I’ve previously written how I used photos of my students in class to promote their metacognition. It’s always gone well.
Today, Alison Anderson wrote a guest post in Richard Byrne’s blog that I think took that concept a step further and has made it a regular occurrence in her classroom. In the post, titled Look At The Camera and Say “Think,” she describes how she takes pictures of students at work and asks them for their homework to describe what was happening and what they were thinking.
She describes it more in-depth and shares a lot of other good ideas. It’s definitely worth checking out.
I’ll be adding her ideas to The Best Ways To Use Photos In Lessons.
Showing a nice tranquil picture on a wide screen or even just a poster creates a mood on the learner. It is a good bouncing board for a lesson. Much more using a camera and taking pictures of students at work, and sending them these pictures in which they are the subjects may give a different kind of challenge to them. They would be thinking of what is happening in the picture and what could they be thinking in the picture. The feeling of patent may be eminent, for they have that exclusive rights to the subject of discussion (the picture) in their written assignment. they could make that first hand narrative. When a write up is patterned after a prior experience, though personal, it is accurate and easy for the student to write. The personal touch of the writer (subject/participant in the picture) makes the output unique and interesting. Indeed applying metacognitive skills will open the mind of the learner to the fact that his own capabilities and his awarenessof how much he could learn and how he may achieve learning brings an open window to an array of opportunities.