On to the fun stuff: Adobe Photoshop Elements

Week 4 heralded the students’ introduction to the fun stuff: learning how to use Adobe Photoshop Elements. The first week of the workshop series, I had taken portrait shots of each student, with the intention of having them manipulate their portrait in Photoshop. The manipulation would be simple – my intention was to introduce them to the basics, such as opening up files, using the paintbrush to make marks, changing the size of the paintbrush, and selecting different colors. I also ended up showing the students how to create layers, because all of them wanted to know how to erase the marks they made without erasing the already existing digital image of their face.

The next time I do this, I am going to have the students draw on a blank file first, before having them manipulate an already existing image. With the exception of two students, they wanted to try all of the different tools to see what they would do, rather than sticking with the paintbrush and the eraser. This led to lots of frustration and pleas for help. I will hazard a guess that if I had them start out with a blank file, that would have been more of an enticement to draw, and to stick with drawing tools in order to complete a picture. Once the students got the hang of creating a picture from scratch, it might be easier to introduce them to manipulating an image.

Another thing that was made apparent was the difference in comfort level with the software  between the students who had a computer at home and those who didn’t. Most of the students at WASC live in homes where the household income level is at or below poverty level; most of these homes don’t have computers. As a result, the students don’t have an opportunity to get comfortable with using computers. In addition, they don’t have a knowledge base from which to draw when put in a situation where they are able to use unfamiliar computer applications. This puts them at a distinct disadvantage.

One student out of the 10 lives in a middle class home with a computer – a computer with some type of image manipulation program, based on what he told me – and unlike almost all of his classmates (with the exception of one), he was able to create a finished “painting”. [note: he wasn't present the first day, so I didn't have a portrait of him for him to work on]. The result was something he was proud of:

Another student had the patience to stick with her image and create something unique and interesting: she decorated her face with multicolored polkadots!

GOOD JOB!

“I am” poem project part 3 – intro to typography

The next workshop covered the basics of typography. The previous week, I introduced the second graders to the idea of using different typefaces to create certain effects and to “match” the mood of the story, character, and/or plot device. I did this again this week by reading them another wonderful book The Serif Fairy, by Rene Sigfried. This book allowed me to build upon some of the concepts I introduced earlier, plus teach the students the names of a handful of typefaces.

Did the kids like the book? Yes! They began to get a little antsy toward the end, but they had an absolute blast poring through the illustrations and identifying the letters the illustrator used to create the characters, animals, trees, flowers, and buildings populating the story. I think the students more or less “got” the idea that letters have aesthetic qualities, but I don’t think it really sunk in that typefaces have actual names (like Garamond, Futura, etc.)

For the next activity, I wanted to give the students a chance to apply what they learned about the aesthetic quality of typefaces. I created a series of pages where I typed in two typefaced versions of one word, where one typeface “matched” or “fit” the word, and the other typeface obviously didn’t. For example, one page had two versions of the word “Tinkerbell,” with one written with a curly, delicate typeface, the other with a big, black, chunky typeface. The activity consisted of me holding up each page and asking the students which typeface “matched” the word, and to explain why they thought so.

Again, they seemed to really enjoy this activity also. Some students seemed able to make the connection between typeface quality and the meaning and connotations of a word, but the activity also appeared to go over the heads of a few.

The final and main activity of the day was to have the students go to the computers to play with the typefaces of their “I am” poems. The point of the activity was to have the students choose different words in their poems and change the typeface of each of these words in order to emphasize their meaning. However, the students didn’t really appear to grok this. They were able to figure out how to change the fonts and sizes of the words in their poems, but they picked fonts based on how they looked (i.e., if they liked them), and they didn’t seem to entirely grasp the concept of changing the typeface of individual words in a sentence. What most of them tended to do was change the typeface of each sentence, rather than cherrypicking key words in their poems and changing the typefaces of those.

If I were to do this activity again, I would probably include one or two additional short activities prior to having the students go to the computers and work on their poems. These activities would continue to reinforce the connection between typefaces and meaning of words. I will be doing this activity with the third graders next, so I will implement these activities then.

The “I Am” Poem Project – Part 2

On day 2 of the “I Am” poem project, the students had the chance to turn their “I Am” poems into a Microsoft Word document. I also got the chance to attempt to wean them from the “hunt-and-peck” typing method, although I suspect it will take several sessions before at least a few of them start using their other fingers in addition to their pointer fingers to type. Old habits die hard, even when you are seven years old.

I showed the students how to place their hands on the keyboard and where to place their fingers – they were able to do this at first, but lapsed into hunt-and-peck almost immediately. You have to keep reminding them how to place their hands on the keyboards, but I wanted to make sure not to cross the line into constant nagging. I didn’t want to slow the kids down even more, or frustrate them to the point where they would simply give up.

The students seemed to enjoy typing out their poems, but those who had a harder time with it lost interest a little bit more quickly than those who caught on right away and were able to complete the activity without a lot of assistance. With the exception of two or three students, the activity was relatively challenging for them. Keeping that in mind, however, the students were able to stay focused on the task at hand provided the instructors (me and Ms. V) were there to help and answer questions. The activity also helped them with their spelling, as they were able to identify misspelled words via the red squiggly underlines.

Around 5:00pm it was apparent that the kids had pretty much had it, so I thought this would be a good time to wrap up the activity and finish the day’s session by reading them a story. I had brought both “I Will Not Ever Never Eat a Tomato” and “The Serif Fairy,” and I thought the former would be fun for the kids at the end of a long day. Plus, I figured it would make a nice, lighthearted intro to typography, typefaces, and the aesthetic aspects of text.

Not surprisingly, they loved the story, and didn’t hesitate to blurt out their food preferences as I was reading. I pointed out the words whose appearance differed from the “regular,” courier-style font Child used for the main text, and asked the kids their thoughts on “mixed-up,” “silly” font used for the words listing the foods Lola refused to eat. I also had the kids pay attention to the text sections where the sentences were formed to create wavy lines resembling strands of spaghetti or waves of water, and asked them why they thought the author wanted them to look that way.

Hopefully this story was a good introduction. Next week we’ll be spending most of the session talking about fonts and typefaces. I’ll read “The Serif Fairy” to them, and engage them in a typeface activity before they apply what they’ve learned to their own poems.