Literacy through Photography Project

Karen Massey-Cerda

The focus for this literacy through photography project was ‘favorite places within the school community’. The students had brainstormed their focus and chose this popular theme that they were all motivated about. The goals and objectives from the third grade curriculum were as follows:

Language Arts

Goal 4: The learner will apply strategies and skills to create oral, written and visual textsObjective 4.03: Share written and oral products in a variety of ways (e.g., author's chair, book making, publications, discussions, presentations)Objective 4.07: Compose a variety of fiction, poetry and drama selections using self-selected topics.Objective 4.09 Produce work that follows the conventions of particular genresObjective 4.10: Explore technology as a tool to create a written product.  Computer Skills  Goal2: The learner will demonstrate knowledge and skills in the use of computer and other technologies. Objective 2.01: Select and use appropriate features and functions of hardware and software for class assignmentsObjective 3.03: Use word processing as a tool to write, edit, and publish sentences, paragraphs and stories Information Skills Goal 4Objective 4.07 Organize and use information

Lesson One Analyzing Photographs

I read ‘The Best Part of Me’ by Wendy Ewald to the students. They were fascinated by the photographs and how ‘close up’ they were. They were surprised at the subject of the book and wondered who had taken the photographs and predicted a teacher, parent or friend. This book was of particular interest to my students because the children in the book were their age and older and they made many personal connections to the photography and writing about their own hair, hands and bodies. Interestingly, they did not notice at this stage that the photographs were black and white.

They all readily agreed that the photographs in this book and others that I read were ‘good’ photographs. We then discussed and considered what makes ‘good’ photographs. I contrasted these photographs with examples on the document camera, of photographs I had taken that were blurry, cropped and taken from too great a distance. The students were quick to critically analyze what was ‘wrong’ with my attempts. In pairs they decided that a good photograph is clear, you can see what the photographer is focusing on, it is not blurry and nothing in the frame has been ‘chopped off’.

Next I showed several photographs on the overhead projector screen from the CD from ‘Write what you see’ by Hank Kellner.I told the students that we would be considering some of the following questions as we ‘read’ the photographs:

Reading Photographs Ask: Who, What, Where, When but also why? (To encourage critical thinking and visual literacy)Why this subject?What don’t you see?What is the focus?Why did they take this photograph at this moment? What happened before or after the photograph was taken?Why did the photographer take the picture from this angle? What would the scene have looked like from a different angle? Above, below, right, left, behind? A Photographer’s DecisionsIn order to read a photograph we need to consider the following: What is the composition? (Where you stand, what to include, close up or further away? Frame?)What moment in time does the photograph capture?What is the setting?What is the focus/focal point? (The main subject)What is the mood/feeling you get from the photography? Why?

1. Photograph of little boy (no27) Below are examples of some of the student’s comments that we recorded as a group as they analyzed this photograph: What do you see?“A boy, a child, a three or two year old” Where“It could be at a preschool because my sister looks as old as him and she goes to preschool”

“At his house, or in his bedroom or play room or at a birthday party” WhenPresent day because “he is wearing clothes that I recognize”   ColorsBlack and white photograph. Students thought that he would be wearing blue or green like boys do! Background“Could be a wall, a park, or in a car going really fast and the background blurred behind him” Why“For a birthday party, memories, his first hair cut, smiling for the first time and because he is cute” Feelings“Happy and is looking at his mom and being silly”“Cheeky. He has just done something that he should not have done” What will happen next“His parents will give him a hug or he will be in trouble or they will play a game with him”  Reflection

The students quickly made the connection between story and photographs and how both have characters, setting and feelings. Once they realized that they were making predictions, much like they do during reading time, the students began to evaluate the photographs more critically as evidenced by their comments. Their visual literacy surprised me, in terms of why they thought that the photograph was taken and the analysis of why the background may have been blank. The students were motivated and focused for this lesson.

