 Subject:ELA, Fine Arts, Technology
Grade Level: 6-8
Materials: Computers with Internet access, LCD projector, screen, Appleworks Word Process, PowerPoint, Word, Photoshop, iPhoto, digital camera, scanner or photo elements, and a color printer
About: Students learn all aspects of Word or AppleWorks Word Processing for the art of typography, which is the process of setting and arranging of type/letters in different sizes, points, styles, fonts, and colors. The students learn about percentages of black: 100% (darkest) to 0% (lightest)and shades known as the grayscale. This method creates a disappearing effect. The students use typography and theme poems to "paint a picture" in words. Theme poetry includes one word that is used throughout the titles of the four poems that the students create. The word can reveal different meanings throughout the poems. After the poems are finished, the students either take digital pictures of images that portray their poems or use the Internet for pictures that relate to their poems. The pictures are altered with Gradient Maps and Filters by the students using Photoshop to send a powerful message to the reader. Gradient maps are a blending of multiple shades of color. These maps give a specified color to fill the images and shadows of a photograph. Sometimes the colors are complementary. Fliters can be artistic, distort, pixelate, blur, brush, sketch, style, and texture etc. If the students want to create a web page, they can save it Word as a web page or AppleWorks, format html. Through this project, students are introduced to the world of advertising and publishing. These methods are used throughout newspapers, magazines, and books. The use of Photoshop creates images that are used for photojournalism.
Students create four pieces of poetry using typography and spport them with four photographs. These photographs coincide with the poems and are altered in Photoshop to send a message to the reader.
This project introduces the worlds of advertising and photojournalism as a career alternative. It blends text and pictures, which enhances the message. It allows students to be extremely creative.
I recommend modeling the project for the class. Demonstrate the powerful message of pictures and text when they are combined together from magazines. The words that are easy to work with are: ring, darkness, waves, shattered, reveal, emotions, crushed, broken, together, joined, etc. They can show different meanings.
| Students acquire knowledge of the various programs/applications that are used in technology. |
| Students use their imagination and creativity to produce their own original poems. |
| Students create poems using the same word throughout their four poems. They will understand how the meaning of the theme word can change from poem to poem. |
| Students develop an understanding of how points, style, percentages of black, and fonts create visual imagery. |
| Students interpret their writings into pictures, then alter their picture to send a powerful message to the reader. |
| Students obtain knowledge in the subject area of typography, which is used in all print advertisements and publications. |
| Students develop skills in photojournalism. |
| Students realize the importance of advertising, writing, and photojournalism as a career. |
| Students expand their knowledge about color theory and how it relates to the visual learner. |
| Students design an educational product: the website that can by used by other people. |
| This website explains the art and history of typography. It shows the different fonts, styles, and points and how typography can relate a message. |
| http://redsun.com/type |
| I found that the web style guide describes the use of fonts. There is an explanation of the different families of fonts, including sans serif and page alignment. Many publishers use this for journals, writings, music, etc. |
| http://webstyleguide.com/type/index/html |
| Wikipedia is very student-friendly and easy to interpret, and includes links to sites that go into further detail. In the area of typography, the links include fine art, publishing, and the world of advertising. |
| http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tyographyhttp://kodak.com |
| This website explains basic, intermediate, and advanced desktop publishing, depending upon your class. It explains the rule of dividing your photograph in thirds. |
| http:// desktoppub.about.com/csbasic/g/typography.htm |
| Poetry Magic shows all types of poems and how writing can help express emotions and feelings. It can be very detailed, but has excellent examples. |
| http://poetrymagic.co.uk/therapy.html |
| The Poetry Express website gives the reader excellent tips on how to write poetry. There are samples of the poetry with the different figures of speech that are needed to write all types of poems. |
| http://poetryexpress.org |
| The National Press Association is open to student journalism and advisers of newspapers, magazines, and yearbooks. They have conferences and workshops that are held around the United States. Membership is open to students and advisers of publications. They provide students with other student work and critiques. |
| http://nppa.org |
| Pics4learning is student-friendly, free, and has appropriate pictures for students to use for their project. |
| www.pics4learning.com |
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| Students access, generate, process, and transfer information using appropriate technologies. |
| grades: 6 ,7, and 8 |
| Technology MST2 |
