Can I... Canva? Cool Tool Review #1

"Amazingly simple graphic design software."

I admit it... I love photos.  My phone is bursting at the proverbial seams with photos of my oh-so-cute toddler - which you've probably noticed if you've read any of my other blog posts!  And I kid you not, i already have 3 giant real-life scrapbooks for her.  I like giving photo gifts.  It's kind of my thing. My iMac, however, is sadly outdated and is so antiquated that I can no longer do much photo editing because I can't download new operating system.  Thanks Apple. So I was excited to try a new app/webtool that might allow me to play around more.

I actually worked as an impromptu "graphic designer/photo editor" for a few years.  I was the secretary for a professional photographer while I was getting my undergrad degree in Fine Art.  I left for a week's vacation and returned to find out that the (slightly unhinged) photographer had fired her graphic artist.  In the height of wedding season.  With a full client list, a backlog of albums to be designed, and dozens of big-day pimples to be retouched.  I had literally never used Photoshop in my life, let alone tried to navigate the extensive album design software we had... but I came back to find the photographer with a rather unsettling look on her face - like a Disney villain hatching an evil plan, to be honest.  She told me Bob was out, and that I was the new graphic artist.  "After all," she said with complete certainty, "you're an artist".  "Well yeah... I'm pretty handy with brushes and canvas... but computers and I don't get along..." I tried to protest.  She waved me off and basically told me to figure it out.  So I did.  I used an old version of Photoshop and played around until I could successfully remove zits from brides in their pictures.Then I got fancy with selective-coloring techniques (you know, like the whole picture in black and white but the flowers are in color).  Pretty soon I got good enough to design some pretty nice wedding albums that we became known for in the Akron area.  

So when provided the list of Cool Tools to review, I jumped at the Photo Tools. I rather randomly chose Canva.  After using it - the free version (there is a paid version with much more extensive stock images, frames, effects, etc.) I realized that it's probably more fitting to put it in the Infographics Tools category - which, lo and behold, it actually is there too! Therefore next week I'll review a different Photo Tool (stay tuned!) 

Anyhoo, back to Canva. So it's definitely a more stripped-down version of design software like Photoshop. And to it's credit, sometimes doing very simple graphic work on Photoshop can be hard, only because there's so much "fluff" that you can't just do a quick project!  Canva is helpful in that it has a ton of easy-to-manipulate pre-made formats for everything from Facebook, Pintrist, Instagram and blog graphics, email headers to more print-based media like letterhead posters, brochures, invitations, and menus. There are even presentation formats (think Powerpoint-ish). 

You can easily incorporate your own images - they are quick to download and easy to drag-and-drop into tons of template grids and frames.  Or there's tons of stock imagery...although they tease you with all sorts of images that would be perfect... but cost a dollar! On the plus side, it's easy to incorporate your images.  On the negative side, it's difficult to fully edit them. Granted, there are all sorts of filters and you can adjust the contrast, etc.  However I really wanted to do a vignette effect on a picture of my daughter but was unable to do it. Nor could I fade the section I wanted to - This was supposed to be a square meme-style graphic but I couldn't darken just the corner to put the text bubble in the way I wanted. So I found a different template where I could put the text on the side.  I will give that to Canva, there are a lot of choices for "starting points" 

While I don't know if, as an art teacher, there will be reason to assign my students to "make a meme," although, who knows... maybe I'll do a graphic arts unit and that would be a simple introductory project using an artifact that kids would embrace.  The "Presentation" options were very easy to use - and that part I could see integrating in a TPACK sort of way. I made a mock "Frida Kahlo" presentation (full disclosure, I copy and pasted the text content from Wikipedia, it's not a real project, folks!)  The only frustrating part that I struggled with was that the pre-made frame grids were at a set ratio that I couldn't adjust effectively so as not to crop out parts of paintings. And adjusting small elements like lines could get frustrating as well because you couldn't extend the line without it getting fatter too.  This is a minor problem that might not even come up for a student just starting out, however, it did bother me.  There were, however, free training tutorials to help users design more visually appealing items.

Here's my little mini-presentation, if you're interested:

FRIDAKAHLO by Sara Vandygriff

So, bottom line:

Pros of Canva:

1. Relatively simple to use

2. Large variety of projects and artifacts, as well as tools and stock images to use
3. Nice grid system/automatic alignment makes designing easy
4. Help tutorials available
5. Free(ish)

Cons of Canva:

1. A little too simple at times, to the point of being uncooperative with my goals (I just wanted to extend the line, for crying out loud!)
2. Some images have to be paid for
3. There is a mobile app, but only for iPhone (I have a Droid)

I think students would enjoy playing around with this program and there are some possible classroom applications if the content being covered allowed for that sort of integration. 

