Ideas for Using  “Documenting the Face of America: Roy Stryker And The FSA/OWI Photographers” In The Classroom
written by Frank W. Baker, media education consultant, © 2008

 

 
Photography
in the classroom
 

 
Link to teaching
standards
 


Pre and post
viewing questions
 
 


Related lesson plans
 


Media Literacy, Documentaries & Critical Viewing Skills
 
 


Visual Literacy
 

Locating FSA
Photographs
 

 
Recommended
Texts
 
 

 
Recommended
Videos
 
 

 return to the
Media Literacy Clearinghouse
 
 



Media Literacy Clearinghouse makes available some copyrighted material. We understand our use of any such copyrighted material to constitute a "fair use" as provided for in section 107 of the US Copyright Law. In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, the material on this site is distributed — without profit and for research and educational purposes — to individuals expressing an interest in its subject matter. If you wish to use copyrighted material from this site for purposes of your own that go beyond fair use, you must obtain permission from the copyright owner.





 
 



 
 
Visual Literacy (see also Frank Baker's Visual literacy web site)

Too often, students tend to believe everything they see.  Critical thinking (and viewing) about media messages, such as photographs, is a crucial skill in the 21st century. Teachers should use photographic images to help students explore the language of photography. Reading photos is an
important skill which will help them better appreciate print texts.  So what is visual literacy?

“Visual literacy is the ability to find meaning in imagery. It involves a set of skills ranging from simple identification—naming what one sees—to complex interpretation of contextual, metaphoric and philosophical levels. Many aspects of cognition are called upon, such as personal association,
questioning, speculating, analyzing, fact-finding, and categorizing.”

       Source: P. Yenawine (1997)  Thoughts on visual literacy, in J Flood, SB Heath, and D Lapp (Eds) Handbook of research on teaching literacy through the communicative and visual arts


Background readings:

Visual information literacy: reading a documentary photograph, Knowledge Quest, Volume 36, No 3 pp 7- 12 (ALA) January-February 2008

 Using Documentary Photography Books with Reluctant Readers in the High School Library,
Knowledge Quest

 Unshuttered lens: Dorothea Lange, documentary photography, and government work, 1935-1945.
(TEACHING WITH ONLINE PRIMARY SOURCES: DOCUMENTS FROM THE NATIONAL ARCHIVES)
from Teaching History: A Journal of Methods, March 22, 2008

Placing History: Ch. 4 Scaling The Dust Bowl (from Past Time, Past Place)

Strategies for Analyzing Visual Images
(this can be printed out and used as a single page handout for helping students begin to understand the language of photography)

1. Examine the image holistically
what does it represent? What is your initial reaction? Does it convey a message?

2. Consider the nature of the image
Is this a professional portrait or a candid press shot?
Was this video taken at a prepared ceremony or a spontaneous event?
Were people, images, or objects deliberately posed to make a statement?

3. Examine perspective
Is the subject depicted n close-up or at a distance?
Does the subject appear in control of the environment or does the background clash or dominate the frame?

4. Analyze contrasts and contexts
Is the background supportive, neutral, or hostile to the subject? Does the image
depict conflict or harmony?

5. Examine poses and body language of human figures
How are human figures depicted? What emotion do they seem to express?

6. Look for bias
Do you sense the photographers were trying to manipulate the people or events depicted, casting them in either a favorable or negative light?

7. Consider the larger context
Does the image offer a fair representation of a larger event or an isolated exception?

8. Review the image for possible manipulation
Could camera angles or retouching have altered what appears to be a record of actual events?

9. Consider the story the image seems to tell
What is the thesis of this image? What visual details or symbols help tell the story?

Source: Chapter 3, page 50, Critical Reading, “The Sundance Reader” (4th Ed, 2006) Mark Connelly, Thomson/Wadsworth