








































Teaching Techniques 
 

Dr. Jennifer K. Allen, Assistant Professor, Department of Literacy and Special Education, University of 
West Georgia, Carrollton, GA; email jkallen@westga.edu 
 

(Re)Imagining Multilingual 
Learners: Using Photo Stories to 
Honor Students’ Strengths, 
Interests, and Experiences 

GATESOL Journal 
2021, Vol. 31(1), pp. 47–53 

doi:10.52242/gatesol.117 
ISSN: 2331-6845 

 

 
Jennifer K. Allen 
University of West Georgia 

 
Abstract 
The labeling of students has the potential to result in deficit thinking, which can cause 
classrooms to become sites of limitation instead of places of limitless opportunity for students. 
This article discusses the literacy strategy of creating photo stories and shares the steps 
involved in inviting students to create personal photo stories that honor students’ lived 
experiences. The author shares how these photo stories have the potential to promote critical 
and productive dialogue among educators and students to help them celebrate the diverse 
languages, cultures, interests, and life experiences that are present in their classrooms. 
 
Keywords 
labels, deficit thinking, multilingual learners, photo story 

 
 
Background 
Schools typically use labels to identify or categorize students. While labeling enables collective 
understanding and can be positive and productive, some labels imply beliefs that can impose 
limitations on students (Castellano & Diaz, 2002; Lee & Anderson, 2009; Umansky, 2016). These 
labels often carry with them assumptions that influence the way educators perceive students and 
thus inform how they teach. For instance, the label “English language learner” (ELL), commonly 
used in public school settings to represent multilingual learners, can bring about associations of 
deficiency because it highlights students’ academic abilities in relation to speaking or not speaking 
English (Lee & Anderson, 2009; Martínez, 2018). When educators overlook the varied strengths, 
interests, capabilities, and experiences that multilingual learners bring to the classroom, teachers 
may find themselves inadvertently focusing on and remediating students’ perceived weaknesses 
rather than exploring and cultivating strengths (Baldwin, 2003; Ford & Grantham, 2003). Thus, 
schools can become sites of struggle for multilingual learners instead of sites of boundless 
opportunities (Lee & Anderson, 2009). 

Teacher perceptions are critical to developing students’ potential (Szymanski & Lynch, 
2020). Photo stories are one strategy Paynter and Arnett (2018) briefly mentioned in an article 
previously published in GATESOL in Action Journal that teachers can use to counteract deficit 
thinking. Photo stories provide multilingual learners with a means for sharing their (counter)stories 
(Delgado, 2011; Solórzano & Yosso, 2002). Counter-storytelling involves sharing the stories of 
marginalized people whose experiences are often untold and therefore unheard (Solórzano & 
Yosso, 2002). Using these stories in the classroom can help teachers—and students—expand their 
views of students in order to see that students’ diverse home languages, cultures, interests, and 

mailto:jkallen@westga.edu


48 GATESOL Journal 31(1)  
 

strengths are assets that promote learning as opposed to obstacles that may impede it (Delgado 
Bernal, 2002; Nieto, 2002). 

Photographs and images can be useful tools for promoting acceptance of diversity in 
schools by prompting educators and students to view situations from different perspectives, to 
bridge connections, and to develop an understanding of differences (Cook & Quigley, 2013; 
Lintner, 2005; Lykes, 2011; Serriere, 2010). Additionally, stories provide avenues for 
understanding ourselves and others. Therefore, the use of storytelling can encourage curiosity 
about the lived experiences of others and interrupt complacency by helping listeners and speakers 
construct new understandings and sort through false and constraining perceptions of individuals 
and cultures (Clarke, 2020; Delgado, 2011; Espinoza & Harris, 1998). Thus, if teachers can 
incorporate meaningful classroom community dialogue around students’ personal photo stories, 
the result can be an experience that can engage, educate, and inspire students and educators in a 
powerful way (Allen, 2016; Cook & Quigley, 2013; Griffin et al., 2020). The stories students tell 
through their visual images and narratives have the potential to yield productive conversations that 
help educators shift from deficit thinking to capitalizing on the strengths and interests of 
multilingual learners that often lie hidden behind the labels and language competencies. 
 
