The National Portrait Gallery tells the story of the United States by portraying the people who shape the nation’s history, development, and culture. These individuals understand who we are and remind us of what we can aspire to be.

This Learning Lab collection was designed so that educators can use portraits as a springboard for a conversation in their classrooms. Portraits present insights into history and biography, prompt writing in the classroom, inspire students to create self-portraits, and even offer great ties to science and mathematics. In this guide, you will discover how to teach students to spot visual clues in artworks and then analyze them, similar to dissecting a historical document. Teaching students to use close reading skills with portraiture will produce a rich and memorable investigation of both the sitter and the artist.

The "Learning to Look" strategies in this guide offer unique ways to engage in close looking and portraiture with your students. The "Elements of Portrayal" provide more guiding questions to help you and your students learn how to read portraiture.

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