January 23, 2014

Dear 223 Families,

Well, the snow sure is piling up this January!  With three snow day cancellations and one scheduled holiday, I will need to adjust the time-table for Unit 6 Visual Literacy.  Both this week, Week 20, and next week, Week 21, students will be completing lessons for L6.35-L6.36 Digital Manipulation.  Students will take a "selfie" using the IPEVO web cam, save it to the pupil network drive, and use 8 photo editing tools to digitally alter their image.  We are using the quote "a picture is worth a thousand words" to guide our Visual Literacy unit, and students will put together a slide show with all of their manipulated images to tell a new story about themselves.

Thank you for your flexibility during our time of winter white (a.k.a. snow).  Please continue to access MOODLE to preview, review, and make-up missed classes.

Sincerely,
Ms. Thackston-Dodge

Week 19

Dear Students and Families,

A new year, new month, new unit.  Our return to BIS brought with it Unit 6, Visual Literacy.  Our unit this month is driven by the quote "a picture is worth a thousand words".  We will begin with two lessons on analyzing images in order to tell the picture's story.  This includes making observations about the photograph (people, objects, actions, and clues about location, time period, and purpose), using captions and context to gain a deeper understanding of the image, and creating meaning and understanding from the image.  Next, students will look at how photographers have represented history during our lesson on Photojournalism, and how advertisers use techniques to influence our consumer purchases during our lesson on Ad Literacy.  Then it will be time for students to use a web cam to take a "selfie" and use a handful of digital manipulation tools to alter their picture--thus changing our perception of reality.  We wrap-up our lessons by learning how to use programs designed to tell a story using pictures--Google Presentation, Prezi, Microsoft PowerPoint, and Photo Story.  February 3-7 is set aside for students to take the Unit 6 Assessment.

Please log onto Moodle to preview, review, and make-up missed ILT assignments.  Our class info can also be found on X2.  Also, be sure to check out our webpage at http://www.barnstable.k12.ma.us/domain/578 for quick access to resources we use in 223 ILT--and look through our class pictures!

Sincerely,
Ms. Thackston-Dodge