Indi/Visual Developed By Suggested Length Suggested Grade Level(s) Subject Areas Shauna McCabe Four 50 minute lessons Eight Social Studies, Visual Arts, Language Arts Overview Through the production of individual student photo essays over four 50 minute lessons, this unit reinforces the exploration of the interaction of landscape and culture. Students learn to collect, think critically about, and present factual and expressive information about their surroundings and the social issues that are important to them. Links to Curriculum Outcomes Students will (be expected to) understand all places have special human and physical characteristics that distinguish them (social studies) assess art for the relationship of people, place, environment (social studies) approach art as lens for the examination of the cultural experiences of people in communities, regions, Canada and world (social studies) see landscape as a medium for a diversity of cultures, histories, traditions (social studies) understand and execute basic elements of photography (visual arts) explore the use of narrative / non-fiction forms in conjunction with photography (language arts) Links to Telling Stories: Themes / Key Words Environment Medium Documentary Art Works Winter Woods, Algonquin Park, Lawren Harris, CAG 74.11 Inco Slag Train, Kim Ondaatje, CAG 74.6 Arctic Scene with Hunter in Background, Pudlo Pudlat, CAG 78.10.2
Lesson #1: Imaging Place Students will investigate documentary photography and landscape in preparation for a photo essay assignment. books of classic photography of well known photojournalists, or images located on the internet on sites such as www.masters-of-photography.com white paper pencils 1. Reviewing the art works in the Telling Stories module Is this landscape your landscape, (see Art Works above), discuss with students how art of various media can be used to explore and respond to the environment. Compare the three works for subject matter, examining what is focused on in the terrain (e.g., nature - in the case of Thomson, industry, or lifestyle). Talk about images like those of the Group of Seven and how they have come to represent the Canadian landscape, and how the other two images present alternative images of Canadian landscape. 2. Explain to students that in their study of art and their own landscape, they will be producing their own visual record in the form of the photo essay a series of photographs that conveys a story, accompanied by a written text. During this first discussion they will review the idea of the photo essay and documentary photography, and begin to think about what story they might tell about their response to their own landscape in a photo essay. 3. To introduce students to the style of documentary photography, present students with examples of foremost photojournalists such as Dorothea Lange, Helen Levitt, or Walker Evans. Ask students to describe what they see in these photographs: Are they typical of those found in the newspaper? In what ways do these photographs bridge art and documentary? If the photographer is recording a city, what is focused on in the images? If the subject is rural, what is documented? 4. Note themes that are common to those in the work of Ondaatje an interest in social issues such as the environment, poverty, industry, urban decline.
5. On the board, note comments as students brainstorm what distinguishes various landscapes in appearance (e.g., a small town or city, a neighbourhood, or cultural community). What would you see in a small town in New Brunswick, as opposed to Saskatchewan? You may want to bring up examples such as local monuments, the grain elevator in Prairie towns, malls and empty storefronts in busy urban centres, or the red, white and blue colours of the Acadian flag that can be seen on objects in Francophone New Brunswick. Point out that landscapes are made up of various geographical perspectives that are a result of complex relationships between economic, political, cultural and environmental phenomena. 6. Ask students to think about the landscapes and cultures that surround them in their community, and that make their landscape distinctive. Ask them to consider their own identity and interests, and determine a theme that might be the basis for their photo essay of their experience and way of seeing the landscape around them. Each student should make a list of sites that might be a subject for their photographs. 7. Students will be creating an interpretive record of their surroundings centered upon a theme in the same way as did Harris, Ondaatje and Pudlat. This could be focused on a specific area, such as a river or park or a downtown block, or the history told through local monuments, or sites associated with a cultural community, or the industrial history of the community, or changing neighbourhoods / gentrification. 8. By the end of this lesson, students should have a rough idea of the theme and potential subjects of their photo essay project. Computer Option Photo essays could be composed from web based images, emphasizing the internet research dimension of the project. Compiling images into a Word document, the images could be supplemented with student text. As the images would not reflect the personal experience of the student, the general approach would have to be adjusted, shifting it from the local landscape to a national or regional level or focusing on a social issue as it is expressed in the landscape.
Lesson #2: The Landscape: A Living Laboratory Students will research examples of photo essays and develop the story line for their own project. Computers Pens and paper 1. As a model for developing their own photo essays, have students review websites containing photo essays dealing with places, such as student images of landmarks in Los Angeles at www.picturela.org., or essays dealing with social issues, such as those found on the Photojournalist s Coffeehouse http://www.intac.com/~jdeck/index3.html. Teachers should thoroughly review the website before introducing it to students as some of the content deals with sensitive social issues. You may want to prepare for questions that may arise. 2. Students can review the site in pairs, taking notes about particularly interesting pages. 3. While students are examining the sites in pairs, individually review with students the story they propose to tell in their photo essay, providing assistance for fleshing out ideas, researching ideas, and brainstorming the elements of the landscape they want to draw out and how best to do so. 4. As a group discuss their impressions of the photo essays on the website. What is effective? What strategies do they want to use in their own? Lesson #3: Taking Pictures In this lesson, students will develop skills that they will need for the photo essay project and collect images. Student s own cameras (may be digital) or single-use disposable cameras
Students should be introduced to basic concepts of picture taking angle, distance, composition, focus all elements of what makes a good photograph. 1. Discuss with students that even though they are approaching the landscape in terms of creating a documentary visual record, there are basic strategies that should be kept in mind with respect to photographic practice. 2. Review photographs by established photojournalists and suggest that photography is a decision-making process deciding what image will best reinforce your subject, choosing the angle that will produce the best result, the composition that will be most powerful, and what is in the foreground or background. 3. Show everyone how to hold the camera and how to take a picture from different angles and distances. Basic terms such as up and down, close and far can be used to describe angles and distances. Have the class practice taking pictures, giving the students specific assignments, from close / far ranges and different distances. 4. Students can take project photographs off school site after school hours, returning with images developed / printed. Lesson #4: Words and Images Students will investigate text possibilities and draft text for their photo essay. books providing an image of landscapes, such as Margaret Laurence s rural Manitoba or novels of urban settings such as Frank McCourt s Angela s Ashes or Margaret Atwood s Toronto; poetry such as Seamus Heaney s images of rural Ireland or John Updike s evocations of American cities as in his poetry collection titled Americana. paper pens illustrated children s books students photographs
1. During this lesson, students will develop an understanding of how text can be used not to explain images, but to complement and extend the power of the images in their photo essay. 2. During the first half of the class, read passages from texts such as those mentioned above that are descriptive of the landscape, asking students to reflect on the images generated in their imagination. After each passage, ask them to describe information conveyed about the culture, politics, economics, and social issues of the time and place. In what ways are the written texts functioning in a similar way to the paintings in this module? 3. Have students take out the 15-20 images they have selected for their photo essay. Discuss how they have thought about developing the text for the project emphasize that they can use poetry and prose, fiction or non-fiction to compose the written component. 4. Use illustrated children s books to provide examples of less textcentred narratives books that balance image and words in the development of the story. 5. Ask students create a draft of the text for their photo essay. Bringing it all Together Students will prepare photo essay project, combining images and their words. When completed, all visual essays can be presented to the class and the wider school.