A Picture is Worth a Thousand Words

Submitted by: Jessica Burbic, Amanda Francisco, and Jacki Davidge
School: Byrd Middle School

Summary

Have you ever exaggerated your words to express your ideas about something? If so, how did this
exaggeration change the meaning of your ideas? During the Progressive Era, journalists used this exaggerated style to influence public opinion about current topics. In this lesson students will explore how a combination of words and pictures can ultimately be used to influence the opinions of others while examining a variety of issues that were prominent during the Progressive Era. Students will be responsible for researching their topic and creating informative, yet exaggerated products that creatively communicate information about their topic with their classmates using a combination of exaggerated words and pictures (just as yellow journalists did).

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Approaching: In this lesson students find, navigate through, and evaluate information about an issue that was prominent during the Progressive Era. This lesson models strategies that guide student investigation about Progressive Era issues and provided students with the challenge of synthesizing their information to create an informative product that used exaggerated language just like the yellow journalists did.

Developing: In this lesson students are provided with the opportunity to find, evaluate, and synthesize information to create their own exaggerated product. A range of communication methods and digital tools (databases, discussion forums, etc.)were explored and available for student use. Students used self selected digital tools to communicate information about a specific topic of exploration with their classmates.

Ideal: In this lesson students will extend their knowledge to create an exaggerated product in relation to something from the Progressive Era. Students will have to critically think about their topic while examining both sides of the issue and offering an authentic solution to the problem. This portion of the lesson supported students as they engaged in the challenge and further developed their questioning, critical thinking, and problem solving skills. Students selected the most appropriate digital tools to help them critically think, analyze, and complete the authentic task of creating informative, yet exaggerated products that shared information with their peers and synthesized their understanding of yellow journalism and it’s impact on life in America.

Approaching: This lesson provided students with the opportunity to develop original ideas in relation to issues during specific time in history. Students then used their ideas to create products that synthesized their new learning. The lesson modeled strategic risk taking, creativity, and craftsmanship as evident in student products where they used exaggerated language to share information about a specific progressive era issue.