Lesson 6
We will prepare to respond to the following question in the Section Diagnostic: In what ways did the Farm Security Administration and photographs such as Migrant Mother influence American society, public opinion, and politics?
Lesson Goals
Reading and Knowledge
- Gather and Organize Evidence: How well do I gather evidence from texts on the subject of Lange’s photojournalism to support my claim?
Writing
- Form Claims: How well do I develop and clearly communicate a meaningful and defensible claim about how photojournalism influences politics, as developed in texts about Lange’s photography?
- Develop Ideas: How well do I sequence and group sentences and paragraphs and use devices, techniques, descriptions, reasoning, evidence, and visual elements to establish coherent, logical, and well-developed narratives, explanations, and arguments?
Texts
Core
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- “Dorothea Lange’s ‘Migrant Mother’ Photographs in the Farm Security Administration Collection,” Hanna Soltys, Library of Congress
Materials
Tools
Reference Guides
Editable Google Docs
Activity 1: Read
We will read and annotate the section 2 diagnostic checklist to understand the expectations of the task.
Step 1
Access the Section 2 Diagnostic Checklist. Read and annotate the task prompt, paying attention to what the question and task expect you to think about and do.
Compare your understanding of the prompt with a partner. Ask any clarifying questions of your teacher.
Step 2
Review the "be sure to" expectations for the task, thinking about how you will use what you have learned to develop a claim and write a multiparagraph explanation that does the following:
clearly and strongly communicates a claim about the influences of photojournalism on public opinion and politics
uses what you know about the Great Depression, the Farm Security Administration, and Dorothea Lange’s Migrant Mother photo to explain your claim in that historical and political context
describes specific visual details from Lange’s photos that you think may have "aroused sympathy" in the American public
presents a supporting claim about the role of the Farm Security Administration and photographers like Dorothea Lange in influencing public opinion
Note that you have already thought about many of these expectations when you took notes in your Learning Log and used the Visual Analysis Tool, Summarizing Text Tool, and Forming Evidence-Based Claims Tool in previous lessons. Locate these tools, and review what you have recorded on them, to prepare for the task.
Read through the evaluation questions for the task, noting how they are connected to its expectations.
Make a checklist of things you will try to do to be successful on the task. Compare your list with those of other students.
Activity 2: Read
We will use the tools we have previously developed and the notes we have collected in our Learning Logs to plan responses to the Section Diagnostic.
Step 1
Locate and review the Visual Analysis Tool, Summarizing Text Tool, and Forming Evidence-Based Claims Tool you developed in previous lessons.
Pay particular attention to the preliminary claim you formed with a partner in Lesson 4, when you responded to the Section Diagnostic question for the first time:
In what ways did the Farm Security Administration and photographs such as Migrant Mother influence American society, public opinion, and politics?
Review the notes you have made and identify ideas and information that might be valuable in responding to this question in the Section 2 Diagnostic Checklist. Pay particular attention to anything you have learned about other Depression-era photojournalists and how this might expand your thinking about the question and Dorothea Lange’s influence.
Step 2
Discuss briefly in small groups what you have identified as evidence to support your development of a claim about the influences of photojournalism on public opinion and politics. Listen to and consider what other students tell you they have learned about other photojournalists profiled in the Ken Burns documentary.
Activity 3: Read
We will review the tools and processes for forming claims and gathering evidence in response to a prompt or task.
Review the organization of the Forming Evidence-Based Claims Tool, which you have used with a partner in the previous lesson to form a claim about the Farm Security Administration. Note again the steps you will be using to complete the process of forming a claim:
attend to details
select key details
analyze the details
explain connections
form a claim
Remember, you are looking for ways that photojournalism influences public opinion and politics. Keep in mind not only the emotional, artistic impact of Lange’s Migrant Mother series, but also the impact of her work during the strife of the Great Depression, including the connection with the Farm Security Administration.
Based on what you have learned since you drafted that first claim with a partner, consider how you might want to use the tool to rethink, revise, or expand your earlier claim.
Activity 4: Write – Discuss
We will work toward a rough draft of our multiparagraph response to the Section Diagnostic using the Forming Evidence-Based Claims Tool from the previous activity.
Step 1
Use the Forming Evidence-Based Claims Tool and key details you have identified on previous tools and notes, to form a claim in response to the Section Diagnostic task question:
In what ways did the Farm Security Administration and photographs such as Migrant Mother influence American society, public opinion, and politics?
Write the task question in the "Original Prompt or Question" column. Then restate the question in the next row of the chart.
Work through the process set up by the tool:
Select details that are most important for answering the question. Write down these details with citations.
Explain how the details you have written down connect to the question.
Compare the details you have written down and explain connections that you see among them.
State a conclusion you have drawn based on your analysis of the details.
Review and compare your claim with a partner. Discuss ways that your claims might be made clearer or stronger.
Step 2
Considering the claim you have formed and the expectations of the task, make a list of evidence you can use to explain and support your claim, specifically about the following:
the historical and political context of the Great Depression, the Farm Security Administration, Dorothea Lange’s Migrant Mother photo, and any other photographs or photojournalists you have learned about
specific visual details from Lange’s (and others’) photos that you think may have "aroused sympathy" in the American public
the role of the Farm Security Administration and photographers like Dorothea Lange in influencing public opinion
Activity 5: Read – Write
For homework, we will plan and prepare to write a multiparagraph explanation of our claims for the Section Diagnostic.
For homework, use your draft claim and list of potential evidence to develop a plan for the explanation you will write in the next lesson for the Section Diagnostic.
Note that if you are having trouble thinking about the organizational sequence for your expository response, you might use the list of "be sure to" task expectations to guide you.
Review your Vocabulary Journal. Identify a significant word or words that you would like to use in your response to the Section Diagnostic.
Review your Mentor Sentence Journal. Select at least one technique that you plan to use when writing your response to the Section Diagnostic.