Lesson TwoAnalyzing and writing about photographs

I began by reviewing the importance of analyzing photographs using key questions. The students were then shown a different photograph from the CD from Write what you see. (Coca-Cola building)

At first I only showed them the top half of the photograph. I wanted them to analyze the photograph and make predictions about what they could see. I also wanted to do this in order to demonstrate how angle, scale and perspective can affect how we view the visual elements of a photograph and its purpose.

The students enjoyed the challenge of this activity. Once I showed the entire photograph they animatedly discussed whether the building was real or just on a movie set somewhere. They began to scrutinize the background and details to support their conclusions. A city setting was agreed upon by most. Some noted the street lights and power lines and how this changed the scale of the photograph. Others decided that it was real because it reminded them of places such as the World of Coca-Cola in Atlanta that they had visited. A

couple of students decided that it was a commercial being made.We then explored other photographs on the Write what you see CD using the same analytical questions. Some students looked at Mount Rushmore, whilst some students who had been absent, analyzed the photograph of the boy from the previous day.

The students recorded their observations on their photo analysis sheets.

Reflection

This activity was a tremendous success and I was surprised at the level of engagement of the students. Their visual literacy skills sharpened. They supported their conclusions with detailed observations, reasoning that you could see glass and windows on the building so it was ‘real’. The photographs sparked personal memories and feelings. The thoughtfulness of their responses was powerful, deciding that some of the photographs were taken because they are unusual, not something that you see every day and taken ‘to capture your attention’. I observed many parallels in their learning. It was clear that the deeper analysis came from those students who had prior experience and knowledge of the subject, just as it is in their reading and writing abilities. Lesson 3Photographer’s website

For this lesson we explored a student’s mother’s website. www.cahartman.com.She is a photographer. I encouraged the students to think about the purpose of photographs. I wanted them to continue to find the ‘story’ and meaning behind the images and develop their visual literacy skills further.

After studying the head shots we discussed how this type of photograph is about capturing a person’s face and nothing more. The students decided that background is important because if it is not there you look straight at the subject. However, if it is there your attention is drawn to it. We discussed how distance can change the meaning and focus of the photograph. The ‘stories’ generated for this photograph included:

A student, he is maybe 18 and he is thinking about what he has to do. It is for his yearbook, his final year in high school. His driving license because you have to look straight at the camera and be kind of serious. He is in a foul mood about something because he was not smiling Another said no his eyebrows would look different if he was mad or puzzled

This photograph provided the contrast of a photograph where background was apparent and angle needed to be considered. I asked questions such as ‘what is the purpose of the background? Why from this distance? Why not just her head? In groups, the students decided the following:

Prettier, more inviting, light in the background The photographer had to take it from this position and angle because it is to

show the whole dress. It is a wedding picture and that is what they take photos of.

It is an outside wedding and the photograph has been taken before she is getting married because the bride and groom are not supposed to see each other before then

Students discussed the following ‘stories’ for this photograph:

She was dancing at a theater or a dance studio ready for a big performance.

The ballerina shoes are beside her feet and not on because she has finished dancing and was going home. She is excited but tired after dancing for so long.

They observed that her feet were red so she was resting her feet and took the ballet shoes off. Some said ‘I know her feet hurt’ and talked about their prior knowledge of ballet classes.

One student asked how we know it is not a man because men are ballet dancers too. They argued that the painted toe nails show it is a lady dancing. Some students still thought that it could be a man.

“Dance until you drop’ was one of the story titles given to this photograph

Students worked in groups of 3-4 and completed the photography analysis sheet on their group’s favorite photograph so far. Groups chose to analyze the head shots, the ballerina’s feet, the band and the bride.

Reflection

There was great on task discussion about the photographs especially when it came to feelings and thinking of titles for the photographs. Timmy talked about his mother’s camera and what she did when she took photographs at home and on vacations.

The ‘hip shack’ photograph below was given the title ‘Men gone mad’, with ‘playful’ as a feeling that it evoked. It was nice to hear the students incorporating the language of photography as they exchanged ideas, such as the ‘light in the background’, ‘head shot’, ‘zoom’ and ‘distance from the subject’.

