identify problem and desired transformation
Learning new skills, especially with new tools, takes practice, patience, and namely, time. In certain classes, students need to not only learn a new tool but be able to gain a proficient skill level in a timely fashion. So what implications does this have for my newspaper class? A relatively new skill that not all students are able to engage in is using Adobe Creative Suite. In journalism, i.e. our school newspaper, I only have a few weeks to actually get students fully prepped and ready to begin producing the paper as there is no introduction to journalism class. When students do not have the right understanding of the programs we use for layout and photography, the execution of the paper can suffer. I need to be able to differentiate instruction for all students in the journalism classroom, but in order to do that a stronger basis of knowledge, or infrastructure, needs to exist.
In order to meet my students at their different levels of learning (some have been on staff for three years and for others this will be their first year), I need to be able to model certain critical elements of Adobe InDesign and Photoshop before they can begin to engage more fully and experiment with other aspects of these programs. Although they all have their own computer in the newsroom, to facilitate deeper understanding of these tools, I would like to be able to have a ceiling-mounted projector and large screen to allow for both direct instruction and thus modeling. This would be best in the small 1-1 classroom in which we are working. The room is too small for a cart, and it needs to be able to be controlled by the teacher’s desktop. This would give both more experienced students and I a chance to clearly, alongside learning students, demonstrate how to begin creating layouts.
In order to meet my students at their different levels of learning (some have been on staff for three years and for others this will be their first year), I need to be able to model certain critical elements of Adobe InDesign and Photoshop before they can begin to engage more fully and experiment with other aspects of these programs. Although they all have their own computer in the newsroom, to facilitate deeper understanding of these tools, I would like to be able to have a ceiling-mounted projector and large screen to allow for both direct instruction and thus modeling. This would be best in the small 1-1 classroom in which we are working. The room is too small for a cart, and it needs to be able to be controlled by the teacher’s desktop. This would give both more experienced students and I a chance to clearly, alongside learning students, demonstrate how to begin creating layouts.