Say Cheese!

Say Cheese! That’s what you could be telling your students, by using a camera in your lesson plan. You can incorporate the use of a camera into any subject, and pretty much any lesson that you need to teach. Not only will the use of a camera show the students how to use that type of technology in not only the classroom but in the everyday world, but it will also allow you as the teacher to incorporate technology into the classroom in a fun way that can be used time and time again.

You can incorporate the use of a camera, by taking the time needed to show the students how to actually use a camera and the different functions that they have. It would also be a good idea, at this time to show the students the type of software that they are going to be using to update and work with the pictures that they take. Some software that you may be using is iphoto, in which case you should show them how to use the software, and what it is capable of doing.

Next you need to give instructions to the student to exactly what they are going to do with the camera to incorporate with the lesson being taught. This can be incorporate with any age. But for example if you what to teach first or second grade spelling with the alphabet, you could give everyone in the class a letter, such as A, B, C and so on. Then you would tell them that they need to find an object that starts with their letter, and have someone take a picture of them holding that item (It would be best to do this in partners that way everyone gets to take a picture and use the camera). After the picture has been taken the students can go back to the computer and upload their photo, and by using photo technology they will be able to view their photo(s). Then they would insert a text box under their photo and spell out the object. This shows that the student not only knows the beginning letter of an object but also how to spell it as well.

Using a camera in the classroom is a great idea, and should be taken full advantage of when teaching lesson. This allows the students to use creativity and technology to learn more about the subject, and understand what is being taught better by performing hands on tasks.