Sara Coltoniak

EDU 506

Final Self-Reflection Report

Overview:

Our world is growing increasingly more dependent on technology. Computer programs provide the necessary tools to make our personal and professional lives run smoothly with every possible advantage. As teachers it is our job to prepare our students for the world they will face when they leave our school walls. To best accomplish these tasks educators must be fluent in today’s technology integrating it into their classrooms whenever possible to give students the skills to succeed. I have never considered myself very technologically savvy so the idea of integrating technology into my teaching always seemed like an overwhelming idea not to mention that teaching with technology in the visual arts is sometimes over looked. The Computer Applications and Resources for Teaching course at SUNY Oswego has helped provide me with the knowledge to work effectively with key computer programs as well as to design resources within those programs to be used in my classroom. I found the course to be interesting, practical and most of all useful to my professional career as an educator.

Title: Microsoft Word/ Pinch Pot Lesson Plan

Description: This project uses Microsoft Word to present a complete lesson plan in the Visual Arts certification area. The lesson plan was designed to be part of a hand building ceramics unit plan for high school art students in grades 9-12 focusing on Pinch Pot Vessels. New York State learning standards one, two, and three for the Visual Arts are addressed within the lesson plan as well as teacher preparation, materials, goals and objectives, vocabulary, instruction, and activity instructions. The lesson plan is clearly formatted in Microsoft Word to include visual aides to accompany the activity instruction.

Reflection: This project built on previous skills in Microsoft Word and incorporated new tools for formatting a professional lesson plan. Typing lesson plans cuts down on the time it takes to draft them and provides a permanent record. Having lesson plans documented in Microsoft Word also makes presenting and sharing lesson plans with other colleagues easy to do.

Link: Please click here to view my lesson plan.

Title: Microsoft Excel/ Grade Sheet

Description: Using Microsoft Excel this project was constructed to display and organize class grades. The names of students in my Studio Art class were used with fictional grading data to create a template for one marking period worth of student grades. Each individual student’s grades are recorded per assignment as well as a computed final average and letter grade for that marking period. The template also computes class averages for each assignment and final marks.

Reflection: Recording and computing student grades can be one of the most time consuming tasks for a teacher. Using Microsoft Excel makes recording and calculating grades easy and accurate. Previous to this project I did not know how to work much with Microsoft Excel and being able to have a computer document of my class grades has proven very useful to my teaching as I now use it for all of the classes I teach.

Link: Please click here to view my spreadsheet project.

Title: PowerPoint/ Italian Renaissance

Description: In conjunction with two graduate colleagues, this project was constructed as a unit plan overview on the Italian Renaissance developed using Microsoft PowerPoint. Historical information on the time period is combined with artistic references to teach the subject of Humanism in the Italian Renaissance. The unit overview also includes links to websites for students to explore the topic and instructional guidelines to an art activity for students. The PowerPoint could be used in either a ninth grade Global classroom or an entry-level high school art classroom.

Reflection: This project provided the opportunity to develop necessary skills in teamwork. The unit concept was developed out of the desire to create a cross-curricular unit of instruction that utilized the knowledge of partners’ certification areas, history and the visual arts. The end product is a successful teaching tool for my classroom that has expanded my knowledge of PowerPoint.

Link: Please click here to view my group project.

Title: Microsoft FrontPage/ WebQuest- Surrealism and Digital Imaging

Description: This project is a WebQuest designed for art students in grades 9-12. The WebQuest includes an introduction to surrealism, a description of an artist research task through the creation of a digitally manipulated photo collage, process page, links to student resources, evaluations, and a teacher information page.

Reflection: Creating a WebQuest was something new to me and definitely something I would do again. The WebQuest serves as a student centered learning unit that utilizes much of the computer applications gained from this course. The content was designed to fit into the secondary Studio Art curriculum and introduce students to creating digital artwork. Having students complete artist research has always been challenging and I have been looking for a way to integrate digital art into the curriculum. Now having a WebQuest that presents these tasks in an organized way for students to explore is extremely beneficial. Included in the WebQuest are links to websites of surrealist artists, a note taking handout and student self assessment form in Microsoft Word, and a page dedicated to sharing the WebQuest with other teachers.

Link: Please click here to view my WebQuest project.