Episode #9 - Sketches School

SHOW NOTES:

Sketches School App Link

Everyone Can Create Drawing from Apple Education

If you like this podcast, consider supporting it by going to buymeacoffee.com/talouis and pledging your contribution to the one-five.

TRANSCRIPT: (Full Transcript Link)

Hello and welcome to episode number nine of the one-five. I am your podcast hostess - Tricia Louis - the self-designated tech goddess and I will be coming to you weekly in this audio podcast format with great edtech tools, tips, and tricks.

In this week’s episode, I will be talking about an iPad app called Sketches School. Actually the long name of it is Tayasui Sketches School, but for brevity, we will just call it Sketches School. 

Sketches School is a drawing app for the iPad that hits the big three with me for iPad apps. The big 3 being: 1. Free - this is a free app, so you don’t have to worry about budget, 2. No Ads - There are no inappropriate ads to disrupt work in the app, and 3. No In-App Purchases - sometimes with free apps you are limited to what you can use, but that is not the case in sketches school - the whole app is unlocked for the price of free. Actually, there is a bonus to the Big 3 for sketches school - no sign-in/account needed to use the app. This makes it the perfect drawing app to include on ipads for students of all ages.

Once you get the app, you will notice its simplicity. You can organize your drawings into different notebooks if you want (but that is not necessary). When you get ready to start a drawing you can start from a blank white page or choose different backgrounds or “paper type” and you can even start with an image from your photos app as the background.

Once you have your page setup, you have entered the app. The pen tools are along the left hand side - you have pencil, pen, marker, paint, pastel, acrylic, watercolor, and what always seems the student favorite is airbrush. Be sure to have volume up on your device when using the different pen tools - they actually make the sounds as well when you use them - how neat is that? You also have some text/shape options, eraser, the knife/cutting tool, and my favorite artist tool “smudge” - so you can blend those ‘inks’ together. Inside the ruler tool you can choose to draw with a variety of symmetry, you can draw lines, and bring up a ruler (great for math lessons).

The pen size and the ink color choosers are along the right side so there are a ton of different options there.

Across the top you have a menu under the ellipse that contains different settings, import/export tools, and even a screen recording tool (with microphone) - a great way for teachers in lots of disciplines to make video lessons! Also at the top you can connect an apple pencil, but that is not needed to make this app work. And finally you will see a small grid - that will return you to the new project/new notebook screen.

Sketches school is even highlighted in the Everyone Can Create Drawing book from Apple Education. The link to this free e-book is in the show notes.

I also see sketches school as a great entry tool into drawing for students before they graduate to more complex drawing apps like procreate.

Overall, if you are looking for a quality drawing app for your ipad, I highly recommend sketches school. Download it and start to play with all of the drawing tools and you will see how it can become a powerful application in your learning environment.

If you have any questions about the content shared in this podcast, you are free to contact me at any time through the contact me section on my website - tricialouis.com.

If you like this podcast, consider supporting it by going to buymeacoffee.com/talouis and pledging your contribution to the one-five.

Keep in mind the information shared on this podcast may take additional clearances from your tech department to work properly in your district, school, or classroom. I have vetted all of the information  shared on this podcast and it is available and/or correct on the date the podcast is originally published. But, remember that services, sites, or products can change or become unavailable without a lot of notice. 

Thanks for listening and join me next week for another episode of the one five!

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