PhotoEssay Curriculum & Planning Resources
(Updated June 2009)
Begin with the Rubric (also Spanish version) - The rubric is the guide to "Best of Contest." Look at the rubric with your students and discuss the elements related to the optimum points.
What Makes a Winning PhotoEssay? - NEW! See four examples (high school, middle school, and college levels) of winning essays in 2008 PLUS a worksheet for peer reviews or instructor assessment.
Best Practices for the PhotoEssay - A guide to help you plan your PhotoEssay curriculum based on how much time your students will have to complete an activity.
Working With Images: Creating Your Images - This page contains resources and information on Digital Photography Basics, Working with Images on Your Computer, Preparing Images for the Web, and Using Image Editing Software.
A Fabulous FREE Image Manipulation Source: PhotoShop.com -
A FREE online photo editor that provides 2GB of FREE photo storage plus FREE Tutorials! Students and Staff can "tweak, rotate, tint, and touch up" photos, save them to a FREE gallery which you can keep private or share.
This is a great source for beginning PhotoEssay contestants to learn about photo manipulation, but also great for anyone to "fix up" images for a PhotoEssay entry. Requires a simple sign in process with a valid email address.
IMPORTANT NOTE: If you plan on using any images that you've created or modified here in your PhotoEssay or ThinkQuest TRIO activities, you must download the imges to your local computer and place them into your entry. In ThinkQuest TRIO, links to images stored on Photoshop.com can get your site disqualified!
FREE Image Manipulation Software: Paint.NET -
Paint.NET is a free image and photo editor for Microsoft Windows. Even though it is very easy to use, it offers many powerful features including transparency, layers, blending modes, and an unlimited undo history. It is often used as a free alternative to Adobe Photoshop.
FREE Image Manipulation Software: GIMP -
The GNU Image Manipulation Program (GIMP) is a free graphics and image editor for Windows and Mac. It is very powerful and flexible, but may take a little more effort to learn. It offers a fll range of image editing tools including laters, masks, and color adjustments and can be extended by usign a huge variety of plug-ins. It is often used as a free alternative to Adobe Photoshop.
Other PhotoEssay Resources:
ESIP PhotoEssays - If you are looking for an excellent resource with a lesson plan that provides steps from beginning to end, this is the place to start. This is a process developed by two ESIP teachers to familiarize students with "photography and photoessays before having the student create their own individual photoessay books." Although this site is aimed at elementary science integration, any grade will benefit from a review its approach to engaging students in a photoessay activity.
collective lens - This site is more than photoessay examples; it promotes social change with photo essay submissions. "Creating a Photo Essay" is a great article to help to glean ideas on how to introduce the TRIO Quest PhotoEssay to your students (linked here or type the title in the Search box). In the Classroom provides ideas to help teachers inspire students. In addition, you can view examples of PhotoEssays and even have your students submit photos and essays for their own good cause.
Center for Digital Story Telling - This wonderful site is dedicated to personal storytelling. Go to this site to help you develop PhotoEssay curriculum. The Resources page provides an abundance of ideas. Try "These Images from Pictures" to start and then explore. Have fun! (Note: this site can help you with Media Quest as well.)
5 Photo Essay Tips - Digital Photography School - This is directed at the photo essay that relies on images only to tell the story, but it's a nice resource to help students think about what images they want to use in their essay.
PhotoEssay - Before Submitting: Did you (the student)?...
PDF Checklist
1. Use your first name only? (if a minor)
2. Credit the photo(s)/image(s)? ("How to Cite" listed above)
3. Check spelling?
4. Edit your entry? Have someone look over your entry for errors in content, grammar, punctuation, and organization; students then make any needed changes.
5. Pick images that tell a story by themselves? (e.g., fit the content)