Channeling Dorothea Lange

SET: Display a slideshow of Dorothea Lange's photography and ask students to write one adjective for each picture. (Make sure students have a list of rich adjectives they can draw from -- maybe even that weeks vocabulary words!)

INPUT: Deliver a short lecture about the Federal Artist/Writers project of the 1930's Great Depression and the economic issues of the depression. View more Lange photography, paying attention to two kinds of photographs: people and environments. Discuss the compositions and the moods of each.

GUIDED PRACTICE: Work with students to brainstorm areas in their community or neighborhood that embody the current economic crisis.

INDEPENDENT PRACTICE: Using a class set of cameras, take a walk around your community, taking Lange style pictures of the crisis. This would also work very well as a homework assignment. Challenge each student to take a people and an environment picture.

CLOSURE: Create a CHANNELING DOROTHEA LANGE photo gallery. Ask students to walk around and comment on the photos, listing adjectives and moods they see embodied. Close with an awards ceremony.