Teaching a Kid's Photo class... Interested in your ideas!

[Meadster]

Howdy all!
I was just asked to teach a week long (15 hour) nature photography class to 3rd - 8th graders. The original teacher is unavailable due to a death in his family and I am filling in rather last minute as the class (actually a "camp" ) starts next Monday. I am a middle school teacher and love may photography as many of you know, but I've never taught a photo class to children before.

The parameters of the class are that it lasts 3 hours a day Mon- Fri. each class (there are 2 per day) is limited to 10 students each. Each student is supplied with a Canon Powershot camera to use for the week. We are in Dallas, Texas on a day school campus with limited access to "nature". I am presently trying to work out trips to the Dallas Zoo as well as the Dallas Arboretum as I hope the 100 degree temps will not be too limiting.

We will be in the school's computer lab and will have access to Photoshop which I'll teach at a basic level due to the age of my students. I will have them set up their won Flickr accounts so they can share with friends & family once the camp is finished.

If any of y'all out there have ever taught children that age photography, I'd be very interested in your ideas on what worked and did not work for you.

I know readers of this board are a very talented and resourceful group, and I appreciate your thoughts in advance!

[JFSanders]

Hope those third graders are fairly mature, otherwise you may need a couple of kid wranglers.

That being said, I would go hands on early and often. Think bugs, they are wild and they are everywhere! Ladders are probably a non-starter but maybe a pole of some kind to get the camera up high to take odd camera angle shots. Oh, and funny face pictures!

Jim

[mshockley]

Originally Posted by JFSanders

Hope those third graders are fairly mature, otherwise you may need a couple of kid wranglers.

Jim

I would have to agree on this. Your talking about 3rd graders with 8th graders, and I'm thinking just the age difference/maturity level could pose a problem here. I can imagine an 8th grader--13/14 years old becoming extremely bored and turned off if your trying to teach at a 3rd grade level, and vice versa the other way around, the younger kids are going to be totally lost if your gearing your instruction to 8th grade level.

A class size of 10 is a very reasonable number if the age span wasn't so great. I think you may want to see if you could enlist a volunteer to help. Maybe a local college student interested in photography?

[Meadster]

hanks for the feedback... I did not mention that the morning group is for 3rd-5th graders & the afternoon is for the 6th -8th graders. I've taught Science camps here before with these age groups and am comfy that way. Several of the older students will have had me for their science teacher in the "real" school year so there is repoire.

I am particularly interested in hearing what novel ideas some of you have used when teaching photo classes to others..... I'd rather not reinvent the wheel if I do not have to

[mshockley]

13 Lessons to teach kids about digital photography is actually from DPS

And this link is for an e-book, but the site seems pretty informative, and shows you the Outline of the course, it might give you some good ideas to start with so you could come up with a plan for the day.

And glad to hear the age groups are broken down into morning/afternoon! whew, I was worried about you for a second when I saw the first post!

[mshockley]

You know I was just thinking about how we have the Assignment for the week here at DPS. I wonder if you could break down the day into some "teaching" then give the kids an "assignment" like we do here, and then possibly wrap up the session with each student having the opportunity to show what they think is their best capture?

[Doug Pardee]

I am so not an expert on this, but my first reaction was, "Photoshop for 3rd graders?" I'd think that maybe Picasa would be a lot easier, as effective for basic processing, and it's no-cost if the youngster wants to use it at home.

[faeriegodess612]

Originally Posted by Doug Pardee

I am so not an expert on this, but my first reaction was, "Photoshop for 3rd graders?" I'd think that maybe Picasa would be a lot easier, as effective for basic processing, and it's no-cost if the youngster wants to use it at home.

Great minds think alike. I was seriously thinking the exact same thing.

I like a lot of the ideas above. The links that shockley posted are pretty much what I was thinking. For the younger ones, you'll have to break the lingo and all that down into layman's terms though. Or it might all go over their heads, and they'll lose interest. Make it a game. Kid's love games and competition. Teach them something like the Rule of Thirds and perspective, then give them each one item. Whether it be different items or all the same. Tell them that they are to photograph that item on their desk, or the floor, etc,.. in the most interesting way they can think of applying the rule of thirds. Make a presentation using a projector connected to a laptop, then show them how White Balance affects a photo. Have them use their own camera's to change it, and they can see the difference on the screen. Bring a desktop lamp and different bulbs if you have to. Set up something for them to shoot under the light of the lamp, so they can see how it changes when they change the WB and when the bulbs are changed. Take them into the school yard to find leaves, and birds, and bugs, and various other things to take photos of. The playground.

These are just ideas I've pulled out of thin air, you can take them or leave them. I know nothing about teaching kids, nor do I even have any of my own,..yet. I have nephews and a niece, and two friends with toddlers. I know you have to keep them engaged. Other than that,...

[docxnoel]

There will be a thread like this before, so here is the link, it was a nice discussion too, upon waiting for other's idea, take a look on the link and i know it will help.