Before starting on Photoshop lessons for fifth grade and up, teach preparatory basics covered in this lesson plan here (reprinted in part below). If you have a newer version of Photoshop, adapt these instructions to yours:

Open Photoshop. Notice the tool bars at the top. These will change depending upon the tool you choose from the left side. These are the crux of Photoshop. We cover about ten of them in fifth grade. The right-hand tools are used independent of the left-hand tools. They are more project oriented.

• • Click the File Browser tool (top right-ish). It shows you the folders on your computer. From here, you can select the picture you’d like to edit (or use File-open)
  • Select a picture and notice how it displays all data—file name, size, date created, author, copyright and more
  • Click on several tools on the left side and see how the top menu bar changes, offering different choices. Go to Help. Have students view several of the ‘How To’ wizards available. Make sure they try ‘How to paint and draw’, ‘How to print photos’, ‘How to save for other applications’. Then have them select the ‘Help’ files. This takes them to the Adobe CS website and exposes a vast database of questions and answers. Encourage them to explore, engage their critical thinking and active learning skills. Remind them this is where they can find answers independent of teacher assistance.
  • Open a picture of the student’s choice. Show class how to zoom in and out (right-side toolbar). Explain pixels.
    Show students how they can take the paint brush and color just one pixel if they are close enough. This is
    how experts remove ‘red eye’ in photos.
  • Introduce the History toolbar (right side) as an undo feature (like Ctrl+Z in Word). Have students open a new blank canvas and draw on it. Now use the history tool to toggle between the canvas before and after drawing on it by clicking between the original picture and the last action taken (at the bottom of the History list).
  • Have students click through several tools on the left tool bar and show them how the top toolbar changes,
    depending upon the tool selected.
  • Watch the layers tools. You can only paint on the highlighted layer. Notice that the top layer covers all others
  • Show students how to save. The default is as a Photoshop file with a .psd extension. This won’t open in other programs, so show students how to change the file type format to a .jpg, .bmp, .tif or other for use in Word, Publisher, emails or a website.

Once students are comfortable with the Photoshop format, try these easy-to-do auto-fixes.

Auto-fixes is one of the easiest Photoshop skills. Depending upon your version of Photoshop, this may be found in different spots on the menu lists. If you’re familiar with your program, you’ll find it right away:

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As a working technology teacher, I get hundreds of questions about computers. As often as possible, I’ll share those with you as well as my solutions. They’re always brief and focused. Enjoy! (more…)

Here’s a short list of good ESL and ELL resources. For updates, click here:

1. Digital Storytelling for Language and Culture Learning (PDF) – National Writing Project
   http://www.nwp.org/cs/public/download/nwp_file/12189/Judith_Rance-Roney_Digital_Storytelling.pdf?x-r=pcfile_d
2. L2 Digital Storytelling
3. MCC ESL Digital Stories
4. Teaching English – Digital Storytelling
   http://www.teachingenglish.org.uk/blogs/özge-karaoğlu/digital-storytelling
5. Web English Teacher – Digital Storytelling
   http://www.webenglishteacher.com/ds.html

ESL

1. English Tools--digital tools to assist learning English as a second language
2. Resource Guide for ESL
3. SuperProf–private ESL online tutoring
4. The TEFL Academy–course provider for those looking to teach English as a second language!

–image credit Deposit Photos

I’m taking Labor Day off so thought I’d do a labor-free article–

Labor Day, the first Monday in September, is an American holiday (though it occurs throughout the world, with different names and dates) dedicated to the achievements of workers. I take it literally. A keyboard, three screens, four tasks, and a six-pack of Red Bull Monster (less sodium), I’m ready to work!

Comments closed so I devote time to Labor Day activities.

