Visual Literacy Lesson

Computers in the Curriculum

Digital/Media Literacy

Title	Let’s Read Photographs: Visual Literacy
Overview	This media literacy lesson plan focuses on the aspect of visual literacy education of students. Students see photographs and images daily on TV, in the newspaper and magazines, online, and elsewhere. Students need to know how to analyze these images in a meaningful way. This lesson also allows students the opportunity to capture their own photojournalism around the school.
Resources & Preparation	Intended grade level: 6th Subject areas: Visual Arts and English/Language Arts Estimated time: 6-7 class periods, 40 minutes each Materials and Resources Needed: Netbooks and digital camera or iPads (or another tablet with camera) Video link for Explain the Image a short video that explains how to look closer at a photograph and use the 5 W’s to dig deeper. 5 W form for students to fill out Link to On Assignment: A Photo Op, More Like a Photo Hop Link to Photo Quiz Real or Fake Link’s to sites with iconic photos such as LIFE Photo Archive and/or current images such as LENS or MSN The Week In Pictures (*images on these sites are current and change daily so previewing this site is necessary)
Theory to Practice	Media literacy is an important 21st century skill that today’s students need to master. Our students are bombarded by many forms of media and it is imperative that they be able to decipher and critically evaluate its reliability. Heidi Hayes Jacobs (2010) states, “Media literacy should not be a separate class but should be incorporated into all subject areas” (p. 151). An aspect of media literacy that visual arts are perfect for incorporating is visual literacy. The images in the advertisements and news that our students see on a regular basis require a specific type of literacy for visual images. According to Peter Felton (2008), “living in an image-rich world, however, does not mean students (or faculty and administrators) naturally possess sophisticated visual literacy skills, just as continually listening to an iPod does not teach a person to critically analyze or create music. Instead, visual literacy involves the ability to understand, produce, and use culturally significant images, objects, and visible actions” (p. 60). We have to teach our students the steps for becoming visually literate.
Standards	Indiana State Standards: Visual Arts 6.3 Visual Literacy: Criticism and Aesthetics: Describe, analyze, and interpret works of art and artifacts Students apply properties in works of art to adopt and defend a critical stand. They share peer perspectives in constructing meaning and developing well-supported interpretations.  Visual Arts 6.4 Visual Literacy: Criticism and Aesthetics: Theorize about art and make informed judgments Students identify institutionalism in artwork. They reflect on sources of personal preference and form persuasive arguments based on properties found in works and their historical context.  English/Language Arts 6.7.9 Identify persuasive and propaganda techniques (such as the use of words or images that appeal to emotions or an unsupported premise) used in electronic media (television, radio, online sources) and identify false and misleading information.  ISTE NETS Standards: 1a: Creativity and Innovation Apply existing knowledge to generate new ideas, products, or processes.  5b: Digital Citizenship Exhibit a positive attitude toward using technology that supports collaboration, learning, and productivity.
Objectives	Upon successful completion of this lesson, students will be able to: 1.       Assess photographs to decipher the specifics and their reliability as an unedited photo. 2.       Assemble photographs and create a presentation of their own in a photojournalistic manner.
Build Inquiry	Ask students to discuss any images that they have seen recently in the news that left an impression on them. Ask them to describe photos that they have at home that they really love. Finally, have them take a quiz online such as this one, Real or Fake, to show how misleading photos can be sometimes.  A photo can be even more powerful than words, sometimes. Students will learn how to decide the best “capture” for telling a story.
Instructional Delivery	Lesson 1: To begin the visual literacy lesson, watch the video Explain the Image. This video explains how to use the 5 W’s (who, what, when, where, why) for analyzing a photograph. Next, have students access a chart that has been created online by the teacher (on Google Drive or a comparable website) similar to the one in the video with the 5 W’s and places for observations and inferences for each question. As the final activity for this lesson, have some iconic photos such as JFK Jr. saluting his father’s casket, the VJ day soldier and nurse kiss, MLK Jr. speaking in D.C., or others that the teacher has chosen. Do not go over the photos before having the students use their sheet to see what information they can gather from the photo alone. Lesson 2: To begin this lesson, have students use the 5 W sheets from the previous lesson to discuss the iconic photos chosen for review.  When the discussion wraps up, explain the significance and 5 W’s of the photographs that were chosen. There are some aspects of photographs that require some background knowledge or research and go over the importance of digging deeper to find the truth. This website has additional questions to ask about photos to critique them further, beyond the 5 W’s, The Visual Literacy Toolbox. Use the artistic questions of form to discuss what makes a photograph “good.” Lesson 3: Watch the video On Assignment: A Photo Op, More Like a Photo Hop and discuss the meaning behind it as written on the link. When a photojournalist is taking pictures, the time is limited to find the right shot and tell the story of what is happening. Students will then look at the photos on LIFE Photo Archive and/or current images such as LENS or MSN The Week In Pictures and determining what makes these photos significant and meaningful. Finally, discuss the photo project that students will work on the next 2-3 days. (See Lesson 4) Lesson 4: In pairs, students will use either a digital camera or tablet to take photos of members of the school community. (Prior authorization from school members is necessary for this project.) Students should spend a limited time (one class period) documenting what their assigned person does during the day, specifically during the time that the student is observing and documenting. Students should capture numerous photos so that they will have many to choose from for their final story. Members of the school that could be documented would be the principal, teachers, teacher aides, school nurse, counselors, social workers, cafeteria workers, custodians, other students, etc. The student should take a photojournalistic approach to the pictures so that they will tell a story. Lesson 5-6: Students should now edit or crop the photos that they took as necessary to improve the image quality. Software on iPads such as   They can create a presentation using Slideshark or a similar program. The presentation should have a minimum of five and a maximum of ten photos that are important to the story they are telling. They can add text captions to the photos or narrate verbally depending on the preference of the teacher and students. Lesson 7: After the presentations are complete, they can be shared with the class. The final class period can be spent viewing and analyzing the presentations. Classmates can complete the same 5 W’s form used earlier to analyze students’ photos from around the school as meaningful feedback for students. Classroom discussion about the process of finding the right photos to tell the story can be incorporated, as well.
Assessment	Assessment for this unit will be done with a rubric that should include both production ratings and evaluation of the 5 W forms submitted to the teacher. The rubric will vary based on the lesson progression and requirements given by each teacher.
Extension	Another website that has amazing real photos that look edited is Cracked.com. ***This website has captions that are not suitable for young children so the photos would need to be pulled by the teacher into another location but it is worth it! A new feature for The New York Time on The Learning Network is What’s Going On In This Picture? This is a great weekly opportunity for evaluation of a photo by students!
Citations	Felton, P. (2008). Visual Literacy. Change, 40(6), 60-63. Retrieved October 26, 2012, from the EBSCO Host database. Jacobs, H. H. (2010). Curriculum 21 essential education for a changing world. Alexandria, Va.: Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development.