Steps for Implementing Digital Photo Stories 
The remainder of this article will share the steps for inviting students to use personal photographs 
and storytelling. Such an activity provides potential to open doors to critical and productive 
dialogue among educators and students to help them celebrate the diverse languages, cultures, 
interests, and life experiences that are present in their classrooms. The author implemented this 
strategy with fidelity with elementary students but accentuates its possible use with middle grades 
and secondary students as well. 
 
Step 1: Study Mentor Texts & Model 
While students are often familiar with narrative writing, many have little experience writing photo 
stories. Mentor texts work beautifully to familiarize students with this writing format, and they 
build excitement about the upcoming writing project (Shubitz, 2016). Mentor texts serve as a guide 
for helping students make discoveries about the structures and writing crafts often used in this type 
of writing. The mentor texts that follow work well with elementary learners, but they may be useful 
with middle and secondary students as well: 

 My Painted House, My Friendly Chicken, and Me, by Maya Angelou and Margaret 
Courtney-Clarke  

 Daddy and Me: A Photostory of Arthur Ashe and His Daughter Camera, by Jeanne 
Moutoussamy-Ashe  

 Mom Can’t See Me, by Sally Hobart Alexander and George Ancona  
 Can we Help?: Kids Volunteering to Help their Communities, by George Ancona  
 Big Sister, Little Sister, by Marci Curtis 
After students have read and studied photo stories as a format and have developed 

sufficient background knowledge about the genre, they are ready to begin exploring the process of 
writing their own. Instructionally, teachers should model this exploration process by writing about 
their own personal photos. When teachers model this process with authentic photos and think aloud 
as photos are organized and the text is developed, students learn the photo sequencing process as 
well as how the images work together with the writing to tell the story. 
 



Allen 49 
 

Step 2: Take Photos 
The key to creating a meaningful photo story involves photography. For this step to be most 
productive, educators should inform students and parents or caregivers of the purpose of the project 
as well as the need for meaningful photos. For this aspect of the project, it is helpful to send an 
informational letter to parents suggesting that they help their student think of things they would 
like to share with their teachers and classmates, such as specific hobbies, interests, strengths, ways 
they help out at home or in their community, and the like. Then, give students and parents a few 
weeks to take 3–5 photos of their student engaged in an activity or experience of interest or one 
that requires skill, concentration, commitment, motivation, and/or hard work. Parents can use 
smart phones or other devices to take pictures. In the informational letter, it is helpful to invite 
parents to initiate discussions with their students about the photographs taken so that the students 
will have ideas for what to write about when they begin drafting their stories. Families can submit 
printed copies of the photographs to teachers or send them in digital form via text or email, so 
teachers can save them, print them, and upload them into a digital media platform such as 
VoiceThread for digital storytelling purposes. 
 
Step 3: Facilitate Paired Discussions 
Using students’ printed photos, invite students to work in pairs to share their photos with peers. 
Encourage students to describe what each photo depicts. This discussion gives students a chance 
to articulate their thinking, which provides a scaffolded opportunity for storytelling, helping 
students organize their thoughts and elaborate on their writing (Calkins, 1994; Ray & Laminack, 
2001; Winn & Johnson, 2011). In addition to developing students’ writing skills, these paired 
discussions also provide safe spaces for students to develop their listening and speaking skills. It 
is helpful to suggest possible questions that students can use to prompt their discussion, such as 
the following: 

• Who is pictured in the photo? Who isn’t pictured but is an important part of the image? 
• Where/when did the photo take place? 
• What activities are occurring in the photos?  
• What story is being told in this photo? 
• What does this picture say about you? 
• Why is this photo important?  

 
Step 4: Use a Storyboard to Scaffold the Writing Process 
Provide students with a storyboard graphic organizer to use to organize their photos and compose 
the text. Facilitate conferences with students while they draft and revise, and encourage students 
to confer with their peers as they continue to engage recursively in the writing process by 
(re)considering the sequencing of their photos, drafting, revising, and editing their photo stories. 
Design mini-lessons and small group instruction, using mentor texts and modeling, to lift the level 
of writing as students work to compose their photo stories. If students are literate in their native 
language, encourage them to write bilingual photo stories using a fusion of both English and their 
native language to describe the photos. Students’ authentic and scaffolded use of the writing 
process not only serves to meet curricular language and writing standards, but it also supports their 
growth as language learners and as writers. 
 
