Lesson 26: Seen and Unseen: Research, Part 1

Lead a brief class discussion and encourage students to draw on the survivor stories and craft lens annotations from the previous two lessons. Highlight the importance of noting what is visible versus what is hidden.

Display the Essential Question: How can readers evaluate words and images for accuracy, perspective, and ethical use? Then, ask the following questions:

• Ask: What are some reasons that different people might tell different versions of the same event?

  • Some people’s memory might be more accurate, or two people might have had different reactions to the same event, agreeing on what happened but not on the impact that it had on them. Different people might have experienced different things within the overall situation. (For example, one person remembers that the weather was hot because they worked outside in the summer; another person remembers cold winters.) Differences might also be intentional. For example, someone might conceal or distort the truth on purpose. (For example, a guard claims that prisoners were “escaping” when they were actually walking toward the camp.) Or one person might leave out details they consider painful or shameful to recall, while another speaks candidly about those same experiences.

• Ask: How can hearing about the same event from different perspectives affect our understanding?

  • When different perspectives corroborate each other or provide different details that seem to go together, we can understand the event better and feel more confident that the stories are based on facts. When different accounts of an event contradict each other in major ways, it can make it harder for us to know which accounts are objectively true.

• Ask: Why is it important for us to compare perspectives?

  • Comparing perspectives can help us get a fuller understanding (especially if one source includes details that another does not), which reminds us not to think we know all about something after reading only one source. When sources disagree strongly about what happened or why it matters, it helps us recognize that sources might be incorrect or biased so that we remember to evaluate what we read or see.

Connection to Today’s Learning

• Say: Today, we are going to compare survivor testimony with other sources besides Seen and Unseen. As you consider different perspectives on the same events, it will be important to weigh those perspectives carefully and thoughtfully and to consider why they might differ.

Model kernel sentence combining for students to explain the text. Have students work in pairs, and then individually, to practice combining sentences on their own.

Sentence Combining

Say these Directions: Look at the displayed kernel sentences. Follow along as we read and combine sentences together.

Display two kernel sentences about the anchor text, such as the following:

• Say: The photograph makes the camp housing look cozy. The illustration completes the picture to show how crowded the camp was.

Read the kernel sentences aloud, then have students chorally repeat. 

Then, model one way to combine the kernel sentences:

• Say: The photograph makes the camp housing look cozy, but the illustration completes the picture to show how crowded the camp was.

Discuss the meaning and punctuation of the new sentence. Call attention to the role played by the conjunction in your example. “Cozy” has a positive connotation, and “crowded” has a negative connotation, so “and” would not make sense. “But” connects the clauses into a single sentence that makes sense in terms of the relationship between the original kernel sentences.

Display two more kernel sentences about the anchor text, such as:

• Say: In the photos, the prisoners appear cheerful. Their letters and interviews often reveal sorrow and frustration.

Have students work in pairs to combine the kernel sentences using the provided model. Then, lead students to discuss the meaning of the new sentence.

Review with the whole class how the sentences combine and identify different ways to combine them. Discuss examples that may not follow the model and clarify how the meaning changes if the punctuation and conjunctions change. For example:

• Say: The conjunction “yet” shows a contrast between the cheerful photos and the sorrowful letters and interviews. If we used the word “and” instead, we would miss a chance to express this contrast clearly.

Finally, project two more kernel sentences about the anchor text, such as:

• Say: These images show that the prisoners grew vegetables in gardens and on farms. We do not know if they ate the food that they grew.

This time, have students work independently to combine the sentences. Then, invite one to two students to share their results and check with the rest of the class to be sure there are no changes in meaning between the original and combined sentences.

Once students have finished practicing, affirm the connection to today’s learning goals:

Connection to Today’s Learning

• Say: In the second half of today’s lesson, we will be doing some brief independent research to widen the range of sources we are analyzing. When we write about multiple sources, we frequently notice similarities and differences that we want to make clear to the reader. Often, a compound or complex sentence gives us a better way to express these comparisons than a series of short, isolated sentences.

