High School photo teachers unite!

Just thought I'd start a thread where HS photography/digital editing teachers can share ideas, discuss assignments and what not...

If you're one of us, drop by and say hi. If you're not but wished you had such a class in high school, feel free to chime in on the conversation.

I think this is a great idea but I would prefer to expand the scope somewhat. There are a lot of continuing education (adult students) photography classes offered by local community colleges. I teach a beginner's class at my park district and would love to get ideas and resources.

OK, I'll start!

I teach in Ottawa, where my school board has created a program called Focus photo (link is in French). Students from other high schools in the board spend a half a school year in my program, taking four credits.

One -- we're talking 100-odd hours -- could be called "Photography 101". I teach it using Nikons D3000/3100, lenses go from kit to high quality telephoto zooms, with nice wide angles and even a fish-eye. The studio is 850 sq. ft, three stations all with flash rails and a bunch of Bowens monolights and the most common modifiers. (No huge octoboxes, though...) The content of that class ends when the SOOC files leave the camera and go to the laptops, which brings us to...

... the second credit, which is "Digital imaging 101". The students each have a Tecra laptop, in which there's LR5 and Photoshop CC. The split is about 70% LR and 30% Photoshop.
The two afternoon credits are cooperative education. Some of the kids are behind the counter at a local high-end retailer (they learn a lot just talking to the staff during quiet periods...) Other students take their coop within the school, where they submit stock photos, act as a photo agency for area grade schools and they might even get in the senior portrait market (which needs to be created, since in Canada the tradition is to only have the cap-and-gown pics taken by the official photog for the yearbook.

Guest speakers are frequent (photojournalists from the dailies, studio portrait and wedding photographers, a lawyer talking about copyright and releases...) We often spend time in the field -- I haven't figured out a way to teach street photography inside our studio -- which means managing permission slips from the parents is a pain in the ass, as I need a guardian's signature everytime I take my class outisde and further than walking distance...

Of course we can share ideas and resources, Curtis: the contents of an intro to photography class, may it be at the HS, Community college or municipal community centre, is quite similar...

This is how I split my five units for Photo 101 (It has an arts course code, but it's really a technical course with a bit of artsy thrown in, not the other way around. Which means we don't spend too much time thinking about the steps of the creative process or post-modern criticism theory...)

• DSLR basics -- The difference between a picture and a photograph, the exposure triangle, controlling the camera.
  
• Artistic creation -- elements and principles of design, composition, perspective.
  
• Lighting -- natural, flash and studio strobes. Intro to portrait. This whole section wouldn't exist without Strobist's blog!
  
• Genre 1: photojournalism, environmental portrait and street photography
  
• Genre 2: landscape, still life and product photography