Photosharing in the Classroom

My family has used Google Earth before with our friends from South Africa. We stayed up until 1:00 AM taking visual tours of each other's home towns and even our former houses! It was so cool to see where we each came from and that our worlds are not so very different. Google Earth would be really fun to use in class even if it's just to show students the settings of some of the stories they read in class. It opens up the world.

Ways I think I might be able to use photosharing in class will probably seem a little boring. What immediately jumps to mind is finding photos that pertain to the subject being studied to use for writing prompts. There are images of anything imaginable on the web, and to be able to look at them and use them for the beginnings of writings would be great. I could use visual images from the web to discuss mood, personification, point of view, persuasive writing, and so many other topics that are pertinent to literature and language. I could also use it to show students real-life photos that relate to the stories we read in class. They then might be able to picture the story's action a little better. At the moment I'm thinking of To Kill a Mockingbird. If I could show them photos of a little towns in the south that are like Maycomb, they might better understand what the town looks like, and then the plot and the interactions of the characters might make more sense.

Other photo sharing might include students collaborating on group projects, presentations and class projects. They might also view pictures of other students' work from around the world. I'm thinking of having access to projects that some of the students I knew in Korea are doing. It would be a great way to show my American students what is being asked of international students.

It's much easier to think of ways to share photos than reasons to allow students access to a social networking site. Having read the articles about photosharing however, does make me realize that there is a potential risk to having students out there surfing for photos. Still, gathering photos from the current technology is far more powerful than the overhead transparencies I am using now. I am excited by the possibilities of photo sharing in class.