Schoology-paperless artroom here we come!

I found a great online site for secure student group management  www.schoology.com . I looked at it over the summer, but have not had a chance to set up classes and groups till recently.  As I've mentioned before our district uses Moodle. I'm not overly impressed with the user friendliness and overall appearance of Moodle.  Apparently others feel the same way, because as a district we are starting to look at other options that might be out there...yeh!  The www.schoology.com site is far more user friendly and is set up similar to facebook so the students have no trouble navigating through it. You can link it to your Moodle site too if you want.  As a district with student email account difficulties the, to say the least, an invite code rather than email option is wonderful.  I can just give them a preset code and they can log in to their course or group.  There are separate codes for each section/group and you can change them as needed and/or remove students that you don't want in that group or section.  If you do have reliable student email accounts they can register with them as well. www.schoology.com has a gallery(albums) you can set up for students, which I love for online critiques!.  Also included are discussions, attendance, tests, links, apps, calendar of events, and the list goes on.  Oh, and did I mention it's FREE! I think I found a good fit for my students and I. I'll let you know how things go.

Give it a try if you haven't and let me know how it goes.  If you are using it or have in the past let me know what you think too.    www.schoology.com

Emily N's AP Studio Art Blog

It's been a long year in AP Studio Art. It was all worth the worries, all the things that we've had to do and all the projects. This has been one of the best classes that I've had it was well worth taking. It's made me a stronger photographer adn I've learned a lot of new things along the way through this journey. My pictures all have a story behind htem. I love taking pictures of old things outside. I never thought you could capture such good pictures from just the simple little things you find laying around. Something that was fun was finding things I liked and that I wanted to take pictures of. I found that I love weird angles and that my images come out better that way that thats my way of expressing myself in them. I also found out that I have to take pictures alone, I cant have anyone around.  I like the old rustic things and barn wood and the color that it is. All my photos have to do with things that are around me everyday and things that I see all the time. I'd like to keep photography in my life after high school. Maybe as a side job or as a full time job, you never know.

One Step Closer to a Paperless Classroom-LiveBinders

Going paperless, or as close as an artroom can be to paperless, has long been a dream of mine.  I've been trying everything I can think of to use less paper in my artroom. Not only to help save a few trees, but also to save a few $$.  It is unbelievable how much paper you can go through in a school year.  I've saved a great deal with the addition of laptops and an interactive whiteboard to my classroom.  The ease of uploading student images and working digitally has helped.  I've done my best to recycle, work small when possible, and take advantage of resources within the community that are willing to donate.  Getting publications and artist resources online has eliminated the need to buy endless books and magazines. One of my biggest problems, besides an ancient color printer that has such a delay on it most students end up printing things twelve times, is the repeated requests by students for project handouts and grading rubrics. I've used Moodle and various other options for posting and organizing class information, most of which require the student to remember passwords, or take far too many clicks of the mouse to find, and usually require me to wait and wait for access from the powers that be to post.  I have found that asking high school students to be patient, remember extra passwords/codes, or navigate endlessly within a site does not work out so well especially if you are trying to give them easy access to pertinent information for class.  Needless to say, there was little to no traffic on the sites I was trying to use.  I still had students using the excuses "I lost the handout.  Could I get another?" or "I couldn't remember the password" or "Where was that again?... I couldn't find it". 

Recently, I posted my handouts,examples, rubrics, syllabi, and resource links in LiveBinders (thanks to my student teacher, who also happens to be a library media specialist, for introducing me).
http://www.livebinders.com/  
Wow, what a difference.  Students went to livebinders.com and were able to find handouts and examples easily just by searching the class name, my last name, school,...you get the idea!  I posted the link to all the other places I used before, just in case someone was still looking there.  Many of our resource and EEN teachers have used my livebinders when they are working with my students outside of class.  I no longer have to give out repeated project description handouts, syllabi, or rubrics.  Now if I need a handout for use in class, I only give out one :)  If the students happen to misplace them or need to review examples they can easily access them online from their phone, home computer, friends computer, library, etc.  I think they might be learning a little independence, while taking responsibility for their education...woohoo, every teacher's dream!

Extra bonus...parents can also easily access all your classroom information.

Even better....LiveBinders.com allows you to search other people's livebinders and put them on your shelf.  You can create a whole library of resources at your fingertips (or at your student's).

Yes...You can password your folders for those of you that like keeping things a little more private.

And let's not forget...It's a great tool for getting organized as well.  I might be able to get rid of a filing cabinet or two! 

Check it out. It's not fancy or beautiful, but it sure is useful!
http://www.livebinders.com/

btw...It's free!!!!