Literacy Through Photography Project

Sonya ElliottRE 5130

North Carolina Standard Course of Study Goals and Objectives: 5th grade Language Arts

Competency Goal 3 The learner will make connections through the use of oral language, written language, and media and technology.

• 3.01 Respond to fiction, nonfiction, poetry, and drama using interpretive, critical, and evaluative processes by: analyzing word choice and content.

• examining reasons for a character's actions, taking into account the situation and basic motivation of the character.

• creating and presenting a product that effectively demonstrates a personal response to a selection or experience.

• examining alternative perspectives.• evaluating the differences among genres.• making and evaluating inferences and conclusions about characters, events,

and themes.• 3.05 Integrate main idea and supporting details from multiple sources to

expand understanding of texts.Competency Goal 4 The learner will apply strategies and skills to create

oral, written, and visual texts.• 4.07 Compose a variety of fiction, nonfiction, poetry, and drama using self

selected topic and format (e.g., poetry, research reports, news articles, letters to the editor, business letters).

• 4.09 Produce work that follows the conventions of particular genres (e.g., essay, feature story, business letter).

Introduction• As we were instructed to begin this project I thought about the content area that I would be teaching in

the classroom within the next few weeks to decide what type of photography and text the students would be creating. We were just beginning a unit on poetry and I had already planned for the students to create an “I am” poem for that unit. After the poetry unit I had plans for the students to create autobiographies of themselves and I decided that photography aspect of this project could be tied into the autobiography.

• Timeline of activites can be found on the class blog at: http://asulearn.appstate.edu/mod/forum/view.php?id=629190

• Poetry - Each of the photos that were taken were used to produce an “I Am” poem based on the students current interest and the image of them portrayed in the photograph. The students had their photograph in front of them to help them come up with ideas to put into their “I Am” poem. After their poem was completed and revised the students went to the computer lab and typed them. Their photographs were later scanned into the document for their autobiography.

• Narrative Writing- After the completion of the poem from their photograph, the students then produced a narrative piece based on their photograph. The students prompt for the narrative writing was, “I am ____________, I want to be…”. This narrative exposed what the students wanted to do with their lives. They wrote about what careers they would like to have and how they would make that happen. This included colleges they would like to attend or other ways they planned on making it to the career of their choice. An alternative ending to the piece was for the student to have a “back up” plan, just in case their first choice of a career was nixed.

Photo Artifact 1Brad

In Brad’s photograph the gesture that he is recreating is what first caught my

attention. He is an avid hockey play and with this photo he was trying to express, to the best of his ability, the action that

takes place on a hockey rink. The photograph also had to be taken with a precise timing due to the fact that Brad had rolled himself down a hill in order to recreate this scene from a hockey game.

For Brad to roll down a hill and juxtapose himself in such a position was a defining

moment for him. He is normally quite and reserved in class, and I feel that while creating this moment for his

photograph he let that shyness fade away and show his real personality. This is also the photograph that was used to

create his “I Am” poem that was the literature piece to accompany the photo.

Photo Artifact 2Drew

This photograph of Drew was chosen because of the unique angle that he was caught pitching the ball. Every time I see this photograph I think I am looking at a

trading card. There are so many different aspects of this photograph that I love. The look on his face, his arm being in

motion at the time of the of the shot, and his stance as he attempts to throw the ball. His body language tells me that he

put himself in the moment for this photo. The props that were used in the

photograph show you exactly what sport he is playing and the expression on his

face conveys the seriousness of his actions.

Drew’s personality and intentness about his love of baseball really showed in his “I Am” poem that was written from this

photograph. He talks about wanting to go pro and his future in the Major Leagues in his narrative writing. Drew is definitely in

his element in this photograph.

Photo Artifact 3Zeb and Brady

This is a great action shot that demonstrates framing, angle, and

timing. Brady and Zeb had this photo taken as they were throwing and

catching the ball. In this photo you can clearly see the gestures the boy’s are

making as they are attempting to throw for the photographer.

The photograph is framed so that both of the students are present in the finished product. The angle the

photographer chose was to stand on a nearby hill so that they were at a

higher point than Brady and Zeb so that they could get both of them in the shot. This angle also made it look as if Brady and Zeb were further away from

the photographer than they really were.

Brady and Zeb’s gestures and expressions are clear in the photograph.

Poetry Artifact 1- Above Average

This is an “I Am” poem written by one of my students in block 1. Her name is Carmyn

(pronounced CAR-Men) and this entire school year her math teacher and I have confused

her name with another student named Kamryn (pronounced Kam-ryn). After talking

to her and apologizing for the mix up, she confided in me that it has happened all

through school and we were not the first teachers to do so.

I thought the poem was appropriate for her because being called the wrong name can

eventually become annoying. I think that she is expressing this in the poem by stating this

in the first line. Another aspect of this poem in which Carmyn

has grew in her poetry writing is the figurative language which is used. One

example she incorporated in this poem was “ I feel the leader’s breath on my neck and his mane on my shoulders.” Adding figurative

language to the poem to show and not tell is a skill we have been working on this year for

all writing genres.

Narrative Artifact 2- Average

In this narrative written by one of my average student’s I found that she had stayed on topic and her paper was organized in a sequential manner. The prompt for this

narrative was, “I am _____, I want to be____.” This student started off by

examining her hopes of being a future archeologist. She clearly states where she would like to attend college and what her pursuit of education would be. She then goes on to state why she would like to

attend that college. In her next paragraph she begins by stating

her backup plan in case she does not fulfill the archeologist dream. She defines what she would then do for a career and what

qualification she thinks she would have to fulfill this plan instead.

This is a well written narrative that is explicit and concise. Anna Grace obviously has

given much thought to her future and how she would obtain these goals.

Poetry Artifact 3- Below AverageThis student’s “I Am” poem totally broke my

heart. I was in tears after reading it because until he wrote this you would have never

known this was how he was feeling inside. Michael is a Hispanic male student who

struggles in school. This poem made it very evident to me that his struggles go beyond the classroom and into every aspect of his

life, even the ones that I thought were supposed to be fun. When I gave the instructions for the “I Am” poem he

immediately began writing. This was a bit unusual for Michael because he normally sits there and has to think about what he is going to put on paper before he does it. He did not

have to think long for this one. Within ten minutes he was finished and at my desk to

show it to me. As I read I had to prevent myself from crying in front of him and force myself to tell him “good job”. This poem was obviously a way for him to express all of the feelings he had bottled up inside and I am

glad I was the one who gave him that chance to express them .

Publishing Student’s Work

The students work will be published in two different ways. Each student that wrote an “I Am” poem and narrative will have both of them in their very own autobiography that will be complete by the end of the year in my language arts class.

The second way the student's “I Am” poems will be published will be by a book binding company that we have submitted our poems to. This book binding company will take the students poem and illustration and turn them into a hard back book for our classroom to have. If we receive the finished product before the end of the year, the student’s will have an option to buy one of these to keep as their own.

Assessment:

Rubric for grading Poetry is found at this web site :

http://www.teachervision.fen.com/tv/printables/07AAAM30.pdf

Rubric for grading narrative found at this web site:

http://www.teachervision.fen.com/tv/printables/07AAAM18.pdf