Overview

Celebrated photographer Wendy Ewald has spent her life teaching students in communities around the world to record their own family histories on camera. Her seminal 1985 work, Portraits and Dreams: Photographs and Stories By Children of The Appalachians, was the result of a unique creative collaboration between Ewald and the students she taught at three elementary schools in Letcher County, Kentucky, in the 1970s. Tasked with finding authentic ways of representing the lives of these children, she gave each of them a camera and interviewed them about their childhood in the mountains. The photographs represented a rare opportunity for children living in rural Appalachia to reflect on their families, dreams, fears and release their vibrant imaginations. In the documentary Portraits and Dreams, co-directed by Ewald and Elizabeth Barret, the photographer returns to Kentucky and visits with students she taught in Appalachia whose work formed the book, who are now adults with families of their own.

This lesson acknowledges that students have insight into themselves and their communities and that such insight is worthy of deliberate self-expression. Throughout the lesson, students will learn about a rural Appalachian community, and a group of middle school students who engaged in a long term photographic project with Wendy Ewald. Clips of the young photographers discussing their work--and their lives since then-- will help students explore and discuss tensions between insider and outsider perspectives of community, with a particular focus on depictions and experiences of poverty. Students will have the opportunity to learn about photographic elements and then apply these elements in their own portraits. The selected clips, and related assignments, are designed to help students slow down and interpret and make meaningful artistic decisions and to pay attention to how communities are framed in the media.

Teaching Philosophies

Wendy Ewald
As an artist, when I first began to teach, I used my intuitive teaching skills to help my students create the photographs I sensed they were capable of making. I felt my job was to recognize the uniqueness of each child’s vision and nurture it. I could see the students gaining self-confidence as they became fluent in this new medium. They often made discoveries about themselves while examining their surroundings. And at times the students’ photographs helped their teachers understand how they saw their communities and home lives.

Sarah Bausell
As a former high school English teacher and current teacher educator, my approach to teaching emerges from a strong belief in the power of storytelling and, relatedly, a commitment to pedagogies that honor student rights to self-expression. For educators, this film serves as a dual reminder: students are uniquely suited to describe their lives and we must reimagine our work as teachers to make such deliberate self-expression central to our curriculum. This lesson is designed to guide students through self-expression and also deepen their awareness of and push-back on dominant and oftentimes misanthropic portrayals of communities.

A Note to Teachers
The photographers featured in this film share significant socio-cultural and economic insight into their Appalachian communities. For many students and teachers alike, the intimate portrayals of generational poverty and some of the personal revelations about childhood physical abuse and hunger illuminated in this documentary may be triggering. Pay close attention to the learners in your care, and in particular pay attention to the ways that they interact with one another, their photographs, and the stories shared through this film.

Subject Areas:

• English Language Arts
• Art (Photography, Film Studies)
• Social Studies
• Social Emotional Learning

Grade Levels: 7-12

Objectives:

In this lesson, students will:

• English Language Arts (ELA): Assess and write about how point of view, framing, and symbol shapes the content and style of a photograph;
• Social Studies: Describe the connections between the physical environment of a place and the economic activities found there; examine structural factors of poverty and conflicts between representations of community and community members’ various experiences;
• Art: Understand and analyze key photographic concepts, such as point of view, framing, and symbol; make photographs and explain aesthetic choices using written text;
• Social Emotional Learning: engage diverse perspectives and empathize with others, including those from diverse backgrounds and cultures.

Materials:

• Student journals or writing materials
• Cameras-Many students have access to cell phones with cameras. Something to keep in mind are that these cameras vary in quality and, oftentimes, have a host of lenses/add ons. If students are asked to use their own phone as a camera, then teachers should ask students to think about the various affordances and limitations of that particular tool as they plan for and take their own portrait.
• “The War on Poverty” Life Magazine, 1964
• Reading Photographs Handout

Time Needed:

Four 45 minute class periods, with optional homework in between

Clip 1: Power of Photography (00:00:00-00:01:28, length: 1:28 minutes)

The clip begins with a series of work from young photographers with accompanying titles and descriptions: self-portraits and fantasies and dreams. The clip ends at 00:01:28 with a contact sheet of self-portraits and dreams by Denise.

This clip highlights the work of two young photographers in particular: Denise and Russell Akemon, then 4th graders. Within the clip, you see the importance of text—the titles and captions that the photographers write to accompany their images and the photographs themselves. Russell describes the power of photography in his life, specifically how photography has served as a reminder of and a connection to people who have passed away. Denise’s photography work is a series of fantasies and dreams in which she and her twin brothers act out iconic characters.

