The past few weeks I have seen some classes embrace their Google+ Communities, some treat them like another assignment (albeit fun assignments), and some ignore them except to chat and +1 viral videos.

I decided to ask my Graphic Media classes what they wanted to use their community for. They are the classes that spend the whole period in front of a computer, yet they are also the classes that ignore the community the most. They use Google Drive to upload and share photos, they use Gmail to send me emails and they converse on the Google + chat, but other than post a few viral videos and + 1'ing  some Star Wars photos, the Graphic Media Community is pretty much a wasteland. 

So I posted this question: Many of you are in my other classes where we are using our Communities in various ways. What are some ways you would like to use our Community for THIS class?

I got about 6 responses (out of 18 students) and most wanted to use the community for critiquing of personal photos they upload. To me these responses seem so typical of high schools students and their attitude towards social media. They want to get on the newest & latest site but only to do the same things they did on the old sites. Uploading their own photos and having students comment seems an awfully lot like Instagram, Deviant Art, and even how I see some of my student use Twitter. I do appreciate the teenager need for feedback and approval, and their need to be the center of attention, always & at all times, but I don't want them to just do the same thing with Google+ that they do with all the other social media sites. 
I posted an assignment for them to research photographers. They will use the album feature to upload photos and then ask and answer questions about their chosen photographer and their peers' chosen photographers. Once they become more knowledgeable about historically significant photos, then I will probably have them upload their personal photos for critiques. 
I'm hoping as they spend more time in the community they will come up with new ways to use this social media site instead of the same old same old. Time will tell.

CLASSROOM CONVERSATION CLIPS
I have been looking a lot at intrinsic motivation because of some doctoral work I am in the middle of this semester. This summer I read on creativity and learned that frustration can be a necessary part of the creative process.
A few of my Art 2's almost burst into tears today out of frustration with their painting projects. I know this is part of the process as a young artist moves forward in their artistic growth, as they move past the "good enough" stage, but it is always hard for me to watch their struggles.
Thinking about how intrinsically motivated they are (they have to be to get this frustrated I think) and knowing that this is part of the process of creativity helps, but I still hate to see people cry!