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Central Consolidated School District has eight elementary schools and four visual art teachers that serve two schools. The District serves about 2,700 elementary students from Kindergarten to sixth grade.
About 95% of students are Navajo. the remaining 5% are European Americans, Hispanic, Asians and African Americans. Elementary visual art teachers in the district have indicated there are a variety of needs that are effecting teacher efficiency in teaching and student learning.
Research Question:
How will integrating technology improve teacher efficiency and student learning?
What are the effects of visual art teacher on integrating technology, on their attitudes and implementation?

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Description of need:  Survey indicates elementary art teachers are concerned with the following areas (three teachers out four took the survey).

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Description of need:  Survey indicates elementary art teachers are concerned with the following areas (three teachers out four took the survey).

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PLC and Professional Development:

Collaborate with colleagues on curriculum, best practices, technology, assessment, EOC, classroom management, and differentiating

Challenges in teaching visual arts:

Lack of time to teach,  minimal time for PLC,  Lack of time to reflect on teaching, Lack of training and integration of technology, Lack of planning time

No# Teachers access to technology:
1  Smart-board
2  Elmo
0  Tablets
1  Smartphone
2  Laptop/s
2  Printer/colored
1   Notebook
1  I-PAD
1  3-D printers
1 Computer lab
Website or educational sites/resources:
2  have access to You Tube
Websites and platforms for students:
None
What is your position on integrating technology?

All three would like to integrate technology

Concerns are limited time, first priority to technology access given to core classes, not readily accessible

How will integrating technology improve teacher efficiency and student learning?

It gives students a more rounded art understanding and options

Relevant learning about technology and art. This would set students apart in the work force

It prepares students for future jobs in the art world and provides 21st century learning and skills.

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Template diagram for Action Research.

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Technology implemented to transform teaching and learning:

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Technology implemented to transform teaching and learning:

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Vitural PLC Website and blog for Visual Art Professional Learning Community.  Teacher working to transform teaching and learning by sharing resources and student work, integrating technology, PLN, Using Google Doc to collaborate.
Visit Blog (implementation in class):  Students as tutorial designers and scribe. These are my 21st Century goals to implement Novembers approach in using, Students as tutorials, scribe, researcher, global communicator and collaborator.
Problem with student video is parent permission maybe a problem and putting on the web/you tube may become problematic.  Website will continue to change and will be collaborative.

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Objective: Created a Website and blog for Elementary Visual Art Professional Learning Community that will help teachers transform their teaching and student learning by sharing resources, integrating technology, sharing student work PLN, Using Google Doc to collaborate.  I attempted to address the needs and concerns based on survey of elementary art teacher and created a Website and blog.  Teachers will collaborate and update  website based on need.  This will be a collaborative website.  I put a lot of thought and effort into this, I am hoping the teachers will find it useful and will add and find useful PLN sites, lessons, and ways to integrate technology.  Please provide me with feedback on your perspective and suggestions.

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Summary of Academic Research and Reference:

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Summary of Academic Research and Reference:

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Research from Academic Scholarhsip and Educational Technology Frameworks

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E-Portfolio using Artsonia. Parent permission forms needed to be submitted, pictures taken by students and uploaded.

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Artsonia is a gallery of student art portfolios where young artists (grades PK-12) display their art worldwide. We have a vibrant community of art teachers who also share their ideas and lesson plans.

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Short and Long term goals 21st Century Curriculum (3)

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Data:  Interview and discussions with elementary art teachers.   Survey results for Elementary art teachers.

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Data:  Interview and discussions with elementary art teachers.   Survey results for Elementary art teachers.

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Survey Identified needs for Elementary Art teachers.

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Create a new document and edit with others at the same time -- from your computer, phone or tablet. Get stuff done with or without an internet connection. Use Docs to edit Word files. Free from Google.

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Collaborating with CCSD elementary visual art teachers.

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CURRICULUM MAP  Subject:  Visual Art				            Grade level:  Kindergarten  FIRST QUARTER SECOND QUARTER THIRD QUARTER FOURTH QUARTER Concepts Elements of Art: Line,  shape (geometric),  color (primary, secondary, neutral),  texture,(patterns), form, value, space Self Portrait  Skills...

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Implementing Classdojo to share student artwork with parents.

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Nature, math and art, the Golden Rule.

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"Why does mathematics describe nature? That's a deeper question than most." -Terence McKenna

I was never "talented" at math in K-12. In fact, I couldn't stand it. Maybe that's because research shows that the way math is taught inside public education tends to destroy students' capacity to learn or wield math later in life. But that's another story...

Later in life as an adult, I was forced into studying mathematics for work. Soon, I found myself enthralled. When I was free to study math for the pressing real world problems at hand, it was a joy. Moreover, I found that exploring mathmatics turned my life and world into an adventure.

For those who think life is boring, humdrum, or dull... I'd like to present a small challenge. Explore one (or all) of the five gateways below. You don't have to "understand" them right away. But overtime, I guarentee they will spark new insights or curiosities. You will find that your world becomes more mysterious and your life becomes a chaotic adventure. You might even find yourself emerged in a mystery.