| Students understand the relationships and common themes that connect mathematics, science, and technology and apply the themes to these and others areas of learning. |
| Technology Standard 6 |
| grades: 6, 7, and 8 |
| Students will read, write, listen, and speak for information and understanding. |
| English Language Arts |
| grades: 6, 7, and 8 |
| Students read, write, listen. and speak for critical analysis and evaluation. |
| English |
| grades: 6, 7, and 8 |
| Students are knowledgeable about and make use of the materials and resources available for participation in the arts in various roles. |
| The Arts |
| grades: 6, 7, and 8 |
| Students develop an understanding of the personal and cultural forces that shape artistic communicatin and how the arts in turn shape the diverse cultures of past and present society. |
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| Students develop their poetry skills by using websites provided by the teacher on how to write poetry. |
| Students recognize a theme word. |
| Students learn how to write poems using a theme word. |
| Students interpret and visualize theme words to create a picture. |
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| LCD projector, screen, computer with either AppleWorks Word or Microsoft Word software |
| Teacher models and shows samples of the four poems with pictures. There is a "start up" list of 10 words that students can actually visualize. The words can be: broken, shattered, mirror, reflection, apart, together, ring, squeeze, smashed, giggle, and roar. |
| Students can use a notebook and pen or computer to take notes. |
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| Students are introduced to poems by using one theme word and websites that are provided by the teacher. The teacher models the poems and theme word. |
| Students identify a theme word to use for their poems. Some words that students can use are: ring, broken, waves, up, around, crushed, apart, together, etc. |
| Students start to write their poems, using four to five lines. They should have a title with the theme word throughout the four poems with four to five lines of the poem. The last line should close the entire poem. |
| Students should make sure that they have words that they can "experiment" with for their poems. This means that the word, for example, "extend" can actually extend by using the space bar between the letters and can be made smaller to larger characters (letters) by points. The word "mirror" allows the student to make a mirror image of the word. MirrorrorriM, apart, a p a r t, etc. |
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| Students create or finish their four poems. The poems consist of four to five lines, using the same theme word in the title. Each poem can have a different meaning. |
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| Assessment by teacher rubric. |
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| Day 2: Points, Styles and Percentages Send The Message |
| Students acquire knowledge in the subject of typography by visiting websites bookmarked by the teacher. |
| Students distinguish the difference in percentages of black and the role that it plays in the world of advertising. |
| Students write their original poems using the different points, percentages of black, styles, and fonts. |
| Students examine the different styles of type and analyze their message/meaning. |
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| Computer with Internet access and the use of typography websites |
| Microsoft Word or Appleworks Word Processing software. Teacher samples of the words in the different points and percentages of black. The students will be able to brainstorm many different ideas from the samples. |
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| Students are introduced to points. Points are the size (height) of the characters (letters). Characters can range from 12- 72 points. The title on all four poems should be 36 points. The poems should be typed in 24 points. |
| Students choose the different point size of the theme word and other words that they want to emphasize to their reader. For example, the word "discover." The "di" can be 12 points, the "sc" can be in 14 points, "ov" can be in 18 points, and "er" can be in 24 points as if the word is growing or going from smaller to larger. This effect can be reversed. The effect can also start from the middle of the word. The students can experiment with the words until they create the impression or picture that they want to send their reader. |
| Students illustrate their poem in words by using the different styles once they finished their four-to-five-line poem. They choose words that want to emphasis or reinforce the meaning of the poem or theme word. The words can be bold, outlined, shadowed, subscript up, subscript down, condensed, or extended. |
| The teacher illustrates the percentages of black. Black being 100% and white being 0%. while gray is 50%. The percentages of black can give a word a disappearing look. This method will enhance the poems and send a message to the reader. |
| Students differentiate between the various fonts and styles that they will use in their message to the reader. |
| Students write their poems. |
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| Students rewrite their poems using the different points, fonts, and percentages of black. They finish writing their poems using the points, styles, and percentages of black. |
