Day 23: July 8

My Prompt

My Writing

Things I noticed in the picture on the left:

• Young boy
• Messy, light brown hair
• Bags under his eyes
• Frown
• You can see his collar bones, so probably skinny
• Shirt has dirt on the collar (maybe?)

Things I noticed in the picture on the right:

• The couch is beyond torn up and old. It is falling apart.
• Dirt on the floor
• Blankes strung on a line in the back
• Wood panels as the wall
• No window
• No personal items
• Colors are dull and dark
• Blue rug
• Debris
• Tin roof
• Everything seems to be thrown together and like it will fall apart any moment.

Things I noticed in the caption

• The boy is 9 years old
• Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
• His name is Alex
• Not from the caption, but from the title of the page: “Where Children Sleep”

My Questions:

• Why is Alex sleeping on a couch?
• Where does his family sleep?
• Where are the personal items?
• Why is there a tin roof and wood panels?
• Does he have a blanket to cover himself with?
• What is the debris from?
• Are they running from something? Hiding? Is this a place that was hastily built?
• Is this the only room?
• How long has he been sleeping on the couch?

My Reflection:

I really “liked” writing what I noticed from pictures. I put liked in quotation marks because it is such a sad photo. It is hard to imagine that people live like this, children live like this. That this is a normal for them. It breaks my heart, but at the same time seems like worlds away. It makes me want to help someone, yet I feel helpless that I do not know how to help him.

I would like to do writing like this with my students with images. Do you have any websites that can help provide some prompts that would spark such great discussion?

Thanks for reading and happy writing to you!