Scenes from the first day of class ... on photos and documentation

Hi, y'all!  Jeff and I agreed that we'd hold ourselves to the same blogging goal that we set for you.  Before I write my reflection of Day 1, I thought I'd share these photos.

One of the things that has been really useful for me in practice is to keep my iPhone in my pocket.  I pull it out for spontaneous podcasts, video recordings, or photos.  Sometimes, seeing the lesson again through a photo or video helps me reflect on what worked and what didn't.  I'm particularly interested in capturing body language and in-process student work. While posed photos have definite value for yearbooks, I try to be unobtrusive.

(I'll be honest - I co-taught a first grade lesson this spring in which no fewer than seven children cried.  They were exhausted - there had been a field trip, a fire drill, and record-breaking temperatures. Looking at the photos helped us realize that the instructional goals were sound, so we didn't need to pitch the whole lesson, but we needed to restructure the lesson in such a way that exhausted little ones weren't so dependent on one another.  We reorganized things to give them a bit more individual breathing time, tried it again, and turned the lesson around.)

I've also learned that if I appoint a student documentarian, the view might be completely different and show me things I hadn't seen previously. Plus, when an editor needs photos for a book or article, I've got them at the ready.  (My district had an opt-out system -- parents were assumed to have given permission for images to be used in the media -- but I would send out a separate permission slip for publication just in case.)

If you don't have a digital camera or camera-ready phone, your school library will have cameras you can borrow, but I would highly recommend that you have your own because you never know when The Moment will hit. Be sure to buy an inexpensive one that fits in your pocket or on a lanyard.

The photos below remind me of how pleased I was to see such productive talk among the groups yesterday. Here, you can clearly tell that Noah had the floor, because everyone's bodies and attention are focused on him.

Here again, look at the body language. Everyone is leading into the table, and their eyes are focused on the speaker.

You'll be going into practice with a Flip camera and learning much more about documenting your practice (something I wish I had received back in my day).  We can't wait to hear what you learn -- and to continue learning alongside you.

~ Kristin