum gift shop.  Upon returning from our quest, the students created their own linear perspective drawings and completed an online survey.

It was so amazing to watch our students scamper through the museum, intent on finding these works of art. The students enjoyed the activity and found using the iPods more engaging than just reading off of a sheet of paper. What made this scavenger hunt so fascinating was that it brought to life a true connection between classroom learning and real life experience for our students.

Below you can view The Met Scavenger Hunt created by Miss Millian and Ms. Morel.

(Having trouble viewing this video. Try this link.)

(Download Scavenger Hunt Here:  The Art Scavenger Hunt Worksheet at the Metropolitan Museum of Art)

Preview Scavenger Hunt Worksheet by clicking on the image below.

April Millian is a high school mathematics teacher in New Milford, New Jersey. She enjoys traveling and coaching the school’s Varsity Bowling team.

Lisette Morel is a teaching artist-mom, working with her students in a variety of art disciplines while maintaining an active art career.

A big thanks to @NMHS_Principal for sharing his teachers creative ideas on Twitter so we can hear about them and share them with you. Check out Eric’s blog A Principal’s Reflections.

Favorite Things from NAEA Convention, Baltimore

Posted on 19. Apr, 2010 by Theresa McGee in All Posts, Clssrm Mgmt, Cool+Creative, Educators in Art, In The News, Neat Video, Tech Stuff, Techniques

This year was the first time I traveled outside of my home state to attend a National Art Education Association (NAEA) Conference. If you ever have the opportunity to attend, it is an experience you will never forget.  Listed below are some of the my favorite activities, observations, presentations and tidbits of information I picked up from casual conversations in Baltimore:

• I had never heard about Merlot (peer reviewed online resource of teaching and learning materials). A quick search on Merlot turned up this awesome Cave of Lascaux interactive explorer.
• LOVE, LOVE, LOVE the American Visionary Art Museum. Although I was not allowed to photograph inside, I spent about 20 minutes outside admiring the sculptural forms.

Once I finally made it inside, the theme of the museum became very clear by the words and messages incorporated into the art.  Watch this entertaining video featuring the art of Chris Robert-Antieau to get a feel for what the museum is about.

My favorite Visionary Museum message through art: “Some stare though me and refuse to see that we are different branches of the same tree.”
-Athlon Clark

• Took the plane home with the Artsonia guys and learned some top secret plans to make Artsonia even better.  (Pressure’s on guys!)
• Learned about some great web resources from Jean King.  Special needs: I Can’t Draw Syndrome and ArtPromote.   Character development: Powerful Projects.
• Inspired by Samantha Melvin’s teaching empathy through art curriculum.
• Discovered a timeline of Carrie Mae Weems life!
• Make your presentations Sticky by Craig Roland was a crowd favorite.
• Saw a great video presentation on Universal Design Learning by Kathy Rulien-Bareis.  Her methods are very useful for creating an adaptive classroom addressing special needs.  Watch her video segments one, two, three, and four.
• I got a chance to present an art experience that that incorporated science, writing, social/emotional development, and technology into the art curriculum.

Tons of additional great resources from conference presenters can be found online.
Did you attend NAEA Conference this year?  What did you discover?

Museum Manners

Posted on 18. Nov, 2009 by Hillary Andrlik + Theresa McGee in All Posts, Clssrm Mgmt, Neat Video, Organization and Preparation

Art museum visits and art history discussions can be great learning opportunities for students.  However, it just takes a few negative student attitudes to change the experience for the entire class. The following Art Institute of Chicago (AIC) video addresses many art conversations and museum etiquette issues in an entertaining format directed at tweens and teens.

Can’t view YouTube video above? See it at the AIC website.

Possible Discussion Questions:
1. What did you learn about visiting a museum that you didn’t know before?
2. Why might each artwork have different meanings to different people?
3. What type of art do you like best? Why?

Posts You May Have Missed During the Summer

Posted on 30. Aug, 2009 by Hillary Andrlik + Theresa McGee in All Posts, Clssrm Mgmt, Neat Video, Tech Stuff, Techniques

By now, you are probably back in your classroom planning for the upcoming school year. Over the summer, we were busy adding to our Teaching Palette resources; here are a few you may have missed while recharging your batteries.

