Art Teaching with a touch of Technology

Me and my colleagues at 'the bean' It's been a while since I have blogged. I have been working a lot, and sorting out things. Mainly, watching too many TikToks, and probably need to change something about that. So, I have been trying to make things, going to more art-y places, and trying to listen to podcasts that are a little more inspiring. So, that out of the way, let's dig in on what I have been up to. My last week of school before break, I was able to go to the National Art Educator Association convention in Chicago. I grabbed a lot of great ideas that I am trying to process here.  As Art teaching is a different animal than other areas of the school, I appreciate that my administration allowed myself and my colleague art educators to travel to Chicago for professional development. I work with great teachers at the middle school, but no one really understands what my job is, as I don't really know what it is like to teach 50+ band students all at once. I appreci...

 I have made a change in career path. I still work at the same middle school. But, I am back in the art room. The last year has been hard, working on new lesson units for 4 grade levels, as well as establishing classroom routines. As I write this, I am in my last week of teaching summer school. I have resolved to try to get back into the swing of things with blog posts, and try to post a bit more to socials. I have been back making art. Today, I was making a cardboard cosplay, this Iron Man inspired wearable. I am going to change the purpose a bit, but show some things I am doing in the art room too. The big thing is to try to share a bit more and be mindful of the little successes and share them out!

Getting students to keep on task, keeping organized is a hard part of teaching in a middle school. I coach a Robotics team, and I also work with teachers to try to build their capacity for technology skills.  One way I try to help my kids is to teach teachers to create Graphic Organizers. Canva is a free tool that is great for creating all sorts of publications, videos, and even documents and websites. The tool is very flexible and allows you to upload graphics, or borrow from theirs. It has many great features for teachers, including classroom tools for creating alongside of your students. There are great tutorials for teachers, at: https://www.canva.com/designschool/tutorials/canva-for-teachers/ If you are not already using Canva, teachers can sign up for an upgrade through their verification process, and get it for free. Go to Canva.com/education Graphic Organizers Graphic organizers are a way to break down complicated problems into more manageable pieces. The often use colors ...

  I have recently had a number of new students arriving at my small school. Most of them speak Spanish, and many of the teachers I work with have limited ability in that language. So... right now there are a number of teachers just trying to figure out how to communicate. TimeKettle My school had purchased TimeKettle translation earbuds.   These use a mobile device, such as an iPad to run translation. There are several earbud models, in varying price ranges. So far, these have been useful. They use an app called TimeKettle iOS or Android to use the device to help with the Translation. There are several modes for translation, but some work well for one on one translation, and others work better when you have multiple students needing translation. I suggest the 'Listen Mode' when you have more than one student, and the Simul mode when you have a longer one on one conversation to do. Microsoft Translator Another method does not need a fancy iPad or earbuds. Microsoft Tra...

As I prepare for coaching Middle Schoolers here in Waupaca for FIRST Lego League, I am trying to teach kids to code the SPIKE Prime Lego robots. This has its challenges. Some kids take to coding well, and some need more visuals to guide them. Teams may also want to whiteboard out their coding concepts.  I created this set of printable Word Blocks as a resource for printing, laminating, and maybe adding some magnets to the back. This allows me to put up code in a demonstration, or my teams to talk about how to achieve things after they have done some pseudo-coding of their projects. Having manipulative items are always nice for hands-on coding practice.  Whiteboard Word blocks for Proportional Line follow. Here is my collection of laminated word blocks Below are the files I created for creating these blocks. Feel free to use, but maybe send me a note & follow on twitter. @artschultz13 Direct link to folder shown below.

 I have been working as a Robotics Coach in my role as an Educational Technology Coach for a few years. This year, I have entered my students into FIRST LEGO League. Last season, I was a judge at state, so I could improve my coaching, and improve my team's performance. This year, I will be doing my second year of organizing students for FLL! Last season, we did a Virtual Tournament, with some success. But, we did not move on from that tournament.   This year, my students and I have done a lot of reflection about how we can be more successful. The main problem we had last season is that no one took initiative in knowing what needed to be done, and constantly asked adults what they should be doing.  One thing I have been working on is a Goal writing template for each team. Team members will start practice with this sheet, and discuss who is doing what, and document the goals. At the end of practice, updating the form to communicate what needs to be done for next time. This ...