COCONUT CREEK, Florida—Many of the freshmen who sign up for Ann Ayers's beginning art class think it's going to be an easy elective. Then she gives an assignment that dashes their expectations. "I tell them: Look in the mirror and draw a portrait of yourself. They get nervous and upset. You can see the look on their faces," she says. Ayers isn't surprised by the reaction. "Students at this age are self-conscious about their work. Most of them haven't taken an art class for several years, so they haven't acquired the skills needed to draw a self-portrait."

Ayers doesn't let them flounder for long. Rather, the quick self-portrait exercise sets up a longer assignment that involves using digital photography and photo editing software to teach some of the skills involved in making portraits. "Once they've struggled with drawing self-portraits on their own, I suggest they try using some tools that will help them," Ayers explains. Using both technology and hand drawing, students create self-portraits in the style of Andy Warhol. The unit also weaves in art history and art appreciation. Students wind up feeling successful and excited about art, rather than frustrated and fearful.

Ayers explains the project she calls "Pop Portraits" on the Digital Edge Learning Interchange (http://ali.apple.com/ali_sites/deli/nav5.shtml*), an online library of videotaped unit plans and supporting materials that demonstrate effective teaching with technology. All Digital Edge teachers have been certified by the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards (NBPTS). Teachers go through go a rigorous process to earn certification, including video studies of their classroom practices and an examination of student work samples.

Ayers developed the self-portrait project while teaching at Coral Springs High School. She just moved to a brand-new school in South Florida called Monarch High. Now in her thirty-first year of teaching, Ayers has been finding ways to integrate technology into her teaching since she bought her first home computer nearly 20 years ago and watched her own children take to the equipment. She saw the potential of technology to engage learners and ever since, she's been learning to use new technologies and encouraging her teaching colleagues to put their classroom computers and other gear to effective use.

Digital photography has been part of Ayers's art classes for several years. "It's a natural for teaching animation," she explains. At Monarch High, her beginning art students "have been using digital cameras since day one. They know they will come back to the cameras again and again. It's not something they learn once and never touch again."

In the portrait unit, for example, students first take photos of one another. Then, students use imaging software to manipulate their portraits. They turn color shots into black and white images, reduce the number of shades of gray to create high contrasts, then make laser prints.

Next, Ayers teaches students to enlarge their photos by using grids and hand drawing methods. Using a grid as an enlargement technique helps students overcome a common drawing error. Typically, beginning artists get stuck when they attempt to draw portraits because they don't look for lines, shapes, and shadows. Instead, they try too hard to draw noses, eyes, ears, and other parts of the face that have names. "I decided to show them how to stop 'naming' parts of their face by breaking down their faces using a grid," Ayers explains. Students divide their photos into grids, then copy what they see into the larger grids on drawing paper. "Students copy simple shapes in small increments," Ayers explains. They learn to draw what they really see, rather than what they think a proper drawing of a nose should look like.

Monarch High is a smaller-than-average school by Florida standards. It opened with 1,000 students and will grow to include about 1,500. Ayers says she was attracted by the school's technology infrastructure, such as mobile labs of laptops, and the principal's expectation that teachers will incorporate technology into their lessons. "At this school, teachers are expected to use technology, and they want to. They see the benefits," Ayers says. So while she's teaching her students to use digital cameras and editing software, she's also teaching some of her colleagues. That's fine with Ayers. As she says, "My classroom is a learning place. Everyone learns from each other."

To watch a video of Ayers explaining her "Pop Portraits" unit, go to Digital Edge (http://ali.apple.com/ali_sites/deli/ nav5.shtml*).

Photos courtesy of the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards and Digital Edge Learning Interchange. Digital Edge is sponsored by NBPTS, the International Society for Technology in Education (ISTE), Apple Computer, and AT&T.