Incorporating Visual Literacy into Instruction

I always enjoy the study of visual literacy and feel that this is a discipline that doesn’t get enough focus in the classroom. As educators, we place a strong emphasis, as we should, on expressing ourselves through the written and spoken word and increasing comprehension skills of the written and spoken word. Visuals are a powerful medium used in society that are filled with meaning and symbolism, yet, a these skills do not receive the same emphasis of focused, explicit instruction.

Studying the photo sharing module provided some good resources including the Edutopia post Using Social Media to Teach Visual Literacy in the 21st Century Classroom. as well as this guide Visual Literacy Guide by ISTE. The images are powerful and the lessons and learning that can be created around these tie nicely to the Common Core focus on Creativity, Collaboration, Communication and Critical Thinking.

Social media such as Flickr and Instagram add a digital literacy component that can be incorporated into teaching that focuses on the development of visual literacy skills. Photo galleries such DropEvent are great supporting resources that allow students to store and display work. A smaller gallery option which is becoming popular with teachers is Padlet. Padlet also allows for text boxes to be added. 

The work I’m doing this year continues to revolve around NETS Standard 3 - Model Digital Age Work and Learning and Standard 5 - Engage in Professional Growth and Leadership. It is my hope that as I demonstrate knowledge and fluency in technology systems and digital literacy, sharing resources from my professional learning with staff, I will be able to inspire other educators to engage with these literacies.  It is my hope that by doing this, I’ll see more teachers taking an interest  in NETS Standards and incorporating these into their own practices.