Caught You Learning on the Digital Camera

Celebrating Hispanic & Latinx Heritage Month

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.

When I was in elementary school, my science teacher, Mr. Scott Hall, was a hobby photographer. We took pictures with a 110 camera and were able to process the film in a lab he had created in the school. I still remember the weather outside and what I was wearing that day he took us all outside to take whatever kinds of pictures we wanted to take! I would love to be able to recreate that magical memory in my classroom except with a little bit more advanced technology. Mr. Hall is now a professional photograpgher in my home town and is one of the most reputable photographers in the area. I just visited him and told him how he inspired me! Teaching 5th grade Math and Science is such a joy! Especially when you see 28 kids come into your room waiting to learn and see what the next science experiment will be or what is the next math activity they will learn. They are excited and that makes me excited. Then to see another 28 kids come in hearing about the day's lesson and waiting to learn is really overwhelming and warming. That's 56 kids in one day!!! Wow!! The science projects that they bring in from home are really amazing and would be better illustrated if it were only captured while they were learning and showing the class how the experiments worked or why they created the project the way they did. There were so many times I had wished I had my Nikon SLR camera in the classroom with me to capture them learning (it's just to big and cumbersome). The way they get excited about learning; the way they share with the most unlikely peers; the way they work together to solve a problem; the way they are mesmerized by the speaker; the moment they get that "aha"; the way they are disappointed that the they need to go to the other teacher! Having a digital camera in the classroom would have allowed me to take pictures of an earlier math activity where we had our own Olympic Penthalon in the school's gym. They competed against each for a coin toss, a paper towel toss, a coin roll, a coin spin, and the double jump. Then they charted their scores and made a graph. How great it would have been to take pictures of them competing against each other. This math activity and may others have never been captured on film and it's such a shame that we don't have more pictures of our classes engaging in learning. Having a camera in the classroom would allow me to catch them learning and to show their parents how involved they are while in school, since the parents don't ever get to see this. Having a digital camera as well as having the printer, ink and paper would allow me to take these pictures and then to print them up right away! Last year, I spent more than $200 on film and taking pictures of my 3rd grade class going on trips, working in class, sharing with foreign visitors and just simply being kids. At the end of the year, I allowed them to take the pictures home to keep. This made their year, because many of them do not have pictures of their friends or of their teacher. This is with only 18 students. Could you imgaine what it would be for 56 students!!!? But it is still all worth it!