Lesson Three

Asia Rising and Yellow Promise/Yellow Peril – Lesson 05

A Visual Essay

Introduction
Visual literacy means students are not only able to interpret visual texts, but to produce them as well. In this lesson students will first evaluate a visual argument based on the content of the Russo-Japanese War postcards. Students will then design their own visual argument. This exercise asks students to use the same skills and tools they would use to produce a written essay, but in producing a persuasive visual text instead.

National History Standards

Objectives
At the conclusion of this activity, students will be better able to:

1. Read and analyze visual texts.
2. Synthesize and organize information.
3. Recognize history as a conscious construction.
4. Evaluate and construct a visual argument.

Time Required
Two class periods

Materials and preparation
Internet access
Projection device

Procedure:
Lesson 01a and Lesson 01b are highly recommended prior to this lesson.

1. Tell students that in this lesson they will be both evaluating and constructing arguments related to the Russo-Japanese War. These arguments will not be written texts, but visual texts.

2. Discuss with students the components of a solid persuasive essay. Include the following points in the discussion:

Thesis
Support
Logic
Flow of narrative
Originality of thought
Organization

As a class, establish your own guidelines for a solid argument and essay and build a rubric for a good essay. This is the tool by which students will be evaluated at the end of this lesson.

Online rubric generators:
Rubistar
Kathy Shrock’s Guide for Educators

3. Using the class-generated assessment rubric, students should assess the following two visual arguments of the Russo-Japanese War:

Persuasive Essay #1 (PowerPoint)
Persuasive Essay #2 (PowerPoint)

Tell the class that the visual essays are exactly the same, but the second essay contains more descriptive written text. Students should evaluate the essays for persuasive arguments and compare them. Which one is more persuasive in its argument, and why? Teachers may choose to show the essays in front of the entire class or have students individually view and evaluate them. The latter option would allow students to work at their own pace.

4. After students have evaluated both persuasive essays with the class-generated rubric, discuss the two visual essays. Include the following in the discussion:

What was the argument in the essay?
How was the main point—the thesis—specifically supported?
Can students identify the thesis and the evidence used to support that thesis?
Was either visual essay persuasive?
Was one more persuasive than the other?
As a class, discuss the students’ evaluations of the visual persuasive essays. Were students mostly in agreement? Why, or why not?

5. Instruct students to choose one of the following topics. All are related to the Russo-Japanese War:

Social Darwinism
Nationalism
Propaganda

6. Working with the topic they have chosen, students should develop a thesis statement for their visual essay. A thesis statement presents a point of view or a position on the topic. Students should then compose an outline to support this thesis statement, just as they would in a written essay. The composition of the thesis statement and supporting outline must be completed before the students choose images to construct their argument. Remind the students that this is not a visual display, but a visual argument.

7. Working with the images in the database, students should select 18-20 images to support their thesis statement. This will be a very selective process; students should only select the images that make the strongest case for their position.

8. After the students have completed their essays, instruct them to use the class-generated rubric to assess their own work.

9. Extension—if time allows, instruct the students to construct an argument that counters the two persuasive visual essays presented in this lesson about modern war. Alternatively the students could be asked to construct a visual argument that counters the one they presented.

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