Looking for ways to explore/enhance
creativity? Want to encourage your
kids to write during the summer? Or as a teacher, would you like to welcome
your students back to the classroom with an engaging, thought-provoking prompt?
Whether
you’re a writer, a parent or a teacher, the tips I received recently from
Turning the Page might prove fun and helpful.
For 12 years, TTP, a literacy organization in Washington, DC, has
spearheaded a photography/writing program in several DC public schools. TTP staff visits classrooms, lends digital
cameras to students, and gives a few lessons in composition, camera angles, and
light/shadow so that students can begin to think through artistic choices
before taking their photos. The students then choose certain photos to
jumpstart a piece of writing—which might be a poem, description, reminiscence,
or information about the subject.
 |
| Photo by Sarah Mercier |
In this photo, Zion, a third grader, stands proudly beside
her photo/writing at the art gallery that showcased the students’ work.
Ellie Canter oversees
TTP’s Literacy Through Photography program.
She offers the following suggestions
for summer or early fall photo/writing activities. (These can be adapted to all ages.)
* Ask kids to choose
1-4 photos that they have taken or that have been taken this summer. Ask them to write about each (whether a poem,
description, fact, creative story, or memory).
The photos/writing might become part
of a family or classroom album.
* Focus the
photo-taking, for example on things that begin with a certain letter of the alphabet.
* Appreciate family
and community. Kids might take a photo of an older family member, for
example, and do a short interview. Or they might photograph and write about a pet, their favorite thing, or the most
interesting part of their neighborhood or home.
*
Involve others. Canter mentioned one particularly powerful
exercise. DC students were asked to
photograph and write about “The Best
Part of Me.” Some chose their minds,
others chose other aspects of themselves.
Isaiah, a fifth grader, took a picture of his biceps and wrote a playful
poem on “My Mighty Muscles.” The
students then asked their parents to
name a best part—and the responses generated interesting discussions at home
and school, Canter said.
* Look at novels that include photographs to see how the
photos enrich the story. Revolution
by Deborah Wiles is a wonderful example.
The novel tells the story of Freedom Summer in Mississippi in 1964 and mixes headlines, quotes, photos, and song
lyrics with the narrative. Students
might tell a longer story about their
summer using these same elements.
* For additional ideas or information on the Literacy
Through Photography program, visit Turning
the Page’s website www.turningthepage.org
and blog http://turningthepagedc.wordpress.com/
No comments:
Post a Comment