Lesson 4Getting a feel for the cameras and exploring features

Today we sat as a group with our cameras and discussed as a group their individual cameras and the features that most digital cameras have. We identified key buttons and those that we would be using when taking our photographs. The cameras were passed around and the students practiced turning them on, framing a subject and observing the individual buttons. The children were fascinated with this even though many were very familiar with the school cameras.

Next we brainstormed as a group the vocabulary associated with the features of the camera and labeled them on a large drawing of the back of the camera and the front.

We then discussed what will be important things to remember when you are the photographer in charge of your tool!

The children then drew the back of a digital camera and labeled the parts. They then generated the language and vocabulary involved in taking a photograph. They also listed important things to remember when framing your shot- standing still, thinking about where, why, how, when, and why and many others!

Reflection

This was a productive activity with high engagement. Combined with the activities in lesson 3, my objectives for computer and information skills had been met. Having the opportunity and freedom to pick up the cameras and talk about how they work and why really focused the students in on what they will have to do when it is their turn. Many were quick to say to not just ‘click, click’, and to ‘take your time with a shot’.

Lesson 5Framing

Having had much discussion about framing and the decisions a photographer has to make when they decide on a shot, each student was given a cut out frame from construction paper.

Each student had selected their favorite place in and around the school community. The focus for this lesson was to practice framing their place from different angles and distance. They also were told to ask themselves the following questions:

What interests me as I frame? What do I need to do as a photographer when I begin to frame my shot?

We toured the school gym, music room, art room, library, playground and outside of the school at the fire station across the road, and the front of the school itself. One student had also selected the bus car park as his favorite place.

During our framing walk it was interested to hear the students guiding each other as they were told to move closer, step back, arms out straight, try it vertically, not horizontally. Students framing the fire station were quick to frame the tower only and the arches with the name of the fire station. They quickly recognized the difficulties of trying to get an extremely tall tower all in the frame. I liked how they framed the building from both sides. The playground was also beneficial in aiding students with framing because there were opportunities for different perspectives and angles. Shadow and light was a prominent discussion because many chose to take images under the equipment as well.

Reflection

There was a great deal of excitement generated by this activity as students realized they were getting closer to taking their own photographs. The challenge, with all of these lessons is trying to help each student when you are the only teacher!

For the playground, I had thought about encouraging students to take photographs from different heights-to actually take them from their view points as they climb. However, they were keen to photograph under the equipment as well, the safe, quiet places that I had no idea many enjoyed. The shadowed and perspective underneath the equipment was interesting. One student was clear about one goal-he wanted to see if he would be able to frame his feet dangling down from the top of the monkey bars and so we carefully experimented with the framing possibilities!

The students were quick to say stand still, hold still, and tell each other the five second rule. Apparently, they had decided that this was a great solution to preventing your shot being blurry! I had not mentioned this at all! The students also acted out the role of the photographer with sound effects and striking a pose-either bending down or leaning back!

The students also noted that this activity really helped them to focus on where and how they were going to photograph their favorite places.

Lesson 6Taking photographs

For this lesson the students were grouped according to their favorite place and instructed to discuss where they were going to take their photographs from and why. Each student was encouraged to take at least three photographs from different perspectives of their favorite place.

The students took photographs in the gym, art room, library and cafeteria. One student took photographs of the bus car park and many decided on the playground. A few students chose the fire station that is opposite out school as their favorite places. We were unable to go into the building on the days we were photographing and so these students were limited to the outside of the building for their photographs.

Reflection

The challenges for this activity were those students who had difficulty holding the camera steady! They knew that they had to do this but it was a challenge for them. Students also had to be patient and wait for my help as needed.

Despite these challenges I was impressed at how the students applied much of their learning and discussion to the realities of actual photography. The framing lesson resulted in the students selecting their shots decisively. The time spent examining the camera features and mechanics proved invaluable when they came to take their photographs. They were focused on the photography and not playing with the cameras. They were meaningfully engaged and helped each other out, reminding the group about what they needed to remember as well as offering suggestions about where they would take their photographs from.

