I have the students bring a family photograph or photograph of friends to class (do not have students read the Davenport essay before class). Ideally, the photograph will be posed rather than candid, but need not be professionally made: any snapshot will do. The class reads the Davenport essay aloud in class, and I ask them to make a list of Davenport’s claims about what can be inferred about the couple and their material environment from the painting. Here follows a prompt for getting them to do this: In his “reading� of Grant Wood’s painting American Gothic, Guy Davenport draws a number of conclusions about the couple and their environment. In paragraph 2, for instance, he calls the couple “sober� and “industrious,� “prudent� and “wise.� Davenport observes a bit later that the woman is “a step behind her husband,� and implies that this position derives from Protestant religious tradition. Later, Davenport calls the couple “middle-class�; he “reads� their class position from the material trappings that surround the couple. I have students make their own lists of these and other types of claims Davenport makes for the couple, their class position, and their environment. After they have made their lists, the students can look at the painting and see if they agree with Davenport’s conclusions. Next, I have them look at the photographs they have brought with them, and make a list of statements detailing what they can conclude about the subject(s) of the photograph, based on the material trappings surrounding the subject(s) as well as the body language, poses, expressions, and overall self-presentation of the subject(s). Then, I have the students exchange photographs, so that someone who does not know the subject(s) can try to “read� about the personality and class position of the subject(s) from the photo. The outside “reader� should also make a list of observations. Students can then compare their lists of observations, and class can end with a full-group discussion about how you “read� images.