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| Assessment by teacher rubric. |
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| Day 3: Fun With Photoshop |
| Students develop the essential skills needed for the Photoshop application. |
| Students investigate the different filters they can use in Photoshop. |
| Students design a new look for their pictures using the gradient maps. |
| Students explore the art of photography and taking digital pictures. |
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| Computers, Photoshop or Photo Elements, Internet or digital camera and USB cable for connecting the camera to the computer; LCD projector and screen to show the students the pictures when altered in Photoshop or Photo Element |
| Teacher samples of several pictures with different-angle shots |
| Teacher samples of several pictures with and without the filters and gradients. Students recognize the power of Photoshop and how the picture can have a "new" meaning once a filter or filters and gradient maps are placed on the picture. |
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| Students upload pictures either with the digital camera to Photoshop or use pics4learning. |
| Students develop their own technique of taking pictures by using depth, angles, and composition. They should preview http:// desktoppub.about.com/csbasic/g/typography.htm to understand the many ways to capture their image. |
| Students examine the various ways they can alter their photograph by placing the different filters over the photograph, and discover that they can use two to three filters on one photo. |
| Students enrich their knowledge of photojournalism by using gradient maps and filters to create a powerful photograph. |
| Students explore the ways they can change their photograph with gradient maps. They discover the simple, noise, grayscale mapping, dither, reverse, color harmonies, metals, pastels, and special effects. |
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| Students think about what pictures they will choose for their poems. They must remember to match their text and pictures together to produce a powerful message to the reader. |
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| Assessment by teacher rubric. |
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| Day 4: Pictures Tell The Story |
| Students visualize and analysis their pictures that they are going to use for the project. |
| Student coordinate their poems with their pictures to send their message to the reader. |
| Students evaluate their work with the poems and pictures to see that they work together. |
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| LCD projector, screen, computers, Photoshop or Photo Elements, color printer, digital camera and USB cable |
| Microsoft Word or Appleworks Word Processing Program |
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| Students alter their pictures in Photoshop to match their poetry. |
| Students investigate the different filters and gradients in Photoshop on their photo for their poem. |
| Students match the gradients and filters to adjust their pictures. |
| Students revise their poems with the typography and the percentages of black to match their photos. |
| Students prepare their pages by resizing the finished photo with the filters and gradients, leaving it on their desktop. Once the word processing program is open, the student drag the pictures from the desktop to the poems. They resize the picture to fit the page. |
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| Students combine and complete their pictures and poems together. |
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| Assessment by teacher rubric. |
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| Day 5: The Entire Story Comes Together |
| Students analyze their poems and pictures to draw a conclusion about their message to the reader. |
| Students share their work with their peers. |
| Students can produce a website, depending on the students expertise by saving their work as a web page or AppleWorks html to showcase their work. |
| Students create a jpg in Appleworks Draw to host their work onto a web design page. |
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| LCD projector, computers, screen, Photoshop, Photoshop Elements, Color Printer, Paper, Appleworks Word Processing, And Appleworks Draw |
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| The students present their work to the class. The class evaluates the work using a rubric created by the class and teacher. |
| If the students want to create a web page, they can save it in Word as a web page or AppleWorks format html. |
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| Assessment by teacher rubric |
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Rosalie Cooper
rcooper7@schools.nyc.gov
Elizabeth Blackwell MS 210 Queens
93-11 101st Avenue
Ozone Park, NY 11416
Rosalie Cooper has been teaching in the New York City Public School System for over 30 years at the middle-school level. Over the years, she has won numerours grants including the UFT Mini, Learning Technology, Disseminator, and Impact. Her classes were featured on "Five Alive", from Region Five in 2006. She was the yearbook advisor for 15 years and has judged yearbooks from the United States for CSPA and NSPA since 1991. She is a Gold Key Recipient from Columbia Scholastic Press Association. At present she teaches technology in the Mac Lab.
Important documents for this lesson plan.
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