Introduction: My First Post!

My name is Alecia Dinko, and I am aspiring art teacher at the University of Akron. What lead to my decision to start down the path to becoming an art teacher is my passion for the arts. I honestly enjoy working with every medium, and I especially enjoy when different areas of interest overlap- such as theatre and math, or visual arts and science. I have considered myself an artist ever since I was 4 years old and my preschool teacher trusted me with a pair of "adult" scissors. 

My mom told me later that after a project that involved cutting out pictures from the front of greeting cards and pasting them together, my teacher came up to her and showed her my work and said, "I just wanted to let you know your daughter is a Matisse." She had no idea what that meant, but after all these years of following my passion, I am able to tell her that Matisse was a revolutionary painter in the early 1900's who introduced the idea of creating shadow with a color that wouldn't normally be used to distinguish depth. He was most known for painting with red, blue, yellow, green, black, and white. 

Green Stripe (Madam Matisse), Henri Matisse, 1905

I have really enjoyed learning so much about art throughout my life, however there is a practical element to my career choice. I love creating, however I could not have it as my profession, there is too much stress in deadlines and competition. I know I have the capabilities to go to an expensive art school and excel in what ever medium I choose, but that's the thing. I don't want to choose just one medium and I don't want to graduate with $200,000.00 in debt with little to no grantee of a steady income after graduation. So I am now investing in another passion of mine, and that is to share art with young minds and be an instrumental tool in helping them success in the field of art. I want to revolutionalize the way students learn. Through art I am more tolerant and open minded than I ever could of been, and art is such a wonderful tool broaden one's world view. 

One thing I have always struggled with is technology, and so there are not many drawing soft wares, reference libraries, and social media applications I am familiar with. Currently I use Facebook, Tumblr, Gmail, and infrequently Pinterest. With my Educational Technology course I have created a Blogger and a Twitter to be used to grow my Personal Leaning Network. Here and here are other great references for those wanting to grow their Personal Learning Network. 

After reading A Teenagers View on Social Media I feel I am more in touch with my generation's social media use, and having my own experience with the social media I use, I would have to agree with his view points. The article and this course have really lead me to reconsider how I represent myself on social media. As of late, social media has been for personal use, and I am excited to use it as a learning tool.