Everyday DC: A Photojournalism Unit Inspired by the Everyday Africa Project
The Everyday DC photojournalism unit was written by Pulitzer Center and D.C. Public Schools as a middle school cornerstone unit for the visual arts department. The unit guides students in applying photography, photo analysis, and investigative reporting skills to the creation of photo essays that reflect their everyday realities as residents of Washington D.C. Students then create group photo exhibitions that they feel accurately and responsibly represent their communities.
This photography and curation unit is inspired by the Everyday Africa project which was created by journalists Peter DiCampo and Austin Merrill and supported by the Center. Everyday Africa, a collection of images shot on mobile phones across the continent, is an attempt to redirect focus toward a more accurate understanding of what most Africans experience on a day-to-day basis: normal life.
Everyday DC Lesson Plans
The following lesson plans, which were designed by Pulitzer Center education staff and Andrew Westover for DCPS, outline how the seven-lesson Everyday DC photojournalism unit is taught by middle school educators in Washington, DC. The lessons build on each other and culminate in a final photography exhibition.
[Lesson 1 original PDF] [Lesson 1 original Doc]
[Lesson 2 original PDF] [Lesson 2 original Doc]
[Lesson 3 original PDF] [Lesson 3 original Doc]
[Lesson 4 original PDF] [Lesson 4 original Doc]
[Lesson 5 original PDF] [Lesson 5 original Doc]
[Lesson 6 original PDF] [Lesson 6 original Doc]
[Lesson 7 original PDF] [Lesson 7 original Doc]
Teaching Photojournalism and Curation through Everyday DC
The lesson plans below were inspired by the Everyday DC unit, but are rewritten to be used individually to teach visual literacy, photojournalism and curation skills. To use these lessons as part of a final exhibition, use the following order:
- Exploring Media Representation and Bias in Photography
- Telling Stories with Photographs
- Practicing Photojournalism Skills
- Captioning and Curating Photography
- Exploring Portraiture as a Storytelling Tool
- Composing Photographs and Creating Exhibition Narratives
- Composing Individual and Collaborative Photojournalism Exhibitions
For support creating a photojournalism project like Everyday DC with your students, contact [email protected].
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Students explore images from the Everyday Africa, evaluate how images can inform a person's understanding of what a place looks like, and brainstorm images that they can compose to more accurately...
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Lesson Plans
Telling Stories with Photographs
Students explore images from Everyday Africa, and then practice planning images for a photography exhibition that aims to present everyday life in their communities.
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Lesson Plans
Practicing Photojournalism Skills
This is the third lesson in the Everyday DC unit, and it introduces students to photography techniques for use in their Everyday DC project.
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Lesson Plans
Captioning and Curating Photography
Students explore photography the Everyday Africa and Everyday DC projects to develop curation and caption-writing skills.
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Lesson Plans
Exploring Portraiture as a Storytelling Tool
Students practice conducting interviews and using them to illuminate portrait photographs that reflect underreported stories of everyday life in their communities.
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Students explore the Everyday Africa project, and then apply photography and curation techniques to compose photo stories that represent everyday life in their communities.
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This is the seventh and final lesson in the Everyday DC unit, where students conclude their work on Everyday DC by completing a final individual and collaborative project.
