Important Ideas and Messages
Visual Literacy is Our "Other Text"
_
Visual literacy is not merely some external skill that
students should be taught; it is a second language that everyone must know. We
have increasing need for visual literacy, from understanding road signs to
being able to use technology (most smart phones are organized visually—you
navigate through them with icons.)
Many Information Texts Use Visual Elements
_
Visual literacy is a crucial component of information
literacy. The news, websites, textbooks, and many other information sources use
visual elements. Students must be able to fully engage with these information
texts, and thus visual literacy instruction must be taught in the classroom.
Many Visual Texts Are Accessible to All Readers
_
Young learners can
learn to decipher visual texts before learning to read written texts (think
picture books). Visual texts can also empower students who are poor writers,
but who are wonderful thinkers.
Some Visual Texts Are Complex
_Visual texts are not
just pictures and they have conventions that must be learned. Teachers must
instruct students in what visual texts do and do not mean. Also, teachers must
understand that visual texts are not a “soft option” to more academically
challenging texts. Students should not “progress” from only making visuals to
only writing essays. The two forms of texts are complementary. Think of
research, like a lab report in biology. Students of all ages should be writing
up the report and also including charts and graphs. No matter the student's
skill level, charts and graphs are the most succinct way to display data and
turn it into something meaningful.
Visual Texts Communicate Certain Information More Clearly
_
Sometimes, it makes
more sense to make a visual than to write in sentences. To carry over the idea
of the lab report, think of having to read several pages of someone reporting
raw data and then interpreting it. The reader would long for a graph or chart
to refer to, so that he or she could see the data clearly, and might rely more
heavily on the author’s interpretations.
Visual Literacy is a Complementary Skill
_ Visuals should not
completely replace written texts in the classroom; the two texts are complementary. Teachers should
recognize visual texts as a partner to written text instead of something less
than written text. They complement each other in that they have different
purposes. Visual texts are eye-catching, memorable, and concise. They also
generalize. They distill subjects down to their most salient points. The best
text for the purpose depends on what information the students need to convey
with their text. The teacher must be able to instruct students on how to know
the differences in the texts and how to choose the best text for each job.
All Children Need Visual Literacy
_
Visual literacy is an effective way to engage reluctant
readers and non-readers. It has engaged English as Second Language students,
gifted students, academically and mentally impaired students, and other
exceptional students. But it also benefits all of the other students. In short,
every student across the spectrum benefits from visual literacy.
Visual Literacy is a Way of Thinking
_
Visual summaries
highlight certain aspects of subjects, leave things out, and rearrange things.
They call our attention to patterns within sets of information. We remember
information differently when we absorb it through visual texts: we tend to
remember patterns and relationships instead of trying to focus on all the little
details within a paragraph of information at once.
Visual Texts Develop Research Skills
_
Students can use visual texts to summarize what they have
found while researching, and then they can use visual texts to organize their
research. This is where people start thinking of visual texts as less than
written texts. They are created before a final written product, yes, but the
written product would be weaker without the visual texts that allow students to
see the relationships and structure to their research, and that allow them to
organize their thoughts so that they can focus on the little details that go
into writing an effective essay.
How We Read Depends On Our Purpose for Reading
_ Reading “for the story” and
reading for information employ two different reading strategies. Reading for the story requires the reader to read from
beginning to end, and read every word. Reading for information is quite
different: readers can start from any point (through different gateways, such
as tables of contents or indexes), can skim, can stop in one place and begin
again in another, can only read part of the texts, and can read the visual
texts for a lot of meaning.
Visual Texts Can be Read Flexibly
_
They may be read from bottom to top or right to left, in a
circle, in a zig-zag manner, or any other way, depending on how the author has
set them up, and what information the reader needs to glean from them.
Good Writing Helps the Reader
_
Students need to be reminded that they are not the only ones
who will be reading for information instead of for the story. They need to be
able to write in a way that helps the reader find information in their own
work. When they write, they should be thinking about clarity, memorable
presentation, and how their work is designed. Organization and effective
presentation of information should always be on their minds as they write.
Recomposing
_Recomposing is
reading the information in one format and summarizing it in another format,
like reading the averages temperatures for different months in Venezuela and
turning these numbers into a graph that shows how the temperature changes over
the course of the year in Venezuela. Recomposing asks the reader to take in
information, process it, and summarize it, or present it in a different way. In
order to do this, the reader must think about the information, engage with the
text.