Middle Paged Greatness

The teacher blog that I stumbled upon this week is called "The Middle Pages". It is a blog that is written from the computer lab in Southfield Christian School in Southfield, Michigan. The teacher leading the class, Karen Bosch, is an Apple Distinguished Educator, a PBS Digital Innovator, and an avid Twitter user.
The first tech lesson that stood out to me was, "Selfie Portraits using the SketchbookX (Express) App". In this post, the students learn how to draw their own portrait using the layers tool on the StetchbookX Express app. SketchbookX Express is a fun and intuitive drawing application. Use professional-grade tools and brushes to create doodles, quick sketches or artwork on-the-go. High Quality Brushes and Tools:
• Professional-grade paint engine delivers smooth and precise brush strokes
•15 preset brushes, including pencils, pens, markers and Fill Tool
•SketchBook Store to purchase brush packs
• Draw styles for creating straight lines, rectangles, and circles
• Dynamic symmetric drawing
Layers:
• 3 Layers allowing easy build up of a drawing
• Import layers from Photo Library
• Duplicate, Merge and Reorder Layers
• Move, scale, and rotate layers interactively using Multi-Touch
• Toggle visibility and adjust Layer Opacity
Text:
• Create text with a variety of fonts, colors, sizes and placement.
Colors:
• Color Wheel with HSB and RBG color space
• Eye-dropper color selection
Gallery:
• Store and view work in progress
• Export to Photo Library
• Browse images in full-screen mode
• Professional-grade paint engine delivers smooth and precise brush strokes
•15 preset brushes, including pencils, pens, markers and Fill Tool
•SketchBook Store to purchase brush packs
• Draw styles for creating straight lines, rectangles, and circles
• Dynamic symmetric drawing
Layers:
• 3 Layers allowing easy build up of a drawing
• Import layers from Photo Library
• Duplicate, Merge and Reorder Layers
• Move, scale, and rotate layers interactively using Multi-Touch
• Toggle visibility and adjust Layer Opacity
Text:
• Create text with a variety of fonts, colors, sizes and placement.
Colors:
• Color Wheel with HSB and RBG color space
• Eye-dropper color selection
Gallery:
• Store and view work in progress
• Export to Photo Library
• Browse images in full-screen mode
Through the visual walkthrough, Bosch makes it easy to create these drawings. She shows how to take a picture using the app, add and manipulate layers, and create using different colors and thicknesses of lines. What I found to be the most interesting about the app is the ability to make the work rather detailed and complicated or to make it simple and easy to use for younger students.
This app will be incredibly useful in any classroom to help students become more familiar with editing photos. Students could also use their self-portraits as avatars in our discussion board or blogging community.