The central claim of this article is that taking photographs can be a means of not only building students' literacy skills and teaching them a variety of different subject areas, but also, it can be a means of helping them adjust to life changes. Examples of life changes as they relate to school can consist of such experiences as moving from one school to another or adjusting to the closing of one's school.

Regarding the foregoing, the article presents the response of teachers to the imminent closing of their school. Specifically, teachers designed a six-month long curriculum around the theme of shelter, believing that this construct was central to the various emotions children might experience as a result of having their school closed.

Among the various curricular activities described and discussed in the article---activities used to not only teach children general literacy skills and other subjects but also to assist them in dealing with the closure of their school---were the activities of actually building cameras and taking photographs. Other activities which were included in the curriculum included thinking and verbalizing about the shelter, writing about shelters and going on field trips. Photographs were said to have helped the children improve their writing skills, especially as their writing related to communicating their personal feelings the concept of "sh

* Stratton, B.D. & Grindler, M.C. (1991). SMILE: Using Photography To Enhance Reading/Writing Instruction. (Paper presented at the Annual Meeting of the International Reading Association (36th, Las Vegas, NV, May 610) ERIC Document Reproduction Service No. ED 333 341.

Instructional approaches used to encourage students to talk, theorize, and write about the contexts and content of their lives in and out of school are examined and evaluated. The focus of the instructional activities was the creation of a photonovel about a teenage boy's problems, emphasizing the power of photo-taking as a means of making curricula relevant.

This article discusses using photography as a means of enhancing reading and writing instruction. Specifically, a program (Project SMILE) is discussed which is the Apple/Polaroid Language Experience Approach. This approach is said to be an extension of the language experience approach which combines photography (a form of communication) and word processing skills. It is considered a holistic approach because it is based on the whole language model of teaching literacy which develops reading skills naturally through the meaningful, functional use of language. Working with a college tutor, elementary students take some photographs that are then made into a book about themselves. The approach is said to offer something for all students regardless of the mode(s) through which they learn best since all modes are incorporated. Learners use: (1) auditory mode when stories are read aloud and/or when a speech synthesizer is used; (2) the kinesthetic (motor) and tactile (touch) mode when they write and type the stories; and (3) the visual mode with photographs and when they read the stories. Motivation is provided through the use of photographs and word processing v