Mr. Cecil, in collaboration with his former student teacher Rachael Hulme, will be presenting at the Society for Photographic Education conference in Las Vegas Nevada on the theme of play and collaboration. The Society for Photographic Education is a nonprofit membership organization that provides and fosters an understanding of photography as a means of diverse creative expression, cultural insight, and experimental practice.

The annual conference is a opportunity for mostly college level students and faculty, along with artists and industry professionals to share and learn together. "Teach Them to Play: Harnessing Chance, Construction, and Imagination in the Photography Classroom" is a presentation that explores a unit done in collaboration between Cecil and Hulme in 2015 at River Hill with Photo 2 and Photo 3 classes. This is an exciting opportunity to share what is done at the high school level with people from various levels of education and expertise.

Through hands-on exploration with materials and concepts in a photography classroom, this presentation will guide participants through the process of using play as a powerful pedagogical tool for teaching students to generate ideas. We will discuss a unit facilitated with 10th-12th grade photography students on constructed realities, showing examples of scaffolded assignments for students through a balance of collaborative in-class activities and solo image-making. Participants will leave having experienced an assignment themselves, as well as with many prompts and ideas for incorporating play into their own classroom practices.

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