Grades/Level: Lower Elementary (K–2), Upper Elementary (3–5)
Subjects: Visual Arts
Time Required: 3–5–Part Lesson
3–4 class periods
Author: Susie Newman, Dean of Academic Affairs, Marquez Charter School, Los Angeles, with J. Paul Getty Museum Education Staff

Lesson Overview

Students study how Dorothea Lange tells stories related to children. They practice telling their own written and visual stories in response to Dorothea Lange's images.

Learning Objectives

• Students will look carefully at two photographs by Dorothea Lange for elements of art and narrative content.
• Students will use descriptive language when speaking and writing about Lange's photographs of children's lives.
• Students will use their own art making or photography to portray themes from their own lives.

Materials

• Journals or sketchbooks (or several sheets of paper stapled or bound together with yarn), pencils
• Cameras or drawing materials (e.g., paper, pencils, markers, crayons, colored pencils, etc.)

Lesson Steps

Day 1: Begin with a discussion about students' daily activities, listing their various responses. How do they begin their days? Are there certain routines they follow? How are their schedules at home different from their schedules in school? Bring their attention to any similarities among their schedules. Do they have a favorite part of the day?

Show students the Lange images Indonesia and Pledge of Allegiance. Use the following photo-analysis questions to guide the discussion of the images.

• What do you see in each image?
• What sorts of things can you tell about the people in the photographs?
• What do they seem to be doing? How can you tell?
• Where are they? How can you tell?
• How are the images alike?
• How are they different?
• What patterns can you find in the pictures?
• What textures do you notice?
• What lines and shapes stand out?

Discuss the stories that each image might tell.

Grades 3-5: Provide photocopies of the images for each student. Have students paste their copies of the Lange images inside their journals or sketchbooks. Give students about thirty minutes to write a story to go along with each of the images. Questions to guide their journal entries might be: Where are the people in the image? What are they doing? How are they related? What mood are they in? How do you know? Ask students to base their stories on the visual evidence in the images.

Day 2: Have students revisit their journals. Give them ten minutes to review their entries and ask them to add any additional thoughts they might have had since the last time they saw the images.

Have students share what they wrote and discuss their responses. Are all of the stories alike? Why or why not? What are some similar ideas that emerged in their stories? What are some differences?

Provide background information about each image and draw connections between what the students picked up through their visual analysis of the images, and their creative writings.

Days 3 and 4: Review some of the stories that students wrote to go with the images. Return to the visual evidence in the photographs. How did the artist tell each story? Is the artist standing close to or far away from her subjects? Discuss the different viewing angles the artist used when taking her photographs. One image shows a close-up view of children's feet standing on the pavement. The artist must have pointed her camera straight down at the pavement when she took that photograph. Another shows a group of children standing together and facing forward. The photographer was facing the children and standing some distance from them.

Students will prepare to make their own artworks about typical events and moments in their daily lives. Begin by reviewing the list of activities they mentioned during the discussion on day one of the lesson. Students will make several sketches in their journals of scenes that reflect typical moments in their daily lives. Encourage students to experiment with point of view—for example, showing certain things close up, as Lange did with her image Indonesia, and to think about playtime versus worktime.

Students will use two of their sketches as the basis for final drawings or photographs (students can share disposable or Polaroid cameras to capture typical moments or scenes at school). If drawing, students should use lines, colors, shapes, and patterns to help tell their stories. If photographing, students should experiment with viewing angles. When students have completed their work, display it together and discuss it as a class. Have students talk about the particular moments their fellow-classmates may have been trying to show in their art, and then have the artists explain this for themselves.

Assessment

• Teacher observation of student discussion and time on task.
• Students should be able to use expressive language to discuss and write about Lange's images.
• Students should be able to connect moments depicted in Lange's work to their own daily activities.
• Students are able to explain how their own images relate to their daily lives.

