EARLY CHILDHOOD LEARNING KIT

Welcome to WithIn the Image

This package is the product of educators like you who understand that photography is a powerful tool for students in constructing meaning and identity. Through thoughtful research and careful observation, we developed these materials to enable you explore the potential of this medium in your own classroom.

Photographic imagery communicates ideas, inspires awe, stimulates emotions, builds empathy, supports metacognitive thinking, and promotes Jewish identity. Our goal is to help you to discover the many ways you can use photographs with your students—both children and adults. We have created a package you can pick up and use immediately to delve into the vast possibilities of photography.

Each photograph is presented here with a series of questions on the back. Use these questions to explore the images with your students. Often, children are accustomed to questions that have one “right” answer. They frequently expect that we adults hold all the “right” answers. The questions we’ve included are open-ended, and have no right answer. By inviting children to answer questions about the photographs from their imaginations, we are doing more than creating a story around an image. We are sending a powerful message to children that they have valid contributions within them. 

When you first introduce the photographs and ask the children questions, they may simply say, “I don’t know.” We encourage you to offer time and space so that children can make their own personal meaning from the image. Remember, there’s no right answer—which means there’s also no wrong answer.

Each photograph also includes a brief description or contextual information on the back. These descriptions are more for the benefit of the curious adult rather than the students. We want to give children space to use their imaginations around the photograph, rather than simply telling them what is happening in the picture. We invite you to imagine along with the children, by suspending your desire to know “what really” happened in each image. 

Of course, you are not limited just to these photographs or these questions. We hope you will take the approach we have introduced and make it your own. You can bring in your own photographs, come up with your own questions, or invite students to ask their own questions.  You can also have students take their own photographs. Putting cameras in the hands of children gives us a glimpse of the world through their point of view. When the camera comes with training about its use and its value, we send a message to the children that they are competent, capable, and trustworthy. 

Please explore these materials, play with them, and make them your own. This package is a tool for beginning a journey, rather than an end in itself. Enjoy the journey!

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WITHIN THE IMAGE
Zion Ozeri, Founder/Creative Director, zion@zionozeri.com
Sharon Goldman, Founder/Education Director, sharon.goldman0613@gmail.com
1-917-387-3811