 
 

https://voicethread.com/


50 GATESOL Journal 31(1)  
 

Step 5: Publish Photo Story 
Provide students with lined index cards to publish the text of their photo stories. Students can glue 
their photos and text onto large pieces of construction paper so that each photo is aligned with its 
accompanying text to create a traditional photo story (see Figures 1 and 2). Some teachers and 
students, such as those at the middle and secondary levels, may prefer to forego the printed version 
of the photo story and move directly to step 6, the creation of a digital photo story. 
 
Figure 1 
A Traditional Photo Story 
 

 
Note. A second-grade writer publishes his traditional photo story with printed images and index cards. 

 
Figure 2 
Student-Created Photo Stories 
 

 
Note. A hallway display showcases the photo stories written by second-grade writers. 



Allen 51 
 

Step 6: Create Digital Version  
Invite students to rehearse their photo story to prepare to record it into a digital platform. While 
students rehearse, upload their images into the digital platform of choice, such as VoiceThread. 
When students are ready, meet with them one-on-one in a quiet location to record the narration of 
their photo story. It may be helpful to invite a volunteer or two to help with this step. 
 
Step 7: Share Digital Photo Stories 
Invite students to share their photo stories. As students share their photo stories with the class, 
teachers can facilitate critical discussions to dive deeper into the experiences brought to light 
through the students’ photo stories. Teachers can ask students to share what they learned from 
listening to the photo stories as well as how their perceptions about students may have changed. 
While the storytellers gain a deeper understanding of themselves, the listeners develop empathy 
for their peers, resulting in collective affirmations of diversity. It is important for students to 
understand that misperceptions are common. However, students—and teachers—can learn more 
about one another and exchange our misperceptions for more holistic, dynamic, and accurate 
perceptions that capture students as whole learners, not simply language learners, and position 
them as people with unique and valuable life experiences.  
 
Closing Thoughts 
Through photography, storytelling, and critical discussions, teachers and students can hear 
individual and collective stories and become more adept at noticing the gifts, talents, and interests 
of multilingual learners that might otherwise remain overshadowed by language, ethnic, or cultural 
barriers. This increased mindfulness helps teachers and students shift their deficit thinking to at 
promise thinking (Swadener & Niles, 1991) or dynamic thinking (Ford & Grantham, 2003), which 
helps them engage with students in a way that capitalizes on their backgrounds, strengths, and 
interests and unlocks their true potential.  

While the photo story approach is particularly useful for disrupting assumptions teachers 
and students may have about multilingual learners, using photo stories and collaborative 
discussions can also be useful for helping teachers and students truly see the strengths, interests, 
and experiences all students bring to the classroom. This is true for students of low socio-economic 
status, students with exceptionalities, as well as students of all sexual orientations and gender 
identities. Creating photo stories is a successful and culturally relevant practice to use with 
elementary writers, but its use can also extend beyond the elementary level and into middle and 
secondary classrooms. Thoughtfully engaging students of all levels and backgrounds in 
storytelling and respectful dialogue about differences creates more equitable learning spaces that 
position diversity as a resource for learning instead of a barrier that impedes it (Lee & Anderson, 
2009). This, in turn, privileges students’ unique lived experiences, affirms their identities, and 
ultimately results in improved educational opportunities for them.  
 
References 
 
Allen, J. K. (2016). Picture this: Practitioner research with digital photo stories and the NOT-ICE 

Teacher Discussion Protocol to help teachers cultivate gifts and talents in emergent 
bilinguals of Latin@ heritage (Doctoral dissertation). University of Georgia, Athens, GA. 
https://getd.libs.uga.edu/pdfs/allen_jennifer_k_201608_phd.pdf 

https://voicethread.com/
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52 GATESOL Journal 31(1)  
 

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____________________________________________________________________________ 
 

Received: January 28, 2021 | Accepted: March 23, 2021 | Published: July 30, 2021 

https://doi.org/10.1080/00377990903285481
https://doi.org/10.1080/00377990903285481
https://doi.org/10.1177/107780040200800103
https://doi.org/10.1177/1932202X20917141
https://doi.org/10.3102/0162373716664802

	GATESOL Journal2021, Vol. 31(1), pp. 47–53
	(Re)Imagining Multilingual Learners: Using Photo Stories to Honor Students’ Strengths, Interests, and Experiences
	doi:10.52242/gatesol.117
	ISSN: 2331-6845

