Every now and then a program comes along that is so fantastic, so perfect for what I do in the classroom, that I can’t help but use it.  Skitch is one of those programs.

I first found out about it when Bre Pettis started posting drawings he’d made using the program.  Intrigued, I downloaded it, played with it, fell in love, and used it in one of my classes the same day.  Not only was it that easy to use, it was appropriate, too.

Skitch has a variety of options out of the box.  I can start with a blank image, take a screen capture of any size or portion of my screen, drag in a preexisting image, import something from my iPhoto library, or even use my laptop’s built-in iSight camera to snap a picture of myself.  That image, whatever it’s source, becomes the background layer.

(The quick math on the side shows the years between the event and the painting.)

On top of that layer I can draw, write, annotate, highlight, whatever, using a small selection of tools.  Since all of this is on a layer on top of the image I can erase or cover up without fear of destroying the original image.

When I’m done I can upload the image to Skitch’s own servers where it’ll give me a Flickr-esque code I can use to insert it into webpages.  Got a .Mac MobileMe account?  It can upload them to there instead if you want.  You can even drag the picture to your desktop if you decide you want to upload it through a different service, or simply not upload it at all.

As much as I’m loving Skitch, it’s not all things to all people.  As of now I can’t have it record video through my webcam – still photos only.  For quick video on the Mac Photo Booth and iMovie are still the way to go.

Have an older Mac or (oh no!) a computer running Windows?  You’re out of luck – Skitch will only run on Mac OS 10.4.6 or later.

The drawing tools are also very limited.  Adequate for underlining, circling, and so on, but GIMP and SUMO Paint are much more advanced with a wide variety of features.

Text can be added quickly and easily, but there’s a limit to how large or small I can make it and I still haven’t figured out if I have any control over the font.

With all these negatives, why do I bother to use Skitch?  Because it’s the best at what it does – selecting an image and building upon it quickly with minimal effort.  All the times I used GIMP in the classroom no teacher ever asked me where I got such a full featured application.  Sure, I COULD do the same stuff with GIMP or Photoshop, but that would be like using a car to visit your next door neighbor.  In most cases walking (& using Skitch) is simpler and faster.

Most teachers ask me about Skitch when they see me use it, because the interface is non-threatening and they see immediately how it can be used to reinforce their teaching styles.

It’s a shame they all have Windows based laptops.

Welcome to 2009, a brand new year with new possibilities, new opportunities, new experiences, and the same old mistakes.

And more often than not, all of those things happen at the same time.

I have a habit of mine.  A bad habit, if you will.  A deep, dark secret that will no doubt haunt me as I’m now casting it out amongst the sea of the interwebs.

Sometimes I expect too much from my students.

I’ll take a moment for all of you to let that sink in and then collectively gasp at that realization.  It’s truly shocking, isn’t it?

Now this is not an every day occurance, mind you.  While I’ll often have high expectations for my students, they tend to rise up and meet those goals.  It’s amazing what kids can do if you just give them the opportunity.  However, every practice has a chance of failure.

Case in point: Yesterday I took a 6th grade class to the computer lab to make ads for a fictional recording studio.  The whole lesson was meant to build upon their persuasive writing lessons in language arts.  I’ve done similar lessons in the past, but always in the classroom.  Always with the more “traditional” art supplies.  Markers, crayons, colored pencils, those media are familiar territory to students.

Computers are … less so.  Granted, students can learn new technology quite fast when given the opportunity, but there is a limit to that speed, and yesterday I pushed it.  While I’m certain every student in that room was capable of doing everything I wanted, most could not do it in the time I was able to provide.  There were just too many new concepts to fit into too short a time.

Good work was done (and is still being done, from what the 6th grade teacher has told me), but we didn’t even get to upload our pictures to the wiki as I had originally planned.

So … what do you do when you find yourself in a situation like this?  Short term, cut like crazy.  decide what elements need to be covered right then and leave the rest out.  If it’s something you can continue later, save it for later.  If you know you just won’t have the time to revisit it, make the best of what can be done in the time you have.

