I have really enjoyed working through this inquiry. Not only has watercolour painting been fun and I’ve definitely seen some improvement in my skills, but I also have felt that I have learned a lot using different technologies and exploring the independent learning process.

I tried to incorporate technology into each post. I tried inserting photos, photo galleries, gifs, and hyperlinks and once I started painting, I added time-lapse video and screencasts of photo power-points to capture the painting process. To to this I had to try using iMovie, YouTube, Screencastify, Powerpoint, and giphy, all of which I was very unfamiliar with. I’d like to say I am “not yet proficient” with these tools, but am definitely starting to be comfortable navigating them. I read an article the other day that said a major problem happening in schools these days is that teachers assume kids know how to use technology because they use it all the time. This may be true with social media and video games, but teachers are finding that students do not know how to use Word (or Docs), Powerpoint (or Slides), Excel, Photoshop and other such platforms that we are asking them to use in classrooms to showcase their learning. They need to be taught how to use these tools and I feel as if I am one step closer to being able to do this.

I also learned a lot about the inquiry process and how to try things and get to try them again if they don’t work. Thinking of learning as a work in progress that I am tackling in small chunks with short-term and long-term goals helped me to realize the value in reframing learning. Instead of thinking of it as something we do for a test or final project and then forget it, it is more valuable to think of it as an ongoing process of learning skills that can be honed incrementally over time and throughout different content. This is something I will continue to apply to my won learning as well as to how I will frame my students’ learning.

To summarize my project, I made a vision board on google slides. This is a technique I have seen used to present a unit to students (before learning begins). I made this as a conclusion, it has links to the videos and blogs and incorporates some of the thoughts I have had throughout this process. Click on Bob Ross to link to the Vision Board.