Subject Areas: Secondary Communication Arts, Social Studies, Journalism

Objective: Students will choose a photo that was meaningful to them and write a narrative explaining what the pictures means to them and why it is so important to them.

Materials: Students will need to view Episode 3 of "American Photography". In addition they will need access to a word processing program and their own pictures.

1. Choose a photo that is important to you and show it to the students. Give them a brief explanation about why you believe the photo is so important and meaningful to you. Then ask each student to think of a photo that makes them feel the same way. Facilitate discussion about the importance of photos in our everyday lives and the impact photos have on people’s memories and preserving family histories.

2. Students should then view Episode 3 of the "American Photography" series.

There are several parts in each episode that lend themselves to reflection for this particular assignment. They are noted for you below as they appear chronologically in each episode of the series. All three episodes have been included for those who wish to incorporate the entire series.

[IN 14:39:20 NARRATION: " In the early part of the century, Edward Curtis published a 20-volume set of photographs documenting the lives of Native Americans. Most people’s idea of what Indians look like comes from Curtis’ photographs."]

[OUT 16:53:10 RAYNA GREEN: "And I want those pictures. I want the reality. I want the past as it was rather than as someone dreamed it into being."]

Episode 1: 1919 first tabloids: New York Daily News and Evening Graphics

[IN 32:56:12 TITLE: 1800’s NEWSPAPERS FEATURE DRAWINGS]

[OUT 39:10:08 HAROLD EVANS: "And the simple, single word on that front page was DEAD, exclamation mark. Well, that’s news."]

[IN 38:10:09 DELLA FEMINA: "I think, in photography, or in life, the truth always loses out to fantasy. I mean, the truth is there, but fantasy?" ]

[OUT 42:11:04 DANIELCZITROM: "It helps to bring about a revolution in advertising. By the ‘20s advertising is not read, it’s seen. And you know that’s a testament to the fact that increasingly advertisements are organized around photographic images."]

[IN 46:50:29 TITLES: THE POSITRON A SUB-ATOMIC PARTICLE]

[OUT 50:20:22 DR. NEIL TYSON: "By enabling humans to see things that happen faster than we would otherwise be able to recognize, to see bands of light that are outside the sensitivity of the human retina, to see things that are farther away in the universe than the human eye or mind could have ever imagined, what photography has done for us in this century, is enabled our five senses to be broadened, to be expanded."]

[IN 02:43:19 TITLE: PICTURES THROUGH A WIRE]

[OUT 08:08:17 NARRATOR: "The day the Hindenburg went down, the image eclipsed the words. From then on, it wasn’t really news if you didn’t have a picture."]

[ IN 14:56:29 TITLE: THE FSA PICTURING HARD TIMES]

[OUT 21:17:29 GORDON PARKS: "Said this is a government agency and that picture is an indictment against America and I realize from the reactions of people that the camera could be a very powerful instrument against discrimination. Against poverty. Against racism..."]

[IN 24:07:02 NARRATION: "In the early 1940s, the photograph had completed its conquest of America. After the success of LIFE, the news stands were overflowing with picture magazines."]

[OUT 37:11:10 NARRATOR: "Like the holocaust they documented, the photographs."]

[IN 51:21:13 TITLE: THE EMMETT TILL GENERATION]

[OUT 52:56:21 JOYCE LADNER: "They were going to do something about it."]

[IN 00:36:05 HARRY EVANS: "The thing which has always fascinated me has been the enduring power of the still image, because we’re all very movie conscious today, we watch television, we’re used to swift cut, jump cuts and there’s absolutely brilliant work being done."]

[OUT 01:50:10 HAL BUELL: "You see it in the newspaper, you see it in a magazine, so you not only have the first impact, but then there’s the second impact and the third impact, and pretty soon, that picture is just imbedded in your mind as fully and as completely as it can be."]

[IN 02:34:28 DANNY LYON: "This was the summer of '63. All across the South, the South was on fire. It was really the peak of the Civil Rights movement and some people have said that I photographed the golden age of the Civil Rights movement."]

[OUT 07:07:07 RAY BROWN: "We don't think we can engage in intellectual and other kinds of commerce around the world when we are painted with this." And it forced some change."]

Episode 3: Vietnam War--no censorship of photos

[ IN 07:18:15 DAVID FRIEND: "For certain subjects, still photography is the most powerful medium, and I think war is one of those subjects."]

