Integrating Digital Photography Into the Classroom

            I have always had an interest in photography and recently I got a DLSR camera.  Since then I have been teaching myself the basics of digital photography.  So it seemed logical to research and write about how to integrate digital photography into the classroom.  I started with a simple search through the Internet.  After sifting through the results I found some ideas that would be really good and creative.

            One of the ideas I found was to use photography to make a picture storybook.  Either the teacher or the students (depending on what works best) takes photographs that can be used to tell a story.  The students would then write the text and create a story to go along with the pictures.   This could be very useful for creative writing.  They can also practice reading the book that they created.

            Another idea that I thought was creative was to take pictures of each child’s eyes.  The class then identifies their classmates based on their eyes.  This could be tied in to a lesson about how every child is unique.  It could also make an interesting bulletin board afterwards.

            One final idea that I found was allowing students to take pictures and make an ABC book.  The students would be assigned a letter and would have to find and photograph something that begins with that letter.  This would allow them to practice their alphabet as well as creating a wonderful class project.

            An idea that I had to incorporate digital photograph into the classroom was to take pictures and use them for an identification quiz.  This idea could be used to quiz students on science and vocabulary.  This could be used for almost any grade level.  I would likely use it as matching for vocabulary words.

            In order to integrate digital photography into the classroom, you will have to have access to a digital camera.   If you as the teacher are taking the pictures, then you can use you own personal camera, but if the students are using the camera more care will have to be taken.  Other things that would be necessary would be either a projection system or a printer to share the photographs with the class.

            I believe that integrating photography into the classroom can be not only effective, but fun as well.  Photography is an art form, and exposing children to this can be really helpful.  Also, photography can be really helpful for visual children.  They say a picture is worth a thousand words, so instead of just telling your class something, you can show it to them.  Plus, it’s a lot of fun!