Long term, reevaluate.  Not just the lesson, but the media used and the genre of that lesson as well.  With that class, I shouldn’t have used SUMO Paint.  Don’t get me wrong, SUMO Paint is awesome – but it was too much “new” in not enough time.  They’d just finished a PowerPoint project.  Having them build the ad on a single slide would have meant spending a lot less time on how it’s done so I could focus more on why we were doing it.

I’ll admit, in this case my bias against the ubiquitous nature of PowerPoint got the better of me when planning the lesson.  I wanted to show them something new and novel, and as a result I cost them valuable project time.

Was the lesson a loss?  No.  Even though we didn’t do every step I wanted to cover, they managed to explore an unfamiliar media (one of the objectives of my state’s art curriculum) and learn more about how advertisements grab your attention in order to persuade you (tying in with the state’s language arts curriculum).

Mistakes were made, but we learned from them.

And next time, it will be better.

The Electronic Frontier Foundation is doing a fundraiser, and to kick it off they’ve released a short animated song to show just what they do.

If you’re a long term follower of this blog then I don’t need to tell you the EFF is awesome. While as an artist I feel I should have the final say with what’s done with my media, I think current practices go too far towards enforcing outdated business models.

Image uploaded with plasq‘s Skitch!

Presented by Evylyn Quinones

1st choice was on 21st century collaboration, but presenter was a no-show.  Walked in on 2nd choice as she was showing off her Flip camera.  Never got to see the built in software before – it allows for basic editing, but also allows you to upload the video to the internet.  Even better, you can change your preferences to save the video in different formats.

Moving on to her voice recorder.  Olympus WS300 – looks like David Warlick’s but I can’t check the model number right now without wifi.  (EDIT: He uses the WS100.)  Looks slick – built in USB (no cord), input for external mic and output for headphones.  Whole thing runs off of a AAA battery.

Talking about Podcasting with GarageBand and Audacity.  Of course, I’ve been doing that since before it was cool. I’m a trend setter, I know.

Moving onto iPods & iTunes.  A mention of iTunesU and all the cool podcasts in the iTunes “store.”

Talking about saving presentations to iPods as image files just like Hall Davidson.

Playing with the apps you can get for the iPhone.  I like the digital version of a level.

iMovie rocks.  iMovie 06 is so much better than 08 in my opinion, and apparently in the presenter’s opinion as well.

Benefits of YouTube – bigger audience, lower bandwidth costs.

OK, I admit it, my first impression of the session was based entirely on the room.  How’s this?  They face forward to take notes, and turn around to use the computers.  The teacher can see every screen from the front of the room.  Sweet.

Presenter is Danna Bell-Russel, from the Library of Congress.

“Not about the site, but how to find things on the site.”

Presenting with Microsoft Word – Simple, unorthodox, but effective.

LOC isn’t in the business of censorship, but it does have a kid-freandly section.

“Digital Collections” – section with most of the content the LOC has digitized.  Start searches there.

They have a map collection!  I should have used that during my map lesson a few weeks ago…  In any case, their online maps allow you to zoom in and change views.  They even have election maps, as in red states vs. blue states.

Don’t type “Civil War” – too many results.  Refine, refine, refine!  It’s all about the terminology.  “Gas Station” vs. “Filling Station,” for example.

They have Teacher’s Pages with categorized topics and resources – even recorded sounds in mp3 format!  The lessons are created by teachers.  Some are quite huge, but there’s of course no obligation to use the whole lesson as is.

Some of the resources are RealMedia files. 

Buuuuuut, they also have an RSS feed.

Academic Aesthetic 161: Old vs. New [ 3:43 ] Play Now | Play in Popup | Download (1039)

Written during last Wednesday’s thunderstorm-induced power outage (which gave us off on Thursday…), and recorded during tonight’s thunderstorm, I talk a bit about how the “old” should not always be replaced by the “new.”

Back when I taught high school, I was often in buildings that were fed by middle and elementary schools that did not hold art education in high esteem. This meant that I had to tailor my lessons to cover things most students learn in their K-8 years but make them interesting for a high school audience.

It also meant that I was able to make a list of things that, once I eventually taught elementary, would be able to drill into my students to prevent premature baldness and graying amongst the high school art teachers.