Some needed encouragement to think about angles but overall the students did a wonderful job. They were extremely excited to have the opportunity to take photographs and were also interested in what other students were taking photographs of. They would preview each photograph to make sure it was not blurry and just right. The students were eager to see their photographs and begin their writing.

Lesson 7Analyzing their own photographs

Students were given their printed photographs and I let the students share in their excitement of seeing what they had photographed. There was a great deal of motivated discussion as the students wanted to show and exchange photographs so each could see each other’s favorite place and ‘hold’ it. They discussed their challenges such as the cafeteria being too large a room to photograph in its entirety and how action shots were difficult in the gym! The students were then told to select one of their photographs that would be the focus for their genre writing.

Students then were given the same photo analysis sheet that they had worked on in earlier lessons and completed this on one of their photographs.

Reflection

Having practiced this analysis skill earlier in the project, the students were able to look more critically at their photographs, noting details such as background and completed their sheets quickly but carefully. The discussion, whilst noisy, was on task and focused on the features of their own photographs.

Lesson 8Planning and brainstorming for first genre: Personal narrative

At the beginning of writer’s workshop I asked the students, using their photographs, what they do in their favorite place. Many gave me the simple answers of ‘I play’ on the playground, ‘I eat’ in the cafeteria, ‘I read in the library’ etc. Using their photographs I wanted them to stretch these ideas out and think about what actions they do in their favorite place.

Using the document camera and overhead projector screen, I showed the students a photograph of my favorite place. I modeled what I do in my favorite place at home in my garden. I told them that I play too but in many different ways. I drew a graphic organizer with bubbles in the shape of a person to provide the mental image for actions in their writing. I then modeled how I could incorporate this into sentences to form part of a narrative.Again we linked this to our personal narratives and students completed this planning map using their own photographs.

Reflection

I had to continue this activity during my guided writing time when I can work with smaller groups and I have another assistant in the room. It was difficult trying to reach each child and develop their ideas through conferencing!

A success of this activity was that it provided the opportunity for some students to question if they could write words such as ‘zoom’ and ‘whoosh’ to describe their actions on the playground and in gym. This was one of those moments that I had not planned for but allowed many of my lower and higher level learners to explore some simple onomatopoeic words!

Lesson 9Writer’s Workshop: Developing senses in narrative

I again used the photograph that I had taken of my favorite place and modeled what I see, hear, feel, taste and smell from analyzing the photograph. We discussed the challenge of trying to write about what you may taste in terms of a photograph!

I modeled this organizer and using ideas from the students we wrote sentences using their sensory ideas. We discussed how writers plan and jot down their ideas in this way to begin the seed of a story and to begin to zoom in on why they chose these favorite places-not just because these places are ‘fun’.

The children then did the same activity using their own photograph.

I reminded the students that the action ideas from the previous writer’s workshop and the sensory images from today’s lesson would be used in their personal narratives, poems and other genres that they decided to write in.

Reflection

This type of activity in writer’s workshop requires ongoing support because many of these ideas do not come naturally for the children. My ELL students struggle with the vocabulary so I worked collaboratively with them to support their ideas through discussion and clarification such as ‘do you mean…...’

However, the success of this activity was the response from Cody and Sebastian. Sebastian is an extremely intelligent child but rarely engages during writer’s workshop, wriggling and squirming to emphasize how getting ideas down on the page makes him feel. Cody enjoys writing but his spelling and rush to finish combine to produce great frustration which is limiting his writing development. Both of these boys were highly engaged, discussion was on topic and they wrote thoughtful and surprising sensory images! I was shocked but extremely happy!

Lesson 10Writer’s Workshop: Adjectives

We began with the children sharing what they had been writing about the previous day. Some had been able to take their ideas and begin to put them into their narrative whilst others were still completing the action organizer. These students worked in groups to complete this and I took two groups to do a mini

lesson on adjectives.

First I read the book Hairy, Scary, Ordinary: What is an adjective? By Brian. P. Cleary.

