Hi everyone! I am starting a new blog for my technology integration class! Here is our first assignment for the blog, enjoy! 

        As far as technology in the classroom goes I tend to have some wishy washy feelings. As a future Art Educator I think it is really important for my students to be creating work with their own two hands. I think that technology such as laptops and tablets can fit in greatly to other content area classrooms, but with art class it seems risky considering all the messy materials they may come into contact with. One form of technology I am interested in having in my classroom is a document camera, because I have found them to be extremely helpful when doing class demos, they allow a full classroom to remain seated and have a clear vision of what the teacher is demonstrating at the front of the room.

          I am interested in finding a way for my students to collect inspiration images that they can store online or on some form of technology, as this is how I usually create art works, by looking at images I’ve stored on my laptop. However this still raises problem of messy materials damaging laptops. While I may feel comfortable creating art with my MacBook near by, I'm not sure I would feel comfortable with a classroom of 7th graders looking at inspiration images with expensive technology in arms length. In this scenario the technology is not detrimental to student learning, but the students on their quest to be creative and messy may be detrimental to the technology itself.

           Another idea of how I would like to integrate technology into my Art classroom would be through the use of a classroom blog. I think it would such a fun and useful tool to document the progress my students make on their art projects. This would really foster some family engagement as well as allowing  parents to check in and see what is happening in the art room. An important part of creating art work is the sharing of that art work, and I believe it can be very empowering for students to have their work displayed. Having an online presence for the classroom would certainly create a venue for which student artwork could be shared to a large audience.