Lesson 8

Lesson Goals

Texts

Core

• • Bears Belly — Arikara, Edward S. Curtis, Charles Deering McCormick Library of Special Collections, Northwestern University Libraries, 1908
  • Chief Joseph, Edward S. Curtis, Charles Deering McCormick Library of Special Collections, Northwestern University Libraries, 1903
  • Clayoquot Maiden, Edward S. Curtis, Charles Deering McCormick Library of Special Collections, Northwestern University Libraries, 1915
  • “Edward S. Curtis’s The North American Indian,” Northwestern University
  • Excerpt from Sacred Legacy, N. Scott Momaday, Edwardcurtis.com, Contemporary Native Perspectives
  • Excerpt from The Women, Louise Erdrich, Edwardcurtis.com, Contemporary Native Perspectives
  • Forward to Sacred Legacy, Joseph D. Horse Capture, Edwardcurtis.com, Contemporary Native Perspectives
  • Klamath Woman, Edward S. Curtis, Charles Deering McCormick Library of Special Collections, Northwestern University Libraries, 1923
  • Moving Camp — Atsina, Edward S. Curtis, Charles Deering McCormick Library of Special Collections, Northwestern University Libraries, 1908
  • On the Warpath — Atsina, Edward S. Curtis, Charles Deering McCormick Library of Special Collections, Northwestern University Libraries, 1908
  • Red Cloud, Edward S. Curtis, Charles Deering McCormick Library of Special Collections, Northwestern University Libraries, 1905
  • The Blanket Weaver — Navaho, Edward S. Curtis, Charles Deering McCormick Library of Special Collections, Northwestern University Libraries, 1904
  • The Land of the Atsina, Edward S. Curtis, Charles Deering McCormick Library of Special Collections, Northwestern University Libraries, 1908
  • The Potter Mixing Clay, Edward S. Curtis, Charles Deering McCormick Library of Special Collections, Northwestern University Libraries, 1921

Materials

Tools

• Photojournalism: Civil War and Edward S. Curtis Photographs Handout

• Evaluating Ideas Tool

• Mentor Sentence Journal

• Visual Analysis Tool

• Working with Mentor Sentences Tool

Question Sets

• Photojournalism: Section 1 Question Set

Editable Google Docs

• Evaluating Ideas Tool

• Mentor Sentence Journal

• Photojournalism: Section 1 Question Set

• Visual Analysis Tool

• Working with Mentor Sentences Tool

Activity 1: Read – Discuss

We will get an overview of personal essays about Edward Curtis’s photojournalism by contemporary Native American writers, in preparation for choosing one of the essays to study further.

Step 1

Access the edwardcurtis.com webpage (Christopher Cardozo Fine Art) titled “Contemporary Native Perspectives.” Scroll down the page, noting that it contains text excerpts of personal essays from distinguished contemporary Native American writers and anthropologists, including: N. Scott Momaday, Louise Erdrich, Joseph D. Horse Capture, and George P. Horse Capture.

You will be selecting one of these essays to read closely with an expert reading team, in preparation for a jigsaw discussion in a home group of the following question:

1. How do contemporary Native Americans react to and describe Edward Curtis’s work and its impact on their people?

Step 2

As a class, read and discuss the first paragraphs of each of the first three essays, considering this question:

2. On first reading, what seems to be the perspective from which each of the Native American essayists views Edward Curtis and the impact of his photographs?

Step 3

Now do a closer reading of a key sentence from each of the three essays:

Momaday: For Edward Curtis the camera was truly a magic box, a precision instrument that enabled him to draw with light, to transcend the limits of ordinary vision, to see into the shadows of the soul.

Erdrich: Curtis mastered the art of making his subject so dimensional, so present, so complete, that it is to me as though I am looking at the women through a window, as though they are really there in the print and in the paper, looking back at me.

Horse Capture: Few images have had such an impact on my life as Edward Curtis’s 1908 photograph of my great-great-grandfather, Horse Capture… Horse Capture is with us in all of our homes; his presence helps us choose the directions we take in life.