Then I used the analogy of how good writers try and create a ‘mind movie’ to develop their descriptive language in their narrative writing. Using a large movie Hollywood board that we have for our classroom news, we took one of the students photographs and discussed adding a deeper more action packed movie to sentences such as ‘the slide is fun’.

I also incorporated ‘making connections’ into our writer’s workshop because the children have been doing this during their reading time and when they use their reader’s notebooks to respond to text. Just as good readers make connections, so too do writers.

This was easier for the students who had prior knowledge and experience. Many could make connections to other playgrounds and experiences. Some students discussed how the library reminded them of bookstores they had been too. However, some children who chose our library as their favorite place could not connect it to any other personal experience. In choosing the library to photograph I realized that this was their favorite place because they do not have the opportunity to visit any other libraries.

Reflection

This again is an ongoing challenge in writer’s workshop. I had to provide a great deal of discussion and support to generate descriptive language. I felt that I did not reach two thirds of my class, apart from higher level students and a couple of lower ability students who surprised me. It is something I will continue to model throughout the year during writer’s workshop. The ‘connections’ discussion, using their photographs was more fruitful for those students who found adjectives a challenge.

Lesson 11Writer’s Workshop

Students worked on writing their personal narratives, using their photographs and their graphic organizers to sequence their ideas. I provided ongoing discussion and questions about how to add detail and descriptive language to this genre of writing. As part of the writing model, we revised and edited as we conferenced together.

Reflection

This activity is always difficult and time consuming when it is whole group. Conferencing with each child is an ongoing challenge. The students worked hard trying to shape their narratives but I am hoping that they will see that writer’s have to go through this process to get to the finished product!

What was apparent to me was that creative narratives were not coming from where I had expected them too. Reluctant writers were demonstrating depth of thought and writing that I had not previously seen and the photography was the clear motivator as they continued to tell their ‘story’. I could see them transferring visual information into personal, meaningful writing. This made a frustrating day worthwhile!

Lesson 12Writer’s Workshop: Exploring other Genres

We have been reading different graphic novels and many of my students asked if they could do a comic book about their photographs of their favorite place. This was popular with the boys in my class.Students visited the website http://www.garfield.com/comics/todayscomic.html and discussed the comic strips. We discussed features and sequencing stories in this format. The students also revisited the graphic novels that we have in our class library for inspiration.

Using the comic creator website http://www.readwritethink.org/files/resources/interactives/comic/index.html the students practiced creating their own comic book and then began to apply this to their own comic frames about their favorite place. They had blank comic frame sheets to work on. Larger middle and end frames indicated a significant event or action.

Reflection

This was a brand new writing genre for me and the students to engage in. It was a challenge for me to guide the students as they created frames, dialogue and narration. I was certainly learning from them because many of them already understood the ‘language’ of graphic novels. I quickly realized that I needed to do less telling and more listening. They were clear in the direction of their stories although they needed help with the dialogue. However these discussions that I had with them about their photographs and the genre were invaluable. I think that the exposure to graphic novels during our language arts block had also given them a good foundation of mentor texts from which they could draw ideas from. I will definitely engage in this genre again with my students because as one of them said, looking at his friend’s comic frames ‘I cannot wait to read those!’

Lesson 13Writer’s Workshop: Continuing with comics and writing acrostic Poetry

The students who had chosen comics as their writing genre continued with these.

My students have written acrostic poems twice this year so they were familiar with the structure of them. I modeled an acrostic poem using the word ‘school’. The students worked with me to brainstorm adjectives where possible and sentence ideas for the corresponding initial letters.

During Writer’s Workshop the students then worked in their ‘favorite places’ groups and brainstormed descriptive words and actions for their acrostic poems using their photographs. I used conferencing to edit and revise with the students.

Once students had their final draft of their poem they typed it up as a Word document. They selected font size and type and highlighted the initial letter of each word to ensure it was a greater size than the rest of the text.

Reflection

This was a hectic lesson because I do not have any help during this time. However, through re-reads of our poems and students revisiting their narratives they had not completed, we were able to complete the poetry and publish it using the mini lab (six computers) that I have available in my classroom.

