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Saturday, March 24, 2012

Non-Fiction Features in Digital Painting


At the beginning of the school year, I introduce first graders to the various ways of interacting with the mouse and keyboard by using simple paint software.  We currently use Appleworks in our Media Center, but there are many updated and free paint programs (Mac or Windows) that would work just as well.

Simply by using the paintbrush, drawing shapes, moving objects, and adding words students are developing a variety of technical skills.  Some of the important computer interface skills younger students develop with painting software include clicking, clicking and dragging, double-clicking, and typing with the keyboard.  Once students become proficient with the physical skills, it’s time to integrate these new technical skills with relevant classroom content.


Throughout the year, 1st graders at my school learn about features of written non-fiction pieces with their classroom teacher (on Twitter and her blog).  A few specific non-fiction elements that translate very well into painting software are diagrams with labels, attaching lines, and titles.

There are a few ways to go about the creation of the image part of the diagram.  I typically have students start out by making a diagram out of clip art so they can focus on adding text labels, lines connecting those labels to the appropriate areas, and titles with appropriate size and typeface.  

After students have experience making a diagram out of clip art, students are ready to make a diagram with an image they’ve created using the painting and drawing tools.  I want them all to have at least 3 separate labels, but encourage them to add as many labels as they want.  I am always incredibly impressed with their finished products!



Wednesday, March 14, 2012

Creating nameplates with 7th grade students



Following the introduction of Photoshop, 7th grade students are prepared to create a basic multi-layered image using the tools they’ve already seen as well as a few additional tools.  The purpose of the image is to use as an account profile picture on our school’s social network, Edmodo.  Students are represented by this picture (and their name) each time they write a new post or reply to another post.

Students first must create a new blank image file in Photoshop.  As long as the image is square, it will work, but I generally have students start with an image 500 pixels wide by 500 pixels tall.  The background should be “Transparent” and the resolution will work fine at 72 pixels per inch, which is generally the default choice.

Once in the blank file, I have students create a new layer on top of the bottom transparent background.  I also re-emphasize what I had told them before, that for every new tool or color change, they should make a new layer first.  The next step is to lay down a full color layer, by either using the paint bucket or gradient tool.  I quickly show them how the gradient tool works (pretty similar to the paint bucket but with a blend of colors rather than only one), and then move on to the brush.

Here’s a very valuable tip for anyone setting up Photoshop for student use, download and install as many different brush styles as you’d like at Brusheezy.  The site is entirely free and there are countless high-quality brush styles available there.  Students could peruse Brusheezy on their own, but I found in past lessons that it ended up taking up most of their work time, and also the brush files can be rather large so it can put a strain on your network all at once.  So I recommend setting up a nice selection of brushes before students ever sit down at Photoshop the very first time, clear and simple installation instructions can be found over at Brusheezy.

Using the wide variety of brush styles, colors, and sizes, students then create a nameplate design that they feel is suited to represent them online.  The brushes themselves look more like a stamp when seen at first, but in Photoshop they function just like any other brush style.  This step with the brushes has historically been highly enjoyed by my students as there is an endless supply of options to choose from.  Often students end up creating a couple different versions and then ask classmates to help them decide before they start designing the text of their name.

The final step of the nameplate creation process is adding a name to the nameplate.  This is completed with the text tool in Photoshop.  Similar to the brushes, I suggest a visit to FontSpace and downloading a few extra appealing fonts.  At the time of posting, they have nearly 17,000 free fonts to download.  There has to be at least a few desirable fonts for anyone in that batch!  Here are all of the separate layers for one student’s nameplate creation:


After the nameplate is complete, students use Photoshop’s “Save for Web” feature (found in the File menu) to reduce the size of the file and save it as a .JPG in order to upload it to their account profile.  Here are some more examples created by my students (with the names changed):

Monday, March 12, 2012

iPad photography with 5th grade students


Last week I had a very short technology class with 5th grade students in their classroom. I debated how much we could accomplish with new material in a grand total of 30 minutes on a day when students spent a tremendous amount of energy on the Illinois Standards Achievement Test. Enter the iPad.

In the next few weeks these 5th grade students are going to be focusing on photography to accompany their writing with both their classroom teacher as well as with me during Technology. The remarkable thing about having only 30 minutes to introduce this very large topic with my students but doing so with iPads, is that all 29 5th graders are sitting on the rug in front of me with a camera, digital darkroom, and publishing suite resting on their laps!


I did not have to do much of an introduction for the camera function on the iPad since they have used it frequently throughout the year. However, there are a couple of keys to crisp photographs on any point-and-shoot camera, and I’m putting the iPad in that category.

The first key is making sure your image is in focus. To assure you have the desired focus using the iPad’s built-in camera app, all you need to do is touch the area on the camera screen that you want as your focal point. The iPad will then display a blue box around that area and attempt to focus on it.

