1. I had explained to students there were only a few assignments left before our course is complete. This Photo Essay is one of them. They were given a handout (see attached) that explains what a photo essay does and the steps to creating one. We looked at pieces from several examples to get an idea of ideas for beginning. I also pointed out from these examples some of the positives and negatives and explained how each would be evaluated. (Ie: one used images that had a watermark on them saying “stockphoto” which reduced their mark because they were not as careful in choosing images as they could have been. Another used several transition effects on the same photograph creating quite a mood from it, which is one of the central components of a photo essay – to create a visual representation of a theme that draws a particular and strong emotion from the viewer. 
2. They had the majority of today’s class time. Wednesday and Thursday next week we will also have computer time, as well as the following Tuesday. If they complete the essay, they can also use that computer access to fix up the blog entries they did in the last unit and work on the two others assigned for this current unit. We’ll get to that soon, though. 
3. Here are some examples of photo essays to give you an idea of what they will be creating. Joys and Sorrow

This photo essay has a great description with it on the youtube page. The student who made it describes that the theme is Change because no matter what direction you’re taking your life you can always turn it around.