Lesson 1: Images of Gary: An Ideal Place to Live?
Fourth grade : Lesson 1 | Lesson 2 | Lesson 3 | Lesson 4
Lesson plan developed by Mardy Flanagan.
The typical study of Indiana history in a fourth grade classroom touches only briefly upon a pivotal industry and the site along the Calumet River chosen for its development. In 1906, twenty-five miles southeast of Chicago, and seven miles across the Indiana State line, an idealistic city of the United States Steel Corporation was born. Gary lies at the center of the country's transportation systems and offers access to the required material elements needed to produce steel, making it an ideal choice for expansion. Initially, this largely philanthropic venture sought to avoid the vices of previously built mills in Pullman, South Chicago, and Whiting and to appear as economical and attractive as possible. We discover as time passes however, that Gary takes on its own identity, a vastly different one from the visionaries' expectations.
The US Steel Photograph Collection captures the essence of Gary between 1906 and 1941. The collection consists of over 2,000 black and white photographs depicting historical scenes of the city and its population. Students will examine them for contextual information and imagery adhering to a list of criteria they help develop.
Standards alignment
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National Council for the Social Studies
- Strand II: Time, Continuity, and Change
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National Standards for Arts Education: Grades K-4: Visual Arts
- Content Standard #4: Understanding the visual arts in relation to history and culture
Guiding questions
- What image of Gary do the photographs convey to the students?
- What purposes do these pictures serve? Why did the photographer take them?
- How can the perspective we have about our own life experiences be viewed as part of the larger human story across time?
Learning Objectives
After completing this lesson, students will be able to:
- Cite at least three purposes a public photograph can serve.
- List criteria for analyzing a projected image.
- Analyze a historical photograph based on these criteria.
Preparation
- Review the lesson plan. These lessons should fit well into a study of American or Indiana history in the early 1900's. Many examples of images are offered but you can use other resources to locate additional photographs to fit your curriculum.
- Download and duplicate any materials needed. Choose from the images listed or use resources listed at the end of this unit to find more. You may bookmark chosen images on an accessible computer for easy viewing.
- Additional image analysis resources:
- If desired, a model set of criteria for Reading a Photograph is available from the New York Public Library's online exhibition Harlem 1900-1940: An African-American Community.
- The "Education" section at the EDSITEment-reviewed National Portrait Gallery has a superb collection of teacher's packets offering ideas for exploring a variety of representational images.
Lesson plan
In this lesson, students will analyze the representation of Gary, Indiana portrayed in archival US Steel photographs.
- Begin by projecting an image of a local event on the overhead. Ask the students what is happening in the picture. Where and when was it taken? What evidence do you see that supports your answer? Describe the photograph in great detail, noting the number of people, their appearance, and their surroundings. What kinds of clues do these details suggest? What questions do they raise? Why do you think this photograph was taken?
- After a brief discussion of the students' observations, provide them with background information. Compare and contrast hypothesis with fact. Remind the students that photographs can be staged or altered, especially when available to the general public. The photographer may shoot scenes to represent a biased viewpoint. Information or ideas methodically spread to promote or injure a cause, group, or nation, known as propaganda, is widely used and its deliberate spread can cripple one's sense of reality. Educated conclusions, therefore, stem from researching a variety of sources, rather than extracting interpretation from a single print.
- Work with the students to develop a list of criteria for analyzing or judging an image's representation. Students might include personal attributes of people, clothing, objects in the photograph, a subject's expression or posture, first impressions and feeling about the image, information about the environment and the appearance of the surroundings.
- Distribute copies of an appropriate number of the following photographs so about three to five students are looking at the same image. Other images that may interest you and your students can be found by searching or browsing the entire collection.
- Students will use the criteria they developed as a guide for assessing the photograph. Then, each student should write a brief description of his or her perception of Gary as projected through the assigned image. Next, a presenter from each group shares its collaborative reaction. Following the presentations, the class generates a list of at least three purposes a public photograph can serve.
- Type the list of criteria the students developed for use in further analysis.