Wendy Ewald, the editor of the book, The Best Part of Me is a woman and an educator I have admired for many years.  When I was teaching, I became deeply inspired by her Literacy Through Photography project and began to use photography with my students as a way to help them develop their voice.

The book, The Best Part of Me, is a wonderful resource for parents as well as teachers.  I started out by telling the girls that I had an important question for them. They asked me what the question was and I told them that I needed to read them a special book before I could ask them.  Well, at this point they were so curious that they begged me to read them the book.  They loved reading the book, which consists of photographs and writing by children.  Each child was asked to choose and write about the best part of themselves.  The text is actually printed in the child’s own handwriting so the girls really felt as if they were reading the work of their peers. They now have their favorite parts and ask me to read them again and again. At the end of the book I asked them, “What is the best part of you?”

They instantly started calling out a variety of answers and with our camera in hand we immediately went outside to take pictures.  Later, I showed them the pictures we had taken and asked them if they wanted to write (dictate) some words to go with the pictures. 

This experience is great for developing a healthy self-image as well as a good catalyst for discussions about how we are all different and the same.