For the 4th year in a row, I will be presenting at MICCA.

For the 1st time (for this conference, at least…), I will be presenting twice.

And as usual, I’m opening my handouts up to everyone who wants to add in their two cents.  I feel they’re ready to go as-is, but that doesn’t mean I’m the only person who knows what he’s talking about!  (I’m hoping for supplementary information, not for someone to do the work for me.)

My presentations are as follows.  Click the links to see, edit, and/or add to my wikis:

Art 2.0

…how art lessons in the computer lab can reinforce other subjects.

Paper, pencils, and paints are good, but there are also plenty of free art projects that reinforce other subjects and can be taught using just computers. This session will showcase some tools, tips, and tricks that any teacher can use.

Personal Learning Networks

…how microblogs and more can make you a better teacher.

Personal learning networks (also called professional learning networks) are a quick, easy, and free way to continue your professional growth as an educator using web 2.0. This session will explain PLNs in more detail and show a variety of free sites that can be used to build your own.

I handed colored pencils to my 1st graders today.

This was not too surprizing, as I did the same thing last week.  What I have noticed, however, is that most of my teachers with younger students don’t let them sharpen their own pencils whenever they need to.

I, however, do.  I would much rather see a student raise their hand because they’re having difficulty with a portion of their composition  than because their colored stick isn’t pointy enough.  As a result I usually announce in the beginning of the lesson that if the pencil needs sharpening, they can just get up and sharpen it.  I even go so far as to explain when a pencil needs sharpening and how to sharpen it so that it doesn’t disappear forever in a pile of shavings.  (Colored pencils are much softer than the 2B kind.)

You know what happens next…

That’s right, any student who found a colored pencil that was not ready to vanquish a vampire was at the sharpener ready to go! This included those who had white colored pencils.  Did I mention this was a lesson where they used white paper?  Well it was.

This is the point when the classroom teacher looks at me with a patronizing expression that says “That’s why I don’t let them do that.”

And I look at them with a nervous smile that says “Eheheheh … I’ll be right back.”

The next minute or so is spent turning kinds away that don’t really need to sharpen pencils, as well as enforcing the “Turn it 3 times then check” rule of sharpening.

And you know what?  That’s it.

Occasionally a student will have a relapse, but for the most part they know my rules and what’s expected of them.  They’re fine with that because they’re getting a cool reward in the process – an awesome art project.

In fact, I wouldn’t be surprised if the initial stampede was in fact because they wanted to revel in the idea that they could go and sharpen any pencil that needed it.

So how does this relate to technology integration?

You have to ask?

A new tool is a new tool, and new freedoms are promptly exercised.  There will be chaos, but if you stay alert it will at least be organized chaos and learning will still be accomplished.  Eventually, the chaos will be replaced with something better – a class full of students who are able to learn without raising their hands to ask permission for each step.

I have over 2,000 students (not including teachers who are also, technically, my students) spread out over three schools.  This is a daunting task for many reasons, but only one of them irks be to the point that I’ll mention it at the start of this blog post:

I can’t remember that many names.

Oh, I’ll make valiant attempt.  There’s a handful of students whom I do know by name, but there’s just no way I can learn who everyone is when I see them so rarely.

They do know mine though … well, most of them.  To some of my students I’m “Mr. Smith.”  To others, I’m “The Art Guy.”  At the insistence of some teachers in one of my buildings some call me “Mr. Aaron,” though I’m not too keen on that.

In any case, I’ve been thinking a lot lately about my “Art Guy” moniker.  Originally it was a name given to me by a student, and it sort of stuck.  It smacks of just enough irreverence to make it amusing to me even though some classroom teachers who don’t know me try to correct their students when they hear it.

It’s a great nickname to have when you’re the only art teacher around, or failing that the only one that’s a guy.  For that very reason when I started my first forays into edublogging and podcasting to find there were no other art teachers playing with the same technology that entertained me so much (at least none that I saw…), “theartguy” seemed like a perfect screen name for me.

And it has been.  I have found countless friends and joined more Web 2.0 sites than I can remember using that screen name.  It’s how I’m identified by pretty much anyone on the internet who knows me.  My target audience has never been limited to just other art teachers – far from it in fact, because in the beginning it was such a rare occurrence to find one of us blogging.

But times change.  These days I’m far from being the only artsy person out there with a blog/podcast/vidcast/and so on., and I think that’s totally awesome.  When I got started I brought an art teacher’s perspective to these new technologies with which we were playing, because in some cases it was quite different from a [insert any other content area here] teacher’s perspective.

Now, the art teachers that are blogging have their own little corner of the internet to form their Personal Learning Networks.  Networks where they don’t have to start off by saying “As an art teacher…,” because their target audience is other art teachers.  Again, this is awesome.

But it also means I’m not the only “art guy” out there.

If I walk into a room full of 30 students ready for an awesome painting lesson, I have no problem calling myself the Art Guy.  If I walk into a room with a decent percentage of other art teachers … I hesitate.

There is more I want to say, but this post is long enough for now.  Expect another installment later.