The Graffiti Creator

This is one of the Web 2 tools that we used with a Graffiti unit I discussed earlier where we used Geotagging and Flickr. This was really an introduction to graffiti styles and a kind of how to tutorial. We really wanted to get the students to understand that Graffiti artists have rules, and even a code of conduct. Many young artists want to see this form of expression as a legitimate artform. This really is more of an art application than a game. You can see your name or any words for that matter in a variety of graffiti styles. Once you have chosen a style you can then customise it with your own colour scheme, variations galore. No two pieces will look the same. Great effects.

http://www.graffiticreator.net/

3D Museum

This is a fabulous site that has created 3D images in the thousands - of skulls and artifacts from objects, mainly animals. They have created 3D images of these skulls and teeth so that people can look through categories or search for specific items. This is pretty cool and would be great for research or for students assignments. It would also be great as a resource for art teachers.

http://3dmuseum.org/

Painting Machine

I went to an interesting Breakout Session at the Ulearn Conference in Christchurch a couple of weeks back called  "A Brush with Destiny -  Promoting Sparks of Creative Brillance. It was a group of PreSchool teachers from Nayland Kindergarten who were embedding the 'arts' into their programs. I was impressed by the work of these women who each acknowledged that they started the program with little background in art teaching but with lots of energy. Apart from the wonderful work that they were doing - digital portfolios, the use of wikis, artists in residence and art appreciation; I was impressed by their painting machine.


One of the community had placed a record turntable into a small bench. They then attached paper to the turntable and the students where able to paint the spinning paper. This made for the most wonderful patterned works of art. This simple idea is one that could give every child the chance to create a beautiful painting. I love these simple ideas that give students the opportunity for successful learning experiences.  Everyone is doing it even Damien Hirst

Damien Hirst, Beautiful, Cyclonic, Bleeding, Slashing, Hurricane, Dippy, Cowards Painting” 1992, household paint on canvas.

http://naylandkindy.blogspot.com/

Science Buddies

I know at our school the seniors have to undertake a major personal area of research in Science. Like any big project some students have difficulties deciding what to do. Science Buddies is the answer. Your students can literally fill out a questionnaire - about 85 questions and the application will make recommendations based on the interests and strengthens of the student. The process takes about 10 to 15 minutes but at the end the student is presented with a series of options for a major study area.

The websites has thousands of projects with detailed assistance on processes. It is also a place for teachers and parents to locate resources. It has a section on careers in science and is currently recruiting volunteers as Online Student Experts. This is a great website for science education.

http://www.sciencebuddies.org/

Pages - Worksheets

One for Mac Users - The most underrated program on the Macs.

Pages is a wordprocessing application that also allows you to use layout and colour to produce professional looking documents. For teachers the best thing about Pages is that we never have to hand out another boring photocopy to our students again.

The easy thing about pages is the templates that come with the program. When you click on the Pages icon the template chooser  immediately opens. This gives you the opportunity to design how you would like your document to look. Use Pages as a wordprocessor or use it as a professional page layout tool.

Once you have chosen one of the layouts your document will open. Each of the design aspects on the layout is there only as a placeholder. This means that you can simply drag a new image or cut and paste new text into the format on the document. 

You can change the size of text box by dragging the arrows on the corners. 

You can change the size of your pictures or even change the amount of the picture you use by playing with the slide bar on the Edit Mask.

All of the colored shapes are added by clicking on the shapes icon in the toolbar. The colour of each shape can be changed by clicking on the small coloured box next to the Font Size box.

DESIGN HINTS:

Design hints are numerous, but there are some very simple rules you can follow when designing a worksheet or booklet. Like everything else these rules are meant to be broken. The more confident you get the more rules you should break.

1. Three colours only per page. These three colours should come from any images you have used on the page.
2. Repeat these colours throughout your design to help pull the design together.
3. Balance your design. If you have a big heading, then a block of colour may be necessary elsewhere on the page.
4. Include one (1) large image or if you want multiple images keep them the same size.
5. Do not be afraid to include text of different sizes. Place different concepts in different coloured boxes.
6. Stick to one font per document. There is nothing harder than trying to read different styles of fonts on the one page.
7. Finally, in this age of digital information it is vitally important that our students see us doing the right thing. We should reference properly any material that we use that is not our own.
8. Use your favourite magazine for design inspiration. Have FUN.