Final Blog Post: Backing Up My Theories

To end this class is a sad note, but to look ahead and see how far I have come is exciting and filling me with anticipation.

As I reflect upon my Personal Theory of Learning and any changes that I may make I find that I am very satisfied with my theory. The art room is a very special place for a student; not only to create art but as a beginning for a child to develop their self-expression skills and a chance to develop new learning strategies to develop their thought process and the confidence to express their opinions.

In addition, my theory uses the incorporation of technology in the art room opens up the door to endless possibilities that students can learn from more than in a regular academic class. With the use of Web 2.0 tools and other computer aided programs for student use in presenting art facts and knowledge to fellow classmates.

Any adjustments that I would make would be to the process of how my art students attain the knowledge and facts that are needed to understand art in a fun and interesting manner. The use of a blog is the first implementation that I am using. The history of art can be very mundane, but if you add a little technology and a little imaginative teaching, the students will learn more and be able to use what they have learned in art and apply that in other classes. If you read a book and try to memorize artwork it becomes very repetitive and boring. But, if you use a blog with an art history subject and create a social network between classes, they will be able to voice their opinions and questions within the blog so other students can make comments and create topics for discussion and promote open expression of their views. To follow up with the blogs, the use of Power Point presentations will be used to demonstrate the student ot students understanding of the material and give them a source of pride for the work that they have done and what they have learned.

To conclude, I want to set two long term goals changes I would make to integrate technology into my classroom.

Goal one: To create a technology based engaging lessons that challenge the student’s skills and allow them to gain the knowledge and confidence to explore and express themselves by the use of blogs, internet research, and Power Point presentations. The incorporation of technology in the art room opens up the door to endless possibilities that students can learn from more than in a regular academic class.

Goal two: The implementation of a Cooperative Learning based group project that uses the Voice Thread online application. It would allow a group of students to post their research and findings in video, slide presentations and the use of audio to enhance the presentation. This also allows others to make audio comments on their Voice Thread and get instant feedback on their findings.