Clip 2: Dreams (00:38:06-00:39:36, length: 1:30 minutes)

The clip begins with a series of Denise’s photographs of haunting landscapes and her childhood descriptions of her dreams. The clip ends with a series of self-portraits that young Denise made of herself as Marilyn Monroe and Dolly Parton.

Denise’s series of dream photographs are set in a neighboring graveyard and feature her younger twin brothers, one of whom is on a quest to kill his vampire other. The series also includes photographs that illustrate Denise’s penchant for posing her dolls in dramatic scenarios and ways that she used photography as a way of portraying famous figures. The clip concludes with adult Denise and Wendy arranging a bulletin for an upcoming photography exhibit. This clip engages viewers in a personal exploration of how art can be a vehicle for expressing internal fantasies and hopes.

Clip 3: Challenging perceptions of rural poverty (00:23:40-00:26:53, length: 3:13 minutes)

The clip begins at 00:23:40 with elementary school principal Sue Dixon Brashear calling students to the office for awards and fades into a portrait she made in 7th grade about the sensation of falling in dreams. The clip concludes at 00:26:53 with a photomontage of Sue’s work.

Throughout the clip, Sue looks through the published collection of portraits and reminisces about the project and how she sees it now in relation to her work as teacher. She asks Wendy how people in other places see these pictures and see her and her peers. She wonders aloud if these pictures are possibly interpreted by people from other places as pictures about poverty. Sue says, “We were poor, but we didn’t feel that way.” And she then elaborates, “We were important because we were taking these pictures.” The conversation between Sue and Wendy moves to Sue’s cabin, a building that is in many ways a living installation of Sue’s art and imagination.

Clip 4: Revisiting Childhood Memories (00:26:54-00:32:59, length: 6:05 minutes)

The clip begins at 00:26:54 with a black and white photograph of two coal miners walking home and the voice of young Johnny talking about mining, the main source of employment in his community. The clip ends with a portrait of young Johnny with his hands behind his back.

Throughout this clip, Johnny describes the dangers of coal mining. Viewers will see a series of Johnny’s family portraits and hear him reflect about the challenges of his fatherless childhood, his childhood play, and his current success as a father and heavy equipment operator. With his son, Johnny recalls his experiences being photographed by Wendy as a child. Later, sitting with Wendy in an emotionally provocative scene, Johnny reads his description of his family from the book, Secret Games. While the discussion is specific to Johnny’s own traumatic memories, it serves as a springboard from which viewers might consider childhood context and the ways that it continues to shape our daily experiences.

Clip 5: Memory (00:13:11-00:18:11, length: 5:00 minutes)

The clip begins with a panorama of a mountain horizon and Delbert, as a child, explaining his intimate relationship with the land. The clip closes with a series of his early photographs, the last being of a child underneath a slide and adult Delbert explaining how learning photography as a child taught him a meaning of life and a way of expressing his connection to home and community.

Throughout the clip, Delbert recalls his journey to North Carolina to work at a chicken factory and his eventual decision to return to his family place following the death of his parents. In order to reconstruct his family, he hangs photographs of them on the unfinished walls of his house. Delbert uses photography and traditional music to reconnect with his community.

This clip engages viewers in a conversation about the powerful hold of childhood memories. The clip concludes with Delbert saying that “pictures, to me, helps you hold onto your memories...being able to pull back the good memories and let go the bad ones.”

Clip 6: Community/Family (00:33:00-00:33:31, length: 0:31 minutes)

This brief clip begins with a self-portrait that Gary Crase made during his sixth grade year at Campbell’s Branch Elementary School, along with a series of photographs that he made of his community.

As the community portraits are shown, a brief audio recording from young Gary explaining his ideas about community plays: “Most people that live together all believe in one general idea like a paragraph in a book. A community, you might say that’s the same thing. Maybe one believes that 2 and 2 is 3 and the other believes that 2 and 2 is 4, but they both believe that 2 and 2 is.”

DAY ONE: EXPLORING PHOTOGRAPHY
Today’s lesson engages students in a broader discussion about various purposes of photography and choices that photographers make.

Step 1: Activate Prior Knowledge.
Ask students what they know about photography; contributions may range from the use of photography in social activism, photography as art, photography as a means of communication, and popular photographic apps.

Questions to jumpstart the conversation include:

• Why do you think photography is such an enduring artform?
• What are some photographs that are important to you?
• How often do you take photographs? What of? Why?

Record student contributions and identify that this series of lessons is designed to deepen our language and understanding of photography.

Step 2: The Photographer’s Point of View.
Remind students that ‘reading’ a photograph is subjective and that it is OK to have varying perspectives and interpretations. Prior to sharing Clips 1 and 2, let students know that they will be viewing photographs by Denise, an elementary school student.

