Picture Me Talking

The teacher and/or students will take photographs of their different enviroments and experiences during their school day and create visual picture boards and wallets as well as stories that include various experiences of their day. These pictures will also be input into the computer using a slideshow format so that the students can write about their experience and share it with their families when they go home. These experiences will be shared with parents and/or with other classrooms via email when possible, so that the students can practice literacy and computer skills both at home and at school. Parents will be asked to respond to the emails sent to their home by having the student send a reply after the photographs are discussed for homework. There will be specific questions for the student to answer in the email. The writing activites at school will be set up using the cloze technique in which the students make a selection of their vocabulary using actual photographs paired with printed words in each of the sentences. Additional talking devices will be used along with the booklets of pictures to encourage communication with family members and others around campus. The combination of pictures, printed words and speech output will increase communication skills. Parents who are unfamiliar with technology and/or with the use of email will be offered one-on-one trainings. By using parent involvement the students and their parents will become more proficient with the use of technology and this will reduce the fears of using it in their everyday lives. By the end of this project, the students will be able to communicate with others about their everyday experiences with their picture stories and family members will have more knowledge about their childrens' school day.