Writing With Light

"Photography n. from the Greek phos and graphos; literally, "to write with light"

Phantasms, stereopticons, and darkrooms - oh my! The Peaks Island Elementary School third grade embarked upon a Writing With Light unit this semester designed by the Fifth Maine Regiment Museum. This unit of three lessons integrated history (history of photography and local history) with Science and Technology (the nature of light and photochemical processes), and Language Arts (reading informational texts and writing observations and narrative).

In our Magic Lantern lesson, students explored the invention of photography and the evolution of camera technology, through the Fifth Maine's Classroom Gallery format (below). I'm not sure which was the favorite - looking through the stereopticon or seeing the artist's conception of phantasmagoria, an 18th c., Magic Lantern version of our horror movie.




On a bitter, winter day, the students gamely hit the streets for our second lesson, In Plain Sight: Then and Now. Armed with primary sources - historic photographs of key points in their neighborhood - they assumed the role of photojournalists and examined and documented changes that have taken place over the past century. In her journal, next to the historic photo below, one student wrote: "The last place we went was across the street from the Inn, by the parking lot. Tolford's store was where the parking lot is today. It was there about one hundred years ago. I feel it would be nice if that store was still here because I've never heard of a post card having your picture on it for one thing. I think if that store was still there, we'd all enjoy it."


I think she's right. The island could use a modern version of the "Post Cards Art Studio."


Finally, today, in much fairer temperatures, they put their scientist caps on once again, taking their understanding of the properties of light to a new level with The Pinhole Camera lesson. An intrepid group of parent volunteers had fashioned a slew of pinhole camera from - you guessed it - Quaker oatmeal boxes. The single most challenging aspect of this assignment was holding still for several seconds while their photographic film was exposed to light. The second most challenging? Keeping their hands off of the light switch in the darkroom! As one student wrote, below: "People in the old days had to work hard just for one picture. Now a days it takes 1 click, and bam, you got yourself a nice color photo. I can't believe how much we take for granted. It was a little bit harder than a push of a button back then."