Jen

Jen's Page ACTIVITY #1 Writing in the 21st Century I enjoyed learning about how writing has changed over the years. I collect Life magazines from the WWII era and the tone, words used and styles of writing are so different from a magazine today. When thinking back to writing when I was a child and teenager, it was awful. I always have had a difficult time spelling and remembering grammar rules, so that red pen always covered my papers. I would get A's for my ideas and F's for my spelling and grammar, So that always led to C's in English class. I was a slow reader to, so between English and math, I am not sure which one I hated more. It was so different back then, their just was not any help if you were shy and your parents assumed all was being done. Another problem was that I was a perfectionist when it came to my handwriting, (no word-processing back then) so I would spend hours erasing my letters because they were too big, small, not curved right.....and so on. Now with word processing, that issue does not exist. I am so glad that my kids grew up with the best of both worlds. They kept hand written journals in their younger days, then learned cursive and keyboarding and then on to the latest MS word program. One thing to think about is how sterile writing becomes with computers. I have hand written notes from my kids (mostly sorry notes) that are so meaningful. Their personality comes out with the way their letters are formed and the little heart or xoxo's that follow. The computer offers no emotional connection to me at all. Today we use writing to spit out information as fast as we can. Even when we read, we tend to skim read just to get the gist of an article. When I see student work hanging up that is computer processed with clip art. I don't even slow down, but give me a hand written piece with hand drawn pictures and I am stopping to read it and look at the picture. I don't know if we teach kids how different a response can be depending on the tool you use to express your view or information. Years ago we had simple tools a pencil/pen and paper. Now kids have a variety of complex tools to write with, I just think they need our help in understanding what tool could and should be used for what. Amy: I completely agree that hand written pieces have more life and interest! Also because any notes I get from my own children or any of my students also have little pictures on them as well. It is more difficult to do that on the computer and pictures are often "canned" choices instead of personal artwork. Carrie: Jen, I feel so bad that you struggled so much with spelling. Word processing is a great thing in regards to spelling! I totally agree with a handwritten note and how wonderful it can be. Today's young people I think may struggle socially interacting with others because they are so accustomed to dealing with a computer, cell phone, Ipod, Ipad, etc. Audra: Jen, I agree that we need to teach our students to understand what tools should be used for what. With computers throughout schools, many upper elementary grades use computers to write their stories, they don't even go to paper first. Many students are missing out on that extra "writing" and even "editing" process. Teachers should show students that computers can be used for certain things, but that it's still important to use the paper and pencil way as well. Even though many jobs require computer skills and most things are typed up right away on the computer, our students are missing out on that skill. Art, Image, world. I enjoyed watching all of the resources. I liked the simple from "Illuminated Text" and Kinetic Moving Type" the best, because it was more artistic. I felt redefining text was a bit over the top, she was more or less redefining it to her perspective to fit what she wanted to move toward. What she is saying is nothing new, just how she is saying it is. The one on Video and Writing in elementary grades was the least interesting. This took a long time for a very unimpressive result. The last one "shining the spotlight on digital media and learning" was really interesting. [|how students are using mobile phones to document their culture] This is really wonderful to see that really remote areas with less resources are able to have a say. [|learning geometry and chemistry with Wii-like hands-on interactions] this looks amazing, but what would this cost? again the division of the haves and have nots. It really is cool, especially for middle and high school students. [|Scratch],[| Little Big Planet], [|Gamestar Mechanic] maybe because of my field I was really drawn to these. Again you would need a clear goal or this would be nothing more than something for kids to do during indoor recess. I think I want Scratch for myself.

Art becomes the next R I read this article before, but it's always nice to hear that other people understand the value of art. As an artist/art teacher I have understood its value and have promoted concepts and higher order thinking to whom it matters most KIDS. Most of the art teachers in my district do as I do; stay in their rooms and work with kids. Often art teachers prefer to be alone and work alone, therefore we are often left out of the academic conversations. I believe that some regular education teachers and administrators are now ready to accept that art is as essential as reading, writing, and math. I am starting to feel ready to push my foot in the door to keep it open. I might be able to work with teachers and offer ideas for integration; I might even get some takers. The article does bring up one of my biggest fears and that is the trivialization of art due to multimedia. This happened with paintings, because artists wanted everyone to be able to have art, not just the wealthy. Andy Warhol really got the ball rolling by printing art for the masses. Posters are now seen as art. Photography now suffers too. Now with digital cameras and photoshop anyone can take a great picture. My daughter has a really nice digital camera and it even has a setting for fireworks!! Can you believe that, just like the microwaves popcorn setting. Just push a button and you can win photo contests not knowing a thing about light, composition, subject matter and so on. It might be time for art teachers to force themselves to speak up and explain that the process of making art is more important than the final piece, just like the journey of writing, reading and yes even solving math problems.