Kahoot! And other TPACK thoughts

“if we teach today’s students as we taught yesterday’s, 

we rob them of tomorrow.” 

- John Dewey

Democracy and Education, New York:  Macmillan Company, 1944, p. 167.

On Thursday I went back to that inner-city Akron public school, as I have been every week since that first disastrous episode.  Although it's still a rough and overwhelming culture shock... and I continue to be appalled by the lack of respect these kids have for many of their teachers, each other, and themselves... it has yet to be as bad as the first day.  Plus, I've been seeing genuine glimmers of hope in both instruction and students' attitudes (I have to squint to see it, but it's there I think.)

But anyways, on Thursday I was witness to a rather interesting implementation of TPACK in a large and usually very, very rowdy Biology/Health class.  What is TPACK?  Well, funny you should ask, I just learned that myself...

“Reproduced by permission of the publisher, © 2012 by tpack.org” 

So, essentially, TPACK is the"sweet spot"where the teacher is able to successfully utilize an effective combination of Pedagogical, Content, and Technological knowledge.  As I stand right now, I definitely have the Content Knowledge for fine art (although there are still a few media I have yet to 'master' well enough to feel qualified to teach them... but in the near future I'll have classes in ceramics and metalwork under my belt - plus I'm toying with the idea of teaching myself watercolor or some other media I'm lacking in for my final project for this Instructional Tech class). I have pretty much zero Pedagogical Knowledge... but that's why I'm back in school in the first place!  And as for Technological knowledge, I'm afraid I might be close to hopeless - computers and I are not friends, although relationships have progressed to being on speaking terms and hopefully can become friends someday. 

Anyways, back to my story.  So I've noticed at this school they have implemented an impressive amount of technology, far more than I ever worked with as a high school student - every classroom has a Smart Board, laptops for every student, and there is a student/teacher web portal that pretty much all communication and assignments go through. I've seen teachers use YouTube, assignments that require group collaboration on Google Slides, and students being allowed to use their cell phones to look up definitions of words for a vocab exercise. Granted, the cell phones are always a constant distraction as well, and sometimes I see students shopping on Amazon rather than collaborating on their assignment. In this Bio-Health class, its a combined class that lasts two periods and is co-taught by two teachers.  There are about 40 students, however it's hard to count them because half of them are never in their seats.  But after they (for the most part) did a reading/response assignment via their internet portal, the teacher yells over the din "OK, go ahead and log into Kahoot."  "What's Kahoot?" I ask one of the more attentive students. "It's pretty fun," she says, "it's technically a quiz but we do it as a competition/game show sort of thing."  I must admit, I'm intrigued.  I'll be impressed if any activity can reel in this rowdy bunch.  

So it's actually a free-standing program, not just a part of their school's ECHO system. I found the website for Kahoot here. I love this idea!The students all sign in with user names - most use their first names, but a few boys attempt to use some rather profane monikers but are made to change them - they end up being their favorite basketball players or defamatory towards non-favorites (i.e. Steph Curry and Steph Curry Sux). The teacher realizes that's as good as it's gonna get so we move on. It's a 28 question quiz.  First the question comes up on the Smart Board, gives them all time enough to read it.  Then 4 possible answers come up in different colored squares and on the kids' laptops the colored squares pop up. There's a clock counting down.  It's almost like the "Ask the Audience" lifeline from "Who Wants to be a Millionaire?" Once the time runs out, each student's laptop tells them whether they were right or wrong and a bar graph comes up on the big screen showing how many were right, plus a leader board showing the cumulative scores of students (the faster you respond correctly, the more points you get.) The individual computers keep a running rank for the student, plus a tally of correct answers.  

I was surprised by how into it everyone got - even the ones who are usually disengaged.  Everyone reacts when the answer pops up "Oh MAN! I thought it was zygotes!" or "Sweet, I got it!" They rib each other and look around asking "Who's DollaBill?" searching for the anonymous leader of the rankings. (The teachers told them before starting that the top 5 would receive 10,8, 6, 4, and 2 extra credit points)  Admittedly, they have to be shushed quite a bit but I think it was a successful integration of technology, content and pedagogy.  

