Lesson 5

Lesson Goals

Texts

Core

• • “The 9/11 Photos We Will Never Forget,” Kyle Almond, CNN, 2021

Materials

Tools

• Photojournalism: 9/11 Photojournalists Handout

• Visual Analysis Tool

Reference Guides

• Annotating and Note-Taking Reference Guide

Question Sets

• Photojournalism: Section 4 Question Set

Editable Google Docs

• Photojournalism: Section 4 Question Set

• Visual Analysis Tool

Activity 1: View – Discuss

We will preview a 2021 web-based photo essay from cnn that commemorates 22 iconic photos from september 2001.

Step 1

Access and preview a 2021 web-based photo essay from CNN titled "The 9/11 Photos We Will Never Forget," which commemorates 22 iconic photos from September 2001. Note that each photograph includes information about (and often commentary from) the photojournalist who took it, found in a text segment that accompanies the image. Note also that Richard Drew’s Falling Man is included (in a zoomed in version) as the fourth image in the series.

You will be using this resource, a primary source due to its documentary photographs and a secondary source due to its explanatory text (or another source designated by your teacher), to research more about the events of 9/11 (or other significant contemporary events), how photojournalists have represented those events, and the influence of documentary photographs on public responses and perceptions of history.

Step 2

As the class previews the gallery of photographs, note images that you find to be compelling or interesting and that you might want to examine and research further.

With a discussion partner, identify the images that interest you and explain why.

Activity 2: View – Write

We will select a photograph to examine closely and use a Visual Analysis Tool to analyze its details in response to a text-specific question.

Select a photograph that you want to examine further. Read the text below it to learn more about the circumstances in which it was taken and what the photojournalist may have said about it.

Examine the photograph closely, looking for visual details and imagery that relate to the following text-specific questions:

1. What aspects of 9/11 are depicted in this photograph? What story or “truth” about the day does it portray?

2. What thoughts and emotional responses does the photograph evoke? What and how does it make you think about the tragic events of 9/11?

Use a Visual Analysis Tool to record the key details you notice, analyze their relationships, and develop an evidence-based observation in response to the questions.

Compare your evidence-based observation about the photograph with those of other students.

Activity 3: Read – Write

We will find one or more secondary Resources to learn more about the photograph we have selected and analyzed and about the photojournalist who took it.

Step 1

Find an additional primary or secondary source that will help you learn more about the photograph, the moment it depicts, and the photojournalist who took it. As directed by your teacher, you might do this through the link connected to the photojournalist’s name in the text below the photograph in the CNN online article, through another secondary source suggested for the photo, or through a keyword search using the photojournalist’s name and the title or subject of the photo.

Step 2

Generate a list of “want to know” inquiry questions to guide your reading and research about the photograph and the photojournalist.

Set up and use a two-column note-taking format (as shown in the Annotating and Note-Taking Reference Guide) to record researched information (take notes) and your comments (make notes) about the photograph and the photojournalist.

Share your notes and what you have learned with another student or group of students.

Activity 4: View – Write

We will find and analyze another photograph by our selected photojournalist and compare it to the 9/11 photograph to develop conclusions about the style and work of the photojournalist.

Find another photograph (or set of photographs) taken by your photojournalist. This could be another photograph from 9/11 or one that documents a different event or subject.

Use the organization of the Visual Analysis Tool, and your notes from your analysis of your first photograph, to do a comparative examination of the new photo. Think about these questions:

1. What is the subject or event documented in the photograph? What story or “truth” does it depict?

2. How do the subject, visual details, and photographic style of the new photo compare to the 9/11 photo you previously examined? To other photos you have studied in this unit?

3. What thoughts and emotional responses does the photograph evoke?

4. What evidence-based claim about your photojournalist and their work can you make based on the images you have examined and the research you have done? How does their work connect or compare to the work of other photjournalists you have studied?

Activity 5: Write

For homework, we will write a research-based profile of our photojournalist and their work, using our visual analyses of primary-source photographs and information from secondary sources to support our writing.

For homework, compile all of the information, notes, and analyses you have done, starting from the 9/11 photograph you selected.

Review what you know about your photojournalist and reread the text below your 9/11 photograph on the CNN “The 9/11 Photos We Will Never Forget” photo essay.

Building from the claim you developed in the previous activity, write a 1-3 paragraph profile of your photojournalist and their work, focusing on the two photographs you have examined as representations of your photojournalist’s style and approach to photojournalism.

Use the following question-based outline to organize and develop your profile:

1. How would you characterize the approach to photojournalism and work of your photojournalist? (your previous claim)

2. What are the key visual details, relationships, and stylistic elements you have observed in photographs taken by your photojournalist? (your analyses of the photos)

3. In what ways has your photojournalist documented and influenced history? (the impact of the photos)

4. In what ways might your photojournalist be connected to other photojournalists you have studied in the unit?

As directed by your teacher, cite any images or sources you have used to develop your profile.