BP14_Practical Experience_Photoshop 3

I will definitely use Photoshop on my Action Research website.  I want to emphasize the importance of communication and also show them how to make the learning process more interesting and simplified.  Photoshop is also helpful with creating lesson plans.  Once I’m ready to revise my lesson plan on flickr, I will incorporate Photoshop. The students are not just uploading photos and images of books.

Each group will have to choose one book out of the four required and create their own cover art. 

Once finished, they will present their book covers to the class and explain how they came up with the design and how it fits with the story.  This second part of the project will bring out their creativity in addition to learning about building a book collection and writing about the books they discovered. 

Learning Objectives

Understand the process of building a book collection

Working in teams and viewing things objectively

Produce a photo collage of the books they chose

Chose one book and create an original book cover

Understand the basics of Photoshop

Uploading photos and adding text

Understand how writing and communications work

BP13_Practical Experience_Photoshop 2

Before

After

Before

After

I was having a bit of cabin fever and had had enough of the cold weather.  The sky was so amazingly clear, blue and sunny I just had to go out on the beach with my camera.  I emphasized the blue in this image by using the color balance and masking option in Photoshop.  I wanted to bring out the blues in the photo while creating a shadow effect with the tree branches.  

BP12_Practical Experience_Photoshop 1

I would like to learn more about Adobe Photoshop.  I have worked with Photoshop years ago but never mastered the software.  Right now, I am playing around with banners and need to blend photo images together.  To the left is a photograph I took of lake michigan and I uploaded it to photoshop to create that cube effect.  Icons from my blog on BP3_Vimeo and BP6_Comment were created using Adobe Photoshop as well.   I applied the “create warped text” option for the font in my icons. I will be searching for tutorials on Lynda.com and Woopid.com to help me take my Photoshop skills to the next level. 

BP11_Commercial Bookemon

My second video featuring Web 2.0 tool, Bookemon.  

BP10_Comment to Gregg Eilers

See my comment on Gregg Eilers wonderful Web 2.0 discovery!

BP9_Comment on Bruce Krammer's Blog

Please check out my comment to Bruce.  He gives an excellent review on Celtx, a media production tool for filmmakers and how it can be used in regular general education classes. 

BP8_Bookemon

Introduce your students to the art of creating and publishing their own original book with Bookeman.  There are several ways in which this tool can be implemented in the classroom.  Teachers can create books as a lesson plan for students to learn the content.  The nice thing about Bookeman is that teachers and students can also have hard copies of the book for a fee.  However, the membership and online version of the book is free. 

Members can choose to select blank pages or templates to create their books.   Images can be uploaded and also create books from a Word document or PowerPoint file you have already made. Once you have finished the book, Bookemon provides embedding code, which enables you to place your books in a class or school web page, wiki, or blog.

This wonderful digital storytelling tool can make learning more interesting for students and enhance their creativity.  I see this tool as another great way to introduce students to collaboration.  If I were teaching, I would use it at the beginning of the school year as way for students to introduce themselves.  Students would need to write a short paragraph bio and add images of their favorite things and hobbies and add descriptions.  As a school librarian, I would present and show teachers who are for example, hosting a young authors contest the value of this tool. 

Students must be 13 years old and up to apply for membership to site.  Elementary and middle school teachers can still use the tool; but they would need to create a group account. 

Bring out the creativity in students with this great Web 2.0 tool.  I highly recommend it!

BP7_Commercial

Check out my one minute video!

BP6_Comment to Brooke McKaig

Check out my comment to Brooke's fabulous discovery.  Let the creative energy begin!

BP5_Comment to Jen Alman

See my comments on Jen Alman's blog about this wonderful tool called cmapping!

BP4_Museum Box

Museum Box (http://museumbox.e2bn.org/) is another great free Web 2.0 tool for students to use for projects and research.  What exactly is Museum Box?  It enables a user to research and describe an event, person, or historical place by placing items in a virtual box.  Students can also display text, add video and audio, and links to other related sites.

This tool is not limited to creating projects for history but also language arts, math, science, and even art.  Teachers have often created their own rubric for students to follow to complete the Museum Box, which allows them to have more control over the information ensuring that inappropriate material is not used.

Creating a museum box on the site is pretty simple and user friendly.  There is a link that takes you to the page where you add your information to the box.  On the page with the box are links at the bottom for images, text, audio, video, and other types of files, and adding links. The web tool is compatible with any operating system and documents can be formatted as PDFs, PowerPoint, and Word documents.

The social media aspect of Museum Box is that it allows users to view and comment on museum boxes created by other users.  I think it’s another great way to introduce collaborative learning to students at an early age. Collaboration can enhance students’ critical thinking skills as well.  For example, it allows students to solve problems using their research skills.  This tool also expands the student’s focus by encouraging them to incorporate connections, which broadens their knowledge base and most importantly their understanding of the connected subject material.

BP3_Vimeo

Couple of years ago I discovered the art of making fan films or videos.  I developed a hobby for creating these fan films from my passion for various TV shows.  I gained a tremendous amount of knowledge on video editing, the types of software available to the public and how to upload them to various video sharing website.

There are many file sharing websites to choose from besides YouTube.  My Web 2.0 tool of choice is Vimeo. Vimeo (http://www.vimeo.com) is a really good place for the serious film maker looking to showcase their work. Vimeo is one of many social network video sharing sites.  Much like the other video sharing sites, Vimeo is strictly for user made films and not for commercial use.  Vimeo allows you to upload and share videos of any format.   

One thing I like about Vimeo is that it’s easy to use and has a nice layout. Other great features of Vimeo is that it enable a user to create groups, share projects with other users, and allows your facebook followers to connect with you to view your work. The downside to using Vimeo is that it will allow you to only upload one HD video per week and the site is not entirely free.  The free accounts are nice but limit the amount of space for your videos.  I like Vimeo overall because it has the highest quality of video footage.  Please check out my 30-second video below featuring a light ray tool in which it creates a sunburst like effect applied to text in using my favorite video editing software!

This video is also available on vimeo!