Best from the Rest: Forward Thinking Museum & PAL

The Forward Thinking Museum has posted a wonderful video about an exciting project taking place with local students in Syracuse, New York. The Photography and Literacy Project (PAL) builds visual and verbal literacy, as well as self-confidence, by asking students to explore their lives through photography and writing. PAL founder and director Stephen Mahan launched the project in July 2010, and ever since then, hundreds of students have filled just as many notebooks with their thoughts and observations. Mahan explains, “Our educational system is set up to deal most effectively with one type of learner, and I was the ‘other’ type of student with reading and attention problems that made me feel a certain way. So what I try to do is even the playing field by using a camera as a storytelling device that articulates and validates each individual’s point of view, which builds self esteem. When the pictures are all laid out on the table, it is impossible to tell which kid has difficulties, and that is what motivates my passion.” Click on the image below to see the video and read more about PAL.