Discuss these sentences, the perspectives they convey, and the ways in which each writer describes Curtis’s work.

Listen as your teacher presents a brief overview of each writer, and think more about the perspectives they bring to viewing Curtis’s photographs and which of the essays and essayists might be most interesting for you to study further.

Activity 2: View – Discuss – Write

We will select one of the essays to study more fully and join a home reading team with students who have selected the same essay. We will then each do an initial analysis of a photograph associated with the essay.

Step 1

Determine which of the essays and essayists you will study further, either by your teacher assigning one or by your own choice based on what you have read so far.

Join a four-person expert reading team for the essay and essayist you will study further.

Step 2

Access the Civil War and Edward S. Curtis Photographs Handout, which includes a list of Curtis photographs that are referenced or described in each of the essays.

Using the northwestern.edu website that lets you access the digital collection for Edward S. Curtis’s The North American Indian (as you previously did), work with your team to search for and initially examine the photographs listed for your essay.

Determine which of the photographs interest you, and assign one photograph to each member of your team.

Step 3

Use a Visual Analysis Tool to record your observations. As you study your photograph more closely, considering these questions:

1. What do the details you notice in the Curtis photograph suggest about the photographer’s view of his subject?

2. How do you think a contemporary Native American might view the photograph?

Activity 3: Discuss

We will share and compare our recorded details and observations about the Curtis photographs associated with our essay and essayist.

Report to your group about what you have observed about your photograph and recorded on your Visual Analysis Tool.

Use the questions you considered when you did your analysis to organize a comparative discussion of your team’s set of photographs:

1. What do the details you notice in the Curtis photograph suggest about the photographer’s view of his subject?

2. How do you think a contemporary Native American might view the photograph?

Activity 4: Read – Discuss

Individually, we will do a closer reading of our team’s personal essay, searching for direct or implied references to the photograph we examined using the Visual Analysis Tool.

Step 1

Read through your essay, identifying any direct or implied references to the photograph you examined. Highlight and think about what your essayist has said or implied about the photograph and how he or she views it. Consider these questions:

1. What seems to be the essayist’s perception of the photograph?

2. How does what the essayist says or implies about the photograph compare with and enrich your own viewing and analysis of it?

Step 2

Report back to your team about the references made to your photograph, using the two questions to guide your discussion.

As a team, develop a photo- and text-based response to the following question:

3. Based on the photos and text we have examined closely, how would we characterize the way our essayist views the photographs of Edward S. Curtis?

Activity 5: Read – Discuss – Write

As a reading team, we will do a close reading of our essay, using an Evaluating Ideas Tool to extend our observations about our essayist’s perspective on Edward Curtis’s work.

Step 1

Follow along as your teacher introduces or reviews another tool you can use to support your close reading of a text: the Evaluating Ideas Tool. This tool is organized similarly to the Attending to Details Tool you used previously, but it is designed to help you move from selecting and analyzing key details to evaluating what they tell you about the author’s perspective, ideas, or argument.

Step 2

As a team, carefully read through the essay you are examining, using the Evaluating Ideas Tool to record and analyze key details that relate to this text-specific question:

1. What do key details from the essay suggest about how your essayist views the photojournalism of Edward Curtis and its importance for Native American people?

Step 3

If time and resources allow, do a brief online search for information about your essay’s author, looking for biographical and professional details that extend your understanding of the perspective they bring to viewing Edward Curtis’s photographs.

Reconsider the conclusion you drew about your essayist’s perspective on your team’s Evaluating Ideas Tool in light of what you learn about your essayist.

Activity 6: Read – Discuss – Write

We will reread a selected excerpt from one of the texts we read to analyze the author’s use of language.

Step 1

Follow your teacher’s direction regarding grouping, materials, and which mentor sentences you will analyze. Use the Working with Mentor Sentences Tool to work through the following steps for each mentor sentence.

