I have taught photojournalism in some form every year of my teaching career. My photographers have won local, state and national awards. Yet, I am a terrible photographer. I am not too thrilled about sharing my photos on flickr, but I am excited about my students sharing their work with each other. It’s like finding an audience for their writing--but this time it is visual sharing for an audience.
Three obvious lesson plans to use flickr in the journalism classroom:
As a public way to use critique comments correctly, students can use the site to comment on classmates’ photos according to specific guidelines or assessments.
As a journalist, students can use photos they find to practice caption writing. The specifics of captions can be practiced at anytime. The first sentence is always written in present tense (students can make up the 5Ws and H) and the second sentence is in past tense giving additional information. I also require a “mini headline” or “lead-in” before each caption. These are great summarizing skills.
And if students are learning to shoot specific types of photos, they can search for ideas on ways to shoot that subject. For example, if they are going to a basketball game, they can search for high school basketball in the tags and look for angles or shots that might be appropriate for their high school newspaper or yearbook. These photo searches would lead to discussions with classmates and the adviser in order to facilitate communication for photo assignments.
Great picture:) I love the uses for your classes. You seem to be finding some great fits! Tagging would be a great thing to include because many of them may end up writing online:)
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