Art+Lesson+Plans

Art Lesson Plans

//A Place in Time with Google Apps by// Cheryl Davis

Use the study of photography to explore with your students the power of images and their impact on history. In this lesson students develop geographic literacy & learn about the history of American photography by selecting and critiquing photographs in an interactive and collaborative activity. 
 * **Overview**

Use the study of photography to explore with your students the power of images and their impact on history. In this lesson students learn about the history of American photography by selecting and critiquing photographs in an interactive and collaborative activity. The lesson also incorporates geographic literacy into the fine arts experience by challenging students to focus on the significance of the place, captured in time, that influenced events.

**Materials**
 * Access to computer and Internet
 * A school Google Apps account or an individual Google Account with access to Google Sites and Google Docs
 * [|Google Earth]
 * Film guide for PBS American Experience - A Century of Images

**Instructions** Build a Google Earth tour for your students of a few selected photographs that have influenced either United States or world opinion. Locate these photographs on the Web. (See sample tour - kmz file)


 * Building a Google Earth Tour **[[image:https://docs.google.com/File?id=dfvwdtqp_619cxvh7rgt_b width="200" height="309"]]# Start your tour by creating a new "Folder" in the Google Earth "My Places" sidebar. Click on "Add/Folder" in the top menu. Name the folder "A Place in Time".
 * 1) Select the Placemark tool in Google Earth and anchor the location of each of the selected photos in Google Earth.
 * 2) In the "Description" box that pops up with each new Placemark, name the Placemark with the date of the photograph. Include the photograph in the Placemark Description box by typing in the simple html image code ****. Use the address or URL of the image as you "View Image" in your browser (right click or ctrl click on image to "view Image").
 * 3) Build out several more Placemarks and then highlight the "A Place in Time" Folder by clicking once. In the top Earth menu choose (File/Save/Save Place as) "kmz" to share with students.

As students are shown the "A Place in Time" tour, tell them they'll be selecting photographs from American photographers, critiquing the the photograph and then creating their own Google Earth historic photo tour.

**Learn about the history of photography**

Watch the PBS film American Photography a Century of Images or visit and explore the website if the film is not available. Students take notes on each of the photographers and eras mentioned in an online film guide in Google Docs. If students do not have acess to a computer when viewing the film, print out the film guide and have students take notes on the printed form. Students access the online exhibit that accompanies the film and continue with their notes.

** Set up a class Google Site **

Teacher creates a class Google Site and adds students as collaborators. In teams or individually, students create pages in the class Site and link to a historic photograph, research the history or context in which the photograph was taken and provide information on the photograph. In the class Google Site, the teacher also creates a "Files page" where students will attach KMZ files they have created in Google Earth. Students are also encouraged to add their perspectives to the photography conversations by posting comments on their classmates' pages about the photograph and information.

Provide students with the following questions to answer on their Google Sites page:


 * 1) What is the date of the photograph and where was it taken?
 * 2) What is the significance of the photograph?
 * 3) What is the significance of the place where the photograph was taken?
 * 4) Discuss how this photograph could have influenced an event in history or public opinion?
 * 5) What does the research say about this photograph? Cite that research.
 * 6) What effects might photography or other media have on history?

Students create a Google Earth tour "Places in Time" by adding a placemark with information or a link to the photograph they wrote about in the Google Site. The photograph needs to have influenced events. They save their Placemark as a KMZ file and post to the files page in the class Google Site. The teacher combines the finished Google Earth tours by opening up each KMZ file, posted to the Google Site, into Google Earth. The combined tours are shown to the class and the class critiques the tour and discusses the role of media and images in history. **Related Links**
 * Students create Google Earth Tour**

Library of Congress Flickr Pilot PBS American Photography a Century of Images Picturing the Century 100 Years of Photographs from the National Archives Life Photo Archive Hosted by Google Sample Tour for this lesson (KMZ flie)

**Video Tutorials**

Sites overview How to create a Google Site How to share a Google Site File Cabinet pages in Google Sites How to create a tour on Google Earth

To evaluate student understanding of photographic art, student teams collaborate on a critique of their selected photograph on a Google Doc. They should cover the following points in their critique:
 * Evaluation**


 * 1) Name of the photographer and the years he/she lived.
 * 2) Describe the impact the person had on photography
 * 3) Describe how this person started in photography
 * 4) Include a link to and cite the source of the photograph you are choosing to critique. Include title and date of photograph
 * 5) Describe in objective detail what you see in the photograph
 * 6) Analyze the photograph using the elements of art and principals of design
 * 7) Interpret the photography using your own opinion or feelings. What is the photographer trying to say? How does the composition and the subject express meaning?
 * 8) Express your opinion of the art. How does the photograph affect you? Do you think it is successful? What do you like most about the photograph? How well do you feel this photograph uses the elements of art and design?
 * 9) Properly cite the sources used at the end of your paper.

Teacher provides feedback on critiques by using the comment feature in Google Docs.

**Standards** NETS*S Standards addressed 1. Creativity and Innovation: Students demonstrate creative thinking, construct knowledge, and develop innovative products and processes using technology. Students: a. apply existing knowledge to generate new ideas, products, or processes. 3. Research and Information Fluency: Students apply digital tools to gather, evaluate, and use information. Students: b. locate, organize, analyze, evaluate, synthesize, and ethically use information from a variety of sources and media.

A Place in Time with Google Apps by [|Cheryl Davis] is licensed under a [|Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 United States License]. ||