Image Tools and Teaching

After looking at the image tools, there are so many possibilities to use these in the classroom.  Foldplay seems like a very cool place to try a variety of activities.  I really like the idea of kaleidoscopes as part of the curriculum.  As an English teacher, my mind always goes to literary elements, but the kaleidoscope could be used in about any setting.  Math students could explain the steps of an equation using the kaleidoscope or the foldbook.  I can also see lessons that would be applicable to other subjects explaining a definition, scientific process, or a country.

Image Chef is also loaded with ideas.  I clicked on the meme maker and immediately thought of a colleague who uses these memes to review for the World History SOL.  Students love memes and having them make some of their own as a way of reviewing information or explaining content to another student would help them utilize information in a new way.  The signs and notes would also be a good idea for students to make early in the year explaining the classroom rules.  Most schools have color printers and laminating machines to place them around the room.  It would be a nice way for a librarian to introduce his or her students to the library rules.

Tuxpi

Matney, S. (2015). Butterfly. CC-BY-NC

This image was created with the help of Tuxpi.  I took this picture outside my husband's art gallery. My students are currently studying media literacy and looking at the power of an image, and, as Garr Reynolds (2014) emphasizes, the power of images to tell a story.  There is a great TED talk by Jonathan Klein called "Photos that Changed the World."  My students and I always have great discussions once we start discussing the importance of a picture.  Here is the link:  http://www.ted.com/talks/jonathan_klein_photos_that_changed_the_world?language=en 

This tool could be used in the classroom in a multitude of ways.  I frequently use collages with my high school students to analyze theme and character from a novel, story, or poem.  An online collage, with citations of course, would be another tool we could utilize.  Instead of simply listing themes, choosing powerful images to show that theme or how a character changes throughout the story would elevate the lesson.

 Reynolds, G. (2014). Presentation Zen design: A simple visual approach to presenting in today's world (Second ed.). New Riders.

Creative Commons Image

As I was looking through some pictures online for our upcoming trip to Provincetown, MA, pictures for the Lobster Pot restaurant kept popping up.  Yum!  It looks like it shouldn't be missed.

Lobster Pot by David Gallagher (CC BY-NC-SA 2.0)., retrieved from https://www.flickr.com/photos/anythreewords/4135633829/

This Taxgedo is pulled from the words on my blog page and put into the shape of one of the best things in life: dogs.

Here is a wordle I composed exploring the world of reading.

Welcome, all!  This is my first attempt at blogging, and I am excited to use it as I learn techniques and skills to become a school librarian.

The font I chose is Open Sans, a sans serif font, mostly because Reynolds (2014) recognized how these "fonts work better on computer screens as they lack the counter strokes and thin lines of the serif typefaces that can be hard to read at low resolutions" (p. 40).

As far as the layout, I also like designs that are simple and clean without distorting the message through additional clutter.  "Design is about making things clear with as much economy and simplicity as possible" (Reynolds, 2014, p. 15).

Enjoy, and I look forward to many discussions to come!

 Reynolds, G. (2014). Presentation Zen design: A simple visual approach to presenting in today's world (Second ed.). New Riders.