What Have I Learned?

Educational blogging is blogging, or written text entries, created and written for educational purposes. Educational blogs can be written by teachers, students, parents, and more. These blogs can be used for group discussion, collaborative projects, peer review, or for simply sharing information and opinions. Educational blogging can have many benefits inside and outside of the classroom. Some benefits of this form of blogging can include, the promotion and encouragement of self-expression, further development of analytical thinking and creativity, improved writing skills, and communication and collaboration between students, teachers, and parents. Overall, educational blogging helps to facilitate learning, engagement, and collaboration between all people involved in the learning environment. 

I was able to learn a lot of different information from reading my peers' blogs. I learned from Olivia Phillips' blog that there are a wide variety of opportunities for students who choose to pursue careers in agriculture. I learned from Grace Lamonica's blog that flipped classrooms can correlate to active learning, in which students are engaged in learning new information. I learned from Cat Dillard's blog that in Tennessee, if third grade students do not score proficient in reading, they will be held back from the fourth grade. First and second grade students are now taking practice standardized tests to account for this change. Learning about various content areas, different from my own, is interesting and opens my eyes to other people's interests and experiences. 

illustration of four people
collaborating through electronic
devices

Blogging has been a fun and engaging experience that has allowed me to learn more, further develop my own thoughts and opinions, and to learn more about other perspective teachers' content areas and interests. I enjoyed designing the overall platform for the blog and for each individual post. I feel as though this form of sharing information could be beneficial as a teacher, but also for my future students.I think blogging could help students and myself to develop a more involved and engaging classroom environment and community. A blog from each student could help them to develop their own ideas about art, as well as connect with other students' ideas. Having this collection of writings would also help them to track their progress and to be able to see their development throughout the year. Overall, I enjoyed learning about how to set up and use a blog, and I intend to work to incorporate this form of communication in my future classroom!

Technology in the Art Class

A black-and-white, artistic depiction of
a man wearing a VR headset with a colorful
background.

Technology can play a crucial role in the art classroom and in the overall art community. Technology can allow for further opportunities for creation, sharing, and communication in art and art making. In art, there are many different types of technology that can be used as tools for various types of art production. Some examples of types of art that use technology are digital painting and drawing, three-dimensional modeling, photography, general forms of editing and photoshop, video art, and more. These art processes rely on technology for their processes and usually for the presentation of the work. Technology has also allowed for the development of further communication between artists, art historians, and the general community. For example, many forums and discussion platforms have been created and maintained in the art community to discuss processes and various art topics. Technology has been used in art history to use analytical tools to shed light on the creative processes from idea to artwork throughout the years. Technology has also been used in art history in more fun and engaging ways for the general community through the creation of interactive, online art museums and art exhibits. This has allowed for people all over the world to explore, experience, and learn about art from museums around the world. Overall, technology in art has created a multitude of new opportunities for creative processes, discussion, and sharing of art, art-making, art history, and more.

In my future classroom, I plan to utilize and teach the numerous ways that technology can be used as a tool and as a form of communication in art. I plan to teach lessons using technology and exploring the various art-making and communication processes that require technology. Technology is always improving and consistently becoming more involved in everyday life, even for children. Working to teach and incorporate technology into art and art-making will help to better prepare children for their lives after school, no matter what path they choose to pursue.