How can we use technology, photography specifically, to advocate for the infants and speak to their daily discoveries, experiences, and expressions of creativity in the classroom?
Continuing Previous Investigations...
Last year the teachers of Rooms 2 and 3, in collaboration with our Studio Teacher, Jen, started researching better ways to communicate the infants' experience. As a way of exploring different means of documentation that better captured the infants’ experience, we tried to document from the children’s perspective – literally, by placing the camera at their eye level and taking photographs of what the children’s attention was on at that particular moment from their vantage point.
This allowed us to experience the world from the infant’s point of view and caused us to question many of our actions as adults, such as placing children underneath dangling materials when they are sad as a way to help them feel better.
In addition, while revisiting my photos, I decided to experiment with black and white photos and the program Color Splash. Color Splash allows you to add bits of color back into your photos in the areas you select.
Last year the teachers of Rooms 2 and 3, in collaboration with our Studio Teacher, Jen, started researching better ways to communicate the infants' experience. As a way of exploring different means of documentation that better captured the infants’ experience, we tried to document from the children’s perspective – literally, by placing the camera at their eye level and taking photographs of what the children’s attention was on at that particular moment from their vantage point.
This allowed us to experience the world from the infant’s point of view and caused us to question many of our actions as adults, such as placing children underneath dangling materials when they are sad as a way to help them feel better.
In addition, while revisiting my photos, I decided to experiment with black and white photos and the program Color Splash. Color Splash allows you to add bits of color back into your photos in the areas you select.
|
|
I found that by using bits of color in black and white photos, I was able to highlight parts of the image that were sometimes harder to take in while looking at a full color photo. Rather than trying to process the photo as a whole, you could tune in and process different parts of the images you may not have noticed before.
I was able to notice reflections in the children’s eyes, and emotions communicated through their body language that may have otherwise been lost in a busy photo.
I was able to notice reflections in the children’s eyes, and emotions communicated through their body language that may have otherwise been lost in a busy photo.
|
|
These experiences playing with my photos, documentation, and styles of communication lead to a big ah-ha moment for me. Photography, something I have a passion for, can play a huge part in valuing the infants' experience for myself, as well as sharing the importance of their every day moments with others. This year with two new classes of children who all have different personalities, strengths, and goals, I realized that this work is important and worth continuing. I feel that sharing the creativity that these new children possess is valuable, and can in turn help me build upon my new found documentation styles.
Moving Forward...
When Jen approached us this year with questions about what we wanted to research, my initial reaction was to build upon what we began last year and attempt to bring it to the current families, new colleagues, and further our own understanding. I began by doing some basic research on the idea of creativity - and that brought me to four key words that sparked my thought process on the topic. Blending the ideas of last year with new thoughts about technology, photography, and inspiration, my research question was born.
How can we use technology, photography specifically, to advocate for the
infants and speak to their daily discoveries, experiences, and expressions
of creativity in the classroom?
cre·a·tiv·i·ty [kree-ey-tiv-i-tee] noun
1. the ability to transcend traditional ideas, rules, patterns, relationships, or the like, and to create meaningful new ideas, forms, methods, interpretations, etc.; originality, progressiveness, or imagination.
in·spire [in-spahyuhr] verb
1. to fill with an animating, quickening, or exalting influence
2. to produce or arouse (a feeling, thought, etc.) 3. to fill or affect with a specified feeling, thought, etc. |
tech·nol·o·gy [tek-nol-uh-jee] noun1. the branch of knowledge that deals with the creation and use of technical means and their interrelation with life, society, and the environment, drawing upon such subjects as industrial arts, engineering, applied science, and pure science.
ad·vo·ca·cy [ad-vuh-kuh-see] noun1. the act of pleading for, supporting, or recommending; active espousal
|
The Power of Photography as a Tool for Advocacy
A photograph can be a powerful tool for advocacy, since unlike text or video footage it can carry a large amount of information in an instant. It does not depend on the audience spending time reading or watching it to get a point across. A photograph can carry layers of information despite being a recording of just an instant in time: the key impact of the issue on the lives of people, the geographical context, the cultural and/or professional background of the affected community – all these details can be conveyed in one photo.
