Lesson 8

Lesson Goals

Texts

Materials

Reference Guides

• Connecting Ideas Reference Guide

Question Sets

• The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks: Section 4 Question Set

Editable Google Docs

• The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks: Section 4 Question Set

Activity 1: Read – Discuss

We will examine examples of photo essays.

A photo essay is a collection of photographs that reveal an author’s perspective on a subject.

Your assignment in the next two lessons is to create a photo essay of six to eight photographs of someone close to you who deserves recognition. In order to understand the power of photo essays, examine several examples from the resources that your teacher shares with you. For each example, discuss the following guiding questions to focus your learning:

1. How is the essay introduced?

2. Look at the order of photographs. How does it add to the overall effect of the photo essay?

3. Examine individual photos. What stands out to you? What is the effect of each photo? Does the photo have an emotional effect? Logical effect? Explain.

4. How does the written text add to the photo essay with a caption or text within the photos?

5. What is the overall effect of the photo essay? What central idea does the photo essay convey?

Important Note: Many of the photo essays you will see online have a significant amount of text attached. Because you will be presenting your photo essay to the class, you only need to have one or two sentences in a caption for each photograph. You will have the opportunity to discuss each photo orally during the presentation.

After you have examined several photo essays and discussed the guiding questions with your group, pick one idea from your notes to discuss with the class. During the discussion, add to or modify your notes about photo essays to deepen your understanding.

Activity 2: Write

We will write a paragraph analysis of a photo essay to check our understanding of the form and function of its parts.

Choose one of the photo essays from the previous activity and consider the following:

• title

• sequence of photographs

• captions

• content

• purpose

• audience

• overall effect

In a well-developed paragraph, analyze how the author uses the parts above to convey or highlight an important issue or person.

Activity 3: Write

We complete a quick-write on possible persons for our photo essay.

In your Learning Log, pick one or two persons who would be a good subject for your photo essay. In a quick-write, give your memories of this person or important ideas you want to express about the person in a photo essay. Describe the images that you could use to present your subject.

Once you have completed your quick-write, discuss your ideas with your group and pick one idea to share with the class. Help other students brainstorm ideas if they are having difficulty completing their drafts.

Activity 4: Write

For homework, we will prepare our photo essay.

For homework, collect or take six to eight photographs of your subject. Use a Google Slide presentation of a similar format to create your photo essay. For each photograph, you should include a one- to two-sentence caption. During the presentation, you will need to add oral commentary to each picture to provide context and explanation. As you are preparing your photo essay, consider the following questions:

1. Hook: How can you begin your photo essay with a photograph that grabs the audience’s attention?

2. Sequence: How can you sequence your photo essay for impact and to create an overall story? Does your presentation have a beginning, middle, and end?

3. Photographic Elements: What elements can you emphasize or draw your audience’s attention to in order to effectively present your subject?

4. Connection: How can you make sure your photographs connect and present the important aspects of your subject?

5. Captions: How can you add concise captions that add to the presentation?

6. Presentation: How can you create a presentation that is well-organized and has a skillful layout?