During the next writer’s workshop, the students had my author’s chair (my rocking chair) to share their acrostic poems with the class. We discussed where they would like to publish them, either on our bulletin board or as a book to be read in our class poetry station. This lesson and the previous lesson met my objectives for language arts, computer and information skills.

Lessons 14 and 15

My student’s continued to write in their chosen genres. I continued to conference and edit and revise with each student. As the student’s neared completion, the excitement was again evident.

I spoke with a couple of parents who had come into school during our project and they immediately told me how excited their children were about the project. These were parents of two of my most reluctant writers and they were amazed at how much their children were talking about writing and photography. It was clear that ownership and choice in their photographs that they took and the genres they engaged in was a powerful motivator. It was also evident in the quality of the writing that they produced.

Reflection

Editing and revision is a difficult process as we had discussed in our graduate class. It can be a struggle to expand the student’s ideas and also to ensure that the grammar and mechanics of their writing are correct. I realized that I also need to continue to work on using paragraphs. This was not evident in the student’s personal narratives. However, I had decided to focus on the ideas and language generated by the photographs. I also wanted the students to feel free to write and to get their ideas down on paper as this was something they are often reluctant to do. I need to return to the skill of paragraphs as part of my writing mini lessons.

Plan for Publishing Student’s Work

The student’s comic books were photocopied and made into books. They were added to our genre section in our class library for students to read and comment on in reader’s response notebooks.

Each child will take home copies of their completed genres to share with parents.

Insert picture here**************************

The acrostic poems are displayed on the wall outside of our classroom-with accompanying photography.

Insert photographs here****************************************************

After the students had read their personal narratives to the class, we created a class book. This was also added to our class library for students to read.

Our class website page has a link about our Literacy through Photography Project. It shows many of the photographs from the project and invites parents to come and view their child’s work for this project in our classroom.

Cody

Cody chose the playground slides as his favorite place. He photographed the slides (see above) and wrote in two genres. He completed a personal narrative and chose a comic strip book as his second writing genre. Copies of his published pieces are in the writing folder included with this project.

I chose Cody for my detailed reflections because he is a reluctant writer and reader (instructional at the first grade level).He enjoys writing but spelling and mechanics frustrate him and he will often produce little writing in our Writer’s Workshop.

I never could have anticipated the positive impact that this project would have on Cody’s visual literacy, his writing development and confidence. I have been amazed at his ideas and quality of thought.

Reflection on visual Literacy

Cody’s visual literacy developed significantly during this project. Our initial analysis of the photographs I showed to the class did not immediately produce a response from Cody. He was an observer and listened to the other student’s responses. I think he thought that there had to be a ‘right’ answer. Once I discussed this with him he readily engaged in critical thinking. He was able to draw conclusions about the ‘write what you see’ photographs, particularly the coca-cola building and the boy. (See his photo analysis sheet in the writing binder). He made predictions based upon the evidence in photographs. Cody was also observing details. He reasoned that the boy was ‘cheeky’ and was ‘up to mischief’ because of the expression on his face. He observed that the background was blank and questioned the story behind the photograph. Cody thought that it may have been taken for a school photograph where they use a ‘fake’ background and they were going to change it soon.

All of the photographs provided the opportunity for open ended questions that I could ask that focused Cody’s critical thinking skills.

When Cody took his own photographs he was clear about his purpose and subject. He applied what he had learned about why photographs are taken. He wanted to ensure all of the slides were in the frame so he could ‘tell the whole story’. He also wanted to take the platform that he stands on at the top, not from on it but from the other side of the equipment so that he could get a photograph that showed how high it was and where the trees where around it.

The opportunity to write a comic book based on his photographs gave Cody a unique opportunity that he fully engaged in. In the end Cody critically evaluated both of these photographs to write his comic book. I did not think I would have this level of engagement from Cody when normally he is difficult to motivate during our writing workshop.

