Story Board for Instructional Video

Click here to see my story board.

Google Sketch-Up

Oh my goodness! This is such a cool program, but it took me forever to make such a simple room. I built the room one plain at a time and found that it was difficult to be sure everything lined up. You have to use the tricks taught in the tutorials and check to make sure you actually do what you think you are doing. Objects are easier or more difficult to move and size depending on what angle and position you are in. The orbit tool is essential to making sure everything as it appears.

The main focus of this design was to create a floor layout. This a project I would give to my advanced Interior Design students. To make it easier on them, I would create a few empty rooms for them to choose from and then they could find the furniture. In addition to furniture assignments, I could have them mess around with the colors they pick for the room and the materials they choose for the flooring. Each of these projects would lend well to a short write-up explaining why they picked what they did in terms of the elements and principles of design. By the end of the year students would have a really nice portfolio, perhaps of their dream home.

Here are the standards it would fill:

Objective 4: Discuss how interiors are affected by furniture arrangements and traffic patterns.

1.      Using a floor plan and templates, arrange furniture for an apartment or home
2.   .    Discuss the traffic patterns developed by furniture arrangement

Objective 2: Discuss the basic elements and principles of design.

1.      Describe the effect of color on shape, size, feelings, and moods
2.      Identify color preferences and combine color combinations to form color schemes 

Picasa & Teaching FACS

This technology would be handy and fun to use in FACS education. I feel like I could use it to be a more effective teacher and that the students could use it to enhance their learning and demonstrate understanding. I have already mentioned using Picasa collages as posters for the students to use. I could also use it to make step by step reminders of cooking or sewing processes. If I have a poor quality picture this program can enhance and clarify it to a great degree.

The before and after pictures could be used by student to show me they cleaned and rearranged their bedrooms or closets or before and after they added principles and elements of fashion to their wardrobe. Thus they would satisfy the objective to understand and apply basic principles and elements of design.

Specifically, objective two for FACS education states: Discuss the basic elements and principles of design. 

a: Describe the effect of color on shape, size, feelings, and moods

Students could easily manipulate the color and shape of photos in Picasa. I would have them take one picture of an interior or face and adjust its exposure, contrast, and color. Then write about how it changed the mood and feeling of the the picture.

Overall, I am excited to keep exploring and figuring out ways I can use Picasa in my classroom and instruction.

Picture Edit

The edits to this picture were simple, but look at the difference!! What pie would you rather eat? I adjusted the exposure, highlights, and shadows. The result is a much warmer and inviting photograph. After cropping half the pie out of the frame, I added the text: "Homemade: from apples to cust". I would use the end picture in a classroom recipe book, as a lesson visual, or as decoration in a frame. Visual aides increase learning and memory. In food, visual stimulation increases/decreases appetite.

Picasa Picture Cluster

This poster is something I would hang up in my classroom during the Fashion Strategies section of the curriculum. Teaching teens about style, fashion houses, body shapes, and fads is fun, but it also has the potential to negatively increase an individual's self conciousness. The poster would be a reminder that we are what we believe we are and an invitation to think of ourselves in postive light. It would also be a sample of a project the students would do at the end of the unit. Objective six of the FACS curriculum prescribes a discuss of how fashion is a means of communication and expression of one's self. After teaching this unit, I would have students identify a personal style and explain what they think it communicates about them. They would create a collage or poster in Picasa to explain it to the class.