Dorothea Lange, Migrant Woman

5th graders studied the work of Dorothea Lange and her role in telling the story of those who suffered during The Great Depression.  We chose to focus on her most famous and iconic photograph called Migrant Woman.  After brainstorming about what the students thought was happening in the photo, each person was assigned a portion of the photo.  The students then used enlarging techniques as well as  sketching tools to create areas of dark, medium and light value.  These tools could also be used to add detail and areas that are smooth or textural.  It was really amazing to piece each section together and complete the puzzle.  We concluded that the finished product reminded us of Picasso!

At the end of this unit each student participated in an exercise called Freeze Tag Tableau.  We acted out Migrant Woman and the students were able to verbalize their knowledge, and ask any questions they had that were not answered from viewing or discussing the photograph.
If you would like to view their work, the display for this project is located at the top of the stairs on the second floor of the school.