Lesson+3+-+Connecting+Photojournalism+with+Literature

//Lesson 3 – Bringing it all together// By this point in the year, students are very familiar with reading, analyzing, and writing about short stories. Students have been exposed to both fiction and non-fiction pieces.
 * Unit Background Knowledge**

In a previous unit, students have become familiar with the stylistic and informative components of news writing. Students have been provided with overt instruction for writing news pieces, reviewing several newspaper articles and editorials. Additionally, students have written their own news and editorial pieces regarding current events and controversial issues, such as universe health care.

For this unit, students will be breaking down visual forms of media, beginning with photojournalism. Prior to this lesson, students will have received metalanguage for framing, shot, focus, lighting, angles, and rule of thirds. Students will have also analyzed the connotation and denotation in iconic images. For this lesson, students will be bringing together several skills by creating news-worthy moments after reading a short story.

The purpose of this lesson is to combine writing, metalanguage, analysis, and individual creativity into an activity that unites news and literature. Through this activity, students will demonstrate their understanding of ‘framing’ metalanguage while demonstrating their news writing skills. By the end of this activity… --Students will be able to connect their knowledge of photojournalism and news reporting with their previous knowledge of narrative. --Students will be able to create images to capture elements of a news story based on a knowledge of photographic metalanguage. --Students will be able to utilize technological resources to represent and explore narratives. --Students will be able to analyze the significance of framing metalanguage in photojournalism.
 * Purpose and Objectives**

--LA.1112.1.6.1: The student will use new vocabulary that is introduced and taught directly -- LA.1112.1.7.3: The student will determine the main idea or essential message in grade-level or higher texts through inferring, paraphrasing, summarizing, and identifying relevant details and facts --LA.1112.2.1.4: The student will analyze the way in which the theme or meaning of a selection represents a view or comment on life, providing textual evidence for the identified theme --LA.1112.2.1.8: The student will explain how ideas, values, and themes of a literary work often reflect the historical period in which it was written --LA.1112.6.1.1: The student will explain how text features (e.g., charts, maps, diagrams, sub-headings, captions, illustrations, graphs) aid the reader's understanding
 * Sunshine State Standards**

As of this point in the photojournalism unit, students are familiar with the metalanguage associated with framing, angles, focus, etc. Students are also familiar with the various connotations and denotations that manifest in photographs. To begin today’s lesson, the teacher will display the image from the Voice Thread homework assignment from the night prior. If students are confused about specific metalanguage, they can raise these issues in a group review and discussion. If not, students will simply provide a few examples of the metalanguage they applied to the image. These words will be written on the board and will remain there for the lesson as a point of reference. Due to the nature of this lesson, no specific overt instruction should be necessary.
 * Overt Instruction**

To prepare students for their final photojournalistic activity, the class will read a current news story as a group. The story (Facebook Fueling Divorce, research claims) will be provided in class. Once students read the story, the class will discuss the main ideas and themes from the story. These themes and ideas will be written on the board. The class will then brainstorm possible images that could accompany the story based on the headline and content of the news article. Once a general image has been decided upon (such as an angry couple or a glowing computer screen), students will provide metalingusitic descriptions and directions for the image (such as a medium shot, low-key lighting, rack focus, etc.). A volunteer will try to depict this image and details on the board. The terms will be written on the board as well. After describing the image, the class will write captions in pairs to describe the image and its relationship the article. Groups will write their captions on the board near our drawing of the image.
 * Situated Practice**

The article can be found in a text document here (website link included):

Students will be provided with a copy of “Geraldo No Last Name,” a short story by Sandra Cisneros, without the title.
 * Critical Framing**

In small groups, the students will read the short story and pretend they are photojournalists on the scene. The students must then create at least two photojournalistic images that deal with the themes, events, or characters from the story. Students can chose events within the story itself or utilize some //reasonable// creative license (such as creating an image to represent what might happen after the story ends) to capture the images they feel are most important. Students will create this image online by using either PhotoShop, Xtranormal.com or Pixton.com (these technologies have been used before in previous units, so students should be familiar with them). Students should incorporate their knowledge of photographic metalanguage while making the image. In a short paragraph, students will list what metalanguage they used in creating their image and a short sentence explaining why.

Once students create these images, the students must then write a caption for the image, demonstrating how this creative image is relevant to the Cisneros story. Additionally, students will write a news headline and subsequent article regarding some aspect of the story. Students can focus on the events within the story (such as the hit and run accident), the characters in the story, or the political issues that emerge (such as immigration policy). The article should be relevant to the picture in some way (again, students can be somewhat creative here).

Students will have 4 days to complete this process. Each group will turn in: two images from the Cisneros story (indicating which image will be used in their newspaper write up), reasoning behind the formal elements of the images, one caption, one headline for the newspaper article, and one newspaper article.

Individually, students will write a short one-page reflection that explains how their images contributed to the information and effect of the news article. Students should also consider their audience and the purpose of their images. Each group will present their image, caption, headline, and overview of their news article to the class.

Students will be assessed on a group and individual level. To ensure understanding of the assignment, students will be provided with a handout of the specifics for this project (see attached).
 * Assessment**

Each group will receive a grade for their overall work with the image, image rationale, caption, headline, and news article. This grade will be determined by: --//Accuracy of the image compared to its outlined description// (the technology offered for this portion of the assignment allows for the most comprehensive detailing; if some portion of their image is unavailable, students should be in contact with the teacher in advance) – 10 points --//Use of proper metalanguage and rationale for each image// (the students must provide a valid reason for the metalinguistic choices for their image and indicate the effect it has) - 10 points --//News article and headline are relevant to the story// (while creativity is important, students must treat this activity as if they are a photojournalist; the topics for their writing should be relevant to the story and present a deeper understanding of the implications of this story and the people affected by it) – 10 points --//Creation of two images –// 6 points --//Inclusion of a relevant caption for one image// – 4 points --//Relevance to the literature// – 5 points --//Presentation to the class –// 5 points TOTAL: 50 points

Individually, students will be assessed based on their reflection paper. The reflection paper should explain how the process of creating a news-worthy image from a short story effects their understanding of news media. The student should somehow indicate the processes they went through in deciding which images to use. For example, how does the knowledge of metalangauge influence the way they interpret images? How did the student determine the purpose of the images? How did the student determine who the audience is most likely to be? What is the overall purpose of using images to enhance a reader’s understanding of the story? This reflection paper should demonstrate the student’s understanding of photojournalism and its greater relationship to analysis and interpretation. 50 points