[OUT 14:32:19 MONTAGE: PHOTOGRAPHS OF THE ANTI WAR DEMONSTRATIONS & END OF WAR HEADLINES.]

[ IN 15:03:06 STEWART BRAND: "This is a 60's story -- where did the idea of the photograph of the whole earth come from?"]

[OUT 18:08:22 MONTAGE: ECOLOGY PHOTOGRAPHS]

Episode 3: Photos as Evidence

[IN 20:44:02 VICKI GOLDBERG:" You can’t take a picture of something that is not in front of the camera. You can slant the angle wrong, you can light it wrong, you can lie in what you set before the camera, but the camera itself does not lie."]

[OUT 25:53:23 RAY BROWN: "If I had to point to one source, of the power that drove humanity to try to set up courts to deal with these issues, I would point to the photographs as the primary source because it carries that human misery across the seas and it makes it real to people."]

[IN 32:31:03 CNN GULF WAR FOOTAGE]

[OUT 35:55:25 MIKE DEAVER: "If bringing war into the living room means that, that we as a people will say we don't want to do it that way anymore, we want to figure out other ways to solve these conflicts, then I would say, photography and television has done us a great service."]

3. After viewing, students should search for a photo or series of photos that are meaningful to them personally. They should then create a narrative that describes the subject of the photo, a summary of the event being depicted in the photo, the significance of the photo, and how that photo will help to preserve their family history. They should also be sure to discuss the following questions in depth:

• What does the photo say that would take many words to express?
• What feelings and emotions does the photo convey to its owner?

When students have completed the assignment, they should share their work with the class. The photos and narratives could then be posted and shared with others at an open viewing, sent to a local newspaper or school newspaper for publication, or posted on a web site that is created by students and related to the topic.

1. Ask students to complete a self evaluation of their work. They should look at

the following items and rank their effectiveness:

• descriptive language when discussing feelings/emotions
• summary of who, what, when, where, and significance of photo
• description of how the photo preserves family history

2. Construct a scoring guide that rates the items mentioned in suggestion 1 plus

spelling, grammar, usage, mechanics, and presentation skills.

1. Choose a controversial photo (i.e. O.J. Simpson on TIME and Newsweek covers.) Have students write about whether the photo was historical and if it changed policy or public opinion. Students can then share their work in small groups. Once this is completed, the class could be divided into two groups--one that thinks the photo is significant and did change public opinion, etc., and one group that disagrees. The teacher can then facilitate a debate between the two sides.

2. Have students look back at a school yearbook from the previous year. Ask them to look for photos that capture the spirit of the school as it was that year. Have the student scan or copy the photo so it is large enough to be displayed and shared with the class. Finally, the student should write a short narrative describing how the photo captures the essence of the student body. Specifically, what feelings/emotions does it invoke, and what memories does it bring to mind.

NOTE: A twist on this would be to work as a class to take photos

throughout the entire year or even a semester. Then have students choose the ones that meet the goals above and present them. When the project is finished, perhaps the photos could become part of the school yearbook for that year.

3. Have students create a timeline of their own over the course of an entire school year. They could each be given a disposable camera. Their job would be to take 2-3 photos per month. The subject of the photos should be something they think shaped school life for them from September to May. These could then be displayed at an end of the year event or open house type of activity. To make it more of a class project, students could create a giant timeline, choosing 2-3 photos they believe best represent each month overall. The timeline could then be shared as described above.

National Standards: taken from Mid-continent Research for Education and Learning

Standards are available at http://198.17.205.11/standards-benchmarks/docs/toc.asp.

Standard 1: Demonstrates competence in the general skills and strategies of the writing process

Standard 2: Demonstrates competence in the stylistic and rhetorical aspects of writing

Standard 3: Uses grammatical and mechanical conventions in written compositions

Note: The standard listed below only covers extension activity three.

Standard 1: Understands and knows how to analyze chronological relationships and patterns

Lisa Prososki has been a middle school language arts, social studies, reading, and technology teacher for the past twelve years in the North Kansas City School District. She has conducted numerous classes, presentations, and discussions about various curriculum issues and methods of instruction. In 1995, Lisa was named the Teacher of the Year in the North Kansas City School District. The following year, Technology and Learning magazine presented Lisa with the Missouri Technology Teacher of the Year Award. In her spare time, Lisa enjoys traveling, athletics, scrapbooking, and spending time with her husband and infant son.