• Show Us Your Art Room – Have you set up your art classroom? Snap a picture for other art teachers to see!  (Don’t be shy, show us even a great corner of your room!) Submit by 9/15.
• A Great Solution for Bookmarking Web Images – Gather and tag images for instruction from any web source in one spot.
• The 30 Best iPhone Apps for Art Teachers – 3,500 page views in less than a month – guess you like it.  Can you add to our list?
• Review:  IKEA Dignitet Curtain Wire and Clips – A great review submitted by one of our readers, Anni Lyzenga.  Join us as a guest contributor and add your own review! Read other product reviews here.
• Delicious Denial – If your goal is to get organized this year, this bookmarking tool is the perfect way to start.
• An Alternative to Adobe: Avery’s Free Design Tools – No funds available to purchase Photoshop or Illustrator?  This online tool can help!
• The Art Institute of Chicago Launches Interactive Website – New on the scene this summer, the AIC offers this online game to teach art concepts.
• The Importance of Art in Education -  Watch a great art advocacy video and show it at your open house or curriculum night this year.  Links to helpful articles are included as well.

Never miss a post again.  Receive a email when new content is posted (we promise, no spam)!

An Alternative to Adobe: Aviary’s Free Design Tools

Posted on 18. Jul, 2009 by Hillary Andrlik in All Posts, Cool+Creative, In The News, Multimedia, Neat Video, Organization and Preparation, Positive Reinforcement, Reviews, Tech Stuff, Techniques, Technology and Gadgets, Tools and Miscellaneous

If you’re looking for the image editing power of Photoshop or Illustrator without the hefty price tag you may want to consider trying the Aviary Suite.  It’s a free web 2.0 technology with a pro version available for $24.99 a year. Aviary is not only an image editing tool but it’s also a visual social network.

Users maintain a profile, contacts, favorites, access to chat boards, tutorials and more. Images created in the Aviary Suite can be shared with the community or kept private in a user account, and then saved in a variety of formats or downloaded to your computer.

Plus, users can import images from a URL, Aviary Library, Flickr, Picasa or Facebook directly into any of Aviary’s five programs – Phoenix, Falcon, Peacock, Toucan and Raven.

Phoenix does image editing and has tools like layers, masks, effects, undo history, and more. Peacock is what Aviary calls their “visual laboratory”. It features tools like generators, effects and controllers. Toucan is their color swatches and palettes. It features many of the usual color palette tools but what really was interesting to me was their color deficiency preview tool. It allows you to choose from a list of color vision deficiencies and see how someone who is color blind would distinguish your color palette. It would be a great way to teach students how other people see the world. Toucan is a simple tool, but in conjunction with the other programs in the Aviary Suite you can create some amazing images. Raven is their vector editor program and the first of its kind on the web.  It allows you not only to create complex vector art but to carefully scale and create logos, clip-art, large print ready graphics, and t-shirt and clothing designs.

The newest program is an image markup tool called Falcon. It allows you to capture images from your desktop or a web page and edit them in your browser. It is similar to Skitch or Jing but with additional capabilities since it can be used in conjunction with Aviary’s other programs. Just install Talon, a Firefox extension for Aviary, and you can quickly annotate, mark, crop and resize your captured images. Or you can transfer the images to any of the other Aviary programs for more in-depth editing. Falcon would be a great tool to have students critique an image of their own, a classmates or from a pool of stock photos.

If you teach a computer graphics program at a middle or high school and are looking for an exceptional resource or additional tools to extend beyond the classroom lab, Aviary might be a solution for your program.  Students don’t have to stop creating once they leave the lab since they can log on and design anywhere there is an Internet connection.

Below are two videos featuring Aviary’s Raven and Falcon programs.

(Trouble viewing this video? Try this link.)

(Trouble viewing this video? Try this link.)

The Importance of Art in Education

Posted on 17. Jun, 2009 by Theresa McGee in All Posts, In The News, Neat Video

Yesterday the National Assessment of Educational Progress released the 2008 Arts Report Card. This survey and assessment compared 8th grade students in 2008 with those in 1997. Click here to view a sample question in the study then test yourself.

Here are a few of the findings in Visual Arts:

• “Students eligible for National School Lunch Program have lower average responding score in visual arts than those who were not eligible. There is a 29-point score gap between the groups.”
• “Eighth-graders in private schools have higher average creating task score in visual arts than students in public schools.”

Additional insight into the study can be found in a New York Times article.

Arne Duncan, U.S. Secretary of Education, perhaps summed it up best:

“This Arts Report Card should challenge all of us to make K-12 arts programs more available to America’s children and youth. Such programs not only engage students’ creativity and academic commitment today, but they uniquely equip them for future success and fulfillment. We can and should do better for America’s students.”

