See Think Wonder

RI.8.7 Evaluate the advantages and disadvantages of using different mediums (e.g. print or digital text, video, multimedia) to present a particular topic or idea.

Using your background knowledge, what predictions can you make by looking at this photograph?

Believe it or not, Halloween was not the first holiday to feature creepy costumes and door-to-door soliciting. In a Progressive Era ritual called "Thanksgiving masking," children dressed up as beggars and took to the streets to ask for treats, food and pennies. Though high society frowned on the practice, the day was one of merry mischief-making through the 1920s. These photos from the Library of Congress show "Thanksgiving maskers" circa 1910-1915. Excerpt from the article, “Before trick or treating, there was Thanksgiving ‘Masking’” You might have predicted that these children were trick or treaters. Read the following excerpt:

Why do you think the author included this picture in the article? It shows a comparison between trick or treaters of today and the Thanksgiving ‘maskers’ of yesterday. Why do you think the author included this picture in the article?

Even though the author did not include a picture of today’s trick or treaters, you used your background knowledge to make that connection.

What purpose does the picture, graph, or video serve in the writing? Does it provide specific evidence? Does it present an example for analysis? Does it explain a point? Does it supply the background of a new idea? Does it distinguish between conflicting ideas? Does it place current work in the context of previous work? Authors use pictures, graphs, and videos for many reasons. As readers, you will have to ask yourself questions about the author’s purpose for the use of the chosen medium.

How does the medium contribute to the idea the author is presenting? What idea is being reinforced by the author’s use of the medium? How does the medium contribute to the reader’s understanding of the passage? You will see these examples as question stems for the author’s use of the chosen medium.

Choose a magazine and flip through it, specifically looking for articles that include pictures and/or graphs. When you come to an article that interests you, read the text. Cut out the picture and glue it onto your reader’s response paper. Then write how the medium contributes to the idea expressed in the article, indicate what idea is being reinforced by the medium, or how the medium contributes to the reader’s understanding of the passage. You try it: