1. Copy and paste a quote from the reading that causes you to have a strong reaction (agreement, disagreement, confusion...) and explain your reaction.
"In today's world, visual images play a role in most everything we do."
I completely agree with this statement. I am a very visual learner. This statement reminds me of the saying, "a picture is worth a thousand words". Pictures express emotions, heart, drive. I think of my students I have had in the past year that didn't always understand the mechanics of problems, but as soon as I drew an illustration for the process, it clicked for them.
2. Why should educators care about multimodal texts?
Educators should care about multimodal texts because they give what appear to just be "words" meaning; helping them to come alive. Multimodal texts are a way to reach a more broad group of students that need more than the written word to learn the text. Also, students rarely come to us prepared with a great deal of background knowledge. Because of the lacking background knowledge, they are not equipped to interpret and apply the written word.
3. How is your definition of literacy different or similar to the definition of literacy presented in the book? Or how did the reading change or expand your definition of literacy?
The book's definition of literacy is- a set of cognitive skills that individuals acquire to function in society.
I think that the book's definition is very broad and lacking in explanation. Yes, being literate it very important if you want to be successful in society; however, I see literacy in the terms of being able to apply the skills of phonics, phonemic awareness, comprehension, vocabulary, fluency to be a successful reader and writer. The text did expand my definition of literacy by considering the angle of visual literacy which I am very guilty of forgetting!
4. How can visual literacy support the development of the kinds of reading and writing we want children to learn through schooling?
As I have stated before, visual literacy can certainly help the students who do not have a strong background with the five basic elements of reading (phonics, phonemic awareness, fluency, comprehension, and vocabulary). Visual literacy can be used as a support to teaching literacy skills or it can be the main teaching tool.
5. Find an online resource that addresses issues of visual literacy in education link to it or embed it your blog posting and provide a brief explanation of how it relates to this week's reading.
I chose this video because it shares the ever-so-interesting fact that 80-90% of the information we take in and retain is from our vision. This makes me want to pay a lot more attention on the visuals I see every day! It also makes me want to provide more visual literacy; a great deal more!
6. Find an image that relates to the ideas presented in this week's reading.
Resources:
- Serafini, F. (2014). Reading the visual: an introduction to teaching multimodal literacy. New York: Teachers College.
- Video retrieved from: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WjQ9rzk1H8U
- Visual Learning Style Characteristics. (2010). Retrieved June 15, 2014 from, https://www.google.com/search?as_q=visual+learning&tbs=sur:fmc&gws_rd=ssl&tbm=isch#q=visual+learning+style+characteristics&tbm=isch&tbs=sur:fmc&facrc=_&imgdii=_&imgrc=18g4M2f5Yk_rTM%253A%3BqrHYmbHlLBXu2M%3Bhttp%253A%252F%252Fmedia.tumblr.com%252Ftumblr_l16io9ekGb1qzi7id.gif%3Bhttp%253A%252F%252Fcathyk.tumblr.com%252Fpost%252F535844654%252F20-4-10-different-learning-styles%3B285%3B150
I agree that students do not come to us with a lot of background knowledge in reading the visual. This is astounding, because they spend so much time with it. I find that many students have not been challenged to ask questions about media. The often accept the claims made by ads, etc.
ReplyDeleteI agree that students do not have strong reading skills and some of their literacy is limited. Visual literacy seems to be a better fit, especially in my classroom (although I do have a student that is legally blind). There are so few people who can read, comprehend, and then retain everything they have read, that it is a daunting task for students to pick up a science or history book. If I remember better by looking at something, what would make me think that a student could remember something by reading it! It boils down to common sense now that I think about it :)
ReplyDeleteGreat post.