Una Historia Fotográfica del Amor y Valor

Several weeks back I was looking for a story in pictures as a reference for my AP students to do an oral presentation, and I came across the story of Taylor Morris in the photography of Tim Dodd.  For those of you who might not be familiar with his story, Taylor Morris is a veteran and a hero.  He is a quadruple amputee as the result of surviving an explosion while deployed to Afghanistan.  But the pictures do not focus on war, instead they focus on the love that is shared between him and his wife - before and after the accident.

My students did a good job with their oral story-telling but I was thinking that, with some scaffolding, late Spanish II and early Spanish III students could do use the pictures to narrate in the preterite and imperfect.  However, having my students look online at photographs is one thing . . . making a lesson and publishing it online with copyrighted photography is quite another.  So I wrote to Tim Dodd and asked him if I could have permission to use his work in this lesson and he generously agreed.  So thanks for this lesson go in large part to his kindness.

The lesson is three and a half pages and features pictures in order that tell a story, vocabulary, writing instructions, and transitions.  At the end there are several extension activities that you might want to offer to students as well.  There is no specific discussion of preterite vs. imperfect on the sheet itself because I didn't want to turn it into a lengthy grammar lesson; I will leave that to your discretion as a teacher.  My personal plan is to use this at the culmination of our discussion on preterite and imperfect with an oral reminder as they begin the writing phase.

When I was in email contact with photographer Tim Dodd, he invited me to explore his website further and pointed me specifically to a story and a series of photos about a his friend Andy who has immigrated to the USA and has endured a great deal of hardship as the result of government mishandling of his paperwork.  I encourage everyone to read about it, just in case you know of someone or anything that can help.

Lastly, if I may just add, there is a great amount of discussion for and against when it comes to immigration, the conflict in Afghanistan, and other topics that are touched upon in this post.  I respect everyone's opinions but I do not wish for this work to become politically-charged.  If you wish to engage in anti-war or anti-American rhetoric, I humbly ask that you find another forum for that.

I hope the lesson is useful to you, amigos.  And may you all have a good Memorial Day.

Hasta Pronto,

--AnneK