My name is Aaron Witham. I teach middle school art in Gilford, NH. I am also working on my technology certification. I have been married to my wonderful wife Alison (also an art teacher and music teacher) for almost 16 years. We have two lively wonderful boys, Ryan is 11 and Jordan is 9. I live in the house I grew up in and my parents built in Gilford. My father was a vice-principal, and my mother... an art teacher!
I am presently teaching middle school art in my home town of Gilford, NH. It is a nice little job that I really love. I teach 5-8 grade art. I have been there for 9 years, and have been successful enough for them to really allow me the freedom to teach what and how I want. I have time in my schedule and love to integrate with other classrooms and subjects. I am in the midst of an integrated unit that the 8th grade teacher and I planned on the novel "THe Hinger Games". It was really fun and the entire grade is watching the movie (me included!). I have also integrated in social studies, math, language arts, and science. Well, pretty much every subject. I also take student teachers yearly from PSU. I find this to be a fantastic experience. Especially since I am the only art teacher and spend my days with kids. I love seeing the student teachers grown over their time with me and feel as rewarded working with them as they (I hope!) are with me.
Art
I was in second grade when I figured out that I could draw. We came back from summer vacation and were asked to write and sentence and draw a picture of something we had done. I wrote that I learned how to water ski. My picture was a side view of the boat with my mom and dad in the boat. I was behind the boat with the wake splashing up and the islands and mountains in the background. We hung them up, and I looked at them and thought "wow, I can draw better than everybody!" So started my journey. I felt that I was lucky to find out quickly that I had a strength that I could keep working with and someday use for my career. Lucky also that my mother (my biggest role model) was an incredible art teacher. When I finally relented and decided to teach art, she said "phew, at least one of my kids will be a teacher."
Thailand and Travel
My first 'real' teaching job was at International School Bangkok n Thailand. The job pretty much fell in my lap through a great connection (never burn bridges or leave on a bad note!). I team taught my first six years and found that I loved teaching with someone else. It immensely helped me to grow as a person and a teacher. My wife did not teach when we married and moved to Thailand, but soon fell under the education spell and is an incredible art and music teacher at Laconia High School. Both our sons were born in Thailand, and we moved back for Alison to get certified, buy a house, and allow our children to get to know their families and put down roots in New Hampshire. Our plan is to recruit next year to go back overseas. We have been back in the States for ten years and the boys are old enough to handle it without too much effort (hopefully!). I hope that having a technology certification as well as art will help us to find jobs in a school and country that we will feel safe, secure, and enthralled.
Thinking points from Jeff Utecht “Reach” Chapters 1 & 2
Many thoughts ran through my head while reading the first two chapters of “Reach”.
I wanted to highlight two things that jumped out at me.
1. In Chapter 2, Jeff states “Much like participating in a classroom, the more you participate the more you get out of the class.” As Jeff is referring to the use of technology, I completely agree with him.
One would think that teaching with or participating in technology is ‘passive’ learning. On the contrary, blogging, tweeting, Facebook, tumblr, etc., all take active participation to be part of. Students (who tend to be more fluent in technology) are able to pick up social networking and using technology very quickly.
Another facet is that new forms are constantly popping up, which allows people to pick and choose what, where, and how they are going to communicate with the world. You are also able to choose who you will communicate with, who you will follow, and follow your interests.
2. Later in Chapter 2, Jeff makes the point that “Using you network to help you in your job is the first step and where most people start, but is can also easily be used to help students learn and create connections for them around learning outcomes.”
This is a great point that Jeff makes. As the world gets smaller through the use of communication, we need to increase the use of technology, and not only allow students to use it, but to plan for the use in our lessons. Jeff highlights two examples of this use in schools. These teachers and schools that have a one to one computer ratio have a huge advantage over other schools, as they are able to utilize real time learning and communication between students and teacher, and other all over the world. Google docs is a great example of this real time communication.
All About Me!
My name is Aaron Witham. I teach middle school art in Gilford, NH. I am also working on my technology certification. I have been married to my wonderful wife Alison (also an art teacher and music teacher) for almost 16 years. We have two lively wonderful boys, Ryan is 11 and Jordan is 9. I live in the house I grew up in and my parents built in Gilford. My father was a vice-principal, and my mother... an art teacher!
Slideshow
Teaching
I am presently teaching middle school art in my home town of Gilford, NH. It is a nice little job that I really love. I teach 5-8 grade art. I have been there for 9 years, and have been successful enough for them to really allow me the freedom to teach what and how I want. I have time in my schedule and love to integrate with other classrooms and subjects. I am in the midst of an integrated unit that the 8th grade teacher and I planned on the novel "THe Hinger Games". It was really fun and the entire grade is watching the movie (me included!). I have also integrated in social studies, math, language arts, and science. Well, pretty much every subject. I also take student teachers yearly from PSU. I find this to be a fantastic experience. Especially since I am the only art teacher and spend my days with kids. I love seeing the student teachers grown over their time with me and feel as rewarded working with them as they (I hope!) are with me.Art
I was in second grade when I figured out that I could draw. We came back from summer vacation and were asked to write and sentence and draw a picture of something we had done. I wrote that I learned how to water ski. My picture was a side view of the boat with my mom and dad in the boat. I was behind the boat with the wake splashing up and the islands and mountains in the background. We hung them up, and I looked at them and thought "wow, I can draw better than everybody!" So started my journey. I felt that I was lucky to find out quickly that I had a strength that I could keep working with and someday use for my career. Lucky also that my mother (my biggest role model) was an incredible art teacher. When I finally relented and decided to teach art, she said "phew, at least one of my kids will be a teacher."Thailand and Travel
My first 'real' teaching job was at International School Bangkok n Thailand. The job pretty much fell in my lap through a great connection (never burn bridges or leave on a bad note!). I team taught my first six years and found that I loved teaching with someone else. It immensely helped me to grow as a person and a teacher. My wife did not teach when we married and moved to Thailand, but soon fell under the education spell and is an incredible art and music teacher at Laconia High School. Both our sons were born in Thailand, and we moved back for Alison to get certified, buy a house, and allow our children to get to know their families and put down roots in New Hampshire. Our plan is to recruit next year to go back overseas. We have been back in the States for ten years and the boys are old enough to handle it without too much effort (hopefully!). I hope that having a technology certification as well as art will help us to find jobs in a school and country that we will feel safe, secure, and enthralled.Links
My Google Site at GMS
Thinking points from Jeff Utecht “Reach” Chapters 1 & 2
Many thoughts ran through my head while reading the first two chapters of “Reach”.
I wanted to highlight two things that jumped out at me.
One would think that teaching with or participating in technology is ‘passive’ learning. On the contrary, blogging, tweeting, Facebook, tumblr, etc., all take active participation to be part of. Students (who tend to be more fluent in technology) are able to pick up social networking and using technology very quickly.
Another facet is that new forms are constantly popping up, which allows people to pick and choose what, where, and how they are going to communicate with the world. You are also able to choose who you will communicate with, who you will follow, and follow your interests.
This is a great point that Jeff makes. As the world gets smaller through the use of communication, we need to increase the use of technology, and not only allow students to use it, but to plan for the use in our lessons. Jeff highlights two examples of this use in schools. These teachers and schools that have a one to one computer ratio have a huge advantage over other schools, as they are able to utilize real time learning and communication between students and teacher, and other all over the world. Google docs is a great example of this real time communication.