LESSON 19 TEACHER’S GUIDE The Story of Dorothea … author describes Lange’s photographs as emotional and compassionate. The author points out that many historians consider her

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L E S S O N 1 9 T E A C H E R ’ S G U I D E

The Story of Dorothea Langeby Nancy N. Ragno

Fountas-Pinnell Level UBiographySelection SummaryDorothea Lange was a photographer who used her images to help people during times of need, particularly the Great Depression. Her powerful images became a symbol of the plight of many desperate people.

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Characteristics of the Text Genre • Biography

Text Structure • Third-person narrative organized in six sections• Selection arranged in chronological order

Content • Factual information about the life of Dorothea Lange• Information about suffering in the Great Depression• Description of some of Lange’s most famous photographs

Themes and Ideas • People can use their talents to help others. • People should be helped in times of need.• Sometimes photographs can be more powerful than words.

Language and Literary Features

• Expository language• Descriptive language important to understanding Lange and the Great Depression

Sentence Complexity • A mix of short and complex sentences• Multiple items in series

Vocabulary • Geographical and photography terms: California, Southwest, photojournalist, studioWords • Many multisyllable words some of them challenging, such as photographer, catastrophe,

abandoned, allegianceIllustrations • Photographs

• Captions for picturesBook and Print Features • Thirteen pages of text with photographs on most pages

• Section headings• Timeline

© 2006. Fountas, I.C. & Pinnell, G.S. Teaching for Comprehending and Fluency, Heinemann, Portsmouth, N.H.

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Expand Your Vocabulary

candid – honest and open in what you are saying, p. 9

composition – something that is created, especially a written work, p. 6

photojournalist – a photographer that takes pictures of news events and tells the story of what has happened through the photos, p. 9

point of view – a way of looking at or thinking about something, p. 13

The Story of Dorothea Lange by Nancy N. Ragno

Build BackgroundHelp students use their knowledge of the Great Depression to visualize the story. Build interest by asking questions such as the following: What do you know about the Great Depression? What happens when people don’t have jobs? Read the title and author and talk about the cover photography. Tell students that this is a biography. Ask students what kind of information they can expect to fi nd in a biography.

Introduce the TextGuide students through the text, noting important ideas, and helping with unfamiliar language and vocabulary so they can read the text successfully. Here are some suggestions:

Page 2: Explain that this biography is about a woman who used her photographs of people during the Great Depression to help bring about change.Suggested language: Look at page 2 of this book. Look at the photograph of the woman and her children in the car. Dorothea Lange used photographs such as these to help people see how desperate the Great Depression was. Ask: How does this picture make you feel? What details do you notice in this photograph?

Page 3: Read the fi rst sentence under the heading “Lange’s early life.” Explain that documentary photography provides a visual record, or document, of real events.

Pages 8–10: Tell students that Lange worked with Paul Taylor as a photojournalist. In her work as a photojournalist, she used candid photos to show the lives of those in need.

Page 11: Have students take a moment to look at the photo of the migrant mother. Ask: What details do you notice in this photograph?

Turn back to the beginning of the biography and read to fi nd out how Dorothea Lange’s photographs infl uenced others.

2 Lesson 19: The Story of Dorothea LangeGrade 4© Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company

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ReadHave students read silently while you listen to individual students read aloud. Support their understanding of the text as needed.

Remind students to use the Infer/Predict Strategy and to think of how they can use what they know to make predictions about the text.

Discuss and Revisit the TextPersonal ResponseInvite students to share their personal responses to the book. Suggested language: Do you think Dorothea Lange was a great photographer? Why or why not?

Ways of ThinkingAs you discuss the text, help students understand these points:

Thinking Within the Text Thinking Beyond the Text Thinking About the Text

• Dorothea Lange helped many people during a time of need.

• The Great Depression was a very hard time in U.S. history.

• The photograph Migrant Mother was the symbol of the Great Depression.

• People should do what they can to help those in need.

• Lives can change in an instant.

• The photographs help the reader visualize the events and people in the book.

• The author includes dates and a timeline that help the reader understand the information provided in the book.

• The section heads help divide the text into a sequential order.

© 2006. Fountas, I.C. & Pinnell, G.S. Teaching for Comprehending and Fluency, Heinemann, Portsmouth, N.H.

Choices for Further Support• Fluency Invite students to participate in choral reading. Remind them to pay attention

to their reading rate. They should slow down when the text is diffi cult in order to better understand the information. Have students pay careful attention to punctuation. They should pause briefl y at commas, and they should come to a full stop at periods and dashes.

• Comprehension Based on your observations of the students’ reading and discussion, revisit parts of the text to clarify or extend comprehension. Remind students to go back to the text to support their ideas.

• Phonics/Word Work Provide practice as needed with words and word parts, using examples from the text. Explain to students that adjectives are used to describe nouns. Adjectives help readers visualize the information more clearly. For example, on page 3, Lange’s photographs (noun) are described as emotional and compassionate. Ask students how these words help them visualize the impact Lange’s photographs had on people. Have students look through the book for other examples of vivid adjectives.



Writing about ReadingCritical ThinkingHave students complete the Critical Thinking questions on BLM 19.9.

RespondingHave students complete the activities at the back of the book, using their Reader’s Notebook. Use the instruction below as needed to reinforce or extend understanding of the comprehension skill.