Ask them to pay attention to (and take notes on how) Wendy and Denise describe photography and to choose one of Denise’s portraits that they might like to explore further. (Stop the clip at 00:39:32).

Tell students that as photographers, we have the capacity to alter the appearance of things by where we look at them from. Then ask them the following questions and provide time for them to respond:

• What choices does Denise make in her photographs?
• How do you respond to them?
• How have the clips added on to or shifted our understanding of photography?
• What surprises, questions, or ideas are bubbling up for you in terms of the power the person with the camera has to frame our relationship to an image?

Step 3: “Reading Photographs.”
Refer to handout “Reading Photographs”. Ask students to select one photograph for close reading. Ask students to respond in writing to the following questions related to personal interpretation: What is your first impression of this photograph? How do you feel when you look at it? What do you think is happening in this photograph? What do you wonder about when you look at this photograph? Then, students should respond to the following questions related to photographer’s decisions (e.g., point of view and framing). Consider the photography element point of view. Where is the camera? How does that change the picture? Consider the photography element framing. What’s included? What’s left out? Why do you think the photographer wanted to frame the photograph in this way? Facilitate a discussion about what different life factors might influence how we ‘read’ photographs. How might they, as photographers, distinguish between their eyes and the camera?

DAY TWO: FRAMING
“What is a portrait? Unlike a snapshot or a conventional physical description, a portrait tells us something essential about the subject.” (I Wanna Take Me A Picture, p. 37). Framing has to do with the unique ways each of us sees the world. In today’s lesson, students will consider what they might include or leave out (frame) in self and family portraits. Some important tools that we have for making a portrait are facial expression, body gesture, background, objects, light.

Step 1: A Closer Look at Portrait and Framing.
Refer back to the handout “Reading Photographs”. How does the photographer’s choices in point of view and framing influence your response? Consider the captions in relation to the framing and point of view. For example, in the still life with a picture of me, who is me? Students can either share and listen to one another's perspectives or draft a comparison paragraph.

Step 2: Journaling.
Read the following quote from young photographer, Robert Dean Smith, aloud to the class:

I favor my Dad, but I act just like myself. I’m sort of tall and fat. I’m almost as tall as my dad is but I’m taller than mom. I lose my temper a lot whenever anybody makes me mad I’m ready to fight...When I get older I’d like to live in the same holler. I know that. It’s just a peaceful place. I’ll build a cabin and live in it. I’ll probably follow after my dad. I’ll work in the coal mines and just live right here.

Ask the students to journal about the images that they see when they hear Robert Dean Smith’s words. Then, ask students to journal about how they would make Robert Dean Smith’s portrait. What would they include? Leave out? Where would the camera be? How might a portrait that you make of Robert Dean Smith differ from his self-portrait? Students should share their ideas with partners.

Step 4: Planning for your own self-portrait.
Using Robert Dean Smith’s words as an exemplar, write your own self-portrait. If done in partners, ask your partner what images they saw as they read your portrait. Ask students to make a list of photographs that they would take to describe themselves or their family. Keep in mind the elements of photography (e.g., framing and point of view) What do they hope to include in the portrait and to leave out? How do they plan to use the camera?

Outside of class time, students should begin taking portraits of themselves and their families.

Day Three : COMMUNITY (Clips 5 & 6)
Today’s lesson asks students to consider the meaning and significance of community. Community is a common word, but nonetheless an abstract one--and helping students think about their membership in multiple communities, what it means to belong, to be a part of, and to recognize community will be an important step in this lesson. Students will explore how portraits can be created to convey details about their own communities.

Step 1.
Ask students to begin by defining community in their journals and making a list of communities they belong to. Are there any important differences between how you see your community and others see you/it? What do you know about your community that outsiders might not? Are there any harmful or negative stereotypes that you would like to speak back to about your community? How have you seen your community represented in the media, in school curriculums, in politics?

Step 2.
While watching clips 5&6, ask students to pay attention to the ways that Delbert and Gary describe their communities and their relationship to it over time. Ask students to journal about either Delbert or Gary’s photographs and their commentary about community. What role does the natural world play in their sense of community? What can we learn from their experiences? What would you want to include or leave out if making portraits in their community?

Step 3. Journal.
Outside of class time, students may begin to make community portraits for one community they belong to. For example, using the alphabet as a guide, make a list of photographs you could take to convey a community (e.g., A for ….; B for….). What would you want to include and leave out? What choices would you make with the camera? Why?

DAY FOUR: CHALLENGING MONOLITHIC REPRESENTATIONS OF OTHERS (Clips 3 & 4)
Today’s lesson asks students to consider differences and tensions between insider and outsider portrayals of community, with a specific focus on how Appalachian communities have been framed in media. What are some perspectives on rural poverty? Where do those perspectives come from?

