SUBSCRIBE | SUBMIT
April 2009
Vol 6 No 4
BACK ISSUES

Current Issue » Cover Page Cover Story Harry & Rosemary Wong Columns Articles Features
Back Issues
Teachers.Net Gazette Vol.6 No.4 April 2009

Cover Story by Alfie Kohn
When “21st-Century Schooling” Just Isn’t Good Enough: A Modest Proposal
Are we serious about educating students for the global competitive economy of the future?


Earth Day Special Article:
GE Project Plant-A-Bulb
Give the planet the gift of flowers for Earth Day....


Harry & Rosemary Wong: Effective Teaching
The Tools for Success


Columns
»Actively Involve Every Reader—Ten Easy Ideas! Sue Gruber
»Motivating Children Leah Davies
»Multiple Working Hypotheses Todd R. Nelson
»Eliciting vs. Punishments Marvin Marshall
»The Busy Educator's Monthly Five Marjan Glavac
»Tattle Tales and Classroom Helpers Barbara Pressman
»Tips for Travel to France or Italy with Students Josette Bonafino
»Too Much Parent Involvement? Can It Be? Dorothy Rich
»Return to Sender & The Neon Necklace Rick Morris
»Be Your Own Mentor: Reflect Hal Portner

Articles
»Getting Your Students' Work Published Alan Haskvitz
»At Risk Students: Victims of Miseducation and Failure Bill Page
»Teachers – Healing Broken Lives Graysen Walles
»Get Smart! Doodle! Tim Newlin
»A Dozen Ways to Build a Caring Classroom Community Susan Fitzell
»April 2009 Writing Prompts James Wayne
»Using Photographs To Inspire Writing VI Hank Kellner
»Quality in School Systems Panamalai R. Guruprasad
»Problems With 9th Grade Euclidian Geometry Stewart E. Brekke
»Multisensory/Kinesthetic Alphabet ActivitiesJeanine Horner

Features
»Apple Seeds: Inspiring Quotes Barb Stutesman
»Today Is... Daily Commemoration Ron Victoria
»The Lighter Side of Teaching
»Teacher Blogs Showcase
»Guided Reading in Kindergarten (printable)
»Printables - Happy Earth Day, Reduce, Reuse, Recycle, We’ve Got the Whole World in Our Hands, Portable Word Wall, Earth Day Every Day Award, Bringing Choices to Light, and April - May Calendar
»Photo Tour: 3rd Grade Classroom, Red Creek, NY
»Lessons, Activities, Theme ideas: Earth Day, Mother’s Day, Paul Revere, Spring, Easter, more!
»Featured Lesson: Outdoor Activities/Nature
»Meet Bill Martin Jr. and Brown Bear, Brown Bear, Creative Quotes from Shakespeare, Massive Ant Colony Uncovered! AMAZING science!, Tim Hawkins - Cletus Take the Reel, Lovefield, and Dolphin Bubbles: An Amazing Behavior
»Live on Teachers.Net: April 2009
»Newsdesk: Events & Opportunities for Teachers
»Wisdom for the pain? Why Did You Do It? Why Pursue National Board Certification?


Advertisement

The Teachers.Net Gazette is a collaborative project
published by the Teachers.Net community
Editor in Chief: Kathleen Alape Carpenter
Layout Editor: Mary Miehl


Cover Story by Alfie Kohn

Effective Teaching by Harry & Rosemary Wong

Contributors this month: Alfie Kohn, Graysen Walles, Hal Portner, Sue Gruber, Leah Davies, Todd R. Nelson, Marvin Marshall, Marjan Glavac, Barbara Pressman, Josette Bonafino, Rick Morris, Bill Page, Tim Newlin, Susan Fitzell, Alan Haskvitz, James Wayne, Hank Kellner, Dorothy Rich, Barb Stutesman, Ron Victoria, Stewart E. Brekke, Panamalai R. Guruprasad, Jeanine Horner, Marie Smith, Carol Goodrow, Jennifer Goldstein, and YENDOR.

Submissions: click for Submission Guidelines

Advertising: contact Bob Reap


Subscribe for free home delivery


Hank Kellner

Archive | Biography | Resources | Discussion

Using Photography To Inspire Writing VI
What do dogs, teenagers and fragmented photos have in common? All have the potential to prompt creative written responses from your writing students!
by Hank Kellner
author of
Write What You See: 99 Photographs To Inspire Writing
author's blog
April 1, 2009

If you’re as long in the tooth as I am, you can probably remember Patti Page’s rendition of “How Much Is That Doggie in the Window?” Page recorded the song on December 18, 1952, and within a few months it became Number 1 on both the Billboard and Cashbox charts.

And you can probably remember James S. Tippett’s “Sunning,” a poem that appeared in one of his children’s books, A World To Know.

Sunning
Old Dog lay in the summer sun
Much too lazy to rise and run.
He flapped an ear
At a buzzing fly.
He winked a half opened
Sleepy eye.
He scratched himself on an itching spot,
As he dozed on the porch
Where the sun was hot.
He whimpered a bit
From force of habit
While he lazily dreamed
Of chasing a rabbit.
But old dog happily lay in the sun
Much too lazy to rise and run.

James S. Tippett

Truth to tell, Tippett’s poem doesn’t contain simile, metaphor, irony, allusion, or any of the other literary devices that are found in more sophisticated works. But that really doesn’t matter. Together with one or more photos of dogs like those shown here, simple poems like “Sunning” can easily inspire students at all levels from elementary school through college to write many different kinds of compositions.

Who are some famous dogs that have appeared in literature, on television, and in films? What characteristics do dogs possess that make them desirable pets? In what ways can some breeds of dogs be helpful to handicapped human beings? How have dogs proven to be helpful in the military? In law enforcement agencies? How has a dog played an important role in your life or in the life of someone you know?

The questions cited above are just a few of many you can ask students as you encourage them to write either expository or creative pieces. What’s more, if you simply want to allow your students’ imaginations to guide them, you could always show them photos without comment.

The Case of the Fragmented Photo

Most photographers would wince at the thought of cutting a perfectly good photograph into several parts. And most teachers would wonder how anyone could possibly use a fragmented photo to teach point of view in fiction and in writing.

But that’s not the case with Kelsey Maki, an adjunct professor at Brookdale Community College, Lincroft, New Jersey.

“After I cut an 8 ½ x 11-inch photograph with diverse elements into numbered pieces,” she writes, “I give a different piece to each of several students.” Then Maki asks the students to create a fictional character and write a scene in the first person from that character’s point of view. Maki also directs the students to consider the ways in which a character’s desires color his or her perception of place.

At the conclusion to the exercise the students assemble the parts of the photograph to see the third person, omniscient “big picture” scene. “This activity,” concludes Maki, “helps the students realize that a setting is never an evenly focused, objective portrait, but rather a reflection of a character’s physical point of view and physical state.”

Continued on next page »



» More Gazette articles...




About Hank Kellner...

Hank Kellner is a retired educator and the author of Write What You See: 99 Photographs to Inspire Writing. Original Edition. Cottonwood Press. I-800-864-4297 www.cottonwoodpress.com Cottonwood Press is distributed by Independent Publishers Group. Includes supplementary CD with photos. 8 ½ x11, 120 pages, perfect binding, ISBN 978-1-877-673-83-2, LCCN 2008938630. $24.95. Visit the author’s blog at hank-englisheducation.com.

The author will contribute a portion of the royalties earned from the sale of this book to The Wounded Warriors Project.

Click here for additional information about the book.


Hank Kellner Articles on Teachers.Net...
Related Resources & Discussions on Teachers.Net...

#