Target Comprehension SkillPersuasion

Target Comprehension Skill Remind students that persuasive text is used to make readers

think about a subject in certain way. Model how to add details to the Graphic Organizer, using a “Think Aloud” like the one below:

Think Aloud

Dorothea Lange used persuasion in her photographs to get the government to step in and provide aid for those in need during the Great Depression. Add “to get help for those in need” in the “Goal” section of your chart. For the second reason, write “people were suffering terribly during the Great Depression.”

Practice the SkillEncourage students to share their examples of another selection that uses persuasion to try to get the reader to feel a certain way about a topic.

Writing Prompt: Thinking Beyond the TextHave students write a response to the prompt on page 6. Remind them that when they think beyond the text, they use their personal knowledge to reach new understandings.

Assessment Prompts• What can readers tell about Dorothea Lange from reading this biography?

• The main purpose of the biography is to

________________________________________________________________.

• What sentences from the biography show that Dorothea Lange was an infl uential person?



Critical ThinkingRead and answer the questions.

1. Think within the text How is a photojournalist different from

a regular photographer?

2. Think within the text How was Lange able to take such

strong pictures of the Californian migrant workers?

3. Think beyond the text How do you think Lange’s life

experiences prepared her to be a photojournalist?

4. Think about the text How does the author try to persuade

the reader that Dorothea is worthy of admiration?

Making Connections Describe the way in which another person was able to address the problems of suffering people.

Write your answer in your Reader’s Notebook.

11Critical Thinking© Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

Lesson 19B L A C K L I N E M A S T E R 1 9 . 9

Grade 4, Unit 4: Never Give Up!

Name Date

The Story of Dorothea Lange

Critical Thinking

A photojournalist takes unposed shots to record the truth. A regular photographer

often edits a shot for artistic reasons.

Lange was dedicated to telling their stories. She would set them at ease, explain

what she wanted to do, start conversations, and scribble their words.

Having polio as a child taught Lange compassion. As a portrait photographer, she

learned how to bring out the character and personality of her subjects.

The author describes Lange’s photographs as emotional and compassionate. The

author points out that many historians consider her photograph “Migrant Mother”

to be the greatest photograph of all time.

Possible responses shown.

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English Language DevelopmentReading Support Pair advanced and intermediate readers to read the biography softly, or have students listen to the audio or online recordings. Remind them that this biography is about the power of photography to accomplish good things.

Cognates The text includes many cognates. Point out the English words and their Spanish equivalents: association (asociación), horizon (horizonte), publicity (publicidad), violence (violencia), and composition (composición).

Oral Language DevelopmentCheck student comprehension, using a dialogue that best matches your students’ English profi ciency level. Speaker 1 is the teacher, Speaker 2 is the student.

Beginning/Early Intermediate Intermediate Early Advanced/ Advanced

Speaker 1: Who is the biography about?

Speaker 2: Dorothea Lange

Speaker 1: What was her job?

Speaker 2: photographer and photojournalist

Speaker 1: What did she take pictures of?

Speaker 2: people

Speaker 1: What type of people did Lange take pictures of?

Speaker 2: She took pictures of people during the Great Depression.

Speaker 1: What did Lange’s mother want her to be?

Speaker 2: Lange’s mother wanted Dorothea to be a teacher.

Speaker 1: How did Dorothea Lange’s photos help people during the Great Depression?

Speaker 2: Lange took pictures of people who were in need. She then sent these pictures to people in the government. The government was so moved by these pictures that it sent help to those in need.



Name Date

The Story of Dorothea LangeThinking Beyond the Text

Think about the questions below. Then write your answer in two or three paragraphs.

Remember that when you think beyond the text, you use your personal knowledge to reach new understandings.

You may have heard the expression “A picture is worth a thousand words.” Choose one of the photographs in this book. Study the photo carefully. Then explain what the photo communicates to you. Do you think the photo is more powerful than words? Why or why not?



Critical ThinkingRead and answer the questions.

1. Think within the text How is a photojournalist different from

a regular photographer?

2. Think within the text How was Lange able to take such

strong pictures of the Californian migrant workers?

3. Think beyond the text How do you think Lange’s life

experiences prepared her to be a photojournalist?

4. Think about the text How does the author try to persuade

the reader that Dorothea is worthy of admiration?

Making Connections Describe the way in which another person was able to address the problems of suffering people.

Write your answer in your Reader’s Notebook.

Lesson 19B L A C K L I N E M A S T E R 1 9 . 9

Name Date


Critical Thinking



1413

959

Student Date Lesson 19

B L A C K L I N E M A S T E R 1 9 . 1 3

Running Record FormRunning Record Form

The Story of Dorothea Lange LEVEL U


Behavior Code Error

Read word correctly ✓cat 0

Repeated word, sentence, or phrase

®cat

0

Omission —cat 1

Behavior Code Error

Substitution cutcat 1

Self-corrects cut sccat 0

Insertion the

ˆcat 1

Word told Tcat 1

page Selection Text Errors Self-Corrections

8

9

Taylor was struck by the photographs Lange had taken of

people living on the streets. Taylor convinced Lange that they

should work together, that by combining his written

commentary with her photographs, they could create a

powerful, convincing report.

Taylor was right. It turned out to be a brilliant idea. Their

association proved to be a very effective one.

Lange worked with Taylor as a photojournalist; that is, she

used her camera to tell a story, just as a journalist uses words

to write a news report. A photojournalist does not work in the

same way a regular photographer does.

Comments: Accuracy Rate (# words read correctly/100 ×

100)

%

Total Self- Corrections



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LESSON 19 TEACHER’S GUIDE The Story of Dorothea … author describes Lange’s photographs as emotional and compassionate. The author points out that many historians consider her