Communicating with Art Students

What types of communication do art teachers have with students?  Verbal, non-verbal (eye contact, students observe teacher's actions, technology?)  How effective is this the preferred communication?  The adage: Tell I will forget, Show me I will remember has been on my mind lately.  Why? Because I feel that I want my students to understand my directions and the project, and to have clear communication with them. I want projects to be fun, but real learning experiences.

As I am working on my Master's in Teaching, more and more I contemplate what I will say and how I will show the students during demonstration time for a project. But, also I try to think of how I can get the students to effectively communicate among themselves: collaboratively and through discussion.

How important is it that teachers have effective communication with their students?  I recently read an article entitled, Using Social Media to Reach Your Community  from December 2010  in Effective Educator.  The author, William M. Ferriter, points out that TV isn't so popular anymore, but social media is.  He gives some statistics on how many users of social media there are (I am sure the numbers have escalated since the article's writing)  about 61 % of adults and 73% of teens are using social networking sites to communicate with others.  Over 500 billion minutes per month are spent on FaceBook. How do you categorize this type of communication?

Knowing that students use FaceBook, Twitter,  and surf the Internet, why do schools block these social networking sites?   A very interesting and informative article in Teaching Tolerance, Spring 2011, called  Social Media in the Schoolhouse by Darlene Koenig, points out very plainly this statement, "{She} believes in good teaching, sensible filtering, good supervision, and trusting kids to do the right thing. I don't think anything should ever be blocked. Both web-based applications and social-networking tools give students the connections they're quite used to and the opportunity for collaboration."   I could not agree more!

As an art teacher, I am learning new technology to integrate into my classes. However, traditional styles of instruction will be given as well. I think an integration of technology will enhance my teaching. Some projects may or may not use technology, and that's okay. Drawing, painting don't require technology, but helping students connect with an artist's history or artwork, will.  Connection through a form of communication is the key. 

At the elementary level, I'm not sure that schools are permitting use of cell phones in their curriculum; or even at the middle school level. I have heard that high schools are to a degree. What are your thoughts on using social networking or cell phones to communicate with students?  How many art teachers do this? I would like to know.