This project is a part of the Hispanic & Latinx Heritage Month celebration because
it supports a Latino teacher or a school where the majority of students are Latino.
About My Students
My students are hardworking, aspiring photographers in a full inclusion classroom. They are working on building their literacy skills. They would would like to produce a school wide photo album called Kaleidoscope and need the necessary materials and skills to make it happen.
This year, we focused on blending photography year-round into our literacy units. We often have a hard time in class, because there are 22 students and only 1 camera. The teacher has been teaching them camera techniques, but it is difficult to expose the students to aspects regarding ISO, aperture, and shutter speed when 22 students are trying to gain experience on the camera. The camera is not school owned, rather it is borrowed for daily use by a generous teacher. I want all the students to experience the thrill that snapping a great piece of art has to offer. The students learn about the foundations of picture taking in connection with our literacy units. The students watch demonstrations and read articles on how to balance exposure, create crisp focused pictures, and shoot in manual, all the while they are building reading skills. Having more cameras would be a tremendous help to our cause!
How do we blend high expectations with a love for learning in full a inclusion classroom? Every year, we strive to engage our students and build their academic and social skills in authentic ways. Our struggling students experience low self esteem, low engagement, and low self efficacy. Students on the opposite end of the achievement spectrum experience boredom and a feeling of disconnect. Something that bonds our students is having a creative outlet. Teaching in a full inclusion classroom means honing in on what students LOVE to do in order to help them achieve this end. Our students have spoken, and photography is that LOVE which fosters engagement, learning, and social skills. Students collaborate with one another to learn about the elements that make for good photos. They read articles that assist them with developing their skills while also showing them that you can use the scope of photography to develop new literacies.
In Their Own Words
The goal of this project is to use photography as a creative learning outlet throughout the year in an English Language Arts class. Our teachers will be letting us complete our projects and assessments through photography. At the end of the year we will work together to publish a photography magazine called Kaleidoscope.
As a leader we would be sure that all the students would be aware of guidelines involving proper care of the materials, and rules of the class. We would work with the teacher to find learning materials that our classmates need to help build our photography skills. Most importantly, we would ensure that our classmates have fun with the project in order to achieve success.
This is important to us and the school community because it provides us with an opportunity to learn a skill that we can use in a future career. Also, by incorporating this project into our learning, it will keep us motivated every day. Finally we will learn to be better collaborators. We we will learn how to get advice from one another, ask each other for help, and also collaborate on creating an amazing end of the year project.
More than three‑quarters of students from low‑income households
Data about students' economic need comes from the National Center for Education Statistics, via our partners at MDR Education. Learn more
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As a teacher-founded nonprofit, we're trusted by thousands of teachers and supporters across the country. This classroom request for funding was created by Mrs. Escobedo and reviewed by the DonorsChoose team.
