Reading a Photograph

Reading a Photograph

OBJECTIVES

Students will learn

how to read a photograph for clues and information [SKILL]

that the image and information inherent in the photograph is subject to the point of

view of the photographer [KNOWLEDGE]

to respect photographs as a valuable resource for information about a subject

[ATTITUDE]

MATERIALS

Photographs, postcards, or other visual images that relate to the subject matter studied. (Newspaper or magazine photographs and/or personal photographs work as well as historic ones for this activity)

ACTIVITY

Information about a subject can be accessed through many written and oral sources, such as diaries, letters, or by talking to people who can remember. But there are many things that no one considered important enough to write down, such as games children played after school, what soldiers ate during the Civil War, or how women did household work. Photographs can provide information that cannot be found in written sources.

In order to use a photograph as a resource, it must be looked at closely to discover more information than what is seen at first glance.

Have students look at a photograph (related to their curriculum) and answer the following questions (or questions similar to these):

What do you see in the photograph (list even the most basic, obvious things)?

{You could give students 3 minutes to write down everything they see, or have them work in groups and one person record the information, or do as a whole class activity and write down phrases on the board, or generate the list out loud}

When do you think this photograph was taken? What makes you say so (what clues suggest this)?

{You can get as specific as "The Victorian Age" or as general as "a long time ago," depending on your curriculum and the age/developmental level of the children. Students should support their answers with evidence from the photograph.} (continued)

What does the photograph tell you about life in the time period in which it was taken? About the people who are the subjects of the photograph? What makes you say so? {Again, students must justify their answers using evidence in the photographs}

What buildings or environment characteristics give you clues to the location of the photograph? How can you tell?

Where was the photographer standing when he/she took the photograph? How can you tell? {The photographer's perspective is an important piece in hypothesizing the reason for the photo being taken}

What is the reason the photographer shot the photograph?

After students share their photographs with the rest of the class, ask students how they found out all the information they did about the photograph. What they have just learned to do is "read" a photograph, much like reading a book, to get clues, and use those clues to make guesses about what was going on when the photo was taken.

More activities based on the reading of a photograph:

- Have students pick one person in the photograph and write a story about that person in that setting.

- Have students pick a spot in the photograph that they would be sitting in and describe or write about what they see from their new "vantage point." If they use specific descriptive words, another person in the class should be able to guess where they are.

- Have students act out the photograph, or pose just as the subjects in the photo are in a "freeze frame." Then ask them to imagine what happened just prior to or just after the photo was taken, and act that out.

Plainfield Public Schools Office of Social Studies Curriculum Guide