Fifth Grade
During the 2013/2014 school year, I was given the opportunity to partner with "Live It Learn It," a Washington DC based non-profit that provides experiential learning programs to Title 1 (High poverty) public schools. Based on a model called "Guided Experience", the program targets students in grades four through six, and seeks to combine critical thinking and learning with inquiry driven experiences.
My participation in the program was with Ms. Scott's fifth grade class at Raymond Education Campus, in Northwest Washington. I accompanied the class on several field trips and made photographs of the students in the classroom and on location.
In addition, through a partnership between myself and Nikon Professional Services, I was able to obtain a loan of digital cameras for each of the students. Together with the students, we walked through the neighborhood around the school and the students were encouraged to take photographs of what they saw.
As part of a presentation that included a constructive critique of the student's photographs, I talked to the students about the importance of light and color in making photographs, and, more broadly, the large role that images play in society.
Toward the end of the school year, the student's photographs, along with those I made of the students, were mounted and displayed at a neighborhood public restaurant. That spring, an opening reception was held on a Friday evening and attended by the students, their parents, and members of the school faculty.
