Lesson 10: Seen and Unseen, Part 5

Have students take out Seen and Unseen and their annotations from Lesson 9. Students should reopen to the section listing the WRA photography rules on page 38.

Turn and Talk

Say these Directions: In Lesson 9, we studied the photography rules on page 38 and noticed that they limited what Dorothea Lange could show. Today we are going to take a more critical look at how the written rules and unwritten regulation shaped what the public saw and what stayed hidden. This matters because our performance task asks us to explain, with evidence, how records shape public memory.

• Ask: How did the written rules shape what the public could see and not see about Manzanar?

  • The rules against photographing guard towers, barbed wire, guns, and searchlights were intended to hide from the public the fact that Japanese Americans were being imprisoned and watched. If that prison-like imagery had been photographed and seen at the time by the public, people outside the camp might have protested more about the inhumanity of the incarceration. By censoring that imagery, the WRA could make the publicized version of Manzanar seem less controlled and harmful than it really was.

• Ask: Who benefited from these rules, and who was harmed by them?

  • The WRA benefited because the rules protected the government’s image and limited public criticism. Japanese Americans at Manzanar were harmed because the severity of their conditions and loss of freedom were hidden from the public.

Connection to Today's Learning:

Students are ready to move from understanding how written rules shaped what the public was allowed to see to analyzing how unwritten rules also censored the truth.

Use this mini-lesson to show students how sentence combining helps writers explain relationships between ideas rather than listing facts one at a time.

Language Study

Say these Directions: Effective explanatory writing does more than list details. We combine related ideas to help the reader understand causes and contrasts more clearly. In today’s lesson, you will see how combining sentences helps writers explain relationships between ideas, like cause and contrast, instead of listing facts one at a time. Let’s start by looking at the quote below:

Display page 38 of Seen and Unseen and direct students to read the sentence beginning with “Finally, they let her work…” and ending with “… what she photographed.”

“Finally, they let her work, but now the military had a new way to control what she photographed.”

Then display this related idea:

• Say: Many of her photographs could not be seen until after the war.

• Say: First, notice the relationship inside the quote. One part sounds positive because Lange is finally allowed to work, but the next part shows that control did not go away. Then we will add the related idea to show the effect of that control.

Teach:

• Say: When I read this quote, I notice the word but right away. That tells me the author is setting up a contrast between permission and control. At first, it sounds like Lange finally has freedom to do her job, but the second half of the sentence shows that the military still controlled what could be photographed. Then I add the next idea about the photographs not being seen until after the war, and now I can show the effect of that control.

• Say: I want my combined sentence to help the reader understand that being allowed to work did not mean being allowed to tell the full truth. I might write: “Although Lange was finally allowed to work, the military had a new way to control what she photographed, so many of her photographs could not be seen until after the war.” That sentence is stronger than three separate statements because it clearly connects the contrast and the consequence.

• Say: Combine the chunks into a sentence that shows both contrast and effect. Use connecting words that match those relationships.

• Ask: Which connector best shows the contrast inside the quote before we add the effect?

  • Although works well because the sentence first shows that Lange was finally allowed to work and then contrasts that with the military still controlling her photographs.

• Say: Let’s start our sentence with although so we can show the contrast first and then add the effect with so.

Display and underline Although and guide students to use the chunks to compose a sentence. Record the sentence as it is constructed.

Combined Sentence

• Say: Although Lange was finally allowed to work, the military had a new way to control what she photographed, so many of her photographs could not be seen until after the war.

• Say: Now, let’s add another sentence that keeps the same idea but says it in a slightly different way. This time, we will use but to highlight the contrast more directly.

• Say: Add a sentence that restates the idea using but to show contrast.

Guide students to base an additional sentence on the first two chunks and then extend the effect. Provide the first clause and the connector and elicit the rest of the sentence from students.

Additional Sentence

Display the sentence:

The military let Lange take photographs, but it still controlled which images the public could see during the war.