Reflection on the writing process through photography

The fact that Cody was given time to spend on authentic learning of his own choosing gave him greater motivation to write. His personal photographs allowed him to tell his own personal story. This is where I began the writing process with Cody. He thoroughly enjoyed discussing his ideas for his personal narrative. I noticed that he held the photograph whenever he was discussing his ideas. This was already easing Cody’s frustration with writing because he had his ‘story’ in front of him and he could clarify his ideas.

Once we began to gather ideas using the graphic organizers, Cody regularly asked me how much he would have to write. He told me that if it was a lot he would not be able to do it. I redirected him to focus on all of his wonderful ideas and to get them down on paper. Once he knew that spelling was not the priority at this point in the writing process, he wrote his ideas down with focus and motivation. He was on task for all of the activity. He analyzed the photograph critically, using the top and the bottom of the slide to focus the sequence of the narrative. His descriptive language deepened during our writer’s workshop. Looking at the photograph, Cody went back to his planning sheets and added ‘twisty snake bars’ to describe the bars that he climbed to get up to the top of the slide. He told me that the slides were ‘freedom’ to him and noted that this needed to be at the beginning of the narrative so that everyone would know ‘how he felt about the slides’. I enjoyed how as a writer, Cody showed some awareness of his audience.

I felt that using the photograph and the senses organizer would be a challenge with Cody. I spent time discussing these aspects with Cody, using the photograph as a springboard. However, Cody surprised me significantly. He was quick to tell me about the trees he could see in the photograph at the top of the slide and that ‘when the wind comes he feels it on his body’. He added this to his feelings chart and narrative and I could tell he was proud of himself as he planned his narrative.

Cody no longer asked about how much he had to write instead he said “I really want to make all of this into a real story…a book because I want people to read it. Isaac says that he can’t wait to read my stories’

Cody’s application of his visual literacy skills and level of engagement produced a personal narrative that was meaningful and vivid. He incorporated emotions, events and a clear setting. Asking the questions that I had written in my literacy plan about photographs (see at the beginning) and those that I ask during conferencing also provided Cody with the scaffolding that he needed to produce meaningful work. It was not always an easy process for Cody, especially during planning and revision. I hope that he has begun to see how much time is spent planning and discussing a piece of writing and how worthwhile this is in the end. However, with this unique discussion of photography and thoughts I felt that he has grown in confidence, imagination and has begun to see himself as a true writer.

Sebastian

Sebastian also chose the playground as his favorite place within the school community (see his photographs above).He wrote in two genres. He completed a personal narrative and a comic book. Copies of his published pieces are in the writing folder included with this project.

I chose Sebastian as one of my detailed reflections because like Cody he is a reluctant writer but for very different reasons. Sebastian is an extremely intelligent child who in third grade is instructional at the fourth grade level for reading and math. However, he has an attention deficit disorder and often only writes around four sentences during writer’s workshop, irrespective of the topic. Spelling and mechanics were not impeding his writing ability. His parents had spoken to me about their concern with this despite his success in other curriculum areas.

Sebastian’s engagement in this project surprised me just as much as Cody’s had. Crucially, Sebastian was going home talking excitedly about photography and writing to his mother who shared their discussions with me.

Reflection on visual literacy

Sebastian’s critical thinking skills when he analyzed photographs were evident throughout this project. He went deeper into the photographs than most of my students. (See his initial photo analysis sheets in the attached writing folder). He was particularly effective at noticing details and discussing why he thought photographs had been taken. In our initial discussions to develop his visual literacy skills, he noted that the coca-cola building photograph could all just be a trick because a photographer could have taken a picture of an ordinary coca-cola bottle and made it look bigger. Sebastian enjoyed trying to find the story behind photographs presented to him. He enjoyed making predictions, drawing conclusions and discussing feelings behind the images.

When he took his own photographs he knew exactly where he wanted to take them from and why and applied the learning from previous lessons. The camera was a great motivational tool and Sebastian loved being in charge of it! His only concern was that his place under the slides ‘would not be secret anymore’.

Through discussion about his own photographs, Sebastian

applied these skills to create meaningful writing.

Reflection on writing process through photography.