During my 42 years of teaching secondary English, 36 years at Richland High School, one of the most rewarding activities resulted when I paired my Creative Writing class with the Photography teacher\u2019s class.\u00a0 Students and teachers alike grew from the experience.<\/p>\n
When I first approached the Photography teacher with my idea of collaboration, he was at first reticent, but quickly warmed to the idea.\u00a0 It was simple.\u00a0 I had a three-phase plan for our students.\u00a0 Phase one: his photography students would take a picture of their choosing and my Creative Writing class would write a poem that captured for them the photo\u2019s point or essence.\u00a0 Phase two: my writers would write a poem and have the photography students take a picture that resulted from their reading and analysis of the poem.\u00a0 Phase three:\u00a0 Students who had not had the option of connecting with the other paired student prior to the group presentation were encouraged to work together\u2026jointly choosing a topic for a poem and\/or an idea for a photo. \u00a0After each of these phases\/exercises, our classes would meet together in the library and a picture would be projected on the screen after the poem was read or vice versa.\u00a0 In both cases, both writer and photographer would then have an opportunity to share their \u2018creative\/artistic\u2019 intent and react to the other\u2019s interpretation.<\/p>\n
The time frame for these was basically seven to ten school days, during which students also worked on other class projects.\u00a0 Specific due dates helped keep students working.\u00a0 Poems had to be written, edited, and polished and the photos had to be taken and printed.\u00a0 The photography teacher had all photos on a disc for viewing during the presentations.<\/p>\n
Each presentation was brief\u2026maybe five to seven minutes in length.\u00a0 The picture was shown, the poem read or reversed.\u00a0 After this there was a time for sharing by the artists.\u00a0 Students were keenly interested in how their work was interpreted and were equally anxious to share their original intent.<\/p>\n
\n- \u00a0No contact between writer and photographer until after their presentations.<\/li>\n
- Students are paired randomly by lottery\/drawing.<\/li>\n
- Specific instructions are given and due dates firmly established\u2026this aided both teachers in motivating their students to complete the work and to take more pride in their work as it would be shared with all the students involved in the project.<\/li>\n
- This provided a unique and much desired expansion of real audience for both groups of students.\u00a0 Hard copies of the photos and copies of the poems were paired for display in the library and several hallways, enabling other students to see the work done by their peers.\u00a0 Again, another \u2018reason to do well.\u2019\u00a0 (So well in fact, that several photos and poems were stolen.)<\/li>\n
- The teachers modeled the process in advance.\u00a0 The example below is the result of Phase one, where the Creative Writing teacher received a picture and wrote a poem.\u00a0 We were bound by the same rules as the students.\u00a0 This proved very powerful as the teachers were able to share their own frustrations in completing their part of the project to their satisfaction.\u00a0 I often shared my struggles with my class, soliciting student opinions on the many subtleties of writing my poem.\u00a0 Likewise, the Photography teacher experienced a unique sharing with his class regarding the varied aspects of photography.\u00a0 This sharing creating a equaling \u00a0of sorts that encouraged student growth in both classes.<\/li>\n
- These high school students were mostly seniors, although a few juniors were also involved.\u00a0 We did the project with the classes we had during the same period of the day.<\/li>\n
- A really special aspect that resulted from the project for writers was their increased\u00a0 intensity in peer editing.\u00a0 The photography students actively pursued their teacher\u2019s expertise regarding advanced techniques to compose the \u2018perfect\u2019 picture.<\/li>\n
- Other students working in the library quickly surrounded the two classes and quietly listened to the presentations.<\/li>\n
- Other teachers\/librarians\/counselors and principals were invited to attend the presentations.<\/li>\n
- Students were given a simple form to fill out after each presentation, providing them the opportunity to critique the process and the individual presentations.\u00a0 This feedback was at first somewhat intimidating, however, by the second phase of the project, the students requested the forms and provided some very valuable insights and advice to improve the process all the way around.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n
Richland High School, 2010 (and other years)
\nJim Deatherage, Creative Writing teacher
\nShawn Murphy, Photography teacher<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Coastal Logging Town, 1998
\nby Jim Deatherage<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
This morning\u2019s mysterious<\/p>\n
shafts of light slice<\/p>\n
deep wounds,<\/p>\n
baring those years before<\/p>\n
the bustling town went bust.<\/p>\n
You can imagine them, before it all went bad,<\/p>\n
this building teeming with children\u2019s voices,<\/p>\n
hymns and hallelujahs,<\/p>\n
the bell\u2019s sweet salutation.<\/p>\n
Look at the looming remnant of trees;<\/p>\n
they leaned hard, heard it all,<\/p>\n
and shook their bristled heads.<\/p>\n
Who knew what that could mean?<\/p>\n
Or consider the ocean just beyond,<\/p>\n
its tide indifferent<\/p>\n
to their loss of hope.<\/p>\n
You know the fog\u2019s response,<\/p>\n
rising and falling,<\/p>\n
blanketing their sufferings.<\/p>\n
I like to think they were all like us,<\/p>\n
had dreams,<\/p>\n
could see clearly through that fog,<\/p>\n
imagined lives enriched, fulfilled.<\/p>\n
When it happened,<\/p>\n
some blamed God,<\/p>\n
shook their gnarled fists at the sky.<\/p>\n
Others slowly succumbed,<\/p>\n
bereft, empty as the church.<\/p>\n
Then they were gone.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Photo by Shawn Murphy<\/p>\n
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