“The best thing to come out of the project was that my kids began to realize that they were part of Lawrence’s history.” (Marinell, pg. 538)

What most captured my attention in “Voices Inside Schools” was how Mary, the teacher being studied, was able to use a photojournalism project to engage students in a thought provoking way to demonstrate their literacy.

For some, that disconnect was rooted in their view of the community merely as a stepping stone to future opportunities, whereas for others, it was founded in the isolation brought on by not speaking English. In order to combat the disconnect that her students were feeling in their very own community, Mary had the students work on a photojournalism project where they took pictures of their community and provided captions.

This project is an excellent example of differentiation. The objective of the lesson was for students to analyze what community meant, how they interacted with the community and whether or not they were part of the community. That right there is a lesson that packs a heavy punch. It may sound like a daunting project even. Mary took what could have been a lengthy written essay about community and transformed it into an exercise for students with limited English language skills to use pictures and captions as the essay. Like the saying goes, “a picture paints a thousand words.” The end result for the students was much the same, however, Mary differentiated the process based on ability and created a very meaningful assignment.