Your students, if they're anything similar mine, dear to communicate through images—photos on Instagram, GIFs shared in a text, photo stories on Snapchat. And nonetheless, so much of our conversation in school revolves effectually words. Understanding text is critical to students' success now and in the future. But practise we also assistance students place, read and understand images in order to go literate in the visual linguistic communication that is all around u.s.? The photograph essay can be a great middle or high school assignment that volition have strong appeal and grow your students' writing skills.

What Is a Photo Essay?

For those who aren't familiar with the term "photo essay," have no fearfulness. A photograph essay, in its simplest class, is a series of pictures that evokes an emotion, presents an idea or helps tell a story. You lot've been exposed to photo essays for your entire life—peradventure without even knowing it. For example, you may have seen Dorothea Lange's Migrant Mother:

teachingphotoessay

An iconic image of the Bully Depression, this flick, along with Lange's other gripping photos, helped Americans better empathize the effects of poverty in California as well as across the nation. Migrant Mother is one of countless photographs that helped persuade, influence or engage viewers in ways that text lone could not.

Photograph essays can feature text through manufactures and descriptions, or they tin can stand lone with simple captions to give context. The versatility of photo essays has helped the medium become a part of our civilization for centuries, from the American Civil State of war to modernistic ecology disasters like the 2010 earthquake in Republic of haiti. This versatility is also what makes the photo essay a not bad educational nugget in classrooms today; teachers can use them in any content area. Math students tin use them to show a geometric concept in real life. Scientific discipline students can document a chemistry process at home. Auto students can photograph the technique—and joys and frustrations—of learning a new procedure.

So, where does a instructor begin? Read farther for tips and ideas for making photograph essays a part of your instruction toolbox.

Outset With Photos

Introducing photograph essays as a means of changing lives and changing society can hook educatee involvement in the medium. Begin by merely showing pictures and letting students discuss their reactions. Consider this famous photo of the field at Antietam during the Ceremonious War. Share some of the photos from this drove from CNN of 25 of the Nearly Iconic Photographs or this list of fifty Influential Photographs That Changed Our World.

Each of these photographs stirs emotion and sends our minds searching for answers. Equally a warm-up assignment or series of assignments, have students choose (or assign randomly) a photograph to write about. What'south the story? Why did this happen? Who was involved?

DIY Photographs

Before giving a formal photo essay consignment, give students an opportunity to practise and receive feedback. Consider presenting students with several open-ended, ungraded challenges like "For class tomorrow, take a photo that depicts 'Struggle.'" Other possible photo topics: chaos, frustration, friendship, school. Accept students email y'all their photo homework and share information technology as a slideshow. Talk near the images. Do they convey the theme?

Y'all tin can give examples or suggestions; however, giving besides many examples and requirements tin can narrow students' creativity. The purpose of this trial run is to generate conversation and introduce students to thinking like photographers, so don't worry if the photos aren't what you lot had in mind; it'southward about getting feedback on what the educatee had in mind.

Technique 101

Even though the goal of a photograph essay is to influence and create give-and-take, there is still do good in giving students a crash course on elementary photography concepts. Don't feel like you have to teach a primary-level course on dark-room development. Even a simple overview on the "Rule of Thirds" and the importance of perspective can be enough to help students create intentional, visually stirring photographs.

You can teach these ideas directly or have students practise the piece of work past researching on their own. They have most likely seen hundreds of movies, advertisements and photos, so these lessons are simply labeling what they've already experienced. Having some knowledge of composition will not only assistance students improve their visual literacy, it will likewise aid empower them to accept photos of their own.

Choose Your Purpose

Are students telling their ain stories of their neighborhoods or their families? Are they addressing a social issue or making an argument through their images and text? A photo essay could exist a swell assignment in science to document a procedure or focus on nature.

If you are simply getting started, start out small: Take students create a short photo essay (two to v images) to present a topic, process or thought you take been focusing on in class. Here's a Photo Essay Planning Guide to share with your students.

Photo Essay Planning Guide Image

With pictures becoming a dominant medium in our image-filled world, it'south non a question of if we should give students practice and feedback with visual literacy, information technology's a question of how. Photograph essays are a unproblematic, engaging manner to starting time. So, what's your program?