Part A: Compare Perspectives (RI.7.6, RI.7.7) (15 minutes)

Students will work in pairs to complete a graphic organizer that compares perspectives across different sources. Remind students of the difference between a primary source (writing or other documentation by people who directly experienced an event) and a secondary source (description or analysis by people who did not directly experience an event). Then, provide time for students to complete the chart for their selected three sources.

Say these Directions: Use the graphic organizer to compare perspectives across three sources:

1. A survivor story from Seen and Unseen (text, illustration, photo)

2. One photographer’s work from Investigation 1 (Lange, Miyatake, or Adams)

3. One informational source about WWII incarceration (e.g., government documents, press article, or NPR’s “3 Views of Internment”)

Then, discuss with students:

• Ask: How does each source shape what we perceive as truth?

  • The sources give us a combination of facts and personal feelings to sort through. Archie Miyatake’s statement about feeling free shows that the camp was operated like a prison and the inmates experienced it that way. The mere freedom to go outside the fence meant a lot to him. Toyo Miyatake’s photos show us what the camp looked like and help us understand who lived there and how they dealt with their situation. They show how people sought freedom while recognizing their captivity. Finally, the “3 Views” article gives further context on what Toyo Miyatake photographed, why he did so, and what message we can take from his photos.

• Ask: What responsibilities do we have as modern witnesses evaluating words and images from or about important events? How do primary and secondary sources contribute differently to our understanding?

  • As modern witnesses, our responsibility is to learn about important events from different points of view and to seek out the context that we need to understand those points of view. Primary sources are important to let us hear directly from actual witnesses. Secondary sources can be important to help us understand events and their impacts.

Provide students with a confidence continuum (i.e., 1–5). As needed, model how to demonstrate a level of confidence using the continuum.

Part B: Research Secondary Sources (RI.7.6, RI.7.7, W.7.9) (15 minutes)

Have students work in pairs to research and discuss additional secondary sources.

Say these Directions: Conduct brief research to locate one credible additional source that corroborates, complements, or contradicts your findings. This could be:

• an oral history excerpt

• a government document

• a news article or work of photojournalism

Use these prompts when choosing and evaluating sources:

• Is this a primary or secondary source?

• Who created this source? For what purpose?

• What does it show clearly? What is left out?

• How does it support or challenge the other sources you’ve looked at?

Discuss at least two of these questions:

1. Ask: How does the additional source corroborate, complement, or contradict one or more of the others that you compared?

   • The article we found complements what we learned about Ansel Adams. It offers an explanation for why Adams chose to depict the prisoners as cheerful and resilient. There is some discussion of this in Seen and Unseen as well, but the article frames Adams’s actions as a different way of challenging the incarceration policy by helping the prisoners reintegrate into public life. It also explains what Adams set out to show in his book Born Free and Equal.

2. Ask: How has reviewing the additional source changed your understanding of events?

   • We realized that, even after comparing three sources, there was more to learn. This source helped us recognize that the people involved with the camps didn’t necessarily mean harm to the people in them and that regular Americans might not have approved of interning Japanese people.

3. Ask: How can comparing sources help us responsibly understand and evaluate important events?

   • Comparing sources makes it less likely that we will miss something important or ignore something that an influential or authoritative source wants us to overlook. It also helps keep us from assuming that people experienced incarceration the same way since we can see its effects on different individuals and groups.

Have students write a short response to the prompt. Collect the responses as formative data.

Quick Write

Say these Directions: Write two to three sentences in response to the following:

• Choose one insight from comparing sources. How does using multiple perspectives help you understand Japanese American experiences more fully, and what remains unseen?

  • By comparing Toyo Miyatake’s photos with an art gallery’s description of those photos, I was able to understand that his working conditions limited what he could capture. For example, he had to work at dawn or dusk to avoid being caught, and he often could not risk photographing people until he became the official photographer at Manzanar. Thus, many day-to-day details of camp life remain unseen even though Miyatake wished to “record everything.”