Photovoice Project

Photovoice is designed to be a Powerpoint presentation and personal narrative. I find that when the kids can take a large project and take each section through the writing process, essentially publishing or making a final draft in pieces, it works better. This project is no different. The kids think this project is exciting, and it aligns well with the common core standards, including technology.

Photovoice was first introduced to me during my masters program at Ashland, and I have adapted it to use in the classroom. It gives the kids an opportunity to write about themselves (which they love doing) and learn some good writing skills on how to make a Powerpoint as well as how to write a personal narrative. When it is divided into sections that they can complete independently, it seems like a less daunting task to them rather than trying to complete the whole thing at one time.

I think that it’s important not to give intermediate kids any more than 8 subtopics in any writing project. And then those subtopics are small, consisting, in this case, of only a paragraph. Here are the sections that I used for the Photovoice: introduction, where/when you were born or birthday, your favorite place, school, family, hobbies, favorite toy, home, and pets. I also have a section for work at the end, but the kids don’t really have a job, so we’ll skip that. You can adapt your subtopics any way you see fit. Writing about "favorites" is very popular. For each section, the kids take a picture of an object to symbolize that topic (you’ll have to have a discussion on symbolism with them), and then they write about it.

If you want to take the project further, the kids can make the Powerpoints into movies by saving it as a .PNG file. (Click “save as,” “other formats,” and in the save as type drop down menu click “PNG Portable Network Graphics Format.” Then they can open it up in Windows Movie Maker and add music, narration, and such. Just “Google” for a more detailed summary on how to do that.)

If access to technology is an issue for you, you can also do a paper version, which I have done. For my project, I had the kids make accordion books with pockets (take a 12” x 18” piece of construction paper, fold a long side up about 2 inches, and accordion fold it into 8 sections. Use a couple of staples to hold the fold in place if you need to.). The kids glued the photos on the fronts of the pockets and then put the writing onto little tags to insert into the pockets. (Making a Powerpoint is actually probably a little easier because you don't have to resize the photos and print them out. An alternative might be to have the kids bring in objects that they can glue right to the pockets without taking a pic or draw pictures of the objects. They might not, however, enjoy or be receptive to taking away the actual use of photographs.) They used a lot of art to decorate the pieces and some scrapbook embellishing ideas. This works well, too. It’s a lot more exciting than your plain old paper project or even paper with a decorative border.

Transformers Writing Project Idea

 

Here’s my first writing idea. My students and I actually came up with it as a group. (This goes with my earlier idea of giving the kids “ownership” of their writing projects.)

We were talking about the 2^nd Transformers movie. I was telling them about how I had seen it with my Little Big Bro… (He’s my little brother, but he’s 6’4” and I’m only 5’3”. He’s also my bestest friend in the whole world.) Anyway, I was telling my class how I got to see the 2^nd movie with my Little Big Bro at the drive-in. We talked about how we all loved the movie (especially the boys) and the special effects were phenomenal. Then I said, “Hey, that would make a good writing project,” and they all agreed.

We ended up brainstorming ideas about the project on chart paper. As a class, we decided that they would need to choose something to “transform” into a robot, there would need to be a bad guy, a problem and solution. To help satisfy the girls, we discussed how they could pick a robot like a hair dryer or iPhone. Their problem could be anything from saving the world to rescuing a helpless puppy.

To help kick start the project, I actually brought in the first movie and showed them the introduction with a quote from Optimus Prime. Below is the actual transcript:

Before time began, there was the cube. We know not where it comes from. Only that it holds the power to create worlds and fill them with life. That is how our race was born. For a time we lived in harmony, but with all great power, some wanted it for good, others for evil. And so began the war. A war that ravaged our planet until it was consumed by death, and the cube was lost to the far reaches of space. We scattered across the galaxy, hoping to find it and rebuild our home, searching every star and every world. And just when all hope seemed lost, a message of a new discovery drew us to an unknown planet called Earth…but we were already too late…

-Optimus Prime

The students took notes on this part in case they thought they could use it later in their own stories. We talked about good leads or beginnings, and this movie intro became the basis for our project and learning. The students had one week to come up with their “robot” character and story elements: title, characters, setting, problem, and solution.

After that, we played it by ear and took off from there, refining the idea as we went. For the final projects, I googled images based on what they said they would like their robots to be, and we attached them to our final copies to display in the hallway underneath their pictures.

Happy writing!