“The many tinted woods”: building online teacher resources with photography collections

This thesis aims to answer the question: how can photography collections be used as interpretative tools to build visual and media literacy skills through creative learning opportunities aligned with the Ontario education curriculum? The project has two components: an analytical paper and a teacher resource – created according to the Art Gallery of Ontario standard – to introduce teachers to teaching with photographs through interdisciplinary lessons in the visual culture of Canada from 1860 to the early 1900s. An analysis of the Ontario curriculum documents, identifying both limitations and benefits, and aims to support grade 7 and 8 teachers in the classroom are included. Using Canadian photographs from the AGO’s collection unites arts education and visual literacy with core academic subjects by prompting students, through a range of activities to engage with the subjects, aesthetic elements, history and materials of photographic media, and thus to interpret daily life at this time.