Thing 12

I used igoogle for the first time ever. It is similar to other sites so it seemed familiar to me. You could customize this site to your specifications, which was cool. You could choose which information feeds you wanted to appear on your homepage. I chose art as one of mine and found out that they have an artist of the day. I think this would be a good homepage to have on the classrooms in my art classroom. I could require the students to research the artist of the day if they use the computer that day. A quick 5 minutes assignment that makes them aware of modern artists that are working today.

This piece of artwork is by Alice X. Zhang. She was the artist of the day today.

I also made a Picasa account. This was very similar to flickr but it is already linked to my google+ account. I have noticed that any google account that you open automatically attaches to your other google accounts. So all your information is very easily accessed. This is just another photo sharing website. Students can share there own photo assignments and research other photography being done today.

This is one of my photos. It was taken at Cheekwood Botanical Gardens, TN Summer 2011

Thing 11

I found the easiest route to use was Google Blog Search. I use Google already for just about everything I ever need to know. So when I clicked on the link and it took me to a page that looked like Google, I knew exactly what to do. I think Technorati would be my least favorite. I couldn't easily find where to find blogs. I just kept seeing Adele articles. I did enjoy looking through the Edu Blog Award Winners. There were so many categories and I think I will go back and look through them more. I found a few different art teacher blogs that I like.I started following them both and added them to my Google Reader page.

Thing 10

I used Google Reader for the first time and I think I like it! I really had no idea there was any type website like this. I didn't know what Google Reader or that little orange square icon were at all. I do think this is a very useful and time saving resource. Since setting up my blog at the beginning of this class I have really started enjoying reading other peoples blogs. There are so many out there and some have some great information! As a teacher, I think this would be good for the same reasons I think it is good in my personal life....saving time.

Thing 9

I used ImageChef to make this image. It was super easy. You can do lots of different things on this site, such as make photo collages or add words to your photos. I chose to use words to make this picture. It was very easy. You just choose the shape and the colors and the words you want the shape filled with, then hit the button and there it is! I chose to fill my shape with the elements of design. These are the basic building blocks of art and something every art student should know. I could use this site in my classroom to display definitions and terms in a creative way. Students could also use this site to enhance their photo work.

National Art Education Association - Home

National Art Education Association - Home

Thing 8

 http://bighugelabs.com/mosaic.php

I used Mosaic Maker to make this photo montage.  I really like all these sites.  I think they could be very useful in my art classroom. I search Flickr for tags of #skyscrapers and these are the photos I found.  I could use this tool in my classroom if I were teaching about perspective or certain photography techniques.  I would ask the students to choose a tag that intrests them, such as trees or art or sunrises, and then create a photo mosaic with those photos.  I also really enjoyed the site that makes words from Flickr photos.

    

Thing 7

These are just a sample of my personal photography

http://www.flickr.com/photos/melperry03/ 

I have never used Flickr before but I do like it!  As a future art teacher I can see many uses for this site in my classroom.  I could ask the students to all create their own accounts and give photography assignments.  I could ask the students to post their own work to the site.  Another option would be I could have a class account and post the top three pieces of work or just post every one's work so that the parents could access it from home.  I will also keep my personal account and post photos of my artwork.  Students can access this to see examples of my work.  Students could also use this site for research and inspiration.  

The only other photo sharing site I have used is Instagram.  I love this site too.  It is an app on my iphone and it allows you to follow others and view their photos and post your own.  You can also take photos through this site and it has tools that help you alter your photos.  

Photography is a passion of mine and though it may be difficult to teach if the school I am in has to access to cameras and photo equipment, I believe this site will get the students excited about their own photography.