The Teacher Toolbox

With the growing popularity if my blog and website I am constantly sent emails asking for ‘link exchanges’. Most people just want a link on a popular website to up their Google rankings so that their profile is raised. You would be amazed at how many online gambling sites think that their site would be great for my readers and their students

Occassionally though I do come across a genuine site that has a lot to offer the educational community. I’ve had a bit of a cruise around this FREE video site (but I haven’t signed up yet) and their look to be some excellent resources there.

At the moment the site focuses on the Sciences but I see that that they are branching out into poetry.

So check out the Teachers’ Domain to see what you can find to inspire your students.

Adrian

PS Here is the email request…

Hi Adrian,

I stumbled upon your wonderful site and became a quick fan of your
work.   I work for Teachers' Domain here at WGBH - Boston's PBS
Station.  I'm not sure if you are familiar with our site, but we are a
free digital library of resources for teachers in science, math,
language arts and social studies.  Our videos, lesson plans and other
resources help supplement teacher's lessons by engaging students with
PBS content and incorporating media and technology in the classroom.

We are about to expand our content next month in all subjects and I
was wondering if you'd be interested in posting about us on your site
or in your blog.  Please check out our resorces - I think the would be
of great interest to you and your readers... and best of all they are
FREE!

Thanks and I look forward to being in touch.

Daniella
WGBH - Boston's PBS Station
www.teachersdomain.org

By combining the first line of Kafka’s ‘Metamorphosis’ and the Build Your Wild Self character generator you will get a great narrative starter or a launchpad into literary description.

The Story Starter

‘As (insert name) awoke one morning after disturbing dreams, he/she found himself/herself transformed into an enormous creature.’

Franz Kafka - Metamorphosis - 1916

Surrealism is either a form that students either love or hate. In my experience I find boys tend to like the Surrealists much more than girls. I wonder what your experience is?

Surreal Painter is another online art tool that allows you to make all sorts of design decisions in creating your own surreal art.

NB You might like to try put the only Surrealist joke I know.

Q. How many Surrealists can you fit in a phone box?

A. A fish.

cheers

Adrian

PS Thanks a heap to karlyb from my Twitter network for this tool.

When exposing children to Art’s diverse makeup I always make sure I throw Mondrian into the mix.

It is so cool to see students firstly mock Mondrian’s works but when you challenge them to emulate the works they find it much harder than they had initially imagined. At this point I throw in the line, ‘ Surely there is a beauty in the way the paint is applied to the canvas. How do you think he got it so ‘flat’ looking? ‘.

In the realm of traditional media I have had most success in producing ‘Mondrian like’ homages by giving the students small paint rollers and black electricians’ tape.

Now we have online tools such as the Mondrian Machine

… and life is sooooooooo a little easier

Adrian

After watching Ze Frank’s talk on TED (as recommended by Adrian G) I’ve been looking around the web for online art creation tools. NB I’m not looking for these to to replace traditional media but rather to enhance it. These tools allow students to experiment with a multitude of ideas very quickly as they refine the Design Process.

The Collage Machine is one of the tools that I’ve been interacting with to create discussions about the ideas behind collage.

Adrian

Throughout my career I have found that students really like the work of Kandinsky. They seem to like the interplay between geometric shapes and colour. Tonight I’ve been experimenting with a tool called Brushster and whilst it can do many things, I was instantly reminded of Kandinski’s work and set about emulating it using this tool.

See what you think.

Adrian

I’ve been quiet on my blog for a couple of weeks now as I’ve been writing a print article for EQ magazine here in Australia. During this time I’ve had to show sooooooooo much self discipline as there are so many ’shiny things’ out there on the Web to distract me

One of those ’shiny things’ that you just have to try is befunky. See what you can create and show to the world!!!!

cheers

Adrian

I often say to my students that, ‘Drawing with a mouse is like picking your nose with your elbow’ to which I tend to get a bit of a chuckle from the punters.

That said, Scribbler is a site that I’m currently using to explore online art tools with students. I find tools such as these can open up a great deal of discussion about what ‘Art’ really is.

NB I’ve found that if I combine Scribbler with German Expressionism I am getting results that I wouldn’t normally get with primary aged students.

cheers

Adrian

Ok, I’m not a big fan of ‘tagging’ - JFK (Just For Kicks) etc - but I do tend to like graffiti art when it is done well

Tonight I’ve been playing with this online grafitti art generator and there really are a lot of design decisions that you have to make in creating your ‘tag’.

I’m thinking it might be a welcome sight on a blog, tray tub, workbook, class door or Math program cover… you know the one… the one in the plastic sleeve. hehehehehe

There are six different designs to play with here. Let your students loose on this site to see what they can produce and see what uses they can generate for the products created.

Adrian

Dear World,

Meet Ima Swami - he is going to be pointing out many of the things that they don’t teach us at university and a few other life truths

Ahh Grasshopper… beware the teacher who refers to themself in the third person. They inhabit a strange alternate reality.

cheers

Adrian

PS Feel free to tell stories from your life that demonstrate this anomaly .