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Using Photography
Cathy Mackey Davis
Parkwood Elementary School, Jeffersonville, Indiana
Subject: Special Education
Grade: 3-5
"The combined use of the camera and the computer motivated
students who previously had negative feelings about language arts."
Purpose and Description of Project
Cathy Davis' students photographed things, people, places, and
actions to help them learn to identify nouns and verbs and then
used the photographs in learning activities involving how to categorize
nouns and verbs, compose sentences, and diagram simple sentences.
In addition to learning the principles of sentence structure,
the students learned such
photographic procedures
as how to load a
camera,
center a picture, use correct lighting, and select interesting subjects.
Davis notes that "for some of these learning disabled children,
reading, handwriting, and sentence composition were extremely
difficult tasks. However, instead of the usual grumbling about
such assignments, the students looked forward to any task dealing with the
camera project." The teacher adds that the unexpected outcomes
included the degree of photographic skill developed by the children,
the pride they took in displaying their work on the school bulletin
board, and the modification of attitudes of other students and
teachers toward the special education students.
Activities
Davis covered six objectives during the children's time in the
special education resource room over a two-month period. The children
learned camera use and took photos throughout this time all around
the school-in different classes, the school office, cafeteria,
library, and gym and of such special events as the first-grade
play and the visit of a helicopter from a local hospital.
- Lesson 1 - The children learned to define a noun, give examples
of a "thing" noun orally, classify nouns according to
where things are found (at school, home, outside), photograph
three "thing" nouns, and write sentences about things
shown in the photos.
- Lessons 2 and 3 - repeated above steps for nouns naming persons
and places.
- Lesson 4 - Students categorized their photos of nouns as things,
persons, or places, circled nouns in the reading lesson, and wrote
nouns described in the pictures.
- Lesson 5 - Students learned the definition of a verb, gave oral
examples, photographed three action verbs, circled verbs in the
reading lesson, and identified verbs as present or past tense.
They also used a computer with software on verbs for individualized
instruction, acted out verbs with their bodies, and wrote sentences
about the verbs demonstrated in their photos.
- Lesson 6 - Students categorized their photos according to whether
they showed nouns or verbs, identified nouns and verbs in sentences.
Each week throughout the project, a child's work and photos were
displayed on a bulletin board by the school's main entrance with
a heading saving, "Spotlight on (child's name)."
Materials, Resources, and Expenses
In addition to the school's computer and various
films,
equipment and materials used in the project were the teacher's
camera, with Kodak film and flashbars.
Outcomes and Adaptability
Davis says she would recommend this curriculum to other teachers
because "it stimulated students' interest, accomplished mastery
of academic objectives, fostered self-pride among the students,
and provided a positive public relations vehicle for special education
students throughout the school. The children were also exposed
to a new form of self-expression-the camera." She adds that
the program would also be suitable for regular third-,fourth-,
and fifth-grade language arts classes and for educable mentally
handicapped and learning disabled students on a junior high school
level.