No Matter, There

The middle school years are not years I remember fondly, and most adults I speak to share the sentiment. It is particularly easy to feel lost and undervalued during these years. Or, to feel as if you don’t fit in. Even students in small, nurturing environments (or those homeschooled in family units) may feel their environment and the expectations others have of them are constricting and conflicting.

With the help of a really stellar language arts teacher, and some digital cameras, middle school students examined what it was like for them–were they invisible, or standing out as out of place in the crowd? Did they feel like they fit in? This exercise we did last year, and will be repeating at intervals as our students rotate through the middle school (I have a 3 year rotation for them). The next step is to get those students out in the community with the cameras, noticing those others who are invisible, or those who “didn’t fit.” It is a great lesson for all of us.

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What I hooked into, with tech, was the chance to have students’ digital pictures included in their essays. If the person they pictured was invisible, I taught my students how to drop a person out of a picture, leaving only a blank form where they were. If the person didn’t look like they belonged, I taught them how to change the person into a purple alien. (The pictures above were some examples I made.)

I used the basic instructions here at Invisibilia , translated them for Paintshop Pro (our photo editing program of choice) and we had some wonderful reasons for students to write. Heartfelt, self-assessing, personal stories.
Pax,

Sue

Filed under: My Middle School Tech Class and