Through out the school year, the teachers at Milestones have 3 weeks of inservice. During this time we have the opportunity to work on the school without children. Along with making the school more tidy and organized, we meet with other educators in our field. We love attending workshops on a regular basis, but realized we were ready for more one-on-one support. Working directly with our mentors has helped us create goals and action steps that pertain to Milestones as an individual school.

One of our goals this year is to show the children and families the work that we do through pictures on our blog, our Facebook page, and in the classroom. As we took pictures, we realized we had a very hard time capturing beautiful images; images that expressed just how truly beautiful the moment was. We realized it was time for a lesson in photography.

We invited Amy Bice to come and help us with this goal. Amy has been a teacher of young children for 19 years and is currently one of the Atelieristas of the New School West. Before she worked with children, Amy went to school for art and photography. With these skills Amy understands how to photograph children without interrupting their play and capturing the moments that expresses what and why the work of children is so valuable.

Working with Amy was fun and informative. She taught us tricks and strategies to take a better photographs. She also supported us in reflecting on the current pictures we have on display in the classroom. We asked, ” Is this picture representing the hard work the children do in their learning environment? Are the pictures reflecting what type of play goes on in that space? Are we representing community in the picture? Can a picture of an individual child represent a story that all the children have been part of?”

From now on our staff will be taking photographs with these questions in mind. We are so grateful to our families that have worked so hard fundraising for valuable professional development like this.