The second key to crisp photographs is reducing camera shake. This is not an easy task with the iPad, which is rather large and awkward for photography when compared with a camera. The strategy I gave to the 5th graders, was to make sure to hold the iPad with two hands in opposite corners to reduce the amount of shake. Then make sure one hand is positioned so that your thumb can stretch over to the “take photo” button on the screen. The last part with the thumb will be somewhat alleviated when the iPads are updated to iOS 5, in which case you can use the “volume up” button on the side to snap a photo.

Now with the limited time we had, I gave students three minutes to move about the classroom and take at least three photographs where an inanimate object was the main focal point. I had them arrange their compositions so that none of their classmates appeared in the photos, as the inclusion of “each other” in the images ends up providing a large distraction when sharing.

Students completed their photo-snapping, and I then gave them an introduction to an app called Snapseed. Snapseed is a very easy-to-use image manipulation app with a lot of pre-loaded effects and corrections. The regular cost of the app is $4.99, but if you keep an eye on it (perhaps with AppShopper), you can download it for free when they temporarily put it on sale as we did. Students used Snapseed to manipulate one or two of their chosen photographs, and then saved them to their Camera Roll.

The last step in this 30-minute activity was sharing our favorite photograph with classmates. This “publishing” step is made possible by a recent update to the Edmodo app (updated February, 16th), where students can now share saved iPad photos directly from within the Edmodo app. (To read more about using Edmodo on the iPad, see this post by my colleague Katie!) Amazingly, there were still a few minutes left of our short time for students to comment on and provide feedback to each other via Edmodo. Here are some sample photographs by students:



Tuesday, March 6, 2012

Introducing Photoshop to 7th Grade Students


One of my favorite instructional activities is introducing students to the world of visual manipulation in Adobe Photoshop. In the case of my 7th grade students, I am introducing them to Photoshop Elements, which is a lighter version of the full Photoshop when it comes to pricing and features. If you’re interested in this process but would prefer a free alternative to Photoshop or Photoshop Elements for Mac or Windows, see GIMP or GimpShop. For my purposes, the Elements version of Photoshop has all of the features I want to use with my students.

In my opinion the most complex hurdle to cross with students, or anyone for that matter, new to an advanced graphic editor like Photoshop is image layers. I find the easiest way to model exactly how layers work is with good old-fashioned overhead transparency paper. I take a small stack of transparencies and create a simple drawing of a face, but each element of the face is drawn on a separate sheet:

Using those transparencies, I can demonstrate that by manipulating the sheets or layers, it is easy to make a modification to a specific part of an image without affecting the other elements. This is regardless of what order the actions were completed, versus using the "Undo" command, which will only let you go back, step-by-step, in order. I emphasize to my students repeatedly that for every major change they make to an image, they need to make sure each change has its own layer. Here is a short video to demonstrate the layers:


Certainly layers are valuable for more reasons than just an advanced “undo” system, but I think this is an excellent entry point for new Photoshop users. After discussing the layers, we can move on to some of the tools in Photoshop that will feel quite familiar to anyone who has ever used any kind of painting software, the brush and the paint bucket. I demonstrate a few different ways to change the color of your current tool and also how to manipulate the brush size and brush style. Here is a video explaining the brush and paint bucket:


The final step is to show how to add a new layer to an image, by clicking the “New Layer” button in the Layers panel (see image right), or CMD+SHFT+N on Mac and CNTRL+SHFT+N on Windows. It’s time for students to explore these tools, but I offer one last reminder before students begin, that with each change to a tool, make a new layer!

In the next post, I will explain how to use these introductory tools and a few others to create student nameplates that could serve as account profile images for the school social network.

Friday, March 2, 2012

Welcome to the Digital Palette!


I have been thinking about and planning to start a blog for some time, but this past week’s ICE Conference tipped me over from ‘thinking about’ to ‘doing’. The highlight for me was William Rankin and his thought-provoking keynote address, but also being around so many passionate educators in my content area is incredibly motivating when they share their knowledge, resources, and strategies. My impression is that the most effective educators not only instruct and share with their students, but also with their colleagues.

Besides the conference, I also attribute my blogging motivation to two extraordinary colleagues at my school and their wonderful blog. I find myself discovering incredible things happening in classrooms a few doors down from mine, from the comfort of my home on the Internet. And these are people that I speak to daily in person!

Before starting a blog, obviously you have to ask yourself if you have anything unique to offer the blogging world. There does seem to be an endless supply of educational technology bloggers actively writing (see above). But I believe that I teach in a fairly unique position with an extraordinary array of technological tools and I would like to share all of the incredible things K-8 students are capable of creating when using technology. So my overall angle with the Digital Palette is to share mostly instructional ideas for technology integration into the K-8 school day.

Almost all of my teaching is done in a media center where students come to see me for technology class, forty minutes per session. In the media center, there are enough (fairly recent) desktop computers that every student is able to work on their own computer. The media center also hosts a cart of digital still cameras, HD digital video cameras, and tripods for teacher and student use. Beyond the media center, my school has been the recipient of grants that have provided us with multiple carts of iPads for students.

Given all of those resources, you would think my students are using technology in many dazzling ways - - and they are! So keep reading to find out how and thanks for joining me on this journey!