Using Photos to Help Students Understand Past

By Doug Buehl,
Madison East High School teacher
Member, Wisconsin State Reading Association

April 2000

Remember paging through an old family photo album? As you gazed at pictures of your kinfolks, taken perhaps a century or more ago, you probably found yourself pausing periodically and imagining what life had been like for these people.

What were the daily conditions of growing up on a dairy farm in rural Wisconsin in 1896? How has the countryside changed since those years? What was America like for your German-speaking great-grandparents, who emigrated to this state in the 1880s? Who in this photo was most like you? What would your days have been like if you had been living then?

It is easy to see how photographs evoke a sense of mood and convey meaningful information that can communicate far beyond written description.

The old adage “a picture is worth a thousand words” explains why textbook editors undertake the expense of including many photographs and other visuals in the layout of a chapter.

Unfortunately, students taking the “quick trip” through a textbook section, endeavoring to finish the reading and complete the assignment, may overlook these rich sources of insight about the content. In addition, students may regard the textbook as personally uninviting and distant, as merely compacted paragraphs of dense information. Taking time to guide students through a thoughtful examination of photographs can help them connect to concepts and learn new material.

The Strategy

You Ought To Be In Pictures is a strategy that encourages students to imagine themselves within the context of a photograph. The strategy, which prepares students to read a passage, involves the following steps.

Step 1: Be on the constant lookout for vivid photographs that connect with some aspect of your curriculum. Of course, some outstanding photographs may already be provided in the textbooks your students will be reading. But also check alternative textbooks, other reference sources, and keep an eye on newspapers and magazines. Search for photographs to which your students can make a personal connection. One means for displaying photographs to students is to make a slide or overhead transparency. Access to a scanner will allow you to make a computerized image of a photograph, which can be shown via a computer projector or from an overhead transparency.

Step 2: Select a photograph that can help introduce or extend important ideas or concepts for a unit of study. Guide students in their viewing of the photograph by suggesting a personal connection to events portrayed in the picture.

For example, to prepare students in a history course for studying the Great Depression of the 1930s, identify a photograph, such as the one shown above, which illustrates some of the key themes of this time period:

“During the period of the Great Depression, many people, especially farmers, lost their land and were forced out on the road. You are looking at a Library of Congress photograph of a homeless family in Oklahoma in the 1930s.”

First, examine the location of this photograph and try to detect as much detail as possible. What do you observe about the countryside? About the land? The plants and vegetation? The road? What time of year might it be? What does the climate appear to be like? What type of day does it seem to be?

Now focus very closely on each person in the photograph. Pay careful attention to what each person is wearing. Look at the way the family members carry themselves, their posture, their facial expressions.

Next, choose one of the individuals in the photograph and imagine you are this person. What might you be thinking if this was happening to you? Describe what you might be feeling, what emotions you might be experiencing. What has this day been like for you? Imagine what might have happened before the scene presented in the photo. What do you see happening later on, during this day and the following days?

Step 3: Guided imagery using photographs provides an excellent opportunity for students to record their observations and thoughts in writing. In our Depression example above, students might be given the following writing prompt:

“It is now many years later. You are showing this photograph to a grandchild. What would you say about your memories of that day? Write what you would share as an entry in your notebook.”

After students have had time to respond in writing, ask for volunteers to read their entries to the class. Students who have chosen to “be” the same individual will have a chance to hear classmates’ musings about this person during that difficult time. Students will now embark into the Great Depression unit much more tuned in to the great personal dramas of this disaster, and perhaps feel more personally involved in the material.

Step 4: This strategy can also be adapted for use with photographs that do not feature people. For example, with science pictures, emphasize students personally witnessing what is portrayed in the photo, and guide them through noticing details as if they were actually viewing the scene.

Advantages

You Ought To Be In Pictures is a strategy that stimulates students to process new learning through extensive use of mental imagery. In addition:

• Students are encouraged to become personally engaged in learning through their imaginations.
• Students develop empathy for others as they make connections to learning through photographs.
• Students encounter key ideas before reading, are likely to be motivated to learn more about the topic, and are primed to learn from text materials that they may otherwise regard as impersonal.

Posted May 26, 2000