Using an Image to Teach

    I use this image to teach about two things: the Boston Massacre and propaganda. I show this image to students, asking them to share things they see in the image. We then have a discussion about how this image makes them feel and what they believe based on this image. We use this conversation to lead the way into our discussion about propaganda. Many of my students are unaware of what that word means and I believe that this image is helpful in showing it.

    Propaganda is defined as biased information used to promote a certain point of view (especially political). The image above was used to promote the American colonist's belief that the British government was harming them in unlawful ways. When discussing this image, we compare the description of the Boston Massacre from both perspectives. It becomes clear that this newspaper was attempting to gain favor for their cause. This image led many colonists to join the Patriot side, so it is a wonderful example of propaganda. The conversation about how people are persuaded using images is especially interesting given the current political climate. With artificial intelligence and the ability to manufacture more life-like images, it is important to teach students to think critically about images that they are seeing. No matter what party you are affiliated with, it is important to be able to identify bias in sources and imagery. Using a text with descriptions of the event from both perspectives allows students to see the larger picture. They are able to understand both sides to form a more complete view of the truth. When using images to teach, it is important to discuss the context of the images in order to assess and discuss any biases.

    Teaching with images has many benefits. First, it allows students to visualize people, places, and events. For example, while reading a novel, it might be beneficial to show the illustrator's artwork of an event in the story. Students could "read" the emotions on the character's faces and connect it with the dialogue. Students start using images to tell stories from a very young age. They are asked to illustrate an image and to write a story that goes along with it. Additionally, there are some books that are just pictures, inspiring students to create their own story using those images. In my classroom, I use an app called Storyboard That. This is a site where students can create their own comic books. I use this for many projects; I have used it as a "getting to know you" assignment where students create a comic of their best day over Summer vacation; I have used it as a fun incentive at the end of our unit on writing narratives where students can create a comic version of their story. This site allows students to bring their stories to life. I have found that students have a relatively easy time using this app. I take 15 minutes at the beginning of the assignment to share my screen for a "tour" of the site and they are able to easily navigate it from there. Additionally, I have used Canva or Google Slides for poster projects. Many of the mid-unit assignments in my ELA curriculum require students to make posters. I find that these posters can be cumbersome (I teach three sections of language arts with about 5-6 groups per class) and are a waste of paper because students inevitably need a new poster after making an error. For this reason, I chose to use an online format for poster creation. Students are able to edit it to be exactly the way they want it and are able to use pictures from the Internet. Canva can be trickier with younger students because it has so many different options and is sometimes frustrating when "placing" elements onto the poster. Overall, my students enjoy using these online apps to create images. I often use this as a more fun part two to assignments; to deepen students ability to engage with their writing or to show what their group discussion with a text.