How did I NOT know about Hello Literacy, the blog of Jen Jones, a talented and innovative reading teacher? In “paging” through her site, I found this fantastic post on having students engage in close readings of photographs and other images. She gives us many sources for photos and introduces us to activities that we can use across age groups. This is a great way to teach about text features, inferences, and the skill of observation. To differentiate this activity, consider adding photos that will appeal to individual students across the year. If you have a student who loves trains, for instance, you might have a detailed snapshot of a subway station. If you have a student who recently moved from another country, you could feature photos from that nation.
This may be an idea that science, social studies, health, and other content-area teachers may want to use. These educators can make the activity relevant by choosing images that relate to their subject area. A social studies teacher might feature images from different eras and an environmental science teacher may show images related to nature.
About Paula Kluth
