Why Visual Literacy?
By Diane Webber, Fifth/Sixth Grade Teacher
Shortly after our return to school on January 7, we began to tiptoe toward our mid-year study of building and design. This is one of three large units of study this year, all of which are tied together by the larger question of “voice.” Yet while baseball and civil/human rights strike most people as obvious choices for thematic studies which typically center around a “social studies” topic, building and design might not. So why are we focusing our attention here?
Building and design is part of an intentional increased emphasis on the skills of visual literacy. Visual images are becoming the predominant form of communication across a range of learning resources and across a wide variety of media. The ratio of visual image to text is increasing dramatically, and people of any age benefit from developing vocabulary, experience, and even savvy in it. Visual sign systems are everywhere: dance, film, fashion, exhibitions, monuments, interior design, lighting, computer games, advertising, graphic novels, editorial cartoons, photography, architecture and art.
Continue reading Diane and Jeri’s blog about what we want children to learn.
