Recommended time
Minimum 90 minutes, maximum two hours

Scheduling longer sessions (one and a half hours or longer) with pre-teens and teens generally works better than scheduling shorter sessions (one hour or less), even if this means having the participants meet for fewer sessions each week. The longer sessions allow time for both discussion and independent work, which teens generally prefer and can benefit from more than younger children.

Goals for the session

• Reflect on the experiences of young people involved with civil rights activism
• Analyze journalistic photographs
• Learn how to use a digital camera
• Learn basic digital photo editing techniques

Outcomes

• Visual map
• Photos

Materials and equipment

• A computer with Internet and email access
• Digital camera(s)
• Software for editing photos (Adobe PhotoShop or a similar application)
• A copy of the book Witnesses to Freedom: Young People Who Fought for Civil Rights by Belinda Rochelle
• A newsprint pad or a roll of butcher paper
• Pens
• Colored markers
• Composition books (one for each participant and facilitator)

Part 1: Chapter Book Read-Aloud

What is it?
The goal of chapter reading is to engage participants in an extended reading experience that will spark their interest in reading on their own. The reading also provides an opportunity to introduce themes, information and ideas that relate to learning activities that will be conducted later. The book selected could be any with a story that the group will find interesting. A successful chapter book has a story and characters that are easy to follow and colorful language that makes reading aloud interesting.

Suggested reading is the first chapter of Witnesses to Freedom: Young People Who Fought for Civil Rights, by Belinda Rochelle. This book profiles teens and young adults who were involved in key events in the Civil Rights movement. Click here for other recommended books.

Suggested questions

• Many students still go to schools where the majority of the students are of the same race and ethnicity. How does this situation compare to the segregation faced by Barbara Johns and the other African American students at R.R. Morton High School in Virginia?
• Is a boycott an effective way to help change a negative situation? What other actions do you think the students at R.R. Morton High School could have taken to help change the conditions at their school?

How to
Check out the Robert Price article on discussion builders and questioning techniques for suggestions on how to form questions for a reading discussion.

If possible, make enough photocopies of the book chapter to give one to each participant. Read aloud from the chapter for no more than 10 minutes. After reading, pass the book around to the group.

Start a discussion about questions related to the reading. Ask the participants to break into pairs, discuss the questions and then report back to the group. (The photocopies of the chapter will be helpful for the students to refer to.) Another way to start a discussion: Write the questions on a whiteboard or piece of paper, ask participants to write responses in their journals, and then discuss those responses as a group.

If similar books or news articles are on hand, pass them around to generate interest for future personal or group reading.

Tips
If the participants have never been read to as a group, it may take some time for them to become comfortable with both read-alouds and personal reading activities. Reading during every session at a consistent time, for a consistent length of time, will help the group develop the habits of reading and listening attentively.

As the group becomes more accustomed to read-alouds, other materials can be introduced from time to time, such as newspaper and magazine articles, poems or youth-authored writing. Participants can do some of the read-alouds sessions.

Pre-teens often enjoy interview games, which can be used as community-building activities. Two popular games are as follows:

Part 2: Visual Mapping of Social Issues

What is it?

Visual mapping is a technique used to generate, share and display ideas as a group. Participants break into groups to work on hand-drawn maps made up of concentric circles. Drawings, single words and word phrases can be used to represent ideas.

The purpose of this first map is to get the group thinking about how social problems are portrayed in the media and to introduce the mapping technique that will be used in later sessions.

How to
Check out the article on idea mapping.

Each group should have several pieces of newsprint or butcher paper and a set of markers. The map starts with the facilitator writing a word in the center of a sheet of paper and drawing a circle around the word. Ask a question that relates to the word, and have the group respond to it in drawings and words. Add another circle that encompasses the first to hold responses to an additional question.

If the group is small (10 participants or less) do the first map as one group. As the participants gain more experience with mapping, they may prefer breaking into smaller groups to work independently. If the group has more than 10 participants, break it into small groups of four to six to work on separate maps.

Note: For more information on idea mapping, check out the Thinking Maps Web site. Training and teaching materials can be ordered through the site.

Map ideas

Social Issues in the Media

• Central phrase: Social issues
• Question for first circle: What social issues have we recently seen covered in the media?
• Question for second circle: What social issues are not covered, or only covered a little?
• Question for third circle: What tools could we use to create information about social issues we think should be covered?

Social Issues in Our Community

• Central phrase: Social issues
• Question for first circle: What are the biggest social issues facing our community right now?
• Question for second circle: How do we take in information about these social issues?
• Question for third circle: How can we get information about these social issues?

Part 3: Web Review

What is it?
As a model for developing their own photo essays, have participants review Web sites containing photos essays that address social issues. Suggested site: Photojournalist's Coffeehouse. The site contains a number of Web-based photo essays and links to other photojournalism sites.

Important: Facilitators should thoroughly review this site before directing participants to it. Some of the content deals with teen pregnancy and other mature, sensitive topics. Reviewing the content will help prepare facilitators to handle questions and comments that may arise and to screen content that may be inappropriate.

