Art

__**State Curriculum Standards**__


 * Creative Communication & Expression**


 * Benchmark B:** Create expressive artworks that demonstrate a sense of purpose and understanding of the relationship among form, materials, techniques, and subject matter.

2. Use available technology (e.g., digital imagery, video and computer graphics) as a tool to explore art techniques and to express ideas. 3.Make informed choices in the selection of materials, subject matter and techniques to achieve certain visual effects.
 * Indicators: **

__**Technology Needed**__

Digital cameras 30 computers iTunes [] [|www.flickr.com] [|www.blogger.com]

__**Task/Activity**__

Students in Photography I will create a themed photography portfolio using animoto.com. They will upload their animoto video to a class blog.
 * 1) Students will select a theme for their photography portfolio. This theme should be something that relates to their life and has personal meaning to them. Example themes could include: nature, family, sports, high school, identity, home, etc.
 * 2) Throughout the semester, students will take a variety of photos with digital cameras that capture images suitable for their portfolio’s theme. The teacher and other students will help students select the best photos for the final portfolio based on a rubric that outlines the criteria for effective photo composition. All of the photos will be uploaded to [|www.flickr.com] and stored in the student’s personal photo gallery.
 * 3) Students will use animoto.com to create a video photography portfolio set to music. Animoto syncs with flickr.com, and students will select their best photos to display in the portfolio. Next, students will select music from their iTunes library or from animoto’s music library that fits their portfolio’s theme.
 * 4) Finally, students will upload their animoto video to a class blog so that other students, teachers, parents, etc. can view and enjoy students’ portfolios. Students will be required to comment on one another’s videos on the blog.

//About the Company//. (2011). Retrieved May 22, 2011, from Animoto Productions website: http://animoto.com

__**Summary of Resource That Supports Technology**__

As discussed in their article “Video Production as an Instructional Strategy: Content Learning and Teacher Practice”, authors Norton and Hathaway investigated the use of video production in K-12 classrooms and how it affected student achievement as well as challenges teachers faced in implementing and utilizing video production. Participants in the study were seventeen classroom teachers who were enrolled in the graduate degree program Integration of Technology in Schools at George Mason University. The authors concluded that “integrating video production facilitated connections to content, student motivation and engagement, the use of alternative assessment, and shifts in teacher identity” (Hathaway & Norton 145). They also noted that “video production used as an instructional strategy and integrated in classrooms in robust and rigorous ways promotes content learning” (Hathaway & Norton 160).

Norton, P., & Hathaway, D. (2010). Video Production as an Instructional Strategy: Content Learning and Teacher Practice. //Contemporary Issues in Technology and Teacher Education, 10// (1), 145-166. Retrieved from http://www.citejournal.org/‌ articles/‌ v10i1currentpractice2.pdf

Also, in his doctoral dissertation //Lights, Camera, Action Research: The Effects of Didactic Digital Movie Making on Students’ Twenty-First Century Learning Skills and Science Content in the Middle School Classroom,// author Ochsner conducted an action research study with eighth grade science classes that examined the use of digital movie making to master content. Ochsner found that “creating the didactic digital movie helped [students] use collaboration, communication, problem solving and critical thinking skills” (Ochsner iv). Ochsner asserts that digital movie making is a way for students to apply twenty-first century skills to mastering content.

Ochsner, K. (2010). //Lights, Camera, Action Research: The Effects of Didactic Digital Movie Making on Students’ Twenty-First Century Learning Skills and Science Content in the Middle School Classroom// (Doctoral dissertation, Arizona State University). Retrieved from http://proquest.umi.com/‌ pqdlink?did=2037840591&Fmt=14&VType=PQD&VInst=PROD&RQT=309&VName=PQD&TS=1306088421&clientId=79356


 * __Tried and True or New and Innovative__**

Using digital cameras and iTunes is the tried and true part of this assignment. Ninth grade students have been using these technologies all their lives perhaps. Using social networking sites such as facebook to upload and share photos is also not a new concept to these students. However, animoto is a new technology that has only existed since 2005. It uses “patent-pending Cinematic Artificial Intelligence technology” (“About the Company”) to create a video that looks professional, and this is surely cutting edge technology in the field of video production.