Work in pairs to combine another set of sentences.

• Say: Work in pairs to combine the following sentences using a connector. This time, use a connector that shows contrast.

Some photographs showed work, gardens, or sports.

Those photographs did not show the full context of confinement.

• Although some photographs showed work, gardens, or sports, those photographs did not show the full context of confinement.

After pairs have completed their sentences, invite students to share with the class. If different pairs used different connectors, emphasize that as long as the connector contrasts the two ideas, the sentence is effective.

Connection to Today's Learning

Students will use the same sentence-combining moves to explain how photography rules shaped what the public understood about Manzanar.

Part A: Power, Visibility, and Control (RI.7.3) (12 minutes)

Guide re-examination of page 37, which shows photographs marked “Impounded.” Encourage students to infer why certain photos were censored. Then, turn to the pair of photographs at the bottom of page 37. Lead an analysis of the “unwritten rule” that can be inferred by which photograph was allowed and which one was censored.

Think-Pair-Share

Say these Directions: When Lange got to Manzanar, she was given specific rules to restrict what she photographed, and she had a guard watching to make sure that she obeyed. Analyze these pictures to answer the question written below them.

• Say: As you listen to your partner, jot down notes of what you hear.

• Ask: What is the same about these pictures? What is the main difference between them?

  • In both pictures, a guard is standing next to a person working, maybe picking a crop. On the left, the guard is standing and the person working is kneeling. On the right, both people are standing.

• Ask: What is the effect of that difference?

  • When both people are standing, they seem more equal. It doesn’t emphasize that the guard has power and control over the person working.

• Ask: Considering that difference, why might Major Beasley have censored the photo on the left?

  • The government didn’t want people to know that the Japanese were like prisoners, oppressed and under their power and control.

• Say: We can see control in two ways. How were people being controlled inside the camps? What was censorship used to control?

As students respond, make notes.

• Say: Major Beasley wanted to control the images of the camps so that people outside the camps wouldn’t see how people were controlled. In the camps, people were controlled physically. Outside the camp, people’s understanding was controlled.

• Say: The government used rules and language to shape what people believed, but those choices also hid the reality of imprisonment from the public.

• Ask: What did Miyatake's position as a prisoner — designated Family #9975, Block 20, Building 12, Apartment 4 — make possible in his photography that no outside photographer could capture? What did being part of the community allow him to see and document?

• Say: Think about access, trust, daily life, and moments that might not be visible to outsiders.

Say these Directions: Write the “unwritten rule” that may have made one picture censored. Then, write a cause-and-effect or contrast sentence about that censorship. Then use the graphic organizer below to record notes to analyze and write about photograph restrictions.

• The “unwritten rule” was not to show how controlled people were, by making them seem more equal to the guards than they were. Because the photo showing the worker kneeling was not shown, people outside the camp could believe a more positive story about the camps.

Introduce the 3-Column Chart. Add these headings:

• Shown

• Censored

• Hidden/Controlled

Part B: Writing an Explanatory Paragraph (W.7.2a,b,d,f, W.7.9b) (18 minutes)

Say these Directions: Look back at page 37 in Seen and Unseen and choose one photograph marked "Impounded." Using details from that photograph as your evidence, write an analytical paragraph answering this question:

• What does this censored photograph reveal about the reality of camp life that the government was trying to hide?

Your paragraph should include a claim, evidence from your chosen photograph, and an explanation of what the censorship reveals about government power and control.

Say these Directions: Let’s use the RACE strategy to respond to the question by organizing your analytical paragraph that includes evidence from the photograph. RACE stands for “Restate the question” + “Answer the question” + “Cite evidence” + “Explain your answer.” When you complete the “R” and “A” steps, you should frame your topic sentence and opening sentences into a clear thesis that previews what your evidence will show.

