I’ve recently spent a few hours cleaning up my iPhoto library. This included adding proper image titles, keywords, updating Places and Faces info, deleting duplicates (and redundant photos in general), as well as deleting albums, smart folders, and slideshows that have outlived their usefulness. Here are a few tricks I discovered that aren’t documented by Apple, and apparently little-known on the web.

Did you know know you can compare an edited photo to the unedited original? This only works in iPhoto’s Edit mode. In Edit mode, simply hold down the Shift key and you’ll see the photo in all its pure, unedited glory.

Also in Edit mode, it’s possible to quickly zoom in on a particular area of a photo. Simply hover your mouse pointer over the area of interest, and then press the 1 key to zoom to 100 percent in, or press the 2 key for a 200% view. Jump back to fit to view by pressing the 0 key.

Want to hide certain photos in your iPhoto library, but don’t want to actually delete them? Simply right-click (or Control-click) on the secret photos and select “Hide Photo” at the bottom of the list. If you want to see your hidden photos, select View > Hidden Files in the iPhoto menu bar.

I like Faces (though it’s not always amazingly accurate) in iPhoto ’09. Did you know you can change a person’s Key Photo in Faces? This is the photo that shows on the Faces corkboard. To do this, open a photo of the person in Faces. Right-click on the image you want to be the key photo and choose “Make Key Photo.”

You can also scroll your mouse over the Key Photo in Face’s corkboard view, and while the photos are flipping through, click the space bar on the photo of your choice. That will be the person’s new Key Photo.

Here are some more tips about Faces, from Macworld magazine.

I also enjoy Places, iPhoto ’09’s geotagging feature. It’s fun to see my photos on a map. iPhone photos are automatically geotagged, but my other cameras lack a built-in geotagging tool. It’s easy to manually add this information to a photo, but it’s a chore to do this for a big batch of photos.

However, I discovered that it is possible to copy Places information from photo to photo. Simply select a photo that has been tagged with the correct information, right-click (or control-click) on it and choose “Copy” from the contextual menu. Now select your batch of untagged photos, right-click (or control click) on them, and choose “Paste Location.” Now they all share the same location information.

When you delete a photo from your iPhoto library, it goes into iPhoto’s trash. This gives you a margin for error if you accidentally delete a photo. Over time, iPhoto’s trash can fill up with hundreds or even thousands of photos, stealing gigabytes of space from your hard drive. To see the contents of iPhoto’s trash, click on the trash can icon in the left panel of the iPhoto interface. In iPhoto 09, it’s under the “Recent” header. To empty the trash, click on iPhoto > Empty iPhoto Trash in iPhoto’s menu bar at the top of the screen.

Did you know know you can compare an edited photo to the unedited original? This only works in iPhoto’s Edit mode. In Edit mode, simply hold down the Shift key and you’ll see the photo in all its pure, unedited glory.

Also in Edit mode, it’s possible to quickly zoom in on a particular area of a photo. Simply hover your mouse pointer over the area of interest, and then press the 1 key to zoom to 100 percent in, or press the 2 key for a 200% view. Jump back to fit to view by pressing the 0 key.

Want to hide certain photos in your iPhoto library, but don’t want to actually delete them? Simply right-click (or Control-click) on the secret photos and select “Hide Photo” at the bottom of the list. If you want to see your hidden photos, select View > Hidden Files in the iPhoto menu bar.

I like Faces (though it’s not always amazingly accurate) in iPhoto ’09. Did you know you can change a person’s Key Photo in Faces? This is the photo that shows on the Faces corkboard. To do this, open a photo of the person in Faces. Right-click on the image you want to be the key photo and choose “Make Key Photo.”

You can also scroll your mouse over the Key Photo in Face’s corkboard view, and while the photos are flipping through, click the space bar on the photo of your choice. That will be the person’s new Key Photo.

Here are some more tips about Faces, from Macworld magazine.

I also enjoy Places, iPhoto ’09’s geotagging feature. It’s fun to see my photos on a map. iPhone photos are automatically geotagged, but my other cameras lack a built-in geotagging tool. It’s easy to manually add this information to a photo, but it’s a chore to do this for a big batch of photos.

However, I discovered that it is possible to copy Places information from photo to photo. Simply select a photo that has been tagged with the correct information, right-click (or control-click) on it and choose “Copy” from the contextual menu. Now select your batch of untagged photos, right-click (or control click) on them, and choose “Paste Location.” Now they all share the same location information.

When you delete a photo from your iPhoto library, it goes into iPhoto’s trash. This gives you a margin for error if you accidentally delete a photo. Over time, iPhoto’s trash can fill up with hundreds or even thousands of photos, stealing gigabytes of space from your hard drive. To see the contents of iPhoto’s trash, click on the trash can icon in the left panel of the iPhoto interface. In iPhoto 09, it’s under the “Recent” header. To empty the trash, click on iPhoto > Empty iPhoto Trash in iPhoto’s menu bar at the top of the screen.

Introducing PBworks Summer Camp

Want to build the ultimate classroom wiki and have it ready for the start of the fall semester? Join us for our third annual PBwiki Summer Camp (it's free!)

We know that a lot of educators have heard about wikis but just aren’t sure how to use them in the classroom. In PBworks Summer Camp you will learn the best way to structure your classroom site, engage your students with audio and video and connect with experienced mentors.

At the end of the program, Campers who have followed the program receive a free premium workspace for the school year and some fun swag along the way.  

