P HOTOGRAPHY & F INAL D RAFTS : A N ew Vi (er) sion o f L iteracy

1. PHOTOGRAPHY & FINAL DRAFTS: ANew Vi(er)sionof Literacy An Annotated Bibliography of Resources for a 7th Grade Creative Writing Unit Christy Batelka SLM 504 6.23.07

2. INTRODUCTION With our world quickly becoming more and more digitally-based, children have to develop a new kind of literacy--they must learn to read, interpret, and evaluate images just as they do with a written text.

3. INTRODUCTION The following is a collection of resources to be used by both 7th grade teachers and students. Its objective is to teach literacy and creative writing through the acts of taking, interpreting, and reflecting on photographs.

4. TAKING PICTURES • Bidner, Jenny. The Kids’ Guide to Digital Photography: How to Shoot, Save,Play with, • & Print Your Digital Photos. New York: Lark Books, 2004. • This is a kid-friendly guide to learning how to use and manipulate a digital camera. • Because it’s geared toward kids ages 9-12, the text is understandable without being condescending. Similarly, its recent publication date makes it more appealing to • modern kids than other more dated books of its kind. The early chapters in this • source teach kids the basics of how to use a digital camera (motion shots, the flash, • zoom functions, etc.), while the latter chapters include application kinds of ideas. • Kids can learn how to create stationary or or CD covers using their digital photos. • The Kids’ Guide to Digital Photography also discusses photo editing software and • how to use digital images in websites. It’s definitely an up-to-date source kids could • use to learn more about how to take and use digital photographs. • Johnson, Neil L. National Geographic Photography Guide for Kids. Washington, D.C.: • National Geographic Society, 2001. • Like The Kids’ Guide to Digital Photography, this source is written for upper elementary • and middle school children who are interested in photography. It reviews a much • broader range of photography basics since it covers 35 mm cameras as well as digital • ones. Kids can learn more about film, lighting, lenses, etc., and look at before and after • shots that demonstrate different techniques and emphasis. The National Geographic • Guide encourages students to think about a variety of photograph subjects (animals, • landscapes, portraits, etc.), and encourages experimentation to create different moods • and effects in their photographs. Kids can also visit the National Geographic website • dedicated to photography for further tips and ideas. http://www.nationalgeographic.com/photography/

5. INTERPRETING PICTURES • The Language of Photography. 2001. DVD (8-part series). Films For The • Humanities & Sciences. • In this 8-part DVD series on photography, students will gain insight on how • to interpret photographic images. They will begin to see photographs as • texts to be read and analyzed, and means of self-expression and • communication. Each 27-minute segment covers a different aspect of • the art of photography as a communication tool. With titles such as • “Photographic Storytelling” and “Decoding Photographic Images,” this • set of DVDs is sure to support a writing program that integrates photography. • Preview a clip here: • http://www.films.com/id/5170/The_Language_of_Photography.htm • American Photography: A Century of Images. KTCA/Twin Cities Public • Television in association with Middlemarch Films, Inc. 21 • June 2007 http://www.pbs.org/ktca/americanphotography/. • This PBS-sponsored website discusses the impact that photography has • had on social change in America. Framed in this context, students can • begin to understand the tremendous power that an image can have, the • messages they convey, just as written texts and spoken words can have. • The website has an interactive image lab where kids can practice cropping • photographs to create various moods and perspectives. They can explore • the “truths” or “untruths” of digital photographs by superimposing images • into pictures and altering a photograph's original subjects. Finally, teachers • can purchase the companion video to use for further classroom instruction.

6. PICTURE THIS:Writing with (and about) Photographs • Nye, Naomi Shihab. What Have You Lost? Photographs by Michael Nye. New York: • Greenwillow Books, 1999. • In this collection of poems, authors deal with losses in their lives. Each poem captures the • emotional impact people, places, objects, relationships, have on our lives. In her • Introduction, Nye describes how the poems she’s included in this collection deal with • subjects which, when lost, cause pain and suffering. She remarks that she has yet to find • poems celebrating unwanted losses (such as weight, fear, anger, etc.). Michael Nye’s • haunting portraits are scattered throughout the poems, and they call to mind that • question of truth in a photograph. Exactly how real and true to form is a portrait to its • subject? Does a person’s essence somehow get lost in the photograph? This book would • be a useful tool for students who are learning to make connections between creative • writing and photography. • WritersCorps. Believe Me, I Know: Poetry and Photography By WritersCorps Youth. Ed. Valerie Chow Bush and • Jimmy Santiago Baca. San Francisco: WritersCorps Books, 2002. • Believe Me, I Know is a compilation of student poetry and photographs. It is a fitting • resource for a unit incorporating writing and photography because its contents • are raw and personal. Poems reveal their writers’ true selves--their fears, desires, • joys, anger--as do the photographs. In the introduction, Jimmy Baca states that the • poems in Believe Me, I Know, “…allow readers to become vulnerable--open to hurt, • open to love, open to experiencing the world in ways that permit us to grow.” The poems, • combined with the expressive photography, surely will inspire and motivate students to • use these mediums to explore and acknowledge who they are and what they value.

