“The Write Way to Showcase Appalachia”

Approximately 75 students in my language arts classes will photograph the Appalachian community in which they live. Students will select photos that they feel showcase positive attributes of Appalachia to use as inspiration for creative writing pieces. After composing, revising, and editing pieces, students will then print both their writing and selected photographs to display in a gallery exhibit for our school. The gallery exhibit created by my students will then be used to generate a video to document the innovative endeavors occurring in our school and district. By merging digital photography with the writing process, students will not only write for an authentic purpose and audience, but they will also have the opportunity to explore their own artistic expression through photography. My goal is for students to showcase meaningful images of Appalachia paired with authentic and personalized writings in an effort to promote the innovative advances happening in Appalachia and share our work with the world.