In this Voices Inside Schools essay, William Marinell describes the efforts of a public school teacher to improve her students’ writing by attempting to increase their connectivity to their community. By designing photojournalism projects that prompt students to capture their authentic experiences, the teacher hopes to challenge the students’ negative perceptions of their community, which she believes have a negative effect on her students’ performance in school. Marinell elaborates on the personal and pedagogical dilemmas that the teacher faced while engaged in this work and how her instructional objectives and pedagogical approaches evolved as she gained an appreciation for the complex issues that arise when teachers and students attempt to depict their community.

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William H. Marinell is an advanced doctoral student at the Harvard Graduate School of Education. He has taught courses in English literature and writing to elementary, middle, and high school students in the United States, Kenya, and Bangladesh. His current research focuses on midcareer entrants to teaching. He is the coauthor of “Angling for Access, Bartering for Change” (with M. Donaldson, S. M. Johnson, C. Kirkpatrick, J. Steele, and S. Szczesiul, 2005) and “Of Bombs, Blackness, and Ideal Balconies: The Power and Potential of Electronic Communication in the Classroom,” in Future Courses: A Compendium of Thought about Education, Technology, and The Future (with L. Bernieri; edited by J. Ohler, 2001).