Viewing Childcare Environments through the Lens of Photo Essays: A Reflective Tool for Pre-Service Teachers
For this project, students will learn how to use photography to document infant toddler caregiving environments, and aspects of the environment that support learning. This is one of the last courses that students take in their education sequence here at BMCC. The course consists of 6 hours a week at a field site, and a two hour on campus seminar. Students focus on the curriculum at the site and how the environment (physical, interpersonal and temporal) supports development for infants and or toddlers. During the semester, student in this course write journals, describing their site, the philosophy of the site, their own philosophy, and the development of the children. Particular emphasis is placed on how the environment and the use of specific language supports the children.
Students will learn about environmental portraiture, interior photography, still lifes, point of view and photographic sequencing. They will use photography that describes what people do and how they move in a space without actually photographing people. Students will caption the photographs. This process of photography draws on aspects of mindfulness and intentionality which are dispositions that we foster in pre-service teachers.
A highlight of this project is that it will de-center writing so that there is room for many forms of expression. Additionally, students will gain reflection skills and documentation tools, two important components for educators.
The final projects will be displayed publicly demonstrating the pre-service teachers’ learning, teaching, and interactions. The displays will also highlight the importance of quality early childhood care, the importance of play, and the intersection of linguistic and visual information.
Co-sponsored by the James Gallery, the Teaching and Learning and Center, and the CUNY Humanities Alliance.
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