Friday, February 27, 2009

Photos! Photos! Photos!

Some of my favorite things to use in the classroom are photos that depict historical events. Students enjoy looking at the photos, and when they're relevant to a lesson, they can really enhance students' involvement and learning. Of course, one should ask questions about the photos, or prompt students to come up with a question that they have about a particular photo, and discuss. I read some research that when photos depict highly emotional events, students tend to recall them and remember the content presented with them better than when the photos don't elicit an emotional response. (Sorry! Where I read this escapes me! Am I plagiarizing since I didn't cite this?!?) Anyway, try photos, they're fun, and usually promote interesting discussions.
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5 comments:

  1. D. BortzFebruary 28, 2009 at 9:47 PM

    Brandy-

    Some of my favorite teachers have been history teachers that use photos to almost bring the students back in time and experience history for themselves. There is something about pictures that bring out a person's imagination and what things were like in historical situations. Photos are a great idea for any history teacher to use in their classroom! If you can take pictures yourself of historical sites, I think students may have more credibility for you as a teacher, that is how I felt anyways!

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  2. Spanish for the MassesMarch 1, 2009 at 12:55 PM

    I agree that photos are a great way to prompt discussion and engage students in class. I show a lot a photos during cultural lessons and you're right, the ones that invoke emotions are the ones they remember. However, now I wonder if this is a good approach to teaching culture because I don't want students to think everything is Latin America is crazy and weird. I guess reading the Ethnic Studies book made me think too much about what not to teach as opposed to what I should teach. (I can't cite that one either!)

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  3. sporterMarch 2, 2009 at 8:23 PM

    Love this idea! Strengthens visual literacy skills!

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  4. Katie CookMarch 3, 2009 at 9:11 AM

    A picture says a thousnad words. Photos are so intriguing and they can bring asubject matter alive.

    Katie Cook

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  5. sporterMarch 10, 2009 at 1:18 PM

    I read an article last year about how to "read" photographs from a historical point-of-view. Fascinating to think about that type of visual literacy!

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