A Fifth Grade Photo Essay

We have all heard the saying, "A picture is worth a thousand words." I say, a picture through the eyes of an eleven-year old is invaluable. Since the first day of school in September, I have seen the world spin through the thoughts and words of my fifth grade class. They are brilliant, creative, and inquisitive. They speak from their own experiences and by way of the hearts of their families. They are not only children; they are brothers, sisters, aunts, uncles, cousins, and grandchildren. They don't see this world as the curious child; they see it as maturing human beings who have just entered a new decade of their lives. I hear and observe them in the classroom, but who they are is molded from the environment surrounding them. I am fortunate to be a teacher in a Literature and Writing Magnet Cluster school in Chicago. We have brilliant conversations about themes and an author's message or big idea. We write about these novels and ourselves from our hearts and encounters. As we know, the year is quickly coming to a close and one of my final wishes with these little stars is to see the world through only their lens. I wish for my students to develop their own photo essay with their own camera. It is an avenue that we often don't take because of costs and resources, but it is so valuable and will remain with them, I hope, forever. I will ask my students to capture something that is of interest to, or stands out to them. We will discuss the connection between the themes we often see in literature and that of their photo story. It may capture familial relationships, friendship, bravery, compassion, birth, competitiveness, or perhaps sibling rivalry. The key is that it will be their big idea or theme. For this project, we will begin by exploring a variety of wordless books and artist's photo essays. From here we will look at the story they are telling us and why they chose to do it this way. I will then ask the students to find a subject(s) that interests them, or stands out in their minds. They will need to capture their theme through their lens, their mind. I hope to supply each of my seventeen students with a disposable flash camera to develop their essay. I also would like them to be able to display them on either mini tri-fold boards, or in photo albums. In addition, student rarely get to work with the black and white medium of photography, so additional funds would be appreciated to cover this cost of developing. It is not a great deal more than regular processing. We are constantly telling students to look at a picture or photo and then asking, "What do you see?" I would actually like them to display what they "see" and for a change, ask this same question of us.