Updated: April 27, 2017
1. After looking closely at the image above (or at the full-size image), think about these three questions:
• What is going on in this picture?
• What do you see that makes you say that?
• What more can you find?
2. Next, join the conversation by clicking on the comment button and posting in the box that opens on the right. (Students 13 and older are invited to comment, although teachers of younger students are welcome to post what their students have to say.)
3. After you have posted, try reading back to see what others have said, then respond to someone else by posting another comment. Use the “Reply” button or the @ symbol to address that student directly.
Each Monday, our collaborator, Visual Thinking Strategies, will facilitate a discussion from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. Eastern time by paraphrasing comments and linking to responses to help students’ understanding go deeper. You might use their responses as models for your own.
4. On Thursday afternoons, we will reveal at the bottom of this post more information about the photo. How does reading the caption and learning its back story help you see the image differently?
• Learn how other teachers use it.
• Read our introductory post.
• Find out about the philosophy, curriculum and professional development opportunities offered by Visual Thinking Strategies.
Updated: April 27, 2017
This week’s image comes from the March 3, 2017 “The Week in Pictures” slide show on the Lens blog. The original caption reads:
Deers crossed the path of an Indonesian honor guard preparing for the arrival of King Salman of Saudi Arabia at the presidential palace in Bogor on Wednesday.
You can read more about King Salman’s monthlong tour in Asia to promote economic ties in this article. It begins:
You could call it bling diplomacy.
As part of a monthlong tour in Asia to promote economic ties, King Salman of Saudi Arabia arrived in Indonesia on Wednesday to great fanfare, accompanied, the news media said, by a retinue with a net worth in the billions of dollars, including about 1,500 people, among them 25 high-ranking princes, 10 ministers and more than 100 security personnel.
Over the last two weeks, they arrived in six Boeing passenger jets and one Lockheed C-130 Hercules, a military transport aircraft, carrying 506 tons of cargo, including two Mercedes-Benz S600 limousines and two electric elevators for the king’s personal use. An Indonesian freight company told the Antara news agency that it employed 572 workers just to deal with the delegation’s luggage. The king, 81, used a golden-hued escalator to descend from a jet painted with the words “God Bless You.”
Pageantry is hardly unusual for any royal family, even less so for the Saudis, who are famously extravagant spenders even as their citizens are struggling under a government austerity program. Details about his entourage made headlines around the world, and appeared to overshadow the purpose of his trip.
But the size and pomp of the king’s entourage may indicate efforts to strengthen trade ties with Asia at a time of falling oil prices, experts said: A demonstration of wealth can be a show of power. It involves “stroking egos and putting on a show: The Saudis are in town,” said Peter Salisbury, a research fellow at Chatham House in London. “When that number of people show up, it creates a stir. It’s symbolism.”
Adek Berry is the photographer.