Step 2

Read the sentence aloud. Unpack any unfamiliar vocabulary using your vocabulary strategies. Then, determine what the sentence is saying and paraphrase the sentence to convey its meaning based on your initial understanding.

Step 3

Deconstruct the whole into parts. Split the sentence up into parts as directed by your teacher; sometimes your teacher will give you the parts, and sometimes you will have to split the sentence on your own. Complete the following for each part:

• Determine the parts of speech and function.

• Note other observations about the part, such as examples of effective diction or changes in verb tense or point of view.

Step 4

Follow along as your teacher reviews the relevant grammatical terms and concepts of specific phrases and clauses, such as punctuation, syntax, mood, and tone.

Step 5

Analyze the concepts. Review, discuss, and revise your deconstruction notes. Then, respond to the following questions:

1. Which parts make up the main clause? The main clause is the main subject and predicate that expresses the central idea of the sentence. Write down the sentence, underlining the main clause.

2. How do the other parts of the sentence (e.g., phrases, clauses, modifiers) enhance the main clause?

3. How could you restructure this sentence so that it relays the same message to the reader? What is the impact of the different structures on your understanding?

4. What revisions need to be made to your initial paraphrasing now that you have increased your understanding of the sentence?

Step 6

Analyze mood, tone, and meaning. Discuss the following questions:

1. What mood does the author create in this sentence? How is this mood created?

2. What tone is conveyed by the author in this sentence? How is that tone conveyed?

3. What does this sentence contribute to the author’s ideas in the text? How does it expand your understanding of the text or author?

Step 7

Follow your teacher’s directions about choosing one or two mentor sentences to mimic. Use your deconstruction analysis of your chosen sentences to write your own, mimicking what the author does in terms of structure, style, grammar, and punctuation. The specific content of your sentences is your choice. Be prepared to share your sentences with your peers.

Activity 7: Discuss – Write

We will prepare a text-based summary of our essay and its related photographs that each of us will share with a jigsaw discussion group in the next lesson.

Step 1

Prepare a short, text-based analysis of your team’s essay and photographs that includes the following:

• A general summary of what your essayist says about Edward Curtis’s photographs and their importance for Native American peoples.

• A conclusion/claim about the perspective through which your essayist views Curtis’s work, based both on evidence from the essay and anything you have learned about the essayist.

• A short visual analysis of the specific photograph you studied, what you observed about it yourself, and what your essayist said or implied about it.

• One or more important sentences from your essay that you will present to and discuss with the jigsaw team you will join, with an observation about why the sentences are important and interesting as an example of your essayist’s perspective and writing style.

Be sure that all members of your group are prepared to present your summary to a new jigsaw discussion group in the next lesson.

Step 2

To review and revise your claim about the essayist’s perspective, read it and ask yourself the following questions:

1. Is the claim clearly stated?

2. Does the claim communicate your opinion or conclusion about your essay?

3. Is the claim based on evidence that you gathered from the text?

4. Is the claim supported by evidence?

Activity 8: Read

For homework, we will prepare to present our reading team’s findings in a jigsaw discussion of the essays and essayists we studied.

Step 1

For homework, review the following:

• the Curtis photograph you examined closely

• the Visual Analysis Tool you completed for it

• the contemporary essay you read in an expert team

• the Evaluating Ideas Tool you completed for the essay

• the short analytical essay you completed

Identify the key details you want to point out for a jigsaw discussion in the next lesson.

If possible, download or print the photograph so you can show it to your discussion group.

Review your team’s claim about the perspective of your essay and essayist so that you are ready to present and explain it to your jigsaw discussion team.

Step 2

If you have computer access, do some additional research about your photograph, using the resources you previously accessed and a general Internet search to seek information in response to these questions:

1. When was your photograph originally published, and in what volume/portfolio of The North American Indian?

2. Which nation, tribe, or band of Native Americans does your photograph represent? In what part of the western US did they live?

3. What can you learn about either the person represented in the photo (if it is a portrait) or the cultural activity it depicts?