2 Writing Through The Lens: Creating Camera Narratives
2.3 Lesson plan #1

Using The Camera To Tell A Story

The Single Photo Short Story

Lesson plan #1

Lesson Plan Title: Who? What? When? Where? Why?

Concept / Topic To Teach: Learning to “read” a photo

General Goal(s): Students will become familiar with how to look at a photo and analyze what information the photographer is giving the viewer.

Specific Objectives:

• Students will be introduced to the vocabulary required to fulfill the tasks

• Students will analyze photos for their story content and interpret what they are seeing based on discussion and personal judgment using the established vocabulary

• Students will develop social skills and respect for the opinions of others through shared observations

• Students will practice the concept of individual point of view as well as shared perspective

• Students will record their conclusions through supported, organized observations

• Students will provide written consolidation of skills

Required Materials:

• Shared access to photo images – smartboard/ computer lab/ opaque projector

• A series of photos (5) for analyzing (use a search engine such as Google images) http://www.google.ca/imghp?hl=en&tab=wi

http://photobucket.com/findstuff/

http://www.flickr.com/

http://picasa.google.com/mac/

to find families, sports, children, teenagers, tourists). These images should include enough information that consensus on most of the 5 W’s can be reached.

• Notebooks

Anticipatory Set (Lead-In):

Students should be familiar with the words they will need to use in order to analyze and hypothesize effectively

• Vocabulary – characters, setting. mood, theme, conflict, point of view shot, frame, subject foreground, middle ground, background

Step-By-Step Procedures:

• Record the vocabulary on the board or chart paper and have students do the same in their notebooks

• Discuss and define the terms using a common photo and their dictionaries as reference

• Encourage group discussion, brainstorming why and when we take pictures (record all answers)

• Using these responses, discuss how a picture tells a story (use the common photo again)

• we see the subjects (characters)

• we see the location (setting –time, place)

• we see key objects and/or clothing details

• we see the mood (happy, sad, excited, angry, shy)

• we often see the occasion or the reason for the photo

• we see the photographer’s relationship or point of view toward the subject (admiring, loving, curious, afraid)

• In small groups, look at your first photo. Have students discuss and record together what story cues they can discern using the vocabulary established (point form)

• As a full group, come back to share, defend and justify the small group responses and record the points upon which the class has reached consensus

• In three to five sentences, collaboratively write the story of the picture

• Treat the second photo the same way

• For the final three pictures have the students work on their own points and simple story paragraphs

• Have students choose one paragraph to self edit and submit for assessment

Plan For Independent Practice:

• Discuss a family photo with family member(s) at home attempting to answer all 5 W’s and using the learned vocabulary

• Students will bring the picture to class with a written paragraph that tells its story

Assessment Based On Objectives:

• Does the student use the established vocabulary with a sense of understanding in relation to the photo?

• Does the student see the correlation between photo and story?

• Does the student share observations and encourage others in small and large group setting?

• Is the student able to draw more subtle inferences (the why of the story) from cues and subtext in the photo?

• Is the written paragraph a clear, concise, coherent telling of the photo content?