Literacy Through Photography Project
- Standard Course of Study for Fourth Grade
Language Arts
4.03 Make oral and written presentations using visual aids with an awareness
of purpose and audience.
4.05 Use planning strategies to generate topics and organize ideas (e.g.,
brainstorming, mapping, webbing, reading, discussion).
4.06 Compose a draft that conveys major ideas and maintains focus on the topic with specific, relevant, supporting details by using preliminary plans.
4.07 Compose fiction, nonfiction, poetry, and drama using self-selected and
assigned topics and forms (e.g., personal and imaginative narratives, research
reports, diaries, journals, logs, rules, instructions).
4.09 Produce work that follows the conventions of particular genres (e.g.,
personal and imaginative narrative, research reports, learning logs, letters of
request, letters of complaint).
Social Studies
2.03 Describe the similarities and differences among people of North Carolina, past and present.
2.04 Describe how different ethnic groups have influenced culture, customs and history of North Carolina.
5.01 Explain different celebrated holidays, special days, and cultural traditions in North Carolina communities.
5.02 Describe traditional art, music, and craft forms in North Carolina.
- Photography: Use of school cameras from media center as well my personal camera.
Begin with lessons on use of camera and picture taking: framing, point of view, time…
Take pictures of the different students who represent the different cultures in our school.
- Unit of Study
- Goal one: Understand that NC is made of different and rich cultural groups with various traditions and customs that we share and are influenced by. We will focus on ethnic groups in our school: Hmong, African American, Hispanic, European American, Jewish.
*Focus Question: What are the different cultural groups in our school?
*Focus Question: What traditions do our diverse cultural groups have that are the same and which ones are different?
Goal two: Create a written product of the findings in at least two different ways, choosing from: research report, letter to different cultural group, brochure, poem.
* Focus Question: How can you share information about the different cultural
groups to others?
- Unit Plan: I am doing this project with an EC “resource” language class. There are seven students in this class identified as needing specially designed instruction in reading and writing. All of the students are in the fourth grade. The class meets for fifty minutes every day.I will gathervarious cultural artifacts and books for the different groups represented to aid in student understanding. I will check with school registrar to check to see if any children in the school were prohibited from having their picture taken. This project will be done only in school. I do not want to give these students any additional homework assignments. Secure digital camera from the media center and bring my personal camera to class.
Day 1: Discussion about project. Present focus questions one and two record student’s comments. (What are the different cultural groups in our school?) Introduce cameras and discuss student’s experience with cameras. Ask the following questions: Have you used a digital camera before? What do they have pictures of in their home?
Give students cameras and let them take turns exploring and taking pictures of each other? What can we take pictures of to help us answer our first focus question? Record answers.
Day 2: Explore artifacts and books I have gathered illustrating various cultures.
Categorize into different cultural groups and begin to record the different traditions… on chart paper. Decide on and record interview questions to ask people from the various groups. (I will take their questions and create an interview form.)
Present focus question “How can we share/present information about the different cultural groups to others?”
Day 3: Take school digital cameras to take pictures around the school of various students/adults with different backgrounds. Take cameras back to classroom to view pictures and discuss how they look. Review discussion of point-of-view, framing, timing. Ask if there are any adjustments that need to be made to photograph. Discuss the pictures and decide if they are what is needed for the goals. Decide what (if any) additional pictures are needed.
Day 4: Take camera and take additional pictures. View pictures and reflect if any additional pictures are needed. Take additional pictures if needed and conduct interviews. (I will print pictures and make copies of answers from interviews.)
Day 5: Organize pictures/interviews into groups representing different cultural and ethnic groups. Continue exploring books, explore the following topics:
- Holiday celebrations, special days
- Crafts, arts, music
- Customs, traditions, dress
Instruct students to begin thinking about how they want to share the information they have learned. They can choose from the following:
- Write report on findings
- Write a story about the life of child from one of the backgrounds (narrative)
- Write a newspaper article reporting on your findings
- Write a letter
Day 6-10: Continue exploring topics and categorizing. Begin “Writer’s Workshop”
part of the project. Discuss writing process: brainstorm, plan, write drafts, edit,
revise, “publishing” work. Provide mini-lessons as needed.
Publishing student work:
I plan to have the students publish their work in a class book. I will print the photographs they take so they can frame on card stock. I want them to include their writing about the photographs to share the information they learn about their classmates and the different cultural groups that we have represented in our school. A student friendly way to construct a book is to use a 3-ring binder and sleeve protectors. The students can create a title and illustrate if they choose.
Student Resources for Project
Brittan, Dolly. The Hmong Culture. PowderKids Press.
Dorros, Arthur. Abuela. Dutton Children’s Books.
Ehrlich, Amy. The Story of Hanaukkah. Dial Books.
Kukin, Susan. How My Family Lives in America. Simon and Schuster Books.
Murphy, Patricia J. Our National Holidays. Compass Point Books.
Shea, Pegi Deitz. The Whispering Cloth, A Refugee’s Story. Boyds Mills Press.
Wade, Mary Dodson. Cinco de Mayo. Children’s Press.