Nada Salem Abisamra writes in Integrating Technology in the Classroom 

"There are so many different ways teachers can incorporate technology; so many choices to make when it comes to the medium they will use, the time, the place, the context, etc. Besides, the “digital natives”—i.e. the students who grew up surrounded by technology--represent a challenge to the “digital immigrants”—i.e. the teachers, who did not grow up with it--because of “differences in comfort levels and knowledge of technology, and a concomitant clash of culture, language, and values ... So, it is our duty to teach today in a way that prepares our students for tomorrow. They are already halfway there... they have beaten us when it comes to technology; we should definitely catch up, and even more! It is crucial to acknowledge the importance of the role technology plays nowadays in schools.”

As a befuddled "digital immigrant" I certainly do struggle.  As I've been doing research for this class it's being drilled into my head that technology is good - it is beneficial to my future students and will expand their access to my content area.  I get it!  I just don't necessarily look forward to doing it.  I value face-to-face interaction.  I honestly don't like having a smart phone.  I feel like it obliges me to be available at all times (people need to be able to have time to themselves). It's a constant nagging mosquito, bloated with news and information and status updates buzzing in my ear. It takes away the enjoyable pursuit of friendly banter and argument and abruply halts personal conversation ("Who was that guy in that movie, dear? You know..." husband Googles it... "Sean Connery." "Oh, that's right." Conversation over.)  No one can go out to dinner and focus on eachother - everyone is looking at their phones - no one just "waits" - or interacts with strangers. We can't stand not being overstimulated at all times.  There's always extra tabs open on our computers and our attention spans seem to be shrinking as a whole - we need entertainment at our fingertips at all times.  But.... what if those entertaining devices could have educational value?

But I do see the value of a TPACK approach, and I've already come up with a few ways I could implement technology into my classroom.  I might have to suck it up and embrace some graphic arts software so as to expose kids to that as well, since much art nowadays is made via these blasted computers.  I could show students how to properly photograph their work - without the crutches of filters - and maybe create an online "portfolio" of some sort.  I could encourage online critiques and collaborations.  Finding where to start with all this is a little overwhelming.  I guess I will ask colleagues for input and do research on my own... because what works for one person may not work for another.  I just need to keep my eyes - and my "Ideas" notebook - open.  I mean, I really loved that Kahoot! program. As a teacher I will need to consider my own familiarity with whatever technology I use (during the Kahoot !session one teacher had to play 'tech support' for a few students).  I will need to find resources that are not only fun, but meaningful and thought provoking.  I don't want to select something just as next-generation busy-work - I don't want "make your own meme for homework" assignment to become the new vocabulary word crossword puzzle.  

Technology is unavoidable.  I guess I'll just do my best to harness that power and channel it towards better educating my  students.  I've just got to find my "sweet spot."  I fear I may be a long way off - in two of the three circles of the TPACK Venn Diagram - but teachers never stop learning... and I've got a lot to learn to even become a teacher!

Lessons from a Plastic Eggplant: The Importance of Open Access in Education

^{"When you decline to create or curate a culture in your spaces, you're responsible for what spawns in the vacuum." -Leigh Alexander, 2014} 

So this quote, used in a pretty powerful taped lecture by Dr. Alec Couros*, is actually from an article on a Gamer website. At first, when I tracked down the original source, it made me chuckle. A world-famous educator referencing a quote as profound and meaningful... from a "video game culture writer" (as Alexander calls himself). But I think this clash-turned-synthesis of two very different worlds illustrates at a very basic level exactly what "open learning" is. It is using the vast world of knowledge available to us to connect and build our own knowledge... and then, ideally, eventually contributing our own ideas in return. 

* Here's a link to Dr. Couros' blog... I couldn't get the lecture itself to hyperlink.

As I am writing this, I am holed up in the basement, pretending not to exist. I snuck down here to do homework during my little one's nap and my mother is now graciously watching her tear the house apart, I'm sure. I have to hide because Lucy will want my attention.  All of it.  She doesn't care whether I get a good grade or obtain some greater insight into my journey to being an art teacher. Lucy just wants me to be a willing 'dinner guest' in her tiny playhouse, where she will hand me plastic fruit and I will dramatically 'eat' it and exclaim :Yum! Thank you!" Sometimes, she hands me a tiny purple eggplant (which is, oddly, the same size as the plastic strawberry - where is your sense of scale, toy people!?) and just before I take it, she changes her mind and yells "Mine!!"  I am now forbidden to 'eat' it.  And this is hysterical to her... it becomes a game where I plead for the eggplant (I don't even like eggplant!) and she runs out of the tiny house, clutching her plastic prize and shrieking "NOooo!! MINE!!!" 