Training is from June 21st - July 2oth and consists of live weekly lessons, homework and hands on help from our mentors.  This training is limited, so sign up now!

Here's what people had to say about Summer Camp:

"This course is incredible and the amount of info is overwhelming :) not in a bad way”

“I want to learn as much as I can about the “free” tools available to educators. This weeks resources page is amazing! I’ve heard and used some of the tools but will make use of many more by they end of the camp. This is awesome!”

“Thank you for all the tools and information you are providing. It is a tremendous help and is saving me a plethora of hours trying to find Internet tools to use in the classroom. I so appreciate what you’re doing.” -p.c.ames

Sign up for PBworks Summer Camp

Introducing PBworks Summer Camp

Want to build the ultimate classroom wiki and have it ready for the start of the fall semester? Join us for our third annual PBwiki Summer Camp (it's free!)

We know that a lot of educators have heard about wikis but just aren’t sure how to use them in the classroom. In PBworks Summer Camp you will learn the best way to structure your classroom site, engage your students with audio and video and connect with experienced mentors.

At the end of the program, Campers who have followed the program receive a free premium workspace for the school year and some fun swag along the way.  

Training is from June 21st - July 2oth and consists of live weekly lessons, homework and hands on help from our mentors.  This training is limited, so sign up now!

Here's what people had to say about Summer Camp:

"This course is incredible and the amount of info is overwhelming :) not in a bad way”

“I want to learn as much as I can about the “free” tools available to educators. This weeks resources page is amazing! I’ve heard and used some of the tools but will make use of many more by they end of the camp. This is awesome!”

“Thank you for all the tools and information you are providing. It is a tremendous help and is saving me a plethora of hours trying to find Internet tools to use in the classroom. I so appreciate what you’re doing.” -p.c.ames

Sign up for PBworks Summer Camp

How should we teach our future teachers?

Some leaders want to standardize training for the next generation

SEATTLE - Hemant Mehta's formal training taught him how to write a lesson plan and how public schooling began in the U.S., but it was useless when it came to keeping order in the classroom and getting students to pay attention.

To get through his first year teaching math to high school students in Naperville, Ill., the 27-year-old needed help from Twitter, math blogs on the Internet, TV sitcoms and experienced teachers down the hall.

"The ideas there are so much better than my formal training," Mehta said. For example, he discovered that students learn a lot more math when they're having fun, playing games or watching video clips.

"It's complicated in the United States because we don't as a country agree that teachers need much preparation," said Suzanne Wilson, chair of teacher education at Michigan State University. "We're deeply divided on this as a country."

Educators say much is being left out of teachers' lesson plan — from keeping kids engaged to leading a meaningful class discussion and using student test data to assess when students are ready to move on.

Mehta would add to the list: motivating kids to do their homework, dealing with parents, reading a teacher contract, using classroom technology like smart boards that are both white boards and giant computer screens, and whether it's OK to accept friend requests from students on Facebook.

In a speech to Columbia University's Teachers College last fall, Education Secretary Arne Duncan said the federal government would be investing in the reform of teacher training programs as part of the reauthorization of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act.

"We should be studying and copying the practices of effective teacher preparation programs — and encouraging the lowest performers to shape up or shut down," Duncan said.

Duncan said that despite evidence that teachers are not being prepared for the reality of the classroom, teacher education programs have been resistant to change, and states have been reluctant or unprepared to use student test data to track which colleges are producing the most effective teachers.

Pam Grossman, professor of curriculum and teacher education at Stanford University, says the pendulum swings back and forth between a focus on craft and theory in teacher education. Is it more important for a teacher to know how to get first-graders to sound out words or should they be knowledgeable about why some kids learn to read in kindergarten and others don't figure it out until second grade?

"It really is that integration of knowing how and why," Grossman said. The trend in teacher education is toward adding more of the practical instruction, but she has ideas for making more progress.

It sounds simple and pragmatic, but many teacher candidates never practice these skills until they enter a classroom for the first time. What would a parent think if they knew a nurse hadn't practiced sticking a hypodermic needle into an orange and other nursing students before sticking one in her child?

Doug Lemov, who runs Uncommon Schools, a charter school management nonprofit based in New York, is sure that teachers can be taught great techniques. His new step-by-step instruction book, "Teach Like a Champion," was an unpublished hit for years, passed out at workshops and sought by teachers who wanted to fill in gaps in their training.

Lemov gets down to the nitty gritty of classroom life, like teaching kids to pass papers more efficiently. Lemov figures students pass papers and materials 20 times a day. If they learn to do it a minute faster, their teacher gains 20 minutes of learning time a day.

Grossman said students say the work of a skilled teacher looks like magic. But when that practice is broken down, analyzed and then practiced, it's no longer a mystery.

"In all of these areas, people can get better. I don't think it's magic," Grossman said.

Deborah Ball, dean of the School of Education at the University of Michigan, believes one problem in ensuring that teachers get the right training is that the training differs so much from school to school. Nearly all the more than 1,400 teacher colleges and alternative approaches to certification offer different programs, and every state has its own requirements.

Ball said the people who will someday replace the nation's 3.8 million teachers need to learn how to do the same things in the right way, much like doctors who are all trained to deliver a baby, suture a wound and give a shot.

Teachers also need more help to improve on the job, Ball said. She said research indicates that most U.S. teachers stop improving after three or four years, but that teachers get better throughout their careers in countries where they get targeted professional training, based on data from the classroom about how kids are doing.

"I think that's a very strong indictment of our system," Ball said.