Class #20--6th Grade Photoshop

Monday, November 8, 10:15 A.M. 6th Grade Photoshop Class. Class #20 on my “50 Classes or Bust!” voyage. It is a crisp Monday morning, and with the time change, it just feels like we are starting school “late.” I must admit it feels good to be on class #20, with class #21 scheduled for tomorrow. I should be half-way done my goal of 50 classes within about a month. It has been such a pleasure—and so informative—for me to spend this “quality time” in classrooms across campus. Today in Ms. Cheston’s room, it is the first class of Photoshop, which is part of the 6th grade fine arts rotation, along with art, music, and art history. The purpose of Photoshop is to learn about some of the key elements of manipulating photographs, such as editing and resizing. Furthermore, the course allows students to explore their artistic side in a digital manner. Ms. Cheston, our Middle School Technology Coordinator and the 2004 winner of the Apgar Award for Excellence in Instruction, reviews some of the ground rules for the class before assigning the students to work in pairs on the computers in Room 201. The students log in and are quickly experimenting with Photoshop tools and shortcuts. For example, F12 will return the students to their original picture. In just this first class, they work on several activities, such as altering the brightness of a somewhat dark picture. The darkness of the classroom itself prevents me from taking any good photos of the students, but believe me when I say that they are learning a great deal and are truly enjoying themselves. I love the message Ms. Cheston tells her students: “I want you to make mistakes. I want you to play. I want you to look at the tools in Photoshop and figure our how they work. Play, make mistakes, and be creative. You will not crash the computer. Teach ME something in Photoshop this year.” I look forward to returning to Photoshop in a few weeks to see how far the students have progressed!