Now, is my toddler greedy? Perhaps. But what toddler isn't a little egocentric?  Lucy is convinced we are all here to care for and entertain her. She is the center of the universe.  And there's no use arguing against this notion until she is ready to accept it.  

She hasn't developed what I learned in my Educational Psychology class is called "theory of mind".  Essentially, theory of mind is the ability to understand that others may have different feelings, beliefs, knowledge, intentions, or perspectives different from your own. It typically evolves between early infancy through about age 5, when a child truly grasps that others think differently. And, as we grow and learn and observe... we must devise methods to question the validity of other's thinking, especially in an academic sense: What is their motive? What might their bias be? Who might disagree with this point of view? What do I think about it?  I guess, in this rapidly changing world of open learning and infinite resources to draw from, as educators it is our job to facilitate and direct this curiosity... both for our students and for ourselves - and colleagues, for that matter! 

After all in David Wiley's TED TALK he points out "If there is no sharing, there is no education."  We cannot be toddlers, possessive of our work or our insights - greedily running down the hallway screaming "Mine! Mine! Mine!" Instead, our teacher battle cry should be "Ours! Ours! Ours!".  There's a colloquialism that refers to certain truths being "common knowledge" - i.e. the sky is blue, George Washington was the first president of the US... But why can't everything - or at least more things - be "Common Knowledge?" Or at least the goal of education could be to work towards that lofty ambition.  Take Wikipedia, for example. It is the epitome of "participatory culture".  In fact, there's even a wiki for participatory culture, in which it states:

Social and participatory media allow for—and, indeed, call for—a shift in how we approach teaching and learning in the classroom. The increased availability of the Internet in classrooms allows for greater access to information. For example, it is no longer necessary for relevant knowledge to be contained in some combination of the teacher and textbooks; today, knowledge can be more de-centralized and made available for all learners to access. The teacher, then, can help facilitate efficient and effective means of accessing, interpreting, and making use of that knowledge.

The very premise of Wikipedia is both awesome and terrifying.  If anyone can edit it, then how is a discerning reader supposed to trust the information it presents?  I remember being cautioned against relying on Wikipedia as a reliable source for research papers in school. But the more I read, the less skeptical I am... In fact, I found a really good article that explains the process of creating and maintaining a wiki: How Wikis Work

If you don't like what is out there as consumable internet literature as it pertains to your given subject matter, is complaining about it going to fix anything? Who knows... You could comment after a distressing - or even incorrect - article.There is an enabling anonymity online.  One that emboldens us to put thoughts out there that we may otherwise keep to ourselves out of politeness. But often others have enough control to delete your competing viewpoint. And does expressing unhappiness with content really change anything? Or are you just another faceless dissenter?  

Perhaps our jobs as educators is to fill the "vacuum within our spaces"...  to provide meaningful content that furthers others' understanding of the subject matter we wish to teach - or, if that seems too daunting, to at least attempt to flush out errors or unproven statements of fact and correct them - or, at the very, very least, learn where the most reliable sources are and how to direct your students to them!  After all, we have more technology at our finger tips than any generation before us. Think about it...

According to FlightGlobal (“Serious About Aviation”), the Apollo Guidance Computer, or AGC, had just 64KB of memory and only 0.043 MHz of processing power. That was enormous at the time, of course, but compare those specs with those of modern netbooks—the pint-sized laptops that are considered underpowered by today’s computing standards.

The typical netbook has over 100 GB of capacity – more than a million times that of the computer on which NASA staked an historic mission and the lives of three astronauts. And a netbook’s 1.6GHz processor is several thousand times faster than that of 1969’s AGC.* 

So, we have these amazing machines.  What we choose to do with them is up to us.  Take this screenshot from that lecture I referenced at the beginning of this blog: 

Using this device "capable of accessing the entirely of information known to man" to do something other than look at cat pictures...can we really replace the original model of teaching? A model "In which a single, presumably omniscient teacher explicitly tells or shows presumably unknowing learners something they presumably know nothing about"* and textbooks - which can become outdated by the time they are finally written, edited, published, and disseminated - are the sources of knowledge? Of course we can! I love the idea of Open Education Resources!  Check out this video!

