CHANGING THE WORLD ONE IMAGE AT A TIME
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Klatchko shows teachers how to apply the program to a variety of classrooms and budgets – kindergarten through high school, big and small. “Some of the teachers I’ve worked with teach graphic design; some teach ESL, others teach special-needs kids. Everyone can teach this course.”That flexibility is important. Even school districts strapped for cash and having no access to cameras can simply have kids …cut (photos) out of magazines. The important thing is to get the kids to communicate, to explore and express their feelings.Klatchko puts teachers through the process and sends them out on their own voyage of self-exploration. “I give them a task similar to what they’ll give their own students. I might ask them to explore what it means to be an adult – just as they might ask students what it means to be a kid. I might say, ‘Who are you? If you were an instrument, what would you be? Who are you in relation to your family? Is there a person inside you that no one sees?”
How can you use photography to help children ‘open up’ and how do you ‘read’ a photo or write a story based on one? “photography is largely a decision-making process,” Klatchko says. “in the best photos, everything is included for a reason….They (the students) are based with the same decisions any photographer encounters: “What am I trying to say? How will I say it? What should I keep in the frame, and what should I crop out?” Facial expressions, clothing, background – each of these elements are loaded with information.” ….”If you simply ask people to write,” Klatchko says, “they look at you blankly. But if you ask questions, you trigger ideas. You make them think about the issues and how they’ll bring them to life through photography, then the photography to feed back into the writing – and then a picture may truly be worth 1000 words.” |
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KLATCHKO’S VISION : CHANGING THE WORLD ONE IMAGE AT A TIME