Picturing a Writing Process: Photovoice and Teaching Writing to Urban Youth

Of all the articles i read in my Read 411 class, the one that resonated the most was "Picturing a Writing Process: Photovoice and Teaching Writing to Urban Youth." As a future English teacher, one of my ultimate goals is to have students fully understand the writing process. In order to help students better understand and appreciate the writing process, the article attempts to find ways to "help students develop richer connections to... the English class tasks by illustrating the tasks larger relationship to school" (Zenkov and Harmon 575). The project "Through Students Eyes (TSE)" was initiated in order to meet this goal.

TSE uses a "photovoice" method, which allows "middle and high school students of diverse backgrounds and living in poverty to document via photographs... what they believe are the purposes of school, the support for their school success, and the barriers to their school achievement" (Zenkov and Harmon 575). As I mentioned in the other blogs, the definition of literacy has now expanded to include media, electronic, and musical texts. By having the students take and respond to images, the project motivates them to engage in reading and writing tasks. Since the students are taking pictures of things that are relevant to them, then they will be able to write reactions that are not only more detailed but found in critical thinking skills. this becomes evident when the students are asked to make a connection between the photo they took and the three questions posed in the beginning of the article.

The project provided each student with a 35mm digital or point-and-shoot camera, and over the course of four months to over a year, the students were asked to answer the three questions regarding school. After downloading their images, the students would meet every other Saturday in order to discuss and write about their photos. Students would revise their writings " for clarity and writing conventions in one-on-one conferences with [the teacher]" (Zenkov and Harmon 577). Overall, the purpose of the project was to focus primarily on the students reflections rather than the pictures.

This integrated lesson is definitely something I would consider using in the future. By having students take pictures of things that are relevant to them and then write about them, their interests become more realistic and tangible within the classroom setting. In order to keep students engaged and involved, they need to feel that their interests matter and that they have a "voice".

References:
 Zenkov, Kristien and James Harmon. " Picturing a Writing Process: Photovoice and Teaching Writing to Urban Youth."
Journal of Adolescent & Adult Literacy 52.7(2009) : 575-584. Print.