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Photography: A Tool for Service-Learning
http://www.kodak.com/
by Cynthia Belliveau, Ph.D.

Photography is an important tool to service-learning projects, and many teachers and students are incorporating photographs into their service work. With digital cameras and inexpensive disposable cameras, adding a photography component to a project has never been easier.

Photography can be an especially important tool for working with special education students. Photography allows them to express themselves in ways that they physically or cognitively may not be able to do otherwise. It allows them to show the world their feelings, concerns and hopes, in a very vivid and tangible way.

At http://www.kodak.com/, teachers can find a great resource for lesson plans that involve photography. The site is divided into academic sections. The “Community Studies” section has a host of ideas that are service-learning related. One lesson plan that is posted involves special ed students developing a community skills slide show for other developmentally challenged students.

The students began by studying maps of the city until they could find their homes, schools, grocery stores and parks. They then used flashcards, games, slides and other aids to drill on specific community features, such as food items, bus fare, words from traffic signs and directional indicators.

Students and their teacher went on community excursions during which they shopped, took public transportation, visited a farm, mailed letters, studied traffic signals and went to the library. During these experiences, half the students joined the teacher in taking photos while the other half practiced relevant community skills. Once their slides and prints were developed, the students sorted the "keepers," selected themes and categories for displays and built bulletin boards. Their several hundred slides and a report on the project are being made available for use and duplication by others.

The teacher reported in the lesson plan that his students not only became enthusiastic photographers, but showed marked increases in all the skill and independence areas tested. These included planning and mapping, appropriate and safe traveling behaviors, cooperative group functioning and dealing with a wide range of community situations.