Lesson Plans Featuring Technology

I just finished my application project for the technology integration module (yes, I am a procrastinator) and I am really happy with the two lesson plans that I came up with. 

The first one I wrote is a project that in my lesson plan, I marked for 6th grade students. In reality, I may try to use this lesson with all of my 5-8 graders each year. There are enough artists and art movements in history and enough creation apps that I believe there would be a way to tweak this project each year for the students to keep them engaged. 

For this lesson, I found some resources online. The first is a list of artists the students can choose from which includes the artist name, country of origin, category of art, element of art that can be found in their art as well as the type of artwork they work with. This is really helpful to students so they know more than just a name and can choose an artist that may create work they are interested in.

The other resource I found is a worksheet for the students to fill out with information all about their artist. When they were born, died, what type of art they created, the art period, etc. It also has them choose a piece of artwork created by the artist and has some questions regarding that specific piece of artwork.

For the lesson, I have the students do research for 1-2 class periods using the iPads in small groups, finding the information on the worksheet. Then for the next few class periods, they use the app Book Creator Free to create a book showcasing the information they learned. They then share their book with the class as it is projected on the Smart Board.

I think this art project would be really fun for the students because they always love using technology and this gives them that chance but also gets them to learn about an artist in a fun way. Then they also get to share their book creation with their peers. This is fun for them to show off their work but also teaches the other students about that artist.

For my lesson for the kindergarten students, I wrote a lesson plan that utilizes the MOMA Art Lab app. This app has a creation page where shapes can be manipulated to create an image. I include information about teaching the students how to correctly and safely use the iPads, even letting them help me brainstorm the rules.

Because I only have 8 iPads, I did write this lesson with the assumption that the apps are used in “station” groups of 8. The students are supposed to create an image of an animal, person, or house by using shapes. They are able to choose the color of the shape, as well as shrink, rotate, and enlarge each shape.

I enjoyed looking into technology integration in the art room this week, and was pleasantly surprised that I found a lot of information about integrating art into OTHER subjects. That is so great! There are so many ways that art can get students interested in other subjects and now with the use of technology maybe more teachers will be inclined. I know it is difficult for teachers to always get art supplies; especially the messier ones like paint and even some collage materials. Now with technology, these things can be done digitally and use some of the same skills.

I am excited to see what the next few years bring as teaching and technology begin to be more heavily integrated.