Visual Literacy

Alex Funk
Aug 9, 2018
8 min read

We always are talking about numeracy and literacy, however in terms of literacy we are

generally talking reading words and writing words and in terms of numeracy we are generally talking numbers. We often forget the visual part of it all. Visual literacy is one of the top 10 literacies in education, according to Skyward.com, however visual literacy is involved and included in every type of literacy out there. As an art major, visual literacy is a constant. Reading art, reading ads, reading videos, and interpreting these things, were all included in my degree. As art teachers, it is really our job to teach students visual literacy. We must teach the complexities of it, and also create a generation of conscientious consumers. We are surrounded by images every single day, we are consuming visuals in our world, but when do we stop and think, maybe we need to teach this? As an elementary school teacher, it is one of the literacies that I see fall by the wayside. Either people are not completely aware of it, or it is put down as not a "real" literacy (I have heard this before). Visual literacy is often more complex than reading and writing. Have you ever picked up a comic book or a graphic novel? Go ahead, open it up. There are points in every graphic novel and every comic where there are no words, just pictures. It is an incredibly powerful way to communicate. An image can communicate a feeling, a thought, a comment, and so many other things. It is a part of our 21st century skills: Think creatively, reason effectively, use systems of thinking, make judgement and decisions, solve problems, communicate clearly (use oral, written and non-verbal communication skills), analyze media, and create media products. That's a large amount you are covering when you introduce visual literacy into your classroom in intentional lessons. I say lessons, because this is not something that can be done in one lesson. It must be ongoing. Oxford Research Encyclopedias has a wonderful in-depth research based look at Visual Literacy, if you would like to delve into it.

Visual literacy should not just be an afterthought or something you can get away with assuming it's incorporated into what you are doing. We learn to read with images, we learn to decode text by looking at the pictures and how they relate to the words. Learning to read should not be the beginning and the end of teaching visual literacy. There are so many ways to continue to address it in the classroom.

Math

First, I highly recommend you watch this awesome TEDxOrangeCoast talk on math and visual literacy. Then I recommend you look at your current program. Notice all those words? Do we need words for a child to show they know patterns? Not at all. Give them blocks, crayons, stickers, basically anything, and they will show you a pattern. Everything I do in math I use manipulatives and visuals. Even as a teacher, I can tend to show you what I know through imagery much more than through words. Words are complicated, and don't always encompass how we feel and what we know. Allow students to choose a way to show their process. Is it through words? awesome! Is it through a picture? perfect! It doesn't mean they know a topic any less. We should not be grading them based on their ability to tell you in words why 5+5=10, when there are so many other ways they can show you their process. Use a picture book to introduce a unit or competency. Allow them to extract evidence and learning from the visuals. Give them opportunities to create based on what was read and learned. Math is an area that is rich in visual literacy. A number itself is a visual object. We can bring a number to life in so many ways, allowing students to read, create, and interpret math visually.

Reading and Writing

This is an area a lot of people just assume that visual literacy is a part of. They don't necessarily work to bring awareness to it, or teach it specifically. They let it be, use it where it work, and then leave it. Our children are living in a world filled with imagery. We want them to be able to decode and understand what they are consuming, not just be blind consumers. We can start in Kindergarten and continue all the way through University. Simple ways to begin this:

-put a photograph up with no other prompts. Ask students to take a moment just to look and see the image. This means not trying to figure out what is going on, not to assume anything, not to begin writing what they think they see, but just taking it in. Then, students must right what they see. Not what they think they see, but describing the elements in the image (ie; colours, shapes, how things are interacting). If there is a foot, they cannot write at this time, there is a foot. They must describe the lines and colour. Finally, they must write what they think it is. I love to do this with zoomed in areas of an image. Not giving them the full image until we have discussed everything we noticed, everything we think we saw, and why different people see different things. You may also do this with partners, getting them to do it aloud rather than writing. Another great communication piece.

-inferencing is another great way to do this. Have a story with no words, only pictures. Spend some time looking at the pictures. Discuss how when we are looking at the pictures like this, we are reading a story. The best part, is everyone reads a story that means something to them. The conclusions they draw, relates to them and their lives. Give them time to write the story they see (numbering the pages). It is amazing what kids create with this. Tie it into inferencing and how we can create these ideas, just by looking at images together. A later step may be to create graphic novels. Graphic novels are reading, and creating them is literacy. How can we create something we relate to? using pictures and words.

-visualizing is something I love to do with read alouds. We talk about the juicy describing words and what they make us think of. I love when my students have drawing supplies out while we are reading. Sometimes what they create relates to the story in a way that I understand, sometimes it relates to a story in the way they understand. I say this, because sometimes it looks like their drawing may have no relation at all. Generally, there is something that triggered that thought and that visual, allow them to create. Allow them to recreate their favourite parts of the story in any way they would like. This could be dramatic play, painting, writing, drawing, or loose parts. All of it is a visual way for them to show you not only their favourite part, but how they saw that part. It's a little look into their world.

-creating a picture book. Maybe pair up with another class and have them create a picture book together. Some books start with the pictures and the words come after, some books start with the words and the pictures come after, some are both at the same time. These are all great ways to create!

-In the older grades look at advertisements. What are they showing, what colours are they using, what shapes are they using, what does it look like, what is it really selling us? How can we recreate these ads to be positive? How can we take an ad and change the message by changing some colours or shape placement? It's a great questioning point and a great project for students to really analyze what we are consuming. How does a store use advertisement to convince us you need it? How do instagram and snapchat change our views and opinions using mainly imagery?

Social and Science

I put these two areas together because really, I feel like everything in these areas can be hands-on, project-based, and visual. Seriously, get kids to show their learning by creating a travel guide, a poster, a powerpoint, a book. Absolutely anything goes. When we are learning a way to show our knowledge, I give my grade twos a couple of options (ie: choose a powerpoint or a poster). This allows me to help guide them in this area and create some teachers in it. Those students can help kids in future projects, and we slowly begin to broaden our scope of what we can accomplish. This year, I started with a diagram, and then we slowly built it up from there. By the end of the year your students will have a huge list of ways they can show you what they learned, and they are developing their visual literacy.

Encourage, encourage, encourage. You can get kids to describe, create, interpret, or recreate absolutely anything visual. Have graphic novels and comic books in your classroom. You may not enjoy them, but I like to call them the gateway book. And, bonus, they are working on visual literacy, working twice as hard to understand what is going on, without having the storyline given to them. It's a magical thing. Visual literacy allows all learners to show you something. I guarantee there are things on your classroom walls that are images. These pictures are a visual. Our students are reading this visual and drawing conclusions.

Not only should we be explicitly teaching our students visual literacy, we should also really be aware of it as teachers. I took a course in University and we looked at something as simple as having a Got Milk poster in a school. They are advertising to the staff and students. It is something we are interacting with everyday, it will eventually shape an opinion you have, what you buy, etc. Think about how explicitly teaching visual literacy may encourage your "struggling" readers. Look at how students grades may go up when they can show what they know in a visual rather than written form. Do you really need the child to write their process in words? or can it be done in any form of their choosing? Sit down with your curriculum, get to know it, and think about where visual literacy fits within it. I bet you will begin noticing many many areas where visual literacy can be explicitly taught and practiced. Also make sure that your library is inclusive. Students need to see themselves in the books they are reading. They need to relate to what they are reading....but, as said in Sparks in the Dark, you also need book to allow students to see people who are different from them, and thought processes that are different from them. The way to do this? Just have an inclusive library (both picture books and chapter books).

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