Monitoring My GAME Plan

As a part of beginning my GAME plan, I have been searching for iPad apps that could be used in my classroom. So far, the only app I have downloaded and put to use in my classroom is Classdojo. As a behavior management system, I give each class 10 points. I take points for off task behaviors. The goal is for the students to work together as a class and earn more points than any of my other classes. About 2 weeks before the end of the year, I average the scores each class has received. The class with the highest average earns a prize. For the prize, I conference with each student in the class to get ideas about what things they like and their favorite color so I can paint each student a glass with their name in a fancy font with logos or small pictures next to it. I started this points program last year and I was pleased with student response to it however, I feel utilizing Classdojo helps the students visualize their scores better. It makes the concept of points more concrete, especially for the youngest students.

In addition to beginning use of Classdojo, I have researched art related apps, both art creation apps and art history apps. I have found pinterest to be very useful to find blogs by other art teachers who have reviewed many of the art apps. I am in the process of reading the reviews to narrow down the list of apps that I would like to purchase. Some that I am currently considering are Frida’s World (learning about Frida Kahlo), Art Authority (more than 1,000 works of art with stories behind the art and the artists), and PhotoForge 2 (a photo manipulation app that might work well for a Warhol/Pop Art project).

I have not yet set up my page in My Big Campus (a county wide program that is used for staff and students to communicate information). My goal is to edit that page to make it more useful in my teaching in the next week. After I edit the page, I am hopeful that I can set it up so it can become an art gallery where students and parents can log on and see their own work from home.

I am finding that there are many more art resources on the iPads than I anticipated. The only issue I am finding is that it takes a good deal of research. Many pieces of artwork or facts about certain artists are not appropriate for my students’ age group. I need to be sure the app doesn’t contain anything inappropriate before spending, and essentially wasting, money on an app I’ll be unable to use.

So far, I don’t feel that I need to change my GAME plan. I think that I need keep working on this process and be patient enough to thoroughly research each app before spending money on it.

One new question I have based on my research is how hard is it to print the art that students will make on the iPad. I would imagine I would be able to save the art in a jpeg format and transfer the file to the school computers for printing but I am not sure. I plan to ask our technology coordinator in the coming week.

I have made some progress with my goal for standard 2 but have yet to make any progress on my goal for standard 3. I hope to remedy that this week.