Lesson plan using Flickr

As I was researching possible uses for Flickr in an educational setting, I came across an interesting lesson plan for Middle School students.  The original plan, from PerdueUniversity, called for using Flickr as an asset for a lesson in vocabulary.  The basic idea is to locate pictures in Flickr that represent the vocabulary being studied.  These are uploaded into your Flickr account.  A worksheet is created using the same pictures, with a blank space for the word, and another for the student's definition.  The suggestion was made to include a word bank on the worksheet.

To implement the lesson, the worksheet is distributed, and a slide show of the Flickr images is played.  As each slide is shown, the display is paused, allowing the students to study the picture and write down the vocabulary word that corresponds to the picture.  The student then provides his own definition of the word.  The same procedure is followed for each additional word in the lesson.  At the conclusion of the lesson, the students are divided into small groups.  They then discuss the words they assigned to each picture.  As a group,  they self-evaluate the responses.  The final activity would be the entire class reviewing the results of the vocabulary lesson.

While I like the basic idea of this lesson, I would much prefer a lesson based on descriptive writing.  An image could be displayed on the whiteboard or with an overhead projector.  Initially the group would discuss the picture, establishing the subject matter and/or setting.  The students would then be challenged to develop a word bank of adjectives or descriptive phrases either for the entire photo or of some element of the photo.  Then, using the word bank of descriptive elements they have collected, the students could either be required to write a descriptive paragraph about the photo, or write a short story based on the photograph.  The final paragraph or story can then be shared with the class.  As a group, suggestions can be made to assist the writer in developing an engaging descriptive vocabulary.