Where was In Design?

Needless to say, my blogs have not been like the rest of the groups. I guess if I'm going to be a good teacher, I had better make sure I have the right instructions and that I read them correctly! Oops.

It has been a crazy semester and its only gonna get worse as we head toward finals. Between working two jobs and a full class load, I am truly amazed my brain is not complete mush.

I have been enjoying my practicum and the students have been wonderful. I enjoy watching the yearbook staff, as they create this book that a lot of students will hold onto for the rest of their lives. I have been learning quit a bit from them as well. I knew going into this observation I was going to be a little behind and was going to have to learn on the fly. It has been almost two years since I last used In Design and features have changed. Though I do have to say that Josten's templates are awesome. It makes it easier for the staff to work on their pages. They just have to go in and pull up the design they need and start inserting pictures and text.

I just have to ask, where was this when I was on yearbook staff in high school. Life would have been so much easier.

But, getting back to In Design, this is not as easy as say Publisher. There are so many more steps that have to be taken to get what you want. Thankfully, they did produce a book on using In Design and my CT was wonderful enough to let me borrow it, so that I could read up on the new features. I have also been looking for a copy of the program, but have not had a whole lot of luck. I may just have to break down and buy an old copy.

Since photography is something I love, I have enjoyed being able to teach the students a little something about it. They are used to the point and shot casual family and friend fun pictures. But now they are starting to look at what pictures are good and what make bad ones. I did a lesson on pictures that go in a dominant spot but happens to run through the gutter of the book. The gutter is what we call the center of the book where the two facing pages come together at the spin. Basically explaining to them that they don't want people to be cut in half or have their faces buried in the gutter of the book. Number one, it doesn't look good and number two, I don't think that person would be to pleased with the picture. They have started to become more aware of these types of things and I have been asked a bunch if this is a good picture or if that picture would look better. It's been fun.

Well, the semester is winding down and like all students I am looking forward to Christmas Break. I could use a little break before coming back next semester and student teaching. Here's hoping!!!!