The Digital Media Teacher

10/29/2026

Ooooh this one used to get me ALL THE TIME.

Outline mode is my least favorite and it happens ALL THE TIME by accident. You’re student goes to do something in the view menu and the mouse clocks too soon or for some reason they tried ctrl+y and they’ve now “lost everything”

This is a relatively simple fix thankfully but it can feel like the world is ending when they have a deadline!

What issues do you find yourself or your students stuck on a lot in illustrator?

10/27/2026

If you are teaching Photoshop and struggling with verifying student work as their own (and not artificial or stolen) - you need to watch and save this!

First off, this design could have EASILY been made in illustrator and transferred to Photoshop, but artificial intelligence image creation is getting better (watch to the end to see some examples).

The issue here is if a student is creating work in the platform you are teaching and assigning and in this video I show you a few places to check.

Note - this student had not done any work in class so the teacher was wondering how to check for ai use.

My best suggestion for dealing with students who suddenly turn in work but have never shown you their progress in class is to ask them to demonstrate love for you how they made their work or to walk you through step by step, layer by layer. 9/10 they will cave and admit they didn’t do it and that 1/10? They might surprise you with their skills!

👉🏼 Comment below: what are you immediate indicators that a student has turned in work that they did not create or was created in the wrong software?

And, if you found this helpful - share with another teacher! Long videos don’t go out to anyone who isn’t already following me ❤️

10/23/2026

This is such a rewarding activity - even when your students MASSIVELY screw it up 🤣

We are learning about Depth of Field and Aperture in my Photo class right now and I’m thoroughly impressed with the images my students came out with this week!

Many students forgot the KEY point - which is to set their aperture FIRST, but they lined up the shot and after a quick critique - they figured out what they did wrong.

There was a LOT of clapping and cheering in class as we revealed these images and I’ll be printing quite a few for the classroom.

SET UP:
Set your aperture FIRST. Narrower the better, f/16 or higher is usually successful - anything below… not so much.

If you have access to a tripod, USE IT. I didn’t allow my students tripods this round, but they will have another chance! This time I wanted them to experience the consequences of shutter speed and ISO changes.

Use two objects that are SIGNIFICANTLY different sizes

You will need a LOT of room and a TON of light.

TIPS:
Focus your camera just past your closest subject, especially if you are zoomed all the way in. Compression is your friend here.

Zoom all the way out to create a more exaggerated effect for size

Try to remove any kind of objects in the image that will break the illusion or make it obvious the subjects are far apart

Have your subjects face each other or interact in some way.

If you are going to attempt to pinch, step on, catch, stomp, drop etc - have someone ELSE be that prop. Your hand or foot will not get far enough away and/ or be in the exact right spot if you try to use a tripod and timer.

“GO TOUCH GRASS” outside if your FRIEND

Lastly, change your angle! Some of the most successful shots come from laying on the floor - trust the process.

Good luck friends! Tag me if you try this 😊

10/22/2026

I hate putting camera straps on cameras 🤣

Let’s have some fun…

Respond in the comments with GIFs ONLY - How is your school year going so far?

10/16/2026

The first generation of students I taught and this generation are NOT the same. 🤣

The first year I ever taught were so strong and eager and I very rarely had students who didn’t want to be in my class.

Today’s high school students? Very different.

These kids need INSTANT gratification and STRUGGLE with anything that takes more than 3 steps.

The struggle is REAL.

And so is the burn out.

I get it… and you are NOT alone!

I even started a club for us 🤣 we meet monthly to help each other brainstorm solutions and plan out our courses as well as go over new resources I’m developing and adding to the club.

Tonight’s meeting was probably the most productive we’ve had so far! We went over so much - my club members even showed off their notebooks ❤️

If you’re looking for resources to teach Photoshop, want support teaching a new photo or graphics class, or just want professional development opportunities that are specifically designed for digital media teachers…

Comment CLUB and I’ll send you the details.

10/06/2026

I am EXHAUSTED.

Not only did I pre-record videos for my students to be able to follow because they all work at different paces, but I also went over STEP BY STEP with them in class and paused to check everyone’s progress to make sure EVERYONE had the settings for Lightroom correct.

The pure amount of students who:
👉🏼 missed a step
👉🏼 closed the program
👉🏼 had another website or app open to play instead of following along
👉🏼 chose to sleep
👉🏼 didn’t have their images
👉🏼 didn’t import correctly
👉🏼 would not follow a single step EVEN with me standing right behind them
👉🏼 skipping steps and doing it wrong

The list goes on…

What used to be a simple 10-20 minute lesson where I can explain the importance of naming protocols or file management turned into a 40 minute troubleshooting activity where I had to physically check on 20 students who could not or would not stay on task.

It’s not “learned” helplessness, it’s CHOSEN.

They “can’t do it” because it requires more than 2 steps, it’s boring, it’s taking too long, etc. They don’t seem to see me running from student to student providing the SAME help to the student next to them and trying to get both to fix issues at the same time.

Today I’m a TIRED teacher, but tomorrow I will get to see the images they are excited about!

What’s tiring you this week?

10/06/2026

New Photoshop Tutorial Posted! Grab the free template on my website :)

This lesson is for Photography and Photoshop Teachers wanting to in...

10/05/2026

Here’s a photo of the battery, SD card and tripod storage set up!

I store the SD cards in a small tool storage box, the SD card readers are currently on Velcro (not sure how long that will last), the power strips are super long and widely spaced, and the tripods are currently free standing underneath.

Comment “YES” below and I’ll send you the link to my equipment recommendations list where I have all of these listed and more!

09/25/2026

So satisfying 🤤

We are now 4 weeks into our first trimester and about to start using the cameras and I got them all organized JUST in time!

Today I took our yearbook team to the jostens workshop and there was an example of one school using magnets to track camera check out and I LOVED the idea so I will probably do that before too long.

How do you keep your cameras organized / handle check out? Let me know in the comments 😊

09/23/2026

Let’s see how long this lasts 🤣

I much prefer to have an SD card for each student and to be 1:1 with cameras, but we aren’t quite there yet… so it’s 1:2 with cameras, batteries and card readers and 1:4 with SD cards for now!

It can be a struggle to manage cameras when you aren’t one to one and you have multiple students using the same camera in the same class. But having a strong system helps significantly!

What have you found works in your classroom when you’re sharing camera cameras? Let me know in the comments.