movies, many of today’s teachers have turned their classrooms into attention-getting and engaging learning environments. The key to capturing attention? Photography. Educators say photography helps children develop fundamental skills, such as organizing thoughts, communicating ideas and expanding insights, in a fun and personalized way. In addition, teachers can use photos to help open students’ eyes and minds to new perceptions, relationships and solutions. “Cameras and film open communications between teachers and students of all ages. Photos transcend the age gap and provide a common ground that connects students to the learning process,” explained Phillip Seymour, educator and photographer. Realizing the important role of photography and how instant pictures can help in the classroom, teachers formed a nationwide initiative called the Polaroid Education Program in 1986. Activities using instant photos can range from teaching basic skills and nurturing self-esteem, to documenting achievements with younger students. Photographybased activities can inspire and motivate older students across a wide range of subject areas as well. Photos also are used to add a depth and richness to student portfolios by creating a visual oe Make Learning A Snap—Edu- cators are using instant cameras to spark students’ interest in the world. record to complementa project. One popular activity for preschool-aged children helps introduce basic shapes by identifying examples in the local environment: * Photo Shapes Safari — Teachers make a gameof finding objects shaped like circles, squares, rectangles, triangles, and so forth. Teachers or students or both capture them to create flashcard photos, and then lay the pictures on a desk along with cut paper shapes. Children are then asked to match the shapes with the objects in the photos. Early-elementary students (grades K-2) can use photos to explore the senses of sight, sound, touch, smell and taste: * Come to Your Senses — The teacher divides students into teams, with each assigned to pho- tograph things that trigger or stimulate their assigned sense. Children are then asked to use the photographs as inspiration for sentences about the interaction of the senses. Children are also encouraged to compare images and explore how different images evoke negative and positive sensory triggers for different people. Older students (grades 3-8) can use photography as a tool for motivation: * Positive Behavior — As a class project, students imagine as many waysto react to a conflict as possible. The children’s list might include fighting, running away, sacrificing, compromising, negotiating, or transformingthe conflict. They then dramatize and photograph each possible reaction to conflict and use the photographs to create a long-term display. The students can refer to this display when discussing current events, historical conflicts or even classroom issues. The Polaroid Education Program offers a series of workshops, resource guides and classroom activity books to help educators with curriculum for all grade levels. In addition, the Program paired with Scholastic Early Childhood Today to offer a professional in-service training opportunity for early childhood professionals. For more information, teachers can visit the Web site www.polaroid.com/education or call 1-800-662-8337, ext. E400.
