MCLB #2

We as educators should care about visual literacy. As we learn throughout this course, it’s important that we realize that literacy is not just reading, writing, and/or speaking. How we achieve literacy can also vary depending on the learner. Multimodality is similar to multiple intelligences, or is an extension of it. Among other things, it is how we express ourselves through visual, written, spoken, tactile, and sensory means. I think literacy is how we gain information but also how we give it back based on our personal interests, experiences, prior knowledge, and opinions.  

Pillars also says from the very beginning of her book that we learn in pictures. When we see a word, we see an image. What we really learn is how to distinguish these images and then attach them to language. Visual literacy is so important because it encourages students to think in pictures and to stay engage in whatever it is they are reading, writing, hearing, or experiencing. Take comic books and graphic novels, for example. Frey and Fisher say that these modes of literature help the struggling reader, motivate those who don’t really like to read, and challenge higher level readers. The images help students to attach the words that they read to images and scenarios and provides a richer experience for the reader. We should care about visual literacy because it provides a medium to help students to images the words that they read, hear, and experience and further provides a way to help students speak better. The more they understand, the better they can convey ideas.

It is difficult, however, to rely only on visual literacy. There is an aspect of imagination removed by providing images with every word all the time for the rest of a learner’s life. My opinion is that visual literacy is imperative to the young learner, but can also cause hindrances in creativity when students are asked to imagine what they are reading at a higher level. Visual literacy is important when incorporated into a curriculum strategically as an aid, rather than as a replacement for an entire curriculum. Otherwise, the “struggling readers” that Frey and Fisher talk about who already have a hard time with visualization won’t actually learn to do it for themselves when it comes to a time when they have to. Eventually they will have to. Visual literacy is not the cure-all way to have all students read well and want to read well. It is a fantastic tool to push students beyond their limitations. Frey and Fisher also say that the use of graphic novels are a launchpad to something much bigger, which I completely agree with. We have to be careful that the visual novels are used to engage students but not discourage them from reading more complex literature.

I used to work at a school district before my current position where the entire 6th grade curriculum encouraged visual literacy. In theory, I thought it was a beautiful idea. As most articles and videos say that visual literacy is the new way to get students to better as society continues to changes and develop. Urbanski says that this new visual world (in reference to selfies😁) is how people really express themselves, and it has been this way since intricate paintings and portraits were composed. However, at this school district, I soon noticed that every concept whether it was narrative, persuasive, mystery, grammar, was taught with a graphic novel, a movie, a picture book. There was no actual reading whether students would read from a black and white page and do real analysis or introspection. The school had apparently deemed it “too difficult” for 6th grade and that they would move to that in 7th grade. But the 7th grade curriculum went straight into writing essays and reading very heavy books like “Night” from Elie Wiesel. The 6th grade curriculum seemed to be what Frey and Fisher said was an “end” to fulfill the means when teachers decide that they can wholly incorporate graphic novels into their curriculum to make it “easier” for the learners at all times. Though it can be challenging for higher learners to read graphic novels, after a certain point, it removes the motivation to create an original image based on a written or spoken description.

I think visual literacy is important. It has endless possibilities Without it, struggling learners will continue to struggle because there are so many things about teaching literacy that currently don’t work. It makes so much sense. But I think we have to be careful running head first into this wonderful pedagogy without understanding the balance of literacy. It isn’t just visual learning, as multiliteracies prove, as Cope and Kalantzis describes. We must give students access to all kinds of methods to attain literacy and how to practice them in order for them to realize their preferences. This link here is a short video on how a lot of people learn well visually, but it is really up to their preference. Most of all, I think that's what teaching is; passionately teaching young learners while continuing learning myself.

References:

Images:

- http://blog.visme.co/wp-content/uploads/2015/08/visual-literacy.gif

- http://rampages.us/cnjacksonspring2016univ200/wp-content/uploads/sites/14161/2016/01/Mulitimodality-Chart.png

- http://cdn.playbuzz.com/cdn/89f4291e-4267-49e2-b0eb-708f9677fbd1/678cab8d-ac8a-4277-8639-0263ca5279e3.png

- http://www2.palomar.edu/pages/reading/files/2015/09/keep-calm-and-love-reading-64.png

- https://www.hopetocope.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/motivation-depression-anxiety.jpg

Text:

- Frey & Fisher (2008) Chapter 2

- Selfies - a visual analysis: Elizabeth Urbanski at TEDxNavesink
- Pillars, W. (2015). Visual Note-Taking for Educators: A Teacher's Guide to Student Creativity. New York, NY: W. Norton & Company.
-  Cope and Kalantzis (2009)

Video:

- https://www.kqed.org/mindshift/46953/learning-styles-is-visual-learning-really-a-thing

 (Links to an external site.)