1. Rhetorical Analysis of Images
Lesson Frame: Students will rhetorically analyze images to determine an author’s point of view or purpose Closing Task: I will analyze and write a well-developed paragraph about the author’s purpose of an image.

2. Criteria for Success: Small Group and Whole Class Discussion
When I hear the signal, “focus on me,” I stop any conversation I am having, look at the instructor, and listen for further directions.
I do not speak while others are talking, instead, I listen for opportunities to restate (paraphrase) what someone else has said before I reinforce or challenge their thinking.
I understand that I can be called on at any time, whether I volunteer or not, and that I must actively contribute to the group discussion.
Whenever someone uses an especially good example or phrases their argument eloquently, I take a moment to tell them so before I state my own opinion. (Praise/Rephrase/Persuade)

3. Warm-Up: Migrations: What would you take?
Imagine you must leave your home, possibly forever, and you can only bring what you can fit in your backpack.
What would you pack? Why?
What would you want to take? What would you need to take?
What might you have to leave behind that would be difficult?
What might you think about and how would you feel as you made these decisions?

4. Background Information
During the Great Depression (1929–1939), some farmers couldn’t make enough money to keep their lands because of the struggling economy. Other farms were abandoned because of the horrible dust storms and a lack of rain. The dust and drought made the land impossible to use in sections of Oklahoma, Texas, New Mexico, Colorado, and Kansas, a region that came to be known as the Dust Bowl.
Many of the families impacted by the Dustbowl left their homes quickly, taking with them only the few belongings they could fit in their car and then embarked on long journeys often not knowing where they might end up and what they might do for work, food, and shelter.
Dorothea Lange is a well-known photographer who created thousands of photographs to document the poor conditions of Americans during the Great Depression.

5. Migrant Mother, 1936, Dorothea Lange
Describe what you see and notice:
Where does your eye go first? Where does it go next? Why?
What do we learn about the people in the photograph? How?
Can you tell where and when this image might have been made? If so, how?
What is the mood or feeling of the image? How is that communicated?
What do we know for certain?
What assumptions might we have made?
Can you tell how the photographer feels about her subjects? If so—how?
Do you feel any personal connections to this work? Explain.

6. The Importance of a Title
Original Title: “Destitute pea-pickers in California, a 32 year old mother of seven children. February
Popularly Known As: Migrant Mother
How do the titles impact your reading of the photograph?
Which title is better for engaging the viewer and advancing Lange’s intentions?

7. Comparing Images: How does your reading of these people and their situation change the closer the photographer gets? Why do you think the final portrait became the most publicized of the series?

8. Connections: Migrant Mother and Mona Lisa How are these images alike?

9. Migrant Mother may have even more in common visually with the long tradition of Madonna and Child paintings. Why might Lange have composed her photograph to mirror this tradition?

10. Closing Task: Respond to the following questions in a well-developed paragraph
Describe what you see and notice:
• Where does your eye go first? Where does it go next? Why?
• What can you tell about how the photographer made the picture?
• What do we learn about the people in the photograph? How?
• Can you tell where and when this image might have been made? If so, how?
• What is the mood or feeling of the image? How is that communicated?
• What do we know for certain?
• What assumptions might we have made?
• Can you tell how the photographer feels about her subjects? If so—how?
• Do you feel any personal connections to this work? Explain.