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Here are the most-read posts for the month of September:

1. Tech Ed Resources–K-12 Tech Curriculum
2. Unconventional Research Sites to Inspire Students
3. 21st Century Lesson Plan Updated
4. 5 Tips to Bring Joy to Education
5. ech Ed Resources for your Class–K-8 Keyboard Curriculum
6. 9 Mistakes Teachers Make Using Tech in the Classroom
7. Online Sites to Teach Mouse Skills
8. ech Ed Resources for your Class–Digital Citizenship
9. 8 Great Websites and Apps to Help Kids With Fractions
10. Tech Ed Resources–Lesson Plans

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If you’re new to Ask a Tech Teacher, be sure to click Getting Started first. It includes a free weekly newsletter:

https://forms.aweber.com/form/07/1910174607.htm

Read our columns

• Tech tips
• How-to’s–how to use web tools, software, hardware, more
• Dear Otto–questions from educators on tech questions
• Pedagogy that impacts tech in ed
• Reviews of books, apps, web tools, websites, tech ed products used in your classroom
• Subscriber Specials–monthly discounts (or FREE) on tech ed products
• Humorous life of a tech teacher

Find tech ed resources

• Free Lesson Plans–on software programs, core tech principles, subject-specific topics
• Free Posters
• Website reviews–on products you want to use in your classroom
• Great resources–for your teaching, integration, class management, more
• Structured Learning--where all the Ask a Tech Teacher crew’s tech ed books are published; there’s an insane number of topics and formats. Some free, most fee

Go ahead–check it out!

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In this lesson plan, students type several sentences in a word processing program like MS Word. Use the font color palette to label parts of speech, i.e., blue for subject, red for verb. Use sentences from a book they’re reading in class, spelling words they’re working on, or a teacher hand-out. This makes grammar fun.

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Learning to code is akin to receiving the key to a world of opportunities. It’s not about zeros and ones, or math and science. It’s about solving problems kids didn’t think they could, in creative ways that feel good. It gives students the power to shape a world they’re becoming part of, for many the key to a brighter future than their current one.

The Ask a Tech Teacher crew has come up with a foundational list of tips for teaching coding. Read them. Share in comments what your secret techniques are:

6 Tips for Teaching Kids Coding

If you were around when the internet first came out, you may have seen how coding was a career for specialized professionals. These professionals needed to get a specialized degree, and they gained experience through building software. But today, coding has become more accessible, and everything online was made through coding, and today’s employers are looking for employees who can code. If you are preparing to teach kids how to code, there are a few things you should know.

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I am a lifelong learner. I find great joy in discovering something new and connecting it to what I know. This is made easier because I received a good foundation in my school years in how to learn. The Ask a Tech Teacher crew has ideas on those skills that will not only serve you well in your academics but beyond:

4 Highly Important Study Skills to Develop During College and Beyond

We spend a lifetime learning, so it makes sense to develop a few study skills that will make our lives easier. Plus, some of these skills will help you have a successful career and even stay ahead.

Today, we’ll talk about 4 of these highly important skills and how to achieve them while you’re still in college. 

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I get a lot of questions from readers about what tech ed resources I use in my classroom so I’m taking a few days this summer to review them with you. Some are from members of the Ask a Tech Teacher crew. Others, from tech teachers who work with the same publisher I do. All of them, I’ve found well-suited to the task of scaling and differentiating tech skills for age groups, scaffolding learning year-to-year, taking into account the perspectives and norms of all stakeholders, with appropriate metrics to know learning is organic and granular.

Today: Lesson Plans

There are lots of bundles of lesson plans available–by theme, by software, by topic, by standard. Let me review a few:

• STEM Lesson Plans
• Coding Lesson Plans
• By Grade Level
• 30 K-5 Common Core-aligned lessons
• 110 lesson plans–integrate tech into different grades, subjects, by difficulty level, and call out higher-order thinking skills.
• singles–for as low as $.99 each. Genius Hour, Google Apps, Khan Academy, Robotics, STEM, Coding, and more.
• Holiday projects–16 lesson plans themed to holidays and keep students in the spirit while learning new tools.

Who needs this

These are for the teacher who knows what they want to teach, but needs ideas on how to integrate tech. They are well-suited to classroom teachers as well as tech specialists.

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