Recording A Changing Nation: Shifting the Lens

Lesson Extensions (Mix and Match):

An African American girl wearing a black hijab looks directly at the camera, smiling. In front of her is a fence painted to resenble piano keys. Her fingers rest atop the fence.
Description

Each person sees the world slightly differently because we each have a unique combination of roles, identities, and lived experiences. We might consider each of these individual parts of ourselves to be individual lenses through which we could see images, issues, or events.

Grade
6-12
Duration

30 minutes

More Learning Resources

A gelatin silver print of a street with a car in the foreground, clothes handing in the middle ground and a building in the background.
Lesson Plan
Recording A Changing Nation: Interview With Curator John Jacob
Join John Jacob, McEvoy Family Curator for Photography at SAAM, for a close-up look at photography, a medium marked by both its accessibility and its complexity. What are some of the choices that photographers make? How might we “read” a photograph? What might be the value of having photographs of everyday people in the collection of a national museum like SAAM?
Topics
Visual Arts, History and Social Studies, Teacher-Tested
Language
English
An African American girl wearing a black hijab looks directly at the camera, smiling. In front of her is a fence painted to resenble piano keys. Her fingers rest atop the fence.
Video
Recording A Changing Nation: Interview with Photographer Shae McCoy
Shae McCoy, a photojournalist and author from West Baltimore, sits down with SAAM educator Elizabeth Dale-Deines for a wide-ranging conversation that touches on everything from what she keeps in mind when she photographs her own community to what stories might be told by juxtaposing historical and contemporary images of Baltimore. Created with K-12 students and teachers in mind, this video amplifies the practice of visual storytelling and the importance of engagement and authenticity when documenting community.
Topics
Visual Arts, History and Social Studies, Teacher-Tested
Language
English
An gelatin silver print of a muddy field with a farming tool.
Lesson Plan
Recording A Changing Nation: Continuity & Change Over Time
This activity uses a Jigsaw structure, requiring that students have access to a set of oral histories from the same time and place documented in the NEA photographic survey of your choosing. If an NEA photographic survey was not conducted in your area, consider using a survey from a neighboring area or one whose influence you feel in your own area.
Topics
Visual Arts, History and Social Studies, Teacher-Tested
Language
English
An African American girl wearing a rose-colored hijab stands, smiling, in front of a stone and brick rowhome.
Lesson Plan
Recording A Changing Nation Extended Visual Analysis
With its focus on the artistic process, this activity serves to deepen visual analysis and an introduction to the strategies a photographer may deploy when taking a picture or editing it.
Topics
History and Social Studies, Visual Arts, Visual Analysis, Teacher-Tested
Language
English