Standards Addressed

Common Core Standards for English Language Arts

Grades K–5

SPEAKING AND LISTENING
K.1 Participate in collaborative conversations with diverse partners about kindergarten topics and text with peers and adults in small and larger groups.
K.4 Describe familiar people places, things, and events, with prompting and support, provide additional detail.
1.3 Ask and answer questions about what a speaker says in order to gather additional information or clarify something that is not understood.
1.4 Describe familiar people places, things, and events, with relative details expressing ideas and feelings more clearly.
2.1 Participate in collaborative conversations with diverse partners about grade 2 topics and text with peers and adults in small and larger groups.
2.4 Tell a story or recount an experience with appropriate facts and relevant, descriptive details, speaking audible in coherent sentences.
3.1 Engage effectively in a range of collaborative discussions (one-on-one, in groups, and teacher-led) with diverse partners on grade 3 topics and texts, building on others' ideas and expressing their own clearly.
3.4 Report on a topic or text, tell a story, or recount an experience with appropriate facts and relevant, descriptive details, speaking clearly at an understandable pace.
4.1 Engage effectively in a range of collaborative discussions (one-on-one, in groups, and teacher-led) with diverse partners on grade 4 topics and texts, building on others' ideas and expressing their own clearly.
4.3 Identify the reasons and evidence a speaker or media source provides to support particular points.
5.3 Summarize the points a speaker or media source makes and explain how each claim is supported by reasons and evidence, and identify and analyze any logical fallacies.
5.6 Adapt speech to a variety of contexts and tasks, using formal English when appropriate to task and situation. (See grade 5 Language standards 1 and 3 for specific expectations.)

WRITING
K.3 Use a combination of drawing, dictating, and writing to narrate a single event or several loosely linked events, tell about the events in the order in which they occurred, and provide a reaction to what happened.
1.3 Write narratives in which they recount two or more appropriately sequenced events, include some details regarding what happened, use temporal words to signal event order, and provide some sense of closure.
2.3 Write narratives in which they recount a well-elaborated event or short sequence of events, include details to describe actions, thoughts, and feelings, use temporal words to signal event order, and provide a sense of closure.
2.4 With guidance and support from adults, produce writing in which the development and organization are appropriate to task and purpose.
3.3 Write narratives to develop real or imagined experiences or events using effective technique, descriptive details, and clear event sequences.
3.10 Write routinely over extended time frames (time for research, reflection, and revision) and shorter time frames (a single sitting or a day or two) for a range of discipline-specific tasks, purposes, and audiences.
4.4 Produce clear and coherent writing (including multiple-paragraph texts) in which the development and organization are appropriate to task, purpose, and audience.
5.4 Produce clear and coherent writing (including multiple-paragraph texts) in which the development and organization are appropriate to task, purpose, and audience.


Visual-Arts Content Standards for California Public Schools

Grade 1
Artistic Perception
1.3–Identify the elements of art in objects in nature, in the environment, and in works of art, emphasizing line, color, shape, and texture.
Creative Expression
2.8–Create artwork based on observations of actual objects and everyday scenes.
Historical and Cultural Context
3.2–Identify and describe various subject matter in art (e.g., landscapes, seascapes, portraits, still life).

Grade 2
Historical and Cultural Context
3.1–Explain how artists use their work to share experiences or communicate ideas.

Grade 3
Creative Expression
2.1–Explore ideas for art in a personal sketchbook.

Grade 4
Historical and Cultural Context
3.1–Describe how art plays a role in reflecting life (e.g., photography, pottery, quilts, architecture).

Grade 5
Creative Expression
2.7–Communicate values, opinions, or personal insights through an original work of art.


National Standards for Visual Arts

Grades K-4
Understanding and Applying Media, Techniques, and Processes
Students use different media, techniques, and processes to communicate ideas, experiences, and stories.

Grades 5-8
Choosing and Evaluating a Range of Subject Matter, Symbols, and Ideas
Students use subjects, themes, and symbols that demonstrate knowledge of contexts, values, and aesthetics that communicate intended meaning in artworks.