1. Wolfram Alpha and its Inventor

Instead of a calculator, try using the conversational Wolfram Alpha. Wolfram Alpha is an amazing computational engine that (among many other things) helps take problems presented in our natural language and convert them into mathematical problems and solutions.

This led me to the shores of the mathematical iceberg. I stared into the waters below and could only glimpse at how massive the portion of it was that was submerged.

The founder of WA, Stephen Wolfram, is a fascinating person, and you can get one of his books for free here.

"It is perhaps a little humbling to discover that we as humans are in effect computationally no more capable than cellular automata with very simple rules. But the Principle of Computational Equivalence also implies that the same is ultimately true of our whole universe.

So while science has often made it seem that we as humans are somehow insignificant compared to the universe, the Principle of Computational Equivalence now shows that in a certain sense we are at the same level as it is. For the principle implies that what goes on inside us can ultimately achieve just the same level of computational sophistication as our whole universe." ― Stephen Wolfram

2. The Golden Ratio in Nature and Music

"The Golden ratio is a special number found by dividing a line into two parts so that the longer part divided by the smaller part is also equal to the whole length divided by the longer part. It is often symbolized using phi, after the 21st letter of the Greek alphabet." - LiveScience

You see the beauty of the pinecone. The height of the second layer compared to the height of the first is equivalent to the summed heights of the first and second layers divided by the height of the second layer ( the golden ratio).

Here is what the golden ratio sounds like in music.

Now when you look out into the world or hear a melody, you might spot an underlying structure of order. The "divine proportion" is even present in human faces, eyes, and teeth.

3. The Fibonacci Sequence

"In mathematics, the Fibonacci numbers are the numbers in the following integer sequence, called the Fibonacci sequence, and characterized by the fact that every number after the first two is the sum of the two preceding ones:" - Wikipedia
0, 1, 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 13, 21, 34, 55, 89, ...
You're probably thinking, "Great. But why do these numbers matter?" Well, these numbers have many real-world applications, including finance. Many traders and hedge funds use mathematical models that incorporate the fibonacci sequence in an attempt to generate returns.
Check out this TED Talk for a gateway into the Fibonacci sequence
4. Chaos Theory and Ralph Abraham

"Chaos theory is a branch of mathematics focused on the behavior of dynamical systems that are highly sensitive to initial conditions. 'Chaos' is an interdisciplinary theory stating that within the apparent randomness of chaotic complex systems, there are underlying patterns... The butterfly effect describes how a small change in one state of a deterministic nonlinear system can result in large differences in a later state, e.g. a butterfly flapping its wings in Brazil can cause a tornado in Texas." - Wikipedia

Basically, Chaos Theory says that you'll never be able to predict the exact future.

Chaos theory... says that you can never predict the weather more than a few days away. All the money that has been spent on long-range forecasting - about half a billion dollars in the last few decades - is money wasted. It's a fool's errand. It's as pointless as trying to turn lead into gold. We look back at the alchemists and laugh at what they were trying to do, but future generations will laugh at us the same way. -Michael Crichton

Ralph Abraham is a professor, mathematician, and chaos theorist whose work has focused on the intersection of mathematics and psychedelics since the 1960s.

My specific goal is to revolutionize the future of the species. Mathematics is just another way of predicting the future. -Ralph Abraham

His paper called Mathematics and Mysticism is an engaging dive into what math might mean. From the abstract:

Is there a world of mathematics above and beyond ordinary reality, as Plato proposed? Or is mathematics a cultural construct? In this short article we speculate on the place of mathematical reality from the perspective of the mystical cosmologies of the ancient traditions of meditation, psychedelics, and divination.

5. How Fractals and the Genius of Mandelbrot Can Relieve Your Anxiety

A fractal is a curve or geometric figure, with each part having the same statistical character as the whole.

These fractal sets were named after Benoit Mandelbrot, whose pioneering work in developing what is now known as "fractal geometry" paved the way for many more mathematicians to study and expound on his ideas.

"Because of his access to IBM's computers, Mandelbrot was one of the first to use computer graphics to create and display fractal geometric images, leading to his discovering the Mandelbrot set in 1979. He showed how visual complexity can be created from simple rules. He said that things typically considered to be "rough", a "mess" or "chaotic", like clouds or shorelines, actually had a 'degree of order.'"

The visual representations of Mandelbrot sets are stunning.

The next time you think your life is too chaotic or a mess, just keep persisting. Mathematics has proven that there is an implicate order in everything around us. If the golden ratio is present in the layout of our faces and in everything around us... then there is also an underlying (albeit unseen) order and structure present in our lives. It's okay to drop certain anxieties and trust what mathematics shows us- there is an underlying order.

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Five Miracles of Mathematics That Will Unleash Your Creativity

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"Why does mathematics describe nature? That's a deeper question than most." -Terence McKenna I was never "talented" at math in K-12. In fact, I couldn't stand it. Maybe that's because research shows that the way math is taught inside public education tends to destroy students' capacity to learn or wield math later in life.