7. PICTURE THIS:Writing with (and about) Photographs • Ingold, Jeanette. Pictures, 1918. San Diego: Harcourt Brace, 1998. • 15 year-old Asia is growing up in a small, rural Texas town during World War I. As she • struggles to make sense of the chaotic world around her, there is one thing that helps • Asia to see more clearly--the camera. Fascinated with learning photography, Asia • works hard to become the apprentice to the town’s photographer. As her role as a • woman in a war-torn, critical society becomes murky, and as her grandmother’s • growing dementia begins to cloud Asia’s emotions, Asia’s photography begins to take • on a new role in her life. Taking pictures allows Asia to see the world and the people • in it in a different, clearer way. Pictures, 1918 would be an appropriate, well-reviewed • work of fiction to recommend to 7th graders learning about photography as a • language, as a means to communicate.

8. Photographs:Food for the Starving Writer~ Resources for Teachers ~ • Literacy Through Photography. 2005. FotoFest. 21 June 2007 • <http://literacythroughphotography.fotofest.org/index.htm>. • Literacy Through Photography is an initiative designed to help students to • improve their written and oral communication skills through photography. • Although schools need to pay for the official program curriculum and training, • Literacy Through Photography’s website has many creative ideas (including a • sample lesson plan) about how to incorporate photography into a writing • classroom. Listen to an NPR report about the Literacy Through • Photography program athttp://www.fotofest.org/nprfinal.wav • Adobe Digital Kids Club. 2007. Adobe Systems Incorporated. 21 June 2007 • <http://www.adobe.com/education/digkids/index.html>. • Adobe is one of the leading software companies that focuses on content delivery and • graphic presentation. Whether or not your school has Adobe Photoshop or any kind of • photo or video-editing software, this website is an outstanding resource for teachers who • want to enhance classroom instruction with photography and film. It has numerous lesson • ideas (such as creating multimedia interpretations of well-known poems), online tutorials • on various topics (such as using photographs to tell stories), tips for taking better digital • photos, and more. This is a must-use resource!

9. Photographs:Food for the Starving Writer~ Resources for Teachers ~ • Ewald, Wendy, and Alexandra Lightfoot. I Wanna Take Me a Picture: • Teaching Photography and Writing to Children. 2001. Boston: • Center for Documentary Studies in association with Beacon • Press, 2004. • Wendy Ewald is one of the innovators behind the Literacy Through • Photography project, and thus her book I Wanna Take Me a Picture • speaks to using photographs in conjunction with teaching reading and • writing. This resource includes lesson ideas and activities for teachers • hoping to inspire students with fresh ways of looking at writing. She • includes some of her own photographs, some of her students’, along • with stories and testimonials of self-expression relating to photographic • images. The neat thing about this book is that it inspires and promotes • oral literacy just as much as written. Getting kids to talk about their • experiences and to participate in rich, meaningful discussions can often • be a challenge for middle school teachers. Ewald recognizes this • challenge and offers the use of photographs as the key to unlocking this • adolescent timidity. Teachers can modify lesson ideas to fit curriculum • content and maturity of the students.

10. Piecing It All Together Sometimes children need a push to write. Photographs could be the answer. By teaching children to think about writing as a form of self-expression, of style, of art, educators can help children to view literacy from a fresh and personal perspective. Poetry, prose, autobiographical sketches--most forms of writing really are simply snapshots of ourselves, documentation of what we see and value in life. By using photography as a motivator and prop, teachers will help students to generate personal, insightful, and genuine writings that, much like a photo album, can enkindle nostalgia for years to come.