Creating effective then and now pictures


Last weekend I received these tweets:

This was my response:


Just in case you see other tweets sharing this idea, I just wanted to show when I mentioned it first. I hope that most followers of this blog and anyone who attends my training agree that I always credit any teacher if an idea starts with them, I just think it is fair to acknowledge where the initial inspiration for an idea comes from. I am more than happy to let people share ideas from my blog, that is the main reason for it! I am always extremely happy and proud to see people who tweet me to say that they have used an idea. I appreciate every time someone does share something from my blog and when they acknowledge where it came from. I can never prove whether a teacher genuinely thinks of an idea themselves and like to give everyone the benefit of the doubt, but to me it doesn't take much to mention and credit other peoples ideas.


Instashake was an app I downloaded through Apps Gone Free a while back. It is a great way of combining two different mix in different patterns. It is really straightforward and provides a great way to compare pictures of the past to the present.

It provides a great visual stimulus for children to then use to compare and contrast or even describe.

An example would be to take some pictures of the D Day landings contrasted with what they look like now (you can find some examples here) you can then use Instashake to combine two of these pictures to create a really effective then and now contrasting image:




Other ways could be to compare your local area, take this example of a picture of Market Street, Manchester in 1877 alongside Market Street 2002:


Or the evolution of Dubai - 1991 - 2003:


And it can also work the other way, look at current war zones and see how they use to look before the outbreak of war. Take this example of a street in Syria in 2011 and 2013:
 

This would show the devastating effects of war. 

You could even use it to look at the changes in children, or compare a self portrait with the original. If the children have replicated a famous painting in an art lesson it can then be blended with the original. Here is an example of me now contrasted to me as a baby (it fails to show the little difference mentally!):


Another idea, suggested by @RedgieRob would be to have a superhero with their alter ego. This could be done by the children creating their own superhero and creating an image that shows both sides of the character, here is a quick examples I put together -




Instashake is currently £1.49 but keep an eye out if it goes on Apps gone free again. If you have another other ideas for how to use this app, please tweet or add the ideas within the comments.

Already lots of ideas coming through thanks to twitter! Rob created this which could be a great stimulus for writing - 

 

Other ideas include - contrasts in weather/seasons, make your own animal by combining different parts of others (@SimonHaughton) or the opening setting with the setting at the end of a narrative (@BrynGoodman) Environmental changes (@WatsEd)

Thanks for all the suggestions! 




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