Help! Teaching photography to children!

[Angelo]

I don't know if you can still find this photographic paper, but when I was a child I remember learning what 'light' did to paper that was sensitive to light. We called it "contact paper".

I remember the teacher bringing in this paper, having us put items like feathers, leaves and such then holding it down, on the paper, with a heavy glass. After that we'd shine a bright light at the composite and presto, We'd get a picture. I think there was a chemical process after to fix the image onto the picture.

This was a great way to teach the importance of light in photography.

[ChristopherCoy]

One of the things that my high school teacher made us do was photograph each other. We had some old sheet or something for a 'background' and we had a few of those Home Depot light with the aluminum reflectors on them. We would pick numbers out of hats and thats who we were partnered with. #1 would shoot #2 and #2 would shoot #1 and so on. We were responsible for changing the lights like we wanted, posing the person we were shooting, and then developing out own portraits.

Something like this can be done in a classroom, with minimal investment, and creates a lot of interactiveness.

[Angelo]

All these are great ideas.
But, please be careful with lights and other items that may burn or be harmful.
You can't be too careful these days.
Angelo

[kamekaze]

One thing I remember doing in a clas around that age was building a 4x5 pinhole camera out of black construction paper and wood, after which the teacher gave us 45 minutes walk around the school and take one capture. The teacher would take a couple of us at a time into the darkroom and show us how to develop the silver paper. It was alot of fun and a great experience. Of course this would only work if you have access to a darkroom...

[humminboid]

Don't be too hesitant about teaching! Prepare! Enthusiasm and love of our magical craft will cover lots of shortcomings. You will do fine! Trust me, I know these things.

Young people are great, but woe to the teacher who ignores their short attention spans!

What kind of cameras will they be using? P&S, parents' DSLRS??? The Full Auto default works a treat! That's ALL a beginner needs to know! This is supposed to be FUN!

Don't get too technical. People make photography harder than it needs to be. Use the three b's of debate BE brief, BE Brilliant, BEGONE!

Good, brilliantly colored pictures to illustrate the points. (But not too many...attention span, you know.) (Good) photo appreciation...whoever recommended that gem has been there before, I bet.

All they really need to know is: #1 rule: camera steady! #2 Don't cut off the heads or feet, #3 get closer, and #4 BE THERE!

The fine tuning...composition, exposure, DOF. can be hit, lightly,at first. THEN...when you have 'em...sort of like charming snakes... sneak a tech thought or two in.

It seemed to work for most of my freshman college students.

[kamekaze]

Originally Posted by humminboid

It seemed to work for most of my freshman college students.

Who probably had half the attention span of a 4th or 5th grader

[humminboid]

Originally Posted by kamekaze

Who probably had half the attention span of a 4th or 5th grader

Oh, you knew some of them?

[texkam]

It been my experience that 4/5 graders are wonderful. Very eager, very helpful. They are capable of understanding more complex concepts and they haven't been possessed by aliens yet like middle schoolers. No attitudes, raging hormones etc. YMMV, but I think you'll be amazed. +1 to including a bit of Paco's concepts. Good stuff.

[photopam]

Thank you all for the helpful suggestions! I will be bringing my photography books next time and have them pick out an image that they are drawn to, and let them tell me why. That seems like a great suggestion.

Evey week I will give them an assignment of some sort to photograph that week. This week it is a pet portrait. I am excited to see what they will come back with. Next week, I think I will have them do a "day in the life of" or "week in the life of" series, something that tells a story.

I think I will take you all at your suggestion about not getting too technical. They do want to learn sunset photography and landscape photography, so we will have to touch on it some. We'll see how they do with seeing the light first. I'll be bringing examples for that.

They are using point and shoot cameras, either their own, or their parent's. They are eager to learn how to take better pictures and I'd like to get them thinking creatively. I think they have the stuff to do it!

Thank you all again! I'll let you know how it goes

[SamTHorn]

That's a great concept. Teach them young. Thanks for sharing and I am going to look into teach my child's class the same.

~ Sam

Originally Posted by photopam

I need lots of help!
I am teaching a 5 week class to 4th and 5th graders who want to learn about photography. They will be using point and shoot cameras, and I have no idea how to teach this. The class will be 1 hour long, and part of class we will be reviewing images they had taken for homework. I started tonight and want to keep it fun.

I want to talk about the rule of thirds, lighting and composition, but need to make it fun and down on their level, meaning not talking about apertures and such. I mentioned it and about half of them glossed over.

They are interested in photographing landscapes, sunsets and city lights at night. I know how to do all these things with my DSLR, but how do I teach a simple lesson that they will have fun with? We meet in the evening, so we won't be able to go do it in class.

Thanks for any ideas!