The rise of the image the fall of the word

Ok, this article is targeting me; I do not read much other than books for NLU. I do read magazines, because it is less of a time commitment and because I can get different topics in one media form. I read National Geographic, Readers Digest, Art News and Tennis magazines as well as our local paper. I watch the news on T.V. or read it online. Growing up I loved kid’s books, but by the time I was past Dr. Seuss, I lost all interest reading, but loved looking at the pictures and usually could get the gist from that. I am a slow reader so books are not fun for me, but my lack of reading keeps me from getting faster; a double edged sword. As a student I hated, and I mean hated, reading out loud. I would always stumble over words, lose my place or substitute words. I would sit in my desk trying to figure out what I would have to read when it was my turn and practice the paragraph in my head so I would do a better job in front of my peers. So when it came to answering questions about the reading, I would have no clue since I was not paying any attention to what had been read. Still to this day I do not feel comfortable reading in front of peers, but I just do it knowing I will mess up; I am just not self-conscious about it anymore. This year when I read "Let the great world spin" for my choice book, I really developed a new appreciation for words and how clear and poetic the pictures in my mind can be created through those words. My son's enjoyment of reading came when he got into Goosebumps Books and then followed with Harry Potter and the Lord or the Rings series. Now, even though he has a ton of heavy reading to do, he still always has a fun book going at the same time. My daughter didn't enjoy reading until about sixth grade when she read the Charlie Bone series. Now, she also has a fun book to go along with her required College textbook readings. I am not worried about books becoming extinct, because of the image age. People will always fall in love with books; it just takes the right book to get hooked. Audra: Jen, I feel like you were describing me as well. I loved books when I was younger, but the older I grew the most distaste I had. It's a shame, because I see so many people today who enjoy books, unfortunately I am not one of them. So I hear what you're saying!

ACTIVITY #2 Well, personally I don't agree with Jamie's theory that their are that many literacy's. From my perspective Visual literacy and Artistic literacy are the same. In the art and design world we only use the term visual literacy. This term is in most quality curriculums and is in the Wisconsin State Standards for the Visual Arts. I have never seen a definition other than the authors regarding artistic literacy, but I have included Wikipedia's definition of Visual Literacy: The term “visual literacy” is credited to Jack Debes, co-founder of the [|International Visual Literacy Association]. [|[1]] In 1969 Debes offered a tentative definition of the concept: “Visual literacy refers to a group of vision-competencies a human being can develop by seeing and at the same time having and integrating other sensory experiences.” [|[2]] A white paper drawn up in January 2004, defines visual literacy as "understanding how people perceive objects, interpret what they see, and what they learn from them." [|[3]] However, because multiple disciplines such as [|visual literacy in education], [|art history] and [|criticism] , [|rhetoric] , [|semiotics] , [|philosophy] , [|information design] , and [|graphic design] make use of the term visual literacy, arriving at a common definition of visual literacy has been contested since its first appearance in professional publications.
 * Visual literacy ** is the ability to [|interpret], negotiate, and make meaning from information presented in the form of an [|image] . Visual literacy is based on the idea that [|pictures] can be “read” and that meaning can be communicated through a process of reading.

Since technological advances continue to develop at an unprecedented rate, educators are increasingly promoting the learning of visual literacy’s as indispensable to life in the [|information age]. Similar to [|linguistic literacy] (meaning making derived from written or oral human language) commonly taught in schools, most educators would agree that literacy in the 21st Century has a wider scope. [|[4]] Educators are recognizing the importance of helping students develop visual literacy’s in order to survive and communicate in a highly complex world.

Many [|scholars] from the New London Group [|[5]] such as Courtney Cazden, [|James Gee], [|Gunther Kress] , and [|Allan Luke] advocate against the dichotomy of visual literacy versus linguistic literacy. Instead, they stress the necessity of accepting the co-presence [|[6]] of linguistic literacy’s and visual literacy’s as interacting and interlacing modalities which complement one another in the meaning making process.

Visual literacy is not limited to modern [|mass media] and new [|technologies]. The graphic novel // [|Understanding Comics] // by [|Scott McCloud] discusses the history of narrative in visual media. Also, animal drawings in ancient caves, such as the one in [|Lascaux], [|France] , are early forms of visual literacy. Hence, even though the name visual literacy itself as a label dates to the 1960s, the concept of reading signs and symbols is [|prehistoric].

Visual literacy is the ability to evaluate, apply, or create conceptual visual representations. Skills include the evaluation of advantages and disadvantages of visual representations, to improve shortcomings, to use them to create and communicate knowledge, or to devise new ways of representing insights. The didactic approach consists of rooting visualization in its application contexts, i.e. giving the necessary critical attitude, principles, tools and feedback to develop their own high-quality visualization formats for specific problems (problem-based learning). The commonalities of good visualization in diverse areas, and exploration of the specificities of visualization in the field of specialization (through real-life case studies).

