As long as I can remember, my father always said to me that one day he would write me a very special letter. But he never told me what the letter might be about. I used to try to guess what I might read in the letter; what mystery, what intimacy we would at last share, what family secret might be revealed. I know what I had hoped to read in the letter. I wanted him to tell me where he had hidden his affections. But then he died, and the letter never did arrive, and I never found that place where he had hidden his love.

A LETTER FROM MY FATHERDuane Michals

Writing with a Camera:Teaching Student Authors to Compose Both

Words and Images

Amy E. HarterUniversity of Wisconsin-Milwaukee Writing Project

July 2010

CONTEXT/ORIGINS OF TIW

*Labor of love *Past success *My students *Evolving technology

GUIDING QUESTIONS

• What does a 21st century text look like? What about 21st century literacy?

• In what ways can photographs and words work together to create understanding?

• How can photography be used in writing instruction?

• What social justice applications might the use of photography in writing instruction provide?

What do we think?

• A _____________ is a text because _________________________.

• Literacy is __________________.

Please have a brief discussion with your shoulder partner about what you might write in the blanks.

WHAT IS A TEXT?

• Movement of definition from written language only to many expanded possibilities

• 21st century texts• 21st century literacy• 21st century learners

Photography plays anImportant role.

HOW DO PHOTOS AND WORDS WORK TOGETHER?

Composition of both genres requires authors to make distinct rhetorical choices. Photography and writing placed side by side echo one another to create powerful messages.

RHETORICAL CHOICES [p.4]• Point of view—who is the voice behind the pen or lens?• Purpose—what does the author want to communicate?• Subject/Theme—what’s the text about? Main message?• Audience—who is the intended reader or viewer?• Organization—how is the text organized? What is

emphasized/recurring?• Tone—is the author’s tone formal? Fanciful? Serious?

Witty?• Mood—What emotional response does the text evoke?• Context—What historical, cultural, economic, and social

contexts frame our understanding of the text?

Let’s boost our visual literacy by analyzing some of the rhetorical choices in this photo… List the what you observe, the rhetorical choices that you identify, and the messages you gain from them.

As students learn the “language” of images, they become better equip to start composing their own (Ewald and Lightfoot, 2002).

Photo: 3 by Emily Bartos

HOW TO DO THIS IN YOUR CLASSROOM1. Teach students to read pictures (and words!) through examination of rhetorical choices2. Allow students to experiment with the camera and compose photographs3. Model and support as students compose writing that corresponds with the photographs. Stick to: poem, auto/biography, reflection, narrative (Foster, 2002).4. Publish, promote, and share student work with community online, in a gallery, or both!

LET’S TRY IT.

• Work with your group to thoughtfully plan and compose a photograph image that answers the question “What does it mean to be a teacher?” Give it a title, too.

• You may wish to refer to pg. 4 for rhetorical choices to guide your composition

• 10 minutes – equal opportunity for texts!

NOW THE WRITING…• Individually compose a short piece of writing

that corresponds to your group’s image.• Careful: This is NOT a description of what is in

the picture and why.• YES to a thematically linked poem,

auto/biography, reflection, or narrative.• Hint: You should be making approximately the

same rhetorical choices for the written text!

Now, discuss with your group…

1. What was our experience like as budding writer-photographers?2. What felt new?3. What “worked” about this activity?4. Why did it work?

SOCIAL JUSTICE CONNECTIONS• Images frame one vision of the world from a

particular perspective/worldview: critical lenses.• Photography lets students draw upon their own

lives as a meaningful creative source.• Students gain the power, behind the lens and the

pen they can tell their own story, call attention to what is important to them, jar the public into action. (Requires supportive instruction-ethics of image, which in itself is social justice pedagogy)

• Prepares learners to create and publicize messages for a new world; that’s a vital skill.

ACCESSIBILITY, EXTENSIONS, ADAPTATIONS

What can you think of?

Photo: Untitled Leaf by Emily Bartos

SOME MORE IDEAS! [p. 7]• Chronicle growth of plants or the behavior of animals in biology.• Use compositions as evidence or to monitor the outcome of an

experiment in any of the sciences.• Chronicle social behavior in psychology class.• Create compositions that reflect family history, culture, or traditions in

social studies.• Interpret historical photos from a specific era, penning imagined

thoughts of the pictured figures in history class. Possibly take some photos designed after the historical ones, in the style of Annu Palakunnathu Matthew (Faigley, 2004 pg. 270).

• Photograph and explain patterns, angles, or structures found in nature and man-made environments in geometry.

• Use photography and writing to create portraiture and mini-biographies of musicians to generate public interest in a choir, band, or orchestra performance.

Next step:

• Implement• Experiment• Discover

Thanks for listening, and enjoy your own exploration of our vast textual universe!