Integrating Digital Images into Learning Activities

There is a infinite number of possibilities for integrating digital images into learning activities. As a special educator, I think that using digital imagery (both teacher-created and student-created) for learning is a critical component for students with special needs. Digital images provide students with special needs access to curriculum and a bridge to connecting the known (i.e., digital images of familiar people and activities to create a social story) to the unknown (i.e., rules for "lining up" behavior). One example of using digital images in the classroom is to create digital stories using PowerPoint. Digital stories are a fun, interactive way to engage a student in literacy, language,social, and speech activities. I can create experience books using photos of centers in the classroom, photos of a lesson, and photos of fieldtrips. I can ask parents to take photos of home routines. These pictures of familiar environments and activities provides an overwhelming abundance of literacy, language, social, and speech development opportunties. To make digital stories even more accessible, I can convert a story into a talking story by inserting a recording of either a synthesized reading of letter sounds, words, or text or my own voice to match the digital imagery of the story pages. Another way to use digital imagery is to use to print pictures that represent words (i.e., graphics from Boardmaker or another clipart program) on label paper. I can adhere these pictures above or below the words they represent on each page, thereby providing visual access for differentiated instruction. Other ideas using digital imagery to support access: class notes on Powerpoint with graphics provides visual access and associations; student-created sequence story cards with digital images, whether photos or graphics, provides a fun literacy and language-based activity; students collaborate to capture photos of living vs. non-living items for around the school campus for a science lesson provides a social, language, critical thinking activity;class yearbook using students' digital images of portfolio pieces, interests, fieldtrips, hobbies, etc. and include writing pieces to be an ongoing publication.