My Criteria for choosing a digital image would be
 * Have a clear goal for the image.
 * Once you determine the goal (to shock, to tell a story...) decide if you want a photograph or a graphic image (computer generated).
 * Now determine your details, color vs black and white; soft edges vs sharp; cropped vs un-cropped.
 * Check with a friends to see if the image you chose is producing the desired response.

ACTIVITY 4 This lesson teaches students that artists work often changes over the course of their life as they learn new skills, think in different ways and learn from other artists. These images are all works of art created by the spanish artist Pablo Picasso. As I would show each image I would ask the students to describe the painting to me: color, subject, style. Then they would need to analyze the work, the possible meaning. Finally they would be asked to judge it: thumbs up, side or down and why.

Image #1 (Child holding dove, 1901)

Pablo, at age 20, chose to use brushy strokes with outlines and mixed colors on the canvas. The painting looks fairly flat, like a coloring book. You can clearly understand the subject matter in this piece of art (The child, dove and ball). You see the worry or sadness in the child's face as he/she holds the dove. You may conclude that animals are more important to the child than the material things such as the ball.

Image #2 (Boy with a pipe, 1905)

Pablo, at age 24, chose to paint in a more realistic manner. The painting looks fairly three dimensional, because he added values. The colors are mixed an then added to the canvas. The subject is simple (boy, pipe, flowers) I believe Picasso used color; rose and blue, and objects; flowers and a pipe to symbolize femininity and masculinity. The boy is still in the care of his mother, yet wants to be seen as a man. It is a painting about adolescence and its insecurities.

Image #3 (Three musicians, 1921)

Pablo, at age 40, changed his painting style dramatically. He still chose simple subject matter (men, musical instruments and chairs). Picasso began to simplify forms and changed their arrangement. He flattened out forms and painted flat colors, creating a two dimensional feel. He also added textures (not easy to see on the computer) and collage to his work. This type of art is now known as synthetic cubism where the artists' takes objects and shift them to be more angular and connected. Picasso had two very close friends (poets) and they are believed to be two of the musicians and Picasso himself is the third. ACTIVITY #5 This was a really fun activity, especially the evaluation part. The three stories below would get more than four's in several categories, but I chose two categories for each that would be good examples for the specific category. I could not link the actual story, but it is linked to a specific section (first two are under Identity, and the third is under youth). Just go to the link and look at the bottom for the specific story I evaluated. Also, make sure to read what the author wrote to the right of the video, it really a nice extra.
 * [|Untitled, by Kevin West] (Quality of Images and meaningful Audio Soundtrack)
 * [|Strength in Love, by Eric] (Choice of Content and Pacing of Narrative)
 * [|Split, by Luz Garcia] (Point of View and Clarity of Voice)

Reflection for "Untitled", by Kevin West The quality of images and their use was wonderful. The pictures and thier manipulation kept you interested in the story. The images and sound were unified and the authors voice was very engaging. I noticed a lot of symbolism especially when Kevin's image of himself as a little girl was turned into a photo negative. I also liked the speed of the images and that some were photos and others were more graphic in nature. The story itself was powerful, for two reasons; one I have a student who is female on the outside and very male on the inside so much so that all of the staff agrees she needs counseling. Unfortunately her parents see it as something she will grow out of, she is going into third grade. The second reason is that we can no longer look at anyone and see he or she....we just need to see heart and mind.

Reflection for "Strength in Love", by Eric This one makes me cry every time I watch it. It has a content that we can all relate to at a level of our own. My level of relating is a feeling of being alone. As a child I always had a fear of losing my parents to an accident and being left behind with no one to care for me. Although, I can't truly feel how Eric felt when he was truly alone, I can relate and connect to the video on an emotional level, hence the tears. I felt the content was really big in this video, he told the story without complaining or "woe is me". His images were powerful, especially the "Dead End" sign when he moved with his dad. The story was also interesting, because he was continually making the decisions for himself. Leaving his mom, leaving the gang, leaving his dad, going to school and finally, letting someone into his life. The pacing was great and I loved just hearing his voice; its simplistic nature and subtle inflections. The choice of music and very little talking at the end was dramatic and powerful, he lets you soak it all in and experience a silent joy.

Reflection for "Split", by Luz Garcia This story has a clear point of view and because I am a teacher it really hits home. Immigration is an important topic and is usually heard from a political point of view, not the view of who it affects most. You can really feel Luz's fear and anger, especially when she speaks of her brother being taunted at the bus stop. Luz does a good job of using image and words in unison to get her point across in a quiet way. Luz's Hispanic accent was so vital to the story and I was pleased with her clarity of voice; she new to speak slowly with careful pronunciation. I also liked this video because it was calm yet strong; meaning the topic was heavy, but she kept it light and just made you think and didn't hit you over the head or slap you in the face.