I found I could say things with color and shapes that I couldn’t say any other way… things I had no words for.
In her work supporting survivors of trauma with their creative writing, social science researcher Patti Lather borrowed the German poet Rilke’s term “Too Big” to describe those experiences that are so intense that they exceed words. She called these stories “Too Big Stories.” Most people have experienced something in their lives that feels overwhelming because of the emotional size of it; the grief almost swallowed them whole, the fear was indescribable, the anger vibrated with energy but exceeded language. When young people are walking through emotions like sadness, anger, or loneliness, it is our role as educators to help them feel heard and seen. In this activity, students are invited to explore emotions that feel too complex or large for words by using metaphor and photography. This will help students to express the experiences that feel unspeakable.
· Recognize that emotions are complex and transcend distinct labels.
· Understand the possibility of feeling more than one emotion at once.
· Learn to use art and metaphor as tools to express the experiences and emotions that feel unspeakable.
Prior to teaching this lesson, watch the expert and guest artist videos and take an example photograph to share with your students.
Map out the route for the photography walk ahead of time. Your students will be taking this walk as they look for images to represent the way they feel. This walk could be indoors or outdoors.
Students can use the cameras on their cell phones for this lesson. If they do not have phones to use for this purpose, shared tablets can be good alternatives. Please make sure you know what your students’ technology needs are ahead of time.
For a tech free option, you can supply your students with paper and pencils or pens, and they can draw the images and write what they see.
Dr. Neha Chaudhary explains that emotions are complex, that they can transcend labels and that it is possible to feel more than one emotion at the same time. She shares the way photography helps her represent complex emotions.
Courtney Payton describes the way photography allows him to express emotions.
Cristina Sullivan discusses the ‘Three V’s’ of photography – Vent, Viewpoint, and Voice – and how photography can be a tool to help express emotions and shift perspective.
Jazzell describes the way photography helped her express the emotions she doesn’t know how to put into words.
Ian explains how photography helped him express the mixed emotions he was feeling when he transitioned to high school.
Yikia Xu describes his experience with loneliness as an immigrant in the United States and offers that taking photographs allows him to acknowledge and accept these emotions
Display the ‘welcome slide’ from the Lesson 4 PowerPoint as you begin.
*Slide 1
As discussed in the teacher training, remember to make the suggested language below authentic to yourself and meaningful for your students.
* Slide 2
Example of What You Could Say:
“Most people have experienced something in their lives that feels overwhelming because of the emotional size of it; whether it be grief, fear, anger, or another strong emotion, sometimes, our emotions are just too difficult to put into words. I was thinking about an experience in my own life (refer to an experience in your own life that you can share)…. the emotions felt complex for me. I found that I was feeling multiple emotions at once, and it’s not so easy to put those emotions into words. Have you ever had this experience where you can remember feeling more than one emotion at once or couldn’t label exactly how you were feeling? This idea, the potential to feel multiple and contradictory feelings, is what we are going to explore together today.”
Example of What You Could Say:
“Let’s start with a video from a mental health expert who is also a photographer, and she will talk a little more about this idea of the complexity of emotions.
The expert describes the way photography can express complex emotions. She references the way metaphor can be useful in illustrating emotions without having to label them, sharing one of her photographs that serves as a metaphor for two conflicting feelings that she was experiencing when she took the photograph.
Example of What You Could Say:
“We have another short video that speaks to the way photography can help express emotions. (Read the one sentence descriptor that describes the video you have chosen to play.)”
Example of What You Could Say:
“In this video, the guest artist explained the way photographs can represent feelings that are hard to put into words. Like this artist, we’re going to take photographs to illustrate complex feelings. For this activity, you might take a photo that represents a meaningful memory, a challenging experience, or any other important part of your life story. You could also take a photograph that represents how you are feeling right now. We are going to go on a group walk and take a photo of an object or scenery that represents any of those feelings, especially feelings that are complex or hard to name. You can take a picture or I have paper and pencils that you can use to draw what you are seeing.”
* Slide 3
Lead students on this group photography walk. Explain to students that when they return to the classroom, they will choose an image to display in a classroom art gallery. As always, students will have a choice about what they want to share with the class. Also, students can share their photographs anonymously. This should take approximately 15-20 minutes.
Example of What You Could Say:
“I found a few objects that I think show the way I felt when…(Refer to the story that you shared with the class or the way you feel today.) Here is one of the photographs I took on our walk. I think it might be interesting if we write captions to our photographs. We don’t need to name the picture. We can simply describe the feelings captured in our photograph. For instance, I took a photo of a rock because at the time I was feeling weighed down by the things that are bothering me and heavy in my heart. So I used those two words as my caption: burdened and heavy.”
*Slide 4
Upon their return to the classroom, students will work on their captions for their chosen photograph(s). Encourage students to be creative in the way they write their captions and describe the feeling. In this activity, students do not use the actual label for an emotion, but actually describe the feeling behind the emotion – the words that describe how they’re feeling.
There are a few ways you can structure a classroom art gallery:
As always, students are invited to choose whether or not they want to share their creative projects, and one option above may work better than another if students are more interested in sharing their work anonymously.
Conclude the lesson by celebrating the students’ photography. Share what you noticed as you looked at the photographs (i.e. maybe students used nature to represent feelings). Praise their creativity and bravery, and encourage them to experiment with more photography going forward.
If you or your students would like to learn more about the ideas in this lesson, additional resources and third party links are included below.