week 2 class recap

Okay, besides the fact that I am beyond annoyed with Blogger right now because I typed up 500 words and it wouldn't publish it, let me copy it, let me save it, or anything I will re-blog about last class. My only option was to delete and retype. This makes me resistant to mandated blogs but I obviously have no choice but to retype the entire thing. It might be more abrasive this time because i am irritated but you'll survive.

This class was all about photos real or hoax? We, as a class, we through wayyyyyyyy more photos than necessary and determined if they were real or not. This activity was fun but I think 5 or 6 photos is enough, we certainly don't need to waste time looking through an hours worth of Internet photos but we did. We then watched as a Photoshop picture came together and after that was done we finally were allowed to get our hands dirty and start on our assignments. We merged three separate photos into one and posted in on Flickr. I found Photoshop to be what I expected, functional with more buttons than I needed and not quiet enough options to the few functions I used most often. For example the lasso functions would be far more  user friendly if you could un-click your last point to re-position it more accurately instead of having to re-outline the entire thing. As for classroom use, I don't think it's for me. I might employ it to create things for my classroom but only if they aren't too time consuming and I can't find a different resource. As for student use, its fun to play with but necessarily a functional teaching tool. I can see having part of an assignment be to create some sort of visual representation but the Photoshop part would be purely superficial and wouldn't meet any CCSS. I can only envision the use of this application in Health but still the actual Photoshop part wouldn't be academic. The assignment would quickly become how to use and manipulate Photoshop and I know this is unreasonable with all the demands placed on teachers and student learning. I mean we cant even celebrate Halloween, why would we waste time playing on Photoshop?

I can see the need to help children decipher an interpret the images they are bombarded with but it is unreasonable to think that the kids in the classroom have never realized that pictures can be fake and that media and people lie to get their way. Children are perceptive and insightful to society and the way people behave around them. Parents also use commercials and the Internet as teaching opportunities to talk about the different ways media tries to influence people and help their children to understand and make choices based on this information. I think this can be supplemented in the classroom but not worth a lesson plan solely on real or hoax online photos.

As for Photoshop, I am likely to not ever use it again or I could end up doctoring every photo I take from here on out, but not likely. I appreciate the chance to experience it though and every should go and play around a little bit.