For my Content Literacy class this week I am supposed to take a textbook from my subject area and critique it.  Literally, the only example available in my college library is a second grade "Art Connections" book written in 1998.  Granted, using textbooks for art education is not exactly common practice - it's more of a learn by doing sort of activity.  But, as I move down the list of things I'm supposed to critique, I can't help but think "Good Lord, if this book were what I had to rely on to help educate my students, we'd all be totally screwed!"  Thank goodness I will be teaching in an era where there are blogs by creative art teachers to spark ideas, or how-to videos on YouTube for a project I may not totally know how to do but want my students to experience it, or awesome resources for art history and museum collections where we can view masterpieces instead of cat videos!

If we use this new world of technology responsibly, it will be an asset in this evolving definition of education. Learn and give... Share and cultivate... Fill the vacuum and expand your own "theory of mind"... Do not cling to your proverbial eggplant and run screaming "Mine! Mine! Mine!"  There's a whole, unlimited grocery store out there - with enough for everyone! Go, use this wonderful technology, and make a salad or something else delicious!  Just choose wisely, not everything available is healthy.  And sometimes it's mislabeled or past its expiration date. Make good choices and you'll make a difference in everyone's life that you invite to eat at your table.  

Happy shopping, everyone!

Eye Opener - My Introduction to Actual Teaching

Hello again,

So this week was...interesting. I feel the need to reflect on it, outside of assignment guidelines and probably without much extra content.  This is more of a confessional.  Two things happened - actually more related to my Educational Psychology class than the Technologies class that I started this blog for.  Still, this whole crazy life and career "reset" is rather intertwined within itself, so why not share? 

First, for my Ed Psyche class I'm writing a group project paper on a bullying case study. Even though it's a theoretical scenario, my heart hurts for this fictional high school student, Joshua, who is the victim of a false rumor that he is gay. The harassment has escalated from hallway name calling to jeers at his curtain call for the school play to his car being sabotaged in his own driveway.  He and his parents (and the school administration) fear for his safety. Joshua goes from being an honors student very involved in extracurricular to withdrawing emotionally, getting poor grades, and becoming involved in his former passions. 

Here's a link to the Stop Bullying website

Having to write about the situation and what I/we would do as teachers in the school is difficult. All 3 of us working on the project have had experience with being bullied or targets of false rumors... and all of us went to similar high schools to the case study (semi-rural/suburban, not really diverse, and relatively small). And, while no one thought they'd ever been a bully...unfortunately, we all remember times when we witnessed someone else being targeted by a bully and should have spoken up but didn't. It occurred to me as we responded to each question What could Joshua have done differently? The administration? What would you as a teacher have done? What do you think will happen next? That last question kind of scares me - if recent trends are considered, Joshua might hurt himself or someone else.  Or he'll drop out.  Or give up on life in general.  That's so scary!!  It's intimidating to think that an involved teacher might be the one thing that stands between this poor kid and the worst case scenario.  Am I ready for that kind of pressure?



Speaking of feeling unprepared...I have been enrolled in education courses of any kind for a whopping 4 weeks now.  My undergrad degree is in Fine Art and I have no previous teaching experience in a school setting.  I taught karate to children for many years, have been a camp counselor/arts and crafts instructor, and given piano lessons.  But as far as standing up in front of a (small) sea of expectant young scholars on a regular basis, not so much. Well, at least that was how I naively expected teaching to be... full of attentive young minds as excited to learn as I am to teach.  I mean, I was a total nerd (an eclectic, karate devotee, artsy and musical free spirit... with really good grades in all my AP and Honors courses.  I like to learn! Heck, I never took a single study hall - and did Chemistry and Health through correspondence classes so I could squeeze more art classes in to my school day! AKA total nerd.)  I guess I knew deep down that I was more an exception than a rule as far as students go... but I always assumed those who struggled just didn't like school.  They may not have been particularly attentive but at least everyone in my small, semi-rural, pathetically un-diverse school district was respectful.   

Then I did my first 7 hours of field experience as a tutor in an inner-city Akron school.  Eye opener is an understatement. I was assigned to follow 2 sophomore girls through their classes and help whenever necessary.  Before I officially started there was an orientation day where I met my students... we'll call them Nikki and Stella.  I was kind of dreading the whole experience after I found out the tutoring program my class was pairing with for Ed Psyche field experience is basically supposed to be intensive prep of the OGT test. Meaning I'm supposed to help these kids in math and English, mostly.  English no problem.  Math... weeellll... I mean, nerd that I was I took advanced courses in high school, but I don't remember a damn thing.  Believe it or not Mr Warmbrodt - I have yet to use sine or cosine in real life.  Ever.  Nor have I had to find a coefficient.  Nor do I even remember what a coefficient is. 

