27 Jan 2023
This article will outline several strategies educators may utilize to enhance literacy requirements with photography. There are several ways that photography encourages literacy:
It is a fantastic method for differentiating instruction for English-language learners.
By offering the chance to view and evaluate photos instead of conventional print texts, it removes pressure on reticent students or aspiring authors.
It serves as an example of a culturally sensitive teaching strategy by showing how to encourage and appreciate all student voices in the classroom.
The work of Wendy Ewald, who has written extensively about literacy through photography, served as the foundation for this technique.
The use of images offers a fresh approach to text analysis. In addition to hearing their peers' opinions, students can also orally convey their own observations, ideas, and analyses. Students can contemplate and arrange their thoughts in a creative way via the use of images which is not possible through writing alone. Additionally, for many students, this exercise offers the necessary support for digesting and organizing their ideas so that they are prepared to write about them. Online language tutors on the website - https://livexp.com/ employ this and several other inventive methods to teach languages.
This is crucial for English language learners because it allows them to grow and enhance their reading abilities without having to rely on substantial vocabulary knowledge. Instead, by using these techniques, a kid may expand their vocabulary in English while still utilizing their original language's vocabulary. The following strategies demand that students use advanced literacy skills, collaborate with others, and create excellent work.
Concentrate: Make an effort to direct children's thinking and help them focus their attention on the images, but give them plenty of freedom to express their own opinions. Instruct your children to "read" pictures by having them look at the specifics of a picture and then describe what they notice. These conversations draw on the past knowledge of the kids and may serve as inspiration for their writing and storytelling as well as training for capturing images on their own.
View a broad range of portraits with your pupils. Find portraits of public officials, everyday people, famous persons, etc. Ask the kids to organize the pictures by category after laying them all out on a table. Some kids could group them according to age, gender, or another factor. Really, it doesn't matter whichever choice they make. After they've sorted them, ask them to explain why they did it that way.
You might also ask the kids to identify the persons in the picture. What does the image convey? Encourage your students to consider the photographer's purpose. Who took the picture? He or she was an outsider or an insider. How are we aware? Find the camera by asking the pupils. What direction are the subjects gazing? Students can snap pictures of themselves, one another, or their families as an extended activity.
Find old pictures to use as evidence while expanding your vocabulary. You may use Google to search for photographic books by authors like Dorothea Lange or Helen Levitt, as well as American Memory from the Library of Congress. Making lists of everything they see in a photo is another easy activity that students may engage in. This exercise involves both observing and vocabulary development.
Students then determine when this photograph was shot and are asked to support their guess with evidence. Ask pupils to consider what they can learn about the individuals in the snapshot. Take note of their facial expressions, positions, surroundings, etc. How does each element affect how you feel about the portrait? Help pupils grasp how a single image may make some individuals feel happy while making others feel unhappy (or any other range of emotions).
Students pick an object and snap pictures of it from four different perspectives: six inches away, six feet away, above, and below. The four images are all on display, and the class talks about how the various points of view convey various moods, tones, and messages. Be aware that when the camera is low, it may give the subject or item a stronger appearance, and when the camera is high, it may have the opposite effect.
Students take pictures that they believe tell a narrative. They bring these images to class and exchange them with classmates. Each couple looks closely at the image and chooses what tale they believe it to be conveying. After a short while, couples describe the narrative they believe their photograph depicts. After that, they discuss if their partner's interpretation supports or refutes their own intention as the photographer. The pupils' next task is to either create a tale for their own image or for an image created by a classmate.