Length of Lesson: 45 minutes
Content Objectives: Students will be able to interpret the meaning of the photograph Passengers of the S.S. Pennland on Deck by developing questions based on the prepared list of words.
Language Objectives: Students will be able to ask questions about the photograph in writing.
Materials Needed: an enlarged copy of the photograph Passengers of the S.S. Pennland on Deck from the book Ellis Island: New Hope in a New Land by William Jay Jacobs (page 3); chart paper.
Sequencing of Activities
Initiation: Students observe the photograph again and review the list of words from the previous lesson ("the initial encounter").
Development: This is "the liminal phase," when students are challenged to write various questions about the image. They use the words in the prepared list to form their questions. I explicitly explain to students what their questions should ask: from very general things, such as "Do all these people know each other?" to specific details pointed out earlier: "Why is there a bell on the deck?" I direct students to question the origins of these people, their language, ages, occupations, family relations, clothes, intentions, and hopes; students may also ask about the circumstances of this trip - How long is it? What is the weather there? Do people have cabins or they have to be on the deck during the whole journey? What do people eat there? They may scrutinize one person in the photograph and ask specific questions about this person. I use a modeling strategy and begin writing my questions on chart paper: What time of the day is it? Why people are so close to each other? Why do some men stand by the railings? How does the photograph make you feel? Why do you think the photographer took this photograph? If you were going to take this photograph, where or on whom would you focus? Why? Students write from seven to ten questions for fifteen minutes. Then they read their questions aloud, and I write them the way they are given on chart paper.
Closure: To reinforce their reading skills, students reread their questions aloud from chart paper (each student reads his or her own questions).
Methods of Assessment: informal - observation of students' questions in writing and reading the questions.
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