Honest to blog?

Advanced photo students use the classroom lab to work on creating their blogs.
Photo by Jessica Young.

I hated classes in high school where my teachers had me do a worksheet, take a quiz or fill out some paper just for the sake of doing it. I hated busy work and I loathed going to classes that I knew were laden with it. As I have defined my philosophy as a teacher, I have worked hard to create assignments that are fun and meaningful for my students. I want to teach them important skills, but I want to see them apply them to their every day life--not just answer questions about them on a test.

With my advanced photo class, I decided that sharing their work beyond my classroom was an important part of their experience. As a result, I crafted this blogging project. For each assignment the photo students complete, they will be writing blog entries and posting their photos. It is my hope that they will become accustomed to writing about their artistic process and sharing their work with the world.

I have set up the assignments so that the students complete the following with each post: a brief summary of the assignment (in their own words), a discussion of the process it took for them to create the images and an evaluation of their work. They will also be posting the pictures that they turn in, with captions and bylines. The final component of their blogging assignment is to comment on the work of their peers. I think this element will help them practice writing about photography in a way that is both professional and constructive.

As of today, all of the students have blogs up and running with their first posts. Some struggled more than others, but it appears that everyone is getting the hang of it. While there were some groans and rolled eyes when I reminded them about our process, I think this is a component of the class that the students will enjoy. I also have enjoyed reading their posts so far and sharing their blogs with our faculty. It is going to be a great way to showcase the work we are doing in class every week.

Advanced photo students work on creating their blogs during class time.
Photo by Jessica Young.

Shoot!

This is me teaching at a JEA convention in
San Francisco in April 2013. Photo by Amanda Knight.

My name is Jess and I teach beginning and advanced photography at Orange Glen High School in Escondido, California. I have been teaching for six years and also advise the yearbook and newspaper at OGHS. The photography program started three years ago and it has been an exciting experience. I work hard to create projects that are fun and meaningful for students, while teaching them important skills that they can use outside of the classroom. I enjoy teaching because I like making connections with students and watching them fall in love with what they are learning.

I earned my Masters Degree in Education from UC San Diego in 2012. I got my teaching credential from SDSU in 2008 and my BA from SDSU in 2007. My degree is in journalism, with a minor in anthropology. I have been involved with scholastic journalism since I was in the eighth grade, when I joined my middle school yearbook staff. It was during my time on yearbook staff that I was introduced to darkroom photography and I have been addicted to taking pictures ever since.

I first fell in love with photography in the darkroom of my middle school. I was fascinated with the process of printing and developing pictures and became addicted to the craft. Throughout the rest of middle school, high school and in college, I could rarely be found without my camera. I quickly became more comfortable seeing the world through my viewfinder than actually experiencing things firsthand. As my experience and my exposure to technology progressed, I began to transfer my medium from film to digital and started learning the language of Adobe Photoshop. And while I am still a 35mm fan at heart, I appreciate the power and creativity that Photoshop facilitates.

My professional training in photography is minimal; much of what I know how to do is self-taught. The basics were taught to me in that same middle school darkroom, which doubled as classroom. From there, I’ve learned through trial and error, books and experience. As my knowledge has accumulated, my skill set has expanded and my perspectives have changed.

When I first started taking pictures, I loved the simplicity of landscapes. Growing up in Southern Oregon, surrounded by vibrant wildlife, I had millions of opportunities for great, scenic pictures. Moving to San Diego to further my education, I began studying journalism and started seeing another side to photography. As I learned more about storytelling with words, I realized that telling stories with pictures can be equally as powerful. I now love the layers that a photograph holds—the story behind the subject, the story that the photographer sees, the story that the composition or technique tells. As a photographer, as a teacher and as a journalist, what I appreciate most about photography is that the perspective and story changes with each new set of eyes that sees a photo.

This is a time lapse photo that I took from Normal Heights,
looking down into Mission Valley. Photo by Jessica Young.