This was the first big project that involved using multiple steps in hardware and software. I had not fully taken into account the exponential time requirement when class size is larger. As such, halfway through the first day, it was obvious that this assignment would need another class block to complete. Fortunately, I had the freedom to modify the lesson to include a second class block for camera and computer work.

 Groups needed to be larger because of a finite number of cameras. The cameras have gone through several years of sturdy use and sometimes are not as reliable as they have been in the past, which on occasion, makes the number of cameras available even less. I thought I had skirted this problem allowing students to bring their own cameras to use. I stipulated that they had to know how to fully use them. I did end up with more cameras, but students thought knowing how to use them meant pressing the button. They had no idea how to retrieve photos from the photo card. I had to spend unanticipated time helping students with various cameras. In addition, their memory cards inevitably had dozens or more of family photos which I had to be careful not to accidentally erase. Next year, if I allow personal cameras, I would make my expectations more clear.

 Further, I would spend more time on the downloading and transferring of photo instructions. In this lesson, I modeled the steps on the Promethean board and had students take notes as to what step came next. I know that watching someone click through a menu is not the optimal way of understanding software. However, I was hoping students’ familiarity with digital photos and Microsoft Word would help them grasp quickly the few fine points I was adding. A better way of demonstrating this concept would have been to secure computers for all students and have everyone practice the steps of downloading a photo, saving it, transferring it to a Word document and resizing it. However as computer availability is limited, I wanted to use my computer time for lessons that absolutely required every student have and individual computer. I may rethink that next year.

I did a similar type lesson last year, but had the group turn in one sheet of photos per group that illustrated each type of composition technique. This year, I wanted every student to demonstrate their personal understanding of the photo techniques by taking their own photos examples. Perhaps to dwell on the composition part of the lesson instead of the computer part, I may consider the group alternative again. However, this time I might stipulate that each person would need to actually take a certain number of the total photos, so that everyone had hands-on experience framing shots in the camera. The downside of this trade-off is that students will be denied “playing” with all different types of photo composition tools. It was the experiential learning with all photo composition terms which seemed to translate into proof of learning in the quiz.

 Also, I might try an introductory lesson on saving camera files, copying them and resizing on a Word document before I mention any part of the authentic problem and lesson. This way, the students’ focus will not be tempted to think beyond the current skill being discussed.