Step 1.
Using either a projector or setting up a walking gallery, share the 1964 photo essay, “The War on Poverty” from Life Magazine which was taken in the same geographic area, just 10 years prior to the work featured in Portraits and Dreams.

Ask students to think about word choice in the photographic captions and point of view and framing. Pay specific attention to portraits 3, 8, and 25. Students can take notes on photographic and word choices that stand out. What do these choices convey about the photographer’s point of view and framing of these portraits? How is community portrayed here?

• Caption for Portrait 3: “Nadine McFall, 1, happily reached over to pat the stomach of a huge doll—its wardrobe long since lost and never replaced —as she squatted on a crowded couch in her great grandmother’s shack near Neon.”
• Caption for Portrait 8. “On a wintry afternoon in Line Fork Creek a family trudged across a rickety suspension bridge over a sewage-polluted stream to its two-room shack.”
• Caption for Portrait 35. “The commonest sights around Appalachia were aging men and ragged urchins.”

Step 2. Reading Photographs.
Sue and Johnny are from the same rural community, and have had different experiences and perspectives about poverty throughout their lives. Ask students to journal about what they discover about Sue and Johnny as they watch the clips. What role did photography play in their childhoods? How does their point of view shift throughout their adulthoods?

Pause the film at 24:00:02 so that students can ‘read’ Sue’s portrait of playing on top of the coal bin behind her childhood home. Ask students to describe what they see. How does the accompanying text add to your interpretation of the photograph? What’s different about Sue’s photographs and those included in the “War on Poverty”? What does this make you think about the significance of framing and point of view?

Step 3. Sharing Community Portraits.
Describe the choices you made in taking community portraits. What challenges did you run into? What surprised you? Is there a portrait that you feel particularly compelled by? In partners or small groups, share something from your ABC community portrait work.

Helpful Resources

“A Mountain Legacy: Children of Appalachia gain pride in their heritage and history” Essay (Teaching Tolerance, 1996)

Affrilachian Poets, Frank X. Walker (artist, poet, founder)

Appalshop
A media, arts, and education center that has been making music and art in the mountains since 1969. This group is committed to engaging Appalachian artists and voices in challenging stereotypes about Appalachia.

Critical Exposure
A non-profit, trains DC youth to harness the power of photography to advocate for educational equity and social justice. Gallery of student-made photography is accessible

“Dispelling Myths of Appalachia” Essay by Jacqueline Yahn (Teaching Tolerance. 2012)

Highlander Institute (& Highlander Research and Education Center)
Highlander Institute partners with communities to imagine and create more equitable, relevant, and effective schools. Using research, they convene, coach, and build capacity to improve outcomes and experiences for all students

Where I’m From, a poem by George Ellen Lyon, can be used as a prewriting prompt prior to self and family portraits

Window Swap
A collection of windows from around the world, might be used to deepen student’s understanding of framing.

Supplemental Readings

Ewald, Wendy, and Alexandra Lightfoot. I wanna take me a picture: Teaching photography and writing to children. Beacon Press, 2002.

Ewald, Wendy, Katherine Hyde, and Lisa Lord. Literacy and Justice through Photography: A Classroom Guide. Language & Literacy Series. Teachers College Press. 1234 Amsterdam Avenue, New York, NY 10027, 2011.

Ewald, Wendy. The best part of me: Children talk about their bodies in pictures and words. Little Brown & Company, 2002.

Kellner, Douglas, and Jeff Share. The critical media literacy guide: Engaging media and transforming education. Brill, 2019.

Kellner, Douglas and Jeff Share. The critical media literacy framework.

Standards

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.CCRA.SL.1
Prepare for and participate effectively in a range of conversations and collaborations with diverse partners, building on others' ideas and expressing their own clearly and persuasively.

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.CCRA.SL.2
Integrate and evaluate information presented in diverse media and formats, including visually, quantitatively, and orally.

About the Author

Sarah Bausell
Sarah Bausell, PhD., is a former high school English teacher and current teacher educator and researcher in Durham, North Carolina. Sarah completed her master’s degree in curriculum studies at the University of Hawaii at Manoa and her doctorate in Teacher Education and Curriculum at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, where she worked alongside practicing teachers to understand the ins and outs and power of classroom discourse.

Lesson Plan Producers, POV

Chrissy Griesmer
POV Engage Intern

Courtney Cook
Education Manager

Thanks to those who reviewed this resource:

Rachel Friedland
POV, Senior Associate, Programs & Engagement

The creation of POV’s Education Resources is made possible by the generous support of Corporation for Public Broadcasting.