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You
are here: Proposal to Use Photography as a Connection to Reading and Writing
For the past two years I have been teaching an 8th grade NYAS (Not Yet at Standard) Language Arts class. Students assigned to the class have not passed the reading or writing WASL, have not met standards in reading fluency and/or have not met standards in Six Trait writing assessments. The class has included a mixture of 10 to 12 regular education students and 4 or 5 IEP students, and meets for 70 minutes a day. They have been a group of individuals with many different reasons for reading and writing deficiencies, but their common bond has been their professed dislike of reading and writing. A typical response to my opening day question of "What do you like best about reading and writing?" is "Nothing, it's boring."
The challenge of teaching older students with low reading and writing ability is finding an interesting connection that will inspire and motivate them to practice skills needed to help them succeed. By the time they are in 8th grade they have come to the conclusion that they are just "not readers and writers," and frequently express that Language Arts class is "…not their good subject." As a result they are less than enthusiastic about learning. As a teacher of these students I am constantly searching for high interest subjects to combine with reading and writing instruction that will change this attitude, and help them develop essential reading and writing skills.
Recently I was involved in teaching a group of 8th grade students basic photography. It occurred to me that photography might be an interesting approach with the students in my "Below Standards Language Arts class." If I could use digital cameras and computer software and teach basic photography skills, I think I could find the motivation I have been searching for!
My idea is to teach the Writing Process and the Six Traits of Writing using photography and then to make connections with students to reading and writing. Once some basic skills of using cameras and computer software have been established, students can follow the writing process (Brainstorming, Organizing, Writing, Revising, Editing and Publishing) to complete a photography assignment. This can be followed by applying the same procedure to a writing assignment.
I plan to use photography throughout the year to teach Organization (composing and arranging a picture) and Ideas and Content (developing an idea through a picture) and then make connections to writing. There are other interesting points of photography that would also connect to writing, such as point of view, excluding or including background details, and focal point. I am sure I will discover more connections as I pursue this idea.
There are also interesting associations between photography and reading. By using photographs I am collecting I plan to teach lessons in "reading photographs." These lessons will develop reading skills such as making connections for understanding, looking for details to support a main idea, drawing conclusions, and inferential skills.
I brought my proposal to my principal, Gigi Morganti, who was extremely enthusiastic. Kulshan Middle School has been the recipient of an OSPI grant to help improve reading and writing skills of students. We would like to try connecting reading and writing to photography with my Language Arts class this coming year. With the support of the grant we plan to purchase 15 digital cameras, and are researching the best choice to meet our purpose and budget. Kulshan already has software that will allow editing and manipulation of photographs. Students can save their pictures on their student file, and create their own photographs, slide shows and possible animation if they are interested.
Although this idea is just in its formative stages I am extremely excited to explore the possibilities with my students. I believe photography will not only be a useful tool to teach reading and writing skills, but will also be highly motivating. I think students will be eager to explore photography, and will be able to make the associations with reading and writing. I hope to develop the correlations over the coming year, and will be glad to share my results, frustrations and successes next spring!
Peggy Zehnder is an eighth grade Language Arts teacher at Kulshan Middle School in Bellingham, Washington. You can contact her at pzehnder@bham.wednet.edu.
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