| Urban Youth as Critical Researchers |
idea/LABI Student Page:
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| Photo Gallery: Capturing A Moment of Learning by Martin Lipton |
| What Does Learning Look Like?
What images of learning come to your mind when someone mentions "critical thinking" or "math lesson" or "social justice education?" Do you envision, along with much of the public, a teacher standing in front of a class, a student with furrowed brow memorizing a list of vocabulary words, or a group bubbling in their test answers? Or do you have something else in mind?
Click on the thumbnails of the photographs below to view the enlarged images: |
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| Many of us have some trouble explaining our teaching to people who hold conventional images of what learning can or should look like. In the public’s mind, these images seem to require nothing less than a charismatic wonder-worker (teacher) ready to tame an unruly mob (students) into submission (sitting passively, not challenging, not acting). |
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| However, perhaps we can’t entirely blame others for holding onto unproductive impressions and expectations for learning. Maybe we can think more about offering alternatives to the common impressions of learning. |
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| Part of my work with the Institute for Democracy, Education, and Access is to offer counter-images of what students might look like when they are engaged in authentic learning. I have few rules for the photos we place on our idea office walls, email to friends and affiliates of idea, or offer here on this web site. |
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| I just photograph an activity and let my colleagues see the results. When a photo evokes a memory of what we knew at the time was genuine learning, when it helps to recreate the story behind a learning event, and when it shows the subjects with dignity, we say that this is an image we want to preserve and use. That simple. |
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| I’d like to encourage all teachers to keep a digital still camera handy in their classrooms. Prices are coming down, and once purchased they are more economical than film. Best of all, you can share with the rest of us what your students look like when they learn. If you would like to exhibit any photographs of your students on the Teaching To Change LA web site, please mail them to our offices along with a permission form. |
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Martin Lipton has been taking photographs of students learning for over 15 years.
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