This list included the following five things:

1. People are not sticks. (I don’t mind if a 3rd grader tries to draw a person and it doesn’t turn out, but a 3rd grader drawing a stick figure isn’t even trying.)
2. Trees are not lollipops.
3. Not every tree has to have a hole in the trunk. (Honestly, half of them draw the holes so they’re wider than the trunks!)
4. I’ve never seen a blue cloud in a white sky.
5. Sky touches ground. (A blue bar at the top is … a blue bar at the top. Not a sky.)

Granted, I didn’t cover these things in every grade and every lesson. Not all students are developmentally able to comprehend my little list, and I still have room in my curriculum to do lessons that are more fun than they are nitpicky.

But at least by the time they leave elementary school all of my students know:

1. A way to draw people that have at least enough mass to wear some clothes.
2. A way to draw trees that are more accurate depictions than a circle (or green cloud) on a stick.
3. That because it can exist on one thing does not mean it exists on everything.
4. More than one way to make cool looking skies , including sunsets, storm clouds, and more.
5. What a horizon line is.

My official curriculum is much more detailed than this, but I suppose these items are my “pet peeves,” if you will.

And this sort of got me thinking: Since I might become a technology teacher in a couple years, how will my list change? What are my technology pet peeves that I’ll feel I must cover, above and beyond the official standards?

I came up with something like this:

1. Be safe! There are ways to be safe from online predators, stalkers, identity thieves, cyberbullies, and so on. Use them.
2. Be creative! The great thing about the internet is that anyone can create content, including you!
3. Be skeptical! The bad thing about the internet is that anyone can create content, including people who mislead others. Take the things you see online with a grain of salt.
4. Be cautious! Also, what happens on the internet stays on the internet, but not in a good way. Anything digital can be copied and archived, as well as indexed for easy searching. Don’t put it online unless you want your mom, teacher, principal, significant others, and any future bosses to see it.
5. Be clear! There media (PowerPoint, website, movie, etc.) should never be more important than the message it’s used to convey. Overworked and poorly designed projects can both keep people from remembering the very things you wanted them to learn.

Well, that’s my list, at least. What’s yours?

Okay, maybe it’s just the kid in me but I totally want to make these with or without teaching it to my students.

Maybe it’s because I like making simple puppets, or perhaps it’s because I like combining photos with other things. Perhaps it’s because I just like playing with toys.

You know what? I think it’s all of the above.

But here’s a question for you – if you wanted to make one of these, whose head would you use? A personal hero? Family member? Your own? Let me know with a comment to this post. I’m curious.

(Oh, and I’m still waiting for someone to find the lie. Do you have a guess?)

Academic Aesthetic 155 [ 8:12 ] Play Now | Play in Popup | Download (480)

Today’s show shares some more links, for your listening enjoyment.

• The Podcasting wikis that were sent to me were great, but not quite what Ineed for my presentation. I won’t be reinventing the wheel so much as changing the circumference and tread, I think.
• Want to make a quick paper CD case? I see this as an art lesson waiting to happen.
• This story led me to this story. I think it strikes home more for me because I have been stopped by security while taking photos. I lucked out though – the security guard was also an amateur photographer.
• This Wired article has me questioning the parameters of the study they’re discussing.
• Teachers 2.0 is still looking for a few (more) good writers. Care to join us?

Academic Aesthetic 152 [ 9:48 ] Play Now | Play in Popup | Download (603)

Just audio this time. I have a dentist’s appointment tomorrow and I’m afraid that I will be unable to speak at all afterwards, or at least not well since my face may or may not be numb.

Aaaaaaaaaaaanyway, today’s ‘cast shares three links, all taken from this list of del.icio.us links that include the tag “teachers20.” (The tag was created so that the links could show up automatically in the Teachers2.0 Twitter feed, which is a lot more popular than I am. My creation has usurped me! …. oh well. We also have a Ning site, if you’re into that.)

• How to add Chroma key (green screen effects) to a movie for FREE!
• The Truth About Autism: Scientists Reconsider What They Think They Know
• Liam’s Pictures from Old Books (Thanks, lindiop)