Curricular Uses of Graphics and Images

Using technology definitely ties into 21^st century skills and TPCK, and taking and editing photographs is a necessary technology skill students should learn how to do. Being able to open a new computer program and easily navigate your way around the program is a 21^st century skill that only comes with time and familiarity with computers. The more you explore and use the computer the more comfortable you will feel with it. The same goes for students. I think that students even tend to pick up these skills faster since they are more of digital natives than we are. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve been stuck on a technology something only to have a student walk up and fix it for me. My students routinely close all the apps in my multitasking bar on the class iPads without me having to ask or remind them.

I use images in many of my curricular units. First of all, I model for my students and I find many images that go with each of our units and create large bulletin boards for my students’ reference. Getting them used to taking in the information from images and processing that information is something I just want them to get used to doing on a regular basis. I already have students take iPads and take pictures when we go on field trips so that they can search for the most important information they are learning. This is a language arts skill of determining the main idea. They aren’t allowed to take ten zillion pictures of every single thing they see. They can also use pictures to practice summarizing by acting out one moment of a story and taking a picture of it. They don’t get to act out the entire story, just one scene, the most important.

Images are cricual for my diverse learners. My English language learners need pictures on everything to be able to make connections with written text and their background knowledge. Being able to take pictures of things they are learning about will allow them another opportunity to go over that language and the concepts. Photography also gives great opportunities for my gifted students to challenge themselves and show above and beyond understanding.

Photo Editing

The program I used is called Pixler Express. It can be used on iPad or computer. My little sister just got married, so I had fun messing with her wedding pictures.

Image #	Tool or Filter	Results
1- Phone Booth	1- Focal Point- circle of blur 2- Color Boost- saturates the color in the circle 3- Sharpen 4- Add sticker- wedding rings 5- Add text- and they lived happily ever after
2- Bridesmaids	1-Crop 2-Sharpen 3-Raise saturation 4-Smooth 5-Add text- Bridesmaids 6-Add border- soft 7-Add sticker- girl’s night out
3- Ceremony	1- Crop (to rule of thirds) 2- Super Saturate 3- Liquefy- morph the sky 4- Splash- make picture black and white except for the sky 5- Saturate the sky more 6-Adjustment- overlay and image; another ceremony picture 7-Raise the contrast 8-Focal blurring in a circle
4- Sisters	1- Added overlay- Twinkle 2- Raise the saturation 3- Add Border- Clean vignette 4- Text- there were never such devoted sisters
5- Silly Sisters	1-Crop 2- Effects- Light writing love 3- Effects- clip art teehee 4- Stickers- halo 5- Stickers- peas in a pod 6-Border- white ripped 7-Overlay effect- twinkle 8-Stickers- tiara
6- Taylor	1- Raise saturation 2- Borders- Vignette 3-Splash filter- photo black and white except for bouquet 4-Reduce lightness

Photography Rules

http://prezi.com/vf3didjjdjvv/photography-rules-of-composition-and-framing/

Rule of Thirds

Framing

Avoid the Middle

Leading Lines

Texture

Symmetry

Patterns

Rule of Odds

Control Your Background

Point of View

10 rules of composition. (n.d.). Retrieved November 27, 2013, from MOHS Graphics Lab website: http://graphicslab.wordpress.com/10-rules-of-composition/ 

10 top photography and composition rules. (n.d.). Retrieved November 27, 2013, from Photography Madwebsite:http://www.photographymad.com/pages/view/10-top-photography-composition-rules 

Meyer, J. (2012, December 4). 10 rules of photo composition and why they work. Retrieved November 27, 2013, from Digital Camera World website: http://www.digitalcameraworld.com/2012/04/12/10-rules-of-photo-composition-and-why-they-work/

Rippy-Sigman, K. (2012, April 10). 10 photographic rules of composition and framing http://www.slideshare.net/krippysigman/10-photographic-rules-of-composition-and-framing

Animation Cross Curricular

Students will begin in Science. Objective- I can discover different constellations using my iPad. They will be exploring the animated skies with the SkyView iPad app. They will use the iPads to meander about the sky and learn information about many different constellations. They will also use the app to create their own constellation. This is a fantastic way for students to see something (the complete night sky) that they don’t normally get to see. Seeing the stars make patterns in the sky will give students a much better understanding of constellations than just looking at pictures of dots on a printed piece of paper. They can see the stars in the context of where they are in the sky. Then the focus switches from science to language arts. Objective- I can create a myth or legend about my constellation using my iPad. Students will be using Toontastic to create a live animated version of the myth they make up for their constellation. This is not only a writing project, but also a lesson on a new technology tool. Incorporating these technologies is a great way to teach students 21^st century skills. Making up these myths will show students what people did thousands of years ago to make sense of what they saw in the sky and it will help students connect to those ancient astronomers. The final project students would submit would be a picture of their constellation along with the animated video of their myth that students could present to the class. This is a great project because even students who are shy and don’t like speaking in front of the class could still be stars of the show with their projects.