We have this interesting new program at school that includes some extra help for students along with a Social Emotional Learning component. For students that can afford the time, there is an enrichment piece that allows staff members to come in a voluntarily offer their strengths and talents to teach kids beyond the standard curriculum.
I decided to put together a Nature Photography class that is very detailed in scope. We are to only take pictures close up noticing texture and patterns and not the object itself. In other words, if we were to take a picture of a table, we might take a picture of the patterns of the table top. The objective is to help students realize that the camera on their phones are good enough to photograph art and not only selfies for Instagram.
You might think that I gave my students a priceless gift. We went outside and spent about 35 minutes taking pictures. My students said that they felt like they were seeing the world in a completely different way. They were comparing images and in awe of their new talents. They were very eager to go home and share their new found artistic talents with family members.
This took me a very short period of time to plan. About 5-minutes. (I was a photographer in another life) This experience has impacted my students so much that they were making plans to teach this technique to their friends.
It doesn't always take a lot of time or elaborate plans to reach students and help them to feel the joy in learning. It just take some awareness of what your students might find interesting.
Be Mindful.
Peace.
Mark Levine
#Mindfulliteracy
@LevineWrites
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