Class Photo Collection

I use of lot of pictures into my classes to demonstrate a point, show a setting, clarify a vocabulary word or just to decorate a page. The pictures I like to use most are those taken by people I know or myself. My students are acinated by the fact that the pictures were taken by “real people”.  This has motivated some of my clases to create photo libraries of their own. Before the digital camera I gave a group of students rolls of 35mm film for them to take pictures of their surroundings. When we got the pictures,  the students scanned them and recorded them on a CD. With the photos they prepared presentations for friends, sister classes, or just to share with other goups. The photos were also used as backgrounds for their class projects. Today digital cameras makes it so easy to take pictures. More pictures can be taken without the cost of developing the film, unwanted pictures can be deleted or edited and the quality of photos is much better. Having students make their own collections gives them great satisfaction in having something original and from their own surroundings. The skills the students learn are many, they improve their observation skills, become responsible for their own work, become knowledgable of technology, cooperative by working in groups, develop their creativty and they can learn about the process of creating their own terms of use.