Visual Literacy

Our world today is changing at a rapid pace more rapid than any other time period in history. Information can be accessed and exchanged at mind blowing speeds. The children of today are used to dynamic visual images whether it be from a video game , a television show or even a movie. Visual Literacy can be defined as the ability to understand and produce visual messages. Both teachers and students can benefit by developing their abilities to create, use and evaluate visual resources (Light Body, 2008). Visual literacy is important for several reasons:

Curriculum Benefits:
- students can learn better when teachers support a variety of learning styles
- students can improve reading and writing skills through the use of visual literacy techniques (studies have shown that processing in competent reading involves both phonological and visual information)
- visual literacy can contribute to visual-spatial intelligence (one of the multiple intelligences identified by Howard Gardiner). It can also be involved in other intelligences such as bodily-kinesthetic, musical, interpersonal, intrapersonal, linguistic, and logical-mathematical.

When I was a geometry teacher I would make the student illustrate each shape as they were working on it. This taught the conceptual rather than procedural development. The visual helped the student understand why the formula worked and in some cases the students developed their own formula. In mathematics there are several concepts that are abstract and the students have a hard time understanding the concept. A visual in this case helps the students to translate the words into meaningful data.
One strategy I find useful is concept mapping. It allows the students to organize their thoughts and ideas about a concept. The internet allows students to visualize concepts that would take the teachers hours to teach. For example, a question could be posed to the effect of: If the dimensions of a prism were doubled what would be the effect on its volume? I would use a geometry software such as Cabri 3D and the students could see the volume changing as the dimensions changed. The internet provides many applets that are interactive and visually stimulating.

The internet is simply a tool or an aid to classroom instruction. Those that would use the internet as a substitute for the teacher are harming our students.

Technology Blog

John Dewey once said, “If we teach today as we taught yesterday, we rob our children of tomorrow." There are some that would say, Why should we try and entertain the students"? The students should just sit and learn like we did. There are so many external factors that affect our students. The old lecture only style is not the most effective way to reach our learners. The old way of "sit and get" did not account for varied learning style. The students who were unable to learn in the traditional style were seen as unable or unwilling to learn. We must as educators vary our instruction to meet the needs of all learners. We must realize that all students do not learn in the same manner. All students do not learn like we learn or in the method that we are comfortable teaching. If we understand and implement the theory that all students are intelligent but in different areas, it will change the way we deliver lessons. When education was first implemented in this country, it was only for the very elite. If we constantly revert back to those methods, we may be indirectly reviving that system.

Technology is a powerful tool in engaging our students in various strategies. Technology allows us to meet various learning modalities. Students can be stimulated with visually and with sounds simultaneously. We are now teaching digital natives they are immersed in technology. Their attention span is being shortened by flashy ads and sound bites. Our students now have video games and movies to keep them engaged. With that being said we must vary our instructional strategies. We can use the same flashy graphics and videos to engage and make our curriculum relevant to our students.

As teachers some of us are afraid of technology, Therefore we must prepare ourselves to meet the needs of our 21st Century learners.