Enter to win a 32GB iPad by creating a customized, dynamic tool for teaching using ArtsConnectEd. For the “It’s About Choice” challenge, educators will demonstrate ways an Art Collector Set can be used to engage students in the process of making choices. Deadline: Friday, January 4, 2013 (Originally set on December 7, the deadline has been extended by four weeks!) Who is eligible: The Challenge is open to K–12 teachers, active substitute teachers, and home school educators. More details: Click here (PDF) for information about how to participate in Challenge #4.

Start the new year with a new iPad! Take advantage of your holiday break to put the finishing touches on your outstanding Art Collector Set! The deadline for iPad Challenge #4 has now been extended four weeks. Originally set for early December, the new deadline is midnight of Friday, January 4, 2013. Reminder: Make sure we know how to contact you if you win! In addition to sumbitting your Set by the deadline, please follow-up with an e-mail to education.resources@walkerart.org with “ArtsConnectEd iPad Challenge” in the subject line and a link to your Set in the message body. Need help submitting your Set? Click here for detailed instructions. Announcing the winners: In late January or mid-February 2013, look for an announcement on ArtsConnectEd's homepage.

Congratulations to Elizabeth Dunn for being an outstanding Art Collector! ArtsConnectEd is pleased to award an iPad to Dunn for her entry to the fourth iPad Challenge, “It’s about Choice”. Dunn's creation is titled "WORK in North America" and demonstrates how an Art Collector Set can be used to engage students in the process of making choices. In presentation mode, Dunn's Set displays images of laborers and workers from different times and places across the North American continent. The images are launching points for intermediate students' conversation, analysis, and writing. To unpack and implement this excellent resource in your classroom, be sure to download Dunn's well-designed, thorough attachments. There are four of them—a lesson plan (including detailed references to the Minnesota Academic Standards), and three activity sheets for students to use in the classroom. Lastly, Dunn demonstrates an ability to teach in a cross-disciplinary style, using works of art to teach Social Studies, all the while weaving in opportunties to address the formal elements and communicative power of art. Thanks to Dunn for developing this outstanding resource and sharing it with the ArtsConnectEd Community! And thanks to all who entered the iPad Challenge #4!

Congratulations to Alicia Dolentz for being an outstanding Art Collector! ArtsConnectEd is pleased to award an iPad to Dolentz for her entry to the fourth iPad Challenge, “It’s about Choice”. Dolentz’s creation is titled “Art as Response” and demonstrates how an Art Collector Set can be used to engage students in the process of making choices. Dolentz, who is a K-12 visual art teacher, focused her Set on the life and art of Shirin Neshat. The Set is designed as a way for high school students to dive deeper into understanding an artist's motivation to create. Dolentz integrated discussion questions and a call to action into the Set, features which serve to guide students through themes of cultural identity and political change in meaningful ways. Thanks to Dolentz for developing this outstanding resource and sharing it with the ArtsConnectEd Community! And thanks to all who entered the iPad Challenge #4!

Congratulations to Jacob Gelfand for being an outstanding Art Collector! ArtsConnectEd is pleased to award an iPad to Gelfand for his entry to the fourth iPad Challenge, “It’s about Choice”. Gelfand's creation is titled "Modern Art and Politics" and demonstrates how an Art Collector Set can use art to engage students in critical thought about the choices we all make as producers and consumers of culture. Gelfand, who is an Upper School English and Creative Writing Teacher at The International School of Minnesota, crafted his Set to overlap with literature in his with AP English curriculum. The works of art he selected grapple with tough issues such as the body and its representation, gender and sexuality, and cultural anxieties and fears. Gelfand integrated evocative, open-ended discussion questions into his Set. Furthermore, Gelfand's Set includes two attachments, one for the educator that outlines curricular objectives, and a second for the student that provides supplemental information, slide by slide, on each artwork, bringing in voices of critics, curators, artists, and philosophers. Thanks to Gelfand for developing this outstanding resource and sharing it with the ArtsConnectEd Community! And thanks to all who entered the iPad Challenge #4!