My attempt at compelling photography

This succulent was given to me by a parent this summer. I find the structure and nature of the plant to be compelling. While taking photos of this plant in my classroom i took the opportunity to try different settings on my basic digital camera like flash/no flash, settings like macro and mode. These different settings allowed different aspects to be highlighted and shadowed throughout the shades of green, the pot, and potting soil. I removed all distractions from the background, but I feel that this made the plant seem less personable and boring. I almost feel that I distracted form this plants natural beauty by removing it from its' original surroundings. Upon selection of this photo I worked to crop the photo to keep the pot in the lower right hand third. This allowed for the strong curve of the growth to be a secondary focal point on the left third. As far as playing with contrast, I increased the low-lights to emphasize the horizontal stripes of the clay pot and to increase the contrast among the silvery leaves.

The less compelling photo I find to be almost out of context and hard to know what the focus was supposed to be. While taking this photo I wanted to display the new silvery growth off of the older greener growth. I admired the curve of the lone branch, but the angle is not quite in a good perspective. The closest portion of the branch is also out of focus and missing the details of the leaves. Despite adjusting the contrast the leaves did not pop against the background, but the slightest scratches in the background table kept drawing my attention.

Imaginative bridges

With recent health events my perspective on teaching has been altered to focus on life. As I have been looking at life altering diagnoses I have been mentally frozen, mostly out of fear and disbelief. As it has taken over two weeks to unthaw my brain I have been trying to ponder possible 'imaginative bridges' in my teaching. This weekend has brought me to focus on the life of science teaching, and not just biology.

As many of my students' families operate farms I have begun to see connections of their actions on the farms to my own teaching. Before I introduce new material I cultivate them to prepare them to add new knowledge to their field. As the fields are growing the students' need nurturing, food, water, and additional minerals with fertilizers. I use readings, vocabulary activities, investigations, and research in hopes of adding growth to my students. During this growth period weeds and harmful pests must also be dealt with in the fields. In my classroom I can't use pesticides and herbicides, but again knowledge must be used to fight misconceptions and pruning through behavior modification can help control inappropriate behaviors. At the end of the season the crop must meet guidelines in order to be sold. In the end of a class the students must pass an examination to determine their quality of knowledge gained. All of this in hopes of producing students who will go out in this world and prosper and hopefully repeat this process with others in their own lives.

As mentioned in course readings we need to strive to think 'outside of the box.' This is scary for me. Sometimes my box leaves me out in left field and others' don't see my connections. I can read and interpret something so totally different than other people. By putting my imaginative bridge connections on 'paper' I feel vulnerable, but I feel life is vulnerable.

As I have been searching this last week for a compelling image to share with my group I was drawn to a plant that was given to me. It is a type of succulent with thick spikes for leaves. When the leaves fall off they begin to grow their own hot pink roots in search of water to survive. When asked to think about what is compelling is that I want my students to be like this plant--to thirst, and be willing to seek out new sources of knowledge to increase their survival.