But at orientation, both girls said they struggled more in English than anything. Nikki insisted they never did anything in her class... that everyone just goofed off.  And Stella said she had the resident "mean teacher" and wasn't getting anything out of it either. So Friday morning, first class of the day I sat down with Nikki. There were about 20 kids in there. You would have thought there were 113.  It was SO LOUD! And chaotic.  Everyone was up, talking, had their phones out, throwing stuff.  It was the teacher's first day, and the long-term sub that had been there was there to help "ease transition."  The sub was a quirky old guy with Einstein hair and a 70's burnout personality.  The new teacher was a young man, full of ideas.  He was also the FIFTH teacher to head that class in a year and a half, Nikki told me. He was desperately trying to take control of the classroom while Mr. CheechandChong sat back looking amused.  

Mr. Freshface used a commanding voice, set clear instructions and expectations... did everything any good teacher would do.  But the kids, with the exception of a very frustrated and eye-rolling Nikki and a few others, paid him no attention. One actually told him to "Shut the f*** up" when Mr. Freshface told him to get off the table, take his headphones off and get to work. The assignment he was trying to do was simple.  He asked them to write a paragraph defining what success meant to them personally and how they thought this class - and school in general - could help them achieve it. He had other things on the agenda too, but it was clear they wouldn't even get this done.  Nikki finished her paragraph with little help - basically saying she wants to be a nurse and obviously one needs a good education to do that. A few others finished eventually.  But the rowdiest contingent - a table full of football players, including an 19 year old sophomore - wasn't doing anything but swearing and goofing off as obnoxiously as possible.  

Mr. Freshface tried several different approaches to engage them.  But it was like herding cats.  He finally got one of the more attentive students to read his paragraph aloud.  As this poor kid is stumbling through a poorly written paragraph, the adult-aged 10th grader pulls out a jump rope, got up, and starts jumping. Seriously.  And the day only got worse from there.  There was the lock down during second period while a drug dog swept the school.  There was the kid who pushed me in the hallway and said "Move, bitch!" And every class was (almost) as rowdy as the first! Eventually I ended up in Stella's English class. This teacher ruled with an iron fist.  Everyone hated her.  But she also was the only educator all day that seemed to have any sort of a grip on the chaos that was the student body! Yet Stella and her friends were convinced she was evil...

This all kind of freaks me out. I mean, I know kids aren't all willing scholars... but I guess I never pictured a completely out of control class room.  Is it the teacher's fault - especially those like Mr. Freshface who come into a situation of academic anarchy mid year?  How do you turn this situation around? What do you do about students like Nikki who genuinely want to learn but can't because of the flurry of nonsense around them?  Any thoughts? 

Sharing - That's Where the Joy Is

"What's the point of making something if you don't share it?  That's where the joy is!" 

In her video (below), Amy Burvall quotes her mother - an avid baker who enjoys sharing her creations with others. I too am an avid baker. I get it.  I mean, you don't bake 2 dozen football-themed cupcakes and not take them to a Superbowl party.  You could sit at home and eat them all until cream cheese comes out of your nose... but where's the joy in that?  The connection between baking and sharing is obvious.  Teaching and sharing? Well yes - obviously you are sharing your knowledge with your students. And there is joy in seeing your students' "Aha!" moments.  That's why a lot of people say teaching is worth it - and it gets them through the harder times. And then there's your colleagues, face-to-face, sharing successful ideas and swapping war stories. But when you share online with the anonymous hoards, is it rewarding? Is it really your "duty" as an educator to do so? Is it self-indulgent to say "Hey everyone! Listen/watch my great idea!! I'm a freaking genius!!" or "Look at the insightful connection I just made!" Besides complimentary or encouraging comments (if you're lucky enough to get any) is there a way to enjoy the "Aha!"s?  Or is the joy a more altruistic one of putting your ideas out for the world to see and hope they inspire a hapless stranger?

Jean Snyder's blog post,  On the Moral Obligations of Sharing , made an interesting point and I like the simple "equation": 

"Through this process, I have discovered what Lyn Hilt (@L_Hilt) has referred to as "Effort In = Reward Out." Along the way, I have benefited in real ways from the ideas, practices and insights shared by the amazing and thoughtful educators who are part of my PLN. Engaging with the work of others has nudged me to take risks, pushed me to think more deeply, and opened up new ideas for empowering students in their learning." 

