Visual Literacy

Today we spoke of visual literacy, not necessarily literacy having to do with words, but instead pictures. In Microsoft Word, I created a poem based on an image displayed in the front of the classroom. I then illustrated my poem in Microsoft Paint. The idea of having students write material based on scientific images intrigues me, I wonder if my students are motivated enough to actually do it if I asked them to. Usually as bonus points on tests, I have them write haikus about the material we have been focusing on. I know that when I ask them to draw, it rarely goes well - on our museum field trip, we had space for students to sketch what they saw, and those spaces were the ones most frequently left blank. I do have students who like to draw though - some of them have a hard time putting their pencils down.

We also learned geography through Japanese art today. This was an interesting exercise - we looked at pictures to determine the climate and geography of Japan. I liked how we used art instead of photographs to learn this. I definitely want to try this with Earth Science as we start landscapes soon. My only hesitation is that the photos might be difficult to see from the back of the room.