How to
If all the participants have email accounts and can access them at the program site, send an email to each participant containing the appropriate links. Another option is to use a Web publishing program such as Netscape Composer to make a simple page with links to the sites. This Web page file can be placed on the computer desktops.

Accessing Web sites from an email or Web page with links embedded saves time. A closed page of links will also reduce the likelihood that participants come across sites containing inappropriate content or wander onto sites not related to the project.

Have participants review the photojournalism sites individually or in pairs. Ask participants to take notes on particularly interesting pages. After viewing, bring everyone together to discuss their impressions. Did the essays confirm opinions the students already had? Does anyone now think differently about an issue? Was anything surprising, disturbing or inspirational?

Part 4: Digital Camera: Up, Down, Close and Far Photos

What is it?
This exercise introduces basic photography techniques and the proper care, handling and operation of the camera.

If a digital camera is not available, a Polaroid camera can be used. Cameras that require film to be processed before seeing the pictures are not recommended for this activity.

Before introducing any activities, the facilitator should check out Web sites with information on photography including the information on YouthLearn on basic terms and techniques. Sites to check out include the following:

Exposure: Beginner's Guide to Photography

10 Cool Photography Sites by the San Francisco Exploratorium

Kodak Guide to Better Pictures

How to
Give the group a quick overview of the parts of the camera and their functions ( e.g., lens, shutter button and view window). Show everyone how to hold the camera. Emphasize that using the camera strap can prevent accidentally dropping and breaking the camera.

Show the group how to take a picture from different angles and distances. Simple terms such as "up," "down," "close" and "far" can be used to describe angles and distances.

Let the group practice taking pictures. Given the students a specific assignment (e.g., "Take two pictures in the room in close range and from an up angle. Take two pictures from a down angle.")

Load the photos onto computers and have everyone pick one or two photos to show and explain to the group.

Part 5: Email Journals

What is it?
An email journal is the same as a journal kept in a notebook. Instead of writing on paper, participants write entries as email messages. The goals of this exercise are to develop a habit of reflecting on the day's learning and accomplishments, to practice writing skills and to practice using email for personal communication. Email journals should be brief; no more than 5 to 10 minutes should be spent writing.

How to
Email an end-of-session reflection question (or questions) to participants or post the question on a whiteboard/piece of paper. Ask participants to email their responses to the facilitator.

The question can be specific to an activity, reading or event from that day's session, or it can be general. A specific question encourages in-depth reflection; a general question, used repeatedly, provides an opportunity to compare feelings and activities across multiple days.

Sample questions

• Name three things you will take away from today's activities. What do you want to learn more about? What activity was the most difficult or challenging?
• Imagine that you must teach what we learned today to someone else. What would you change about the things we did? What would stay the same?

If all the participants do not have personal email accounts and/or have not accessed their accounts at the program site, the facilitator should budget time for the following activities:

• Show participants how to sign up for accounts using an available email program. If using a Web-based email client system such as Yahoo or Hotmail, be sure to check usage policies and age requirements.
• Show participants how to access, send, forward, reply to, save and store email.
• Discuss safety issues and appropriate conduct on the Internet.

The following Web sites have guidelines for youth on using email, Web sites and chat rooms:

• Teen Safety on the Information Highway
  Straightforward advice for teens on how to protect their privacy online and stay safe. Provides detailed lists of risks and a description of four general safety guidelines. From Eugene,Oregon Public Schools.
  
  
• Netiquette for Kids
  Tips on how to use email and chat rooms responsibly. Touches on issues such as communicating in a respectful manner and handling "flaming" (hateful mail). From the Boston Public Library.
  

If email is not available, journaling can be done in notebooks.

Tip
Interest in journaling will increase if the writer receives personal responses. For the first few sessions, the facilitator should send a short response to each email journal writer. As the participants become accustomed to writing the journals, the facilitator may choose to selectively respond to particularly interesting or insightful journals.

Part 6: Personal Reading

What is it?
Participants select books or other material to read silently for at least 10 minutes. This exercise provides an opportunity to explore additional reading in the material used for the read-aloud.

Tip:
Any time that participants are asked to read or write on their own, the facilitator should do the same. Bring books, newspapers or magazines that you find interesting and keep a personal notebook for journaling and note taking. It is important for participants to see facilitators modeling these activities with a sincere interest.

Extension activities
Teach a lesson on photojournalism from the New York Times Learning Network. Check out "The Impact of Violent Images: Assessing the Role of Photojournalism in Relaying the News". In this activity, participants will "explore the role of photojournalism in relaying news stories that involve death and destruction." Participants will "read and discuss a New York Times article that examines the notion of printing highly graphic news photographs related to news events, as well as evaluate photographs and their accompanying stories to determine the purpose and relevance of using such pictures to relay the news."

Continue experimenting with photography. Give participants a new photo assignment each day: Ask them to try different techniques using light, composition, angles, distances and effects. Work with different types of cameras. Webmonkey's article on how to make "cheap and cool photos" describes techniques such as Polaroid transfers. If a scanner is available, nondigital photos can be scanned for inclusion in the Internet photo essays.