OK, so taking risks... thinking deeply... staying open to ideas... those are all good things. And if this new world I'm entering of technological sharing and PLNs fosters these good things, I guess that's the point.  And Effort In = Reward Out makes a lot of sense.  Although sometimes, it seems the effort far outweighs the reward.  This is discouraging for teachers.

Among other interesting things, Dean Shareski's often cited video Sharing: The Moral Imperative talks about the task of educators filtering out the "best information" out there for the purpose of educating our students as opposed to exerting so much energy of starting from scratch and developing it ourselves. But someone had to do it... someone had to be the original, the person who actually was willing to delve into their own imaginations. This makes me think of Pintrest. For a creative person like me, it's addictive.  And for those who want to pretend to be creative - it's even better!

For my daughter's first birthday I went a little crazy.  And I blame Pintrest. I spent many late nights following step by step directions, or interpeting others' photos to duplicate their ideas - there were some I adapted or improved upon for my situation.  And I was super proud of the finished experience... my 6 year old cousin excitedly told me it was the "best party ever" and she felt like she was really in Oz.  

One of the games we 

played was "Melt the Witch".  

We threw water balloons at 

watercolor paintings I did 

of the witch.

   I made Lucy's "Dorothy" outfit from 

scratch (with a jumper pattern) 

My "Glenda" dress was a 

repurposed/hacked up/painted

Goodwill bridesmaid dress

 

I won't even tell you how many hours 

I spent stapling freaking construction 

paper rings together for this 

crowning achievement...

Remember how I said I liked to bake? I seriously made 

7 different themed cupcakes (one for each main character).

Then - and this was one of my original ideas - 

I used some dissected and reassembled lathed spindles 

to create an Emerald City with a felt Yellow Brick Road 

But afterwards, as I took time to reflect and scrape cupcake frosting off the back patio, I was thinking about how all the adults kept complimenting my "creativity." But truly - was there anything creative about this experience? Yes, I took the time to collect other's ideas and personalize them... but there was very little I came up with on my own. Why bother?  It was all already out there in cyberspace - ripe for the picking.  But in a way - especially as an artist - this sort of scares me. 

What will happen to creativity as a whole...? I mean, I know throughout history, artists have built upon the shoulders of their predecessors - either making direct copies as a means of studying technique or making specific stylistic deviations from the past to portray a cultural or personal statement (i.e. Impressionism as a reaction to more staged classical styles and Salon staples). But still, in this era of readily available inspiration at the click of a mouse, it's really tempting to just replicate what you see and reap the rewards and compliments.  And at that point, can you really call it art? 

As an art teacher, how do you foster independent creativity? If everyone is drawing the same still-life it's not necessarily an exercise in creativity as much as teaching the practical skills of drawing from life for developing shading and perspective. I suppose, with older students, more open ended, conceptual assignments - i.e. create a 2-D piece that illustrates "tricking the eye" or (one of my favorites from college) create a 3-D 'container' whose outsides belie the inner contents.  (I made a 3-tiered mock wedding cake that when you lifted each successive layer off it revealed a succession of dioramas depicting the breakdown of a marriage - hmmm... personal foreshadowing there, perhaps?) 

I formed and "frosted" cardboard round
boxes then dipped silk flowers in a Crock-pot
full of vanilla frosting scented wax to 
decorate it. I kid you not, that pretend
 cake smelled like real cake for 3 years!! 

 And each layer came off to tell the story.  

The top layer is a happy marriage - there are 2 little birds 

in a nest within a white picket fence, sweet sentimental text. 

The middle has a shirt collar with lipstick on it... 

a beer can... the one bird is perched precariously on the fence 

and the text ribbon has some accusatory phrases. 

And a man's wedding ring.  The last one has broken china 

and total chaos, a bird is missing, there are

2 rings nestled sadly in the eye of the storm

So, since I'm pretty sure I want to teach middle school - possibly high school art - I'll try to embrace age and ability appropriate open-ended assignments. But where do I come up with those.  Is it my duty to be original?  Or do I peruse the internet... consult my PLN... let others do the work for me and then I participate by handling logistics and making sure we have the necessary supplies and clear instructions?  Or is it an amalgamation of the two? That's what I'm going to go with.  Look for inspiration, not replication.  Tailor good ideas to my students' needs and interests.  

 "We all want credit for our contributions and the moment we focus on protecting our work we are in some ways the antithesis of a teacher." Shareski says.  