Display the RACE writing strategy graphic organizer:

RACE = Restate + Answer + Cite + Explain

R – Restate the question

• Restates the question as a declarative sentence

• Establishes the main topic/thesis of the paragraph

A – Answer the question

• Provides an answer to the question

• Includes a preview telling the reader what to expect in the paragraph

C – Cite evidence from the texts

• Specific quote or paraphrase from the texts

• Must be introduced smoothly (not just dropped in)

E – Explain your answer

• Tells what the evidence shows

• Points to specific words/phrases

• Makes the connection explicit for the reader

Model taking notes that align with the RACE strategy using a graphic organizer to respond to the question “What does this censored photograph reveal about the reality of camp life that the government was trying to hide?” The following RACE chart can serve as a model addressing the “impounded” photograph on page 42.

Review: Formal Style

• Say: Today’s explanatory paragraph requires formal style. We are writing to inform, on an important issue, which means we need to approach it differently than an informal conversation. Here are some guidelines to keep in mind:

  • First, no contractions. For example, write do not, not don’t.

  • Second, no first-person opinion language. For example, write the evidence shows, not I think.

  • Third, no slang or casual fillers. For example, words like stuff, kinda, and like aren’t effective in analytical writing.

  • Finally, use specific, precise vocabulary we have learned so far in the Unit. For example, instead of only talking about the ‘rules’ use the words restriction or censorship to convey your point more clearly.

• Say: As you draft today, reread each sentence and ask: could I say this more precisely?

Directions: Now use the RACE strategy to help you analyze another “impounded” photograph from page 37 in response to the question “What does this censored photograph reveal about the reality of camp life that the government was trying to hide?”

• Lange's photograph on p. 42 of Seen and Unseen reveals the reality of camp life at Manzanar that the government's censorship was designed to hide. It shows that Japanese American families were forced to live in crowded, bare, and uncomfortable conditions, which was nothing like the clean and organized narrative the government wanted people to believe. In the photograph, an elderly man crouches on the floor next to a small heater while a young mother stands nearby holding her baby, and a hanging sheet is the only thing separating their space from the rest of the barrack. These details make it clear that families, including elderly people and babies, had almost nothing in their "homes": no furniture, no privacy, and no real shelter. It is no surprise, then, that the government stamped this photo "Impounded" to suppress the truth about how people were actually living in confinement at Manzanar.

Connection to Today's Learning

Students have moved from analyzing hidden and visible details to explaining, in writing, how those choices shaped public memory.

Quick Write

• Say: Before we close, take a minute to reflect on what helped you write analytically today, and why.

Say these Directions: Did using the RACE strategy help you write about how the public’s impressions of Manzanar were controlled? Why? Write one to three sentences.

• Using the RACE strategy helped me stay organized because it made sure I didn't just describe the photograph and stop there. The "Explain" part especially pushed me to think about why the government censored the image, not just what was in it, which made my paragraph feel more like real analysis than just a summary.

Optional Sentence Starter:

Today I showed that the WRA controlled public memory by ___, and next time I want to improve ___.

Lesson 10 Writing Rubric: Explanatory Paragraph — Photography Rules & What the Camera Couldn't Show

Writing prompt: Write an explanatory paragraph analyzing how the WRA's written and unwritten rules about photography shaped what the public saw of Japanese American incarceration. Use evidence from Seen and Unseen and explain what the controlled images reveal and conceal.

• Ask: The censorship rules meant that the incarcerated community could not control how the public saw their lives. Take a moment to think about that, not as analysts, but as people. If someone else got to decide which images of YOUR life the world would see, what would that feel like? Write 2–3 sentences.

  • If someone controlled which pictures of my life other people could see, I would feel powerless and invisible. They could choose to show me looking happy and skip the times I was scared or angry. The worst part is that people who saw those chosen pictures would think they understood my life, but they wouldn't.

Preview the next section of Seen and Unseen about Toyo Miyatake and respond to the following:

• In your Journal, write two or three questions you have about how someone imprisoned at Manzanar might document camp life differently from an outside photographer.