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The Digital Camera: An Engaging Writing Tool
for primary and intermediate grade students
Photos can elicit powerful stories and children are fascinated by cameras and taking pictures. Digital cameras, satisfy another youthful
expectation of instant gratification, and can be used effectively to engage students in writing. If the old cliché, “a picture is worth
a thousand words,” has some basis in truth, we can certainly leverage this technology to elicit some fraction of those words from our
budding authors. Consider these ideas:
- Students explore the school grounds to capture images of objects comprised of geometric shapes and solids (triangles, circles,
squares, etc.). They then write about their captured image, i.e., “The playground swing is like a triangle when. . .”
- A team of students creates a photographic essay comprised of 6 to 10 images to illustrate a concept, story, or how to do something.
Without narration, they show their slide show to the class. (Many cameras have this built-in feature when hooked up to a
television or computer.) Students in the audience then interpret the story and write it in their own words.
- Using the “macro” feature of the camera, students take pictures of small details of larger objects with the aim to challenge others
with the question, “What is this?” Images are printed then exchanged in class. Students write in descriptive words and phrases
about the texture, color and shapes shown in the image then composes a paragraph that describes the object and where they
believe the photographer found it.
Your school may already own several digital cameras that you can check out for use from the library media center. If not, digital
cameras are affordable within most classroom budgets, starting at prices less than $100. Top considerations for selecting a new camera
are ease of use and connectivity to classroom or lab computers, printers or TV monitors. If you use several different cameras in your
classroom and they have removable memory chips or sticks, consider purchasing a digital card reader to hook up to your computer
and/or classroom television to quickly share and transfer images from a variety of memory card media. These devices are available at
electronics stores in a price range of $20 to $50, depending upon specific features.
visit other tips for technology integration:
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