My cousin and fellow Pintrest-addict, Lexxi, (ironically, a kindergarten teacher) went nuts over my party. She was my documentarian/photographer. "Are you gonna put this on Pintrest!?" she asked me at least a dozen times - usually whenever we came upon a new element along my "Yellow Brick Road" trek with the kids through the woods. I considered this while cleaning up... Why bother? I thought. I got most of my ideas off there anyways... so how would I be contributing anything new? 

While throwing a kids party is different than teaching in a classroom (although Lexxi insisted it was more similar than I thought...), looking back now I see how perhaps sharing my party stuff could benefit someone else. I did come up with creative solutions to problems on my own, like the cupcake display... And there were things I had wished the posting contributors of the ideas I used had included... like reminding the reader to put the watercolor paintings on wood backing, not thick posterboard that disintegrates with the enthusiastic pummeling of water balloons!  So yes - in a small way I could contribute.  I could build on existing information.  

I liked Silvia Rosenthal Tolisano's  3 Reasons Why You Should Share and 3 Things You Can Do to Start Sharing:

So here is my list: 3 Things Why You (as an Educator)  Should Share

1. The shift of a culture of consumers to producers is built on sharing and disseminating.
Our world, and in particular the world of our students, is build on the culture of sharing. Ex. Sharing your status on facebook, adding a book review on Amazon, leaving a comment on a product you purchased online, photos on Instagram and videos on Snapchat and YouTube. Educators need to acknowledge the shift outside of the classroom and take advantage of the shift for learning with our students.

2. Painting the picture of teaching and learning in your school
Too many other people (non-educators, policy makers, politicians, media, etc.) are painting a grim picture of the teaching profession, teaching in general, schools and student learning. It is time to become our own storytellers. Sharing student successes and teachers’ professional and continuous learning MUST overshadow and outnumber the negative press and reputation that has been building up.

3. The future of learning is social and build on and around Professional Learning Networks.
Networking is built on a concept of sharing. Networking is defined by the Merriam_Webster dictionary as “the exchange of information or services among individuals, groups, or institutions”. In order for an exchange to take place, someone has to step up to SHARE. Without sharing there is no network. Someone has to give and someone has to take, without giving the machinery of how a network works will not function. In our Information Age, where information is being generated at exponential speed, we need to rely on a network to filter quality and relevant information for us. It is our responsibility to be the filter and curator for others as well.

So from 3 reasons WHY you should share… on to 3 Things you can do to start sharing…

3 Things What You (as an Educator) Can Do to Start Sharing

1. Stop resisting change
We need educators, in particular administrators, to stop resisting change, take a deeper look at the world around them and LEAD by modeling!  Sharing is and needs to be a method, a strategy and a technique to improve teaching and learning practices, benefiting an entire school  learning community.

2. Create a workflow to document teaching and learning
Great things are happening in your classroom and in your schools. Learn to embed documenting best practices, student learning and action research in a digital form to be able to easily disseminate via a blog, twitter, photo or video sharing site.

3. Start small.

Add a comment on a blog you read, share a resource, a link, a book or an article you have learned from on Twitter. Let students take over in documenting learning in their classroom. Use your cell phone to take photos of learning in action, write a descriptive comment under the photo and share on a blog, Instagram, a classroom site, blog,  Twitter or Facebook account. 

So OK - I may be resistant to technology and social media... but I can't argue with the obvious benefits of being more than a "lurker" online. You never know if you're holding information someone else could benefit from - who am I to decide what other people find interesting?  It's important to edit, to not supply so much information that the critical pieces get lost.  I mean, I have 257 pictures of Lucy's birthday party. I could have subjected you to every last one... but I didn't.  I picked the best ones, the ones that highlighted the points I was trying to make.  And as far as the formality of blogs and other sharing venues/public media - as long as they are legible and cohesive, what's the harm in letting a little colloquial swearing in or overzealous use of ... punctuation?  It's important to appear credible but sometimes super formal academic writing can be dry and hard to decipher... and, honestly, boring!  Engage your readers/viewers!  It's easier to read something that flows conversationally than a mess of statistics or jargon.  

Let's contribute! Let the world read my babbling and do what it will with it! Maybe someday there will be a mother struggling with how to create the perfect cupcake display for her kid's birthday party and she's just too damn tired to come up with something original. Hey - I can help with that...  And that - as a baker, (future) teacher, mommy, and artist - is the joy of sharing.