This study reminded me of my unofficial job as an advocate for the arts. The TeacherTube video below makes a great case for supporting the arts in every community.
Arts advocacy articles you may find useful:
Age of the Right Brain
Visual Interaction with Art Boosts Academic Achievement
Why Arts Education is Crucial, and Who’s Doing It Best
Arts Appear to Play a Role in Brain Development
Three Rs Are Essential, but Don’t Forget the A – the Arts
Technology Makes Art Education a Bigger Draw

Update 6/17/09: NAEA, Maximizing The Nation’s Arts Report Card - Great review of 2008 Arts Report Card with key findings and links to news press articles.

The Skitch Sketch

Posted on 20. Jan, 2009 by Theresa McGee in All Posts, Cool+Creative, Neat Video, Tech Stuff, Techniques

Skitch is a great visual teaching tool. It’s a free download for Mac users that allows you to upload a photo or take a screen shot of an image on your computer and draw or type on it.  Skitch is really no different than a simple draw program, but the difference is that it is EASIER and FASTER!  

Here’s the proof: I created the Skitch image on the left in exactly 1 minute 58 seconds.
Start by choosing a photo from Flickr, iPhoto or take a screenshot from the Internet. Next, use the tools on the either side of the Skitch screen to draw directly on the image.  It is that easy!  

I also use Skitch while discussing historical artworks by drawing arrows and labeling different areas of the image I want students to focus their attention on. It’s also a useful tool to quickly ”break down” an object in to simple shapes.  Check out the example below of how you can use the drawing tools to simplify an image of a bird for younger students to draw.  

Got 3 minutes? Watch the Skitch demo below.

(Trouble viewing this video? Try this link.)

Education Made Easy by Jing

Posted on 01. Jan, 2009 by Hillary Andrlik in All Posts, Cool+Creative, Neat Video, Tech Stuff, Techniques

Ever wondered if there’s an easier way to teach a colleague how you manipulated an image in PhotoShop. Want to share what you do with those nifty Google applications? If you’re like me then you’re the only art teacher in your building. There’s never enough time to help with daily tech questions, prepare lessons or collaborate. Now there’s a tool that allows you to answer technology  “how to” questions with out leaving your desk.

Jing Project is a free screen capture solution that will allow you to share what your doing on your computer with others. A fantastic tool for teaching short five-minute-or-less “how to” videos. The easiest way to show you what Jing is about and how it works is to use Jing. Just click on the videos below to see a great Jing “how to” from MacApperVideo and Jings official video.

(Trouble viewing this video? Try this link.)

(Trouble viewing this video? Try this Link.)

Speed Painting with Ketchup and French Fries

Posted on 10. Nov, 2008 by Hillary Andrlik in All Posts, Cool+Creative, Neat Video

(Trouble viewing this video? Try this link.)

I love this video! It just goes to show art can be anything and is everywhere. I could see this inspiring some unique high school video projects. Does it give you any creative ideas? Share your thoughts in the comments section.

Art and Science Collides with Paper

Posted on 05. Nov, 2008 by Hillary Andrlik in All Posts, Cool+Creative, Neat Video, Tech Stuff, Techniques

Check out how the art of paper folding intertwines with math and science in Green Fuse Films’ new award winning documentary “Between the Folds.” Just from watching the trailer, I’m totally intrigued and can’t wait to see the whole film. I can already think of several ways this documentary can inspire or teach my art students. Share the trailer with your students and they will see the passion these artists have for the discovery of science and math through the art or origami. Below is a short description of the documentary from the films official site.

Film Overview

GREEN FUSE FILMS’ new documentary “Between The Folds” uncovers the stories of ten fine artists and intrepid theoretical scientists who abandoned careers and scoffed at hard-earned graduate degrees – all to forge unconventional lives as modern-day paperfolders.

As these offbeat and provocative minds converge on the unlikely medium of origami, they reinterpret the world in paper, and bring forth a fascinating mix of sensibilities towards art, expressiveness, creativity and meaning. And, together they demonstrate the innumerable ways that art and science come to bear as we struggle to understand and honor the world around us – as artists, scientists, creators, collaborators, preservers, and simply curious beings.

With breathtaking cinematography, animation and a beautiful original score, the film paints an arresting portrait of the mysterious creative threads that bind us all – fusing science and sculpture, form and function, ancient and new.

ABSTRACT "CRUMPLED" ORIGAMI BY FRENCH ARTIST VINCENT FLODERER

HUMAN FIGURES BY GIANG DINH