Teaching photography to a bunch of 12 year olds

<p>People have different learning modes, what works with one won't always work as well with others. Also remember that the lunch break is a break for them, not necessarily supposed to be another class. But if you can think of what you might see out in the lunch area, they won't all be taking the break the some way. Some will be walking or sitting and talking, others will be burning calories as fast as they can in active games, some will be reading through their favorite books, etc.</p>

<p>You may have a somewhat homogenous group in that they've chosen to try a photography activity. It might be worthwhile asking what they want to do. Some might want to know how a camera works, some may just want to take pictures. Asking them to bring in pictures they like or would like to know how to take may suggest some leads. Or you could start off with some really catchy images and ask what they think about them. A pan/blurred background skateboard shot and a blurred skateboarder with a sharp background, a too close wide angle of a kid with a giant fish.</p>

<p>Once you've activated their experiences, gotten them excited, then you can build off that.</p>

<p>Tim L: <em>"(I)...know where to send folks who post..."How do I get this look" topics..."</em></p>

<p>Great minds think alike. I thought about almost the same thing, except I was worried that some folks might have a more villainous bent: What if a bunch of sock puppets (or even real people) start posting a flurry of "How Do I Get This Look" threads based on 1 button BeFunky.com effects, thereby driving all the regular Photoshop gurus bonkers trying to figure out how to reproduce the effects. There's no way we would ever be able to keep up.</p>

<p>:-0</p>

<p>Tom M</p>

<p>Hi,<br>

Each spring I teach my 5th and 6th graders about photography at Yosemite Park School El Portal. I am lucky that I have a number of older Canon G2s and an Epson 2200 that was donated to our school. I also at one time had a free editor (Paint.net) loaded on all machines in our computer lab. At the end of the unit I have everyone make at least one 8x10 print mounted on some cheap mat board. Here are some ideas of approaching the topic.<br>

1. Have students look through old magazines and choose what they think is a good photograph.<br>

2. Use the time to discuss broad concepts in art such as Patterns, Shapes, Lines, Texture. Have the students find examples of these concepts. <br>

3. Discuss contrast. Have the students draw a picture that has strong contrast. <br>

4. Discuss the difference between color and monochrome.<br>

These are just some suggestions. I still haven't really figured it out, but it sure is fun to watch the students use a photo editor at age 11. They learn pretty quick. <br>

Good luck you brave soul<br>

Hugh</p>

<p>Thanks for all your thoughts guys (&gals :-)) my intention was to try and keep it light on theory, and heavy on fun doing, I guess I overworked it a little. It seems to me from the thoughts here that I need to consider a more lets just take photos of different things, see what works and what doesn't.<br>

There sounds like some really good ideas in here, thank you all for your thoughts. BTW: the first session was today. The kids found it interesting, but I think if I'd left it any longer before we went outside I was going to loose them. So it kindof brought home all the valid points mentioned in here.<br>

@ Christine M: you were right: 45 min was way too short... I think we'll re-jig the sessions for say 5-10 min of "theory" then lets go play. And yes, I like your idea of a photography club down the track for those still interested.<br>

I was talking to the teacher in charge of the lunch-time clubs today. She suggested the six weeks was a minimum, so that might be something to work on too...<br>

Thanks again for all your input. If anyone else wants to add some more, I'm all ears, or should that be "I'm all eyes" in here?</p>

Hi, Alan, I received some excellent advice when I had a similar situation:

http://www.photo.net/casual-conversations-forum/00Y7X3

 

At the end of the session, a couple of the kids asked if their school had a camera club, so an on-going

relationship would be good.

 

--Sally

<p>Alan- I teach this age group as well as adults, and you've gotten some seriously good advice so far. Yes, let them play, it's what they're good at. But there's one thing very important to stress here; unless the kids have some supernatural affinity for photography, they don't want a big learning curve. So my advice is to stay very basic so that when it comes time to show/look at their work, it'll be presentable. They don't need theory at this time. Stress the idea of holding the camera correctly, and steady-try above all to make a sharp image. Explain why images are blurred. If at the end of it, none of the kids like their images because of blurriness, bad focus, etc, guaranteed they won't want to keep at it. Give them successes early on to hook 'em. Then you'll be able to ID the ones who are truly interested. Good Luck</p>

<p>Please don't inflict the mindless Rule of Thirds (ROT) on the poor impressionable tykes! (Instead, emphasize that the main subject does not always want to be centered.) Pare the technobabble to a bare minimum and get them to slow down and LOOK through the viewfinder. Encourage them to play with the media - if something is fun, they'll naturally pursue it.</p>