Lesson 10
How does a selected Curtis photograph depict its subject and influence our perceptions of Native Americans? We will review the task and question for the Section 1 Diagnostic and prepare to write a photographic analysis and present our findings to a student review team.
Lesson Goals
Can I identify task expectations and develop a plan and materials to produce a visual analysis of a selected Edward Curtis photograph and prepare to present it to a review team?
Can I independently develop and clearly communicate a meaningful and defensible analytical claim that represents valid, evidence-based analysis of a selected Edward Curtis photograph?
Texts
Core
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- “Edward S. Curtis’s The North American Indian,” Northwestern University
Materials
Tools
Reference Guides
Question Sets
Editable Google Docs
Activity 1: Read – Discuss
We will review the task and question for the section 1 diagnostic.
Step 1
Access the Section 1 Diagnostic Checklist and, as a class, review the questions and the task, which has two components: a short, written analysis and an informal oral presentation.
Questions:
In what ways does the photograph do the following:
Visually depict its subject and evoke truth or beauty?
Document aspects of Native American life, culture, people, or activities?
Represent Curtis’s work, commitment, and style as a photojournalist?
Have enduring significance as a representation of Native American history?
Note and discuss the expectations of the task:
Present a visual analysis of the photograph stemming from your Visual Analysis Tool, citing key details and the responses they evoke in you as a viewer.
Present information about the context in which Curtis developed the photograph, including its publication history; the Indian nation, tribe, or band represented; and the subject (individual or activity) portrayed.
Develop, explain, and support an evidence-based claim about why the photograph is representative of Curtis’s work and important as documentary photojournalism about Native American peoples and cultures.
Clearly communicate, in writing and speaking, what you have observed and learned about Edward S. Curtis and his documentary photojournalism of North American Indians.
Step 2
Discuss what you will need to do to complete and be successful on the Section 1 Diagnostic:
Select an Edward Curtis photograph that you find to be interesting or significant.
Use a Visual Analysis Tool to analyze the significant details you find in the photograph.
Informally research the context in which Curtis developed the photograph, including:
the year in which the photograph was taken and the volume/portfolio from The North American Indian in which it appears
ihe Indian nation, tribe, or band represented in the photo and the area of the western US in which that group lived
the individual represented in the photo, or the activity it depicts
In a 1-2 paragraph analysis, develop, explain, and support an evidence-based claim about why the photograph you chose is representative of Curtis’s work and important as photojournalism about Native American peoples and cultures.
In your analysis of the photo, include references to specific details and information you found through your research. Make observations about whether the photograph conveys truth and the ways in which it evokes beauty.
Prepare a short oral presentation, in which you will show and analyze the photo, summarize what you learned about its context, and explain your claim about its importance.
Activity 2: View – Write
We will examine our selected photographs closely and complete or revise a Visual Analysis Tool for them.
Access the photograph you selected to examine closely through the Northwestern University Libraries “Edward S. Curtis’s The North American Indian” site. Use the full-screen zoom function to study the photograph closely. If possible, download it so you will have a copy to show to your student review team in the Section 1 Diagnostic.
Complete (or revise) a Visual Analysis Tool for your photograph, noting key details that are representative of Edward Curtis’s photojournalism and that capture important characteristics of a Native American figure or cultural activity.
As you record key details on the tool, keep in mind the four questions that guide the Section 1 Diagnostic task:
In what ways does the photograph do the following:
Visually depict its subject and evoke truth or beauty?
Document aspects of Native American life, culture, people, or activities?
Represent Curtis’s work, commitment, and style as a photojournalist?
Have enduring significance as a representation of Native American history?
Activity 3: Read
We will do some research about our photograph.
Step 1
Research your photograph to find details, including the following:
its publication history
the tribal context it represents
the individual or activity depicted in it
On the northwestern.edu website, scroll down to the “Details/About this item” section of the webpage below the image to find and record the publication history of your photograph, including its publication date and the volume/portfolio of The North American Indian it is included in.
Record any other key information (e.g., its original caption, if there was one) that you can access.
Using the “Cite this item” tab, access a formatted citation for your photograph in the format your teacher has designated. Record or copy and paste the citation.
Step 2
If computer search resources are accessible to you, research additional information about your photograph and its subject, using either one of the resources or primary sources you previously used or doing a general keyword search based on the tribe, individual, or cultural activity depicted in your photograph.
Take notes and note sources so that you can cite them in the written analysis you will do.
Activity 4: Write
We will determine how to use grammatical techniques we learned from mentor sentences and include vocabulary we learned in our Section Diagnostics.
Step 1
Review your Mentor Sentence Journal. Select at least one technique that you plan to use when writing your response to the Section Diagnostic.
Step 2
Review your Vocabulary Journal. Identify a significant word or words that you would like to use in your response to the Section Diagnostic.
Activity 5: Write
We will develop an evidence-based claim about our selected photograph’s significance in the photojournalism of Edward Curtis and the history of Native American cultures.
Step 1
Consider and list the things you now have observed or learned about your photograph, as well as the photojournalism of Edward Curtis in general.
From your list of evidence, use the Forming Evidence-Based Claims Tool to develop an evidence-based claim about your photograph, in response to the following questions from the Section 1 Diagnostic Checklist:
In what ways does the photograph do the following:
Represent Curtis’s work, commitment, and style as a photojournalist?
Have enduring significance as a representation of Native American history?
Step 2
With a partner, review your claim, considering the following review questions:
Is the claim clearly stated?
Does the claim communicate your opinion or conclusion about your photograph?
Is the claim based on evidence that you gathered from the text?
Is the claim supported by evidence?
Based on your review and your partner’s feedback, refine or revise your claim.
Activity 6: Write
We will draft a 1–2 paragraph analysis of our selected photograph, including a discussion of its key details, a short summary of the context from which it came, and a presentation of the claim we developed about its significance.
Step 1
Draft a 1-2 paragraph analysis of your photograph, in which you do the following:
Describe the photograph in detail, including key visual details you have noted and descriptions of it from other viewers (e.g., quote a secondary source’s characterization of the photo). Indicate the ways in which the photograph does (or does not) convey truth and evoke beauty.
Provide (and cite) any background information you have researched about the photograph, its publication, and its tribe, figure, or subject.
Present, explain, and support your evidence-based claim about the significance of the photograph as an example of Edward Curtis’s photojournalism and North American Indian history and culture.
Step 2
With your previous editing partner, read and review your analysis, focusing on the clarity of its ideas and expression.
Activity 7: Write
For homework, we will revise our analysis and prepare a short presentation to a student review team for the section1 diagnostic.
For homework, use feedback from the review of your photographic analysis to revise the 1-2 paragraphs you have written.
Prepare to present, analyze, and discuss your photograph for a student review team in the Section Diagnostic. Your presentation should be about five minutes in length.
Practice showing, demonstrating, and describing the photograph.
Determine which key ideas and information from your analysis and research you will present.
Think about how you will explain your claim about the significance of your photograph to the photojournalism of Edward Curtis.