Prompt #4: New Teaching Tools and TPACK

Q: When introducing new tools into the classroom, what questions should you consider before implementation (technical, administrative, pedagogical, etc.)?

Good question. This of course depends on the specifics of the tool/technology, but here are some rapid-fire answers:

• How will I seamlessly incorporate this tool into lessons I’ve already planned?
• Will using this tool help the students better understand the content I’m teaching them? 
• What does using this tool do for the students that my current method of teaching doesn’t do? 
• Is using this tool going to be an efficient way to teach the lesson, or will it eat up class time unnecessarily?
• And if using this tool to teach the lesson will take more time, is it so much better to be worth it? 
• Does my classroom have the required infrastructure to administer said tool?
• Can this tool be applied to only one specific lesson, or is it something I’ll be able to integrate into the entire curriculum? 

The term “tool” can be applied to a wide range of technologies. A tool can be something as simple as a mat cutter, a bone folder, or light table; it could also be a very complicated tool, such as a darkroom, computer lab, or an etching press. It’s also important here to note that new tools may not necessarily be the “latest and greatest,” but simply new in the context of the classroom.

Let’s say, for example, that I’m teaching a Drawing 1 class for a group of twenty-five 9th and 10th graders. There are so many possible ways to teach this kind of class! I would have to answer a thousand questions just planning the curriculum about what tools I should have students use. After I’ve meticulously planned my curriculum, what would I do if a local art studio offers to donate a set of clunky old studio easels to the school (rapid-fire again):

• Are there enough easels for every student?
• What are the quality of the easels? 
• Is there enough room in the classroom to store these easels?
• Until now, my students have been drawing while sitting down at their tables. What will we be able to do now that students will draw standing up? 
• If the students are standing up while they draw, how will this affect their behavior? 
• Will the students take the drawing lessons more seriously if they're given the opportunity to use old but professional-quality easels? 
• What other tools and materials will we have to buy in addition to the easels? (i.e., drawing boards, pads of newsprint)
• How will I need to rearrange my room to use the easels effectively with so many students? Or will it be impossible to do so given the size of my room? 

So, the tools we choose must augment or improve our lesson and teach the content better than our previous methods. To summarize the pros and cons:

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• A new tool may be able to demonstrate a concept better than I could with my previous method. 

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• There may be a learning curve to using the tool which sets the whole class behind.
• The students may become more wrapped up in the tool as a way to entertain themselves rather than the content the use of the tool is conveying. 
• The tool may be unsuccessful. It may break, or it may only confuse the students if we aren’t careful. 

When you’re teaching a fine and delicate artistic skill (right now I’m thinking specifically of drawing), it genuinely helps to strip away unnecessary technologies (right now I’m thinking specifically of electronic technologies). For one, you don’t need them. For two, they stand in the way of students’ direct struggle between their brain, their hands, and the physical world. The basics are perfect, and you don’t need to reinvent the wheel when it comes to teaching drawing--the foundational artistic skill of SEEING the world more accurately. Pencil, paper, charcoal, kneaded eraser, sharpener. Done.

But getting beyond the basics (and as I remember hearing the famed animator Richard Williams say somewhere, “Everything is just a sophisticated use of the basics”)…the Pandora’s box opens. Is there a printmaking technique that would also be perfect for teaching about composition? Is there a color wheel application that animates the color wheel in a way that makes it easier to understand? Would using Photoshop be a good tool for me to demonstrate the idea of collage? The answer is maybe! I would have to consider many factors to determine if the situation calls for an innovative approach. Schools tend to let their art teachers alone to their own devices, so it would probably be my call to incorporate new technologies and tools. I’ll be digging a lot more into “the Pedagogy of Art” in the near future to see what other teachers are doing to build students’ artistic confidence and increase their skills and abilities. My assumption is that new technologies will not be a big factor in teaching the basic, traditional skills.





I think TPACK can be a useful framework for breaking down and analyzing your curriculum. It helps to compartmentalize knowledge, which is something I appreciate as a habitual sort-er and organize-er. I don't really have any questions about TPACK, to be honest. The list of Visual Arts Learning Activities (TPACK applied to Visual Art Instruction) should be useful to jog my brain for ideas when I set down to write my curriculum. If I always keep the TPACK framework in mind, hopefully I should be able to make my curriculum well-rounded and compelling for the students.