Media Literacy

In preparing for the IVLA conference, I focused on visual literacy. Here are some thoughts related to visual literacy.
Visual texts usually simplify and/or generalize topics and omit minor details. Visual texts are excellent tools for capturing the relationships between key components and illustrate the structure or organization of the intended topic.

"Re-composing" means reading information in one form (text) and summarizing it in another form (timeline, storyboard, diagram or table).

To re-compose information, students need to think about the meaning of the selected paragraph before being able to summarize the paragraph in a visual form.

Re-composing is a key strategy in aiding comprehension.

Visual texts, such as flow charts, timelines, storyboards, and tree diagrams are ideal for providing a framework for writing.


Why teach with primary source material such as photographs?

By utilizing primary source material in your curriculum, you expose your students to artifacts from the past that are authentic and make history come alive. Students enjoy seeing objects from the period they are studying. The National Archives states that primary sources "fascinate students because they are real and they are personal: history is humanized through them."

Photographers come from different life experiences, and therefore photographs of the same experience may be expressed visually in very different ways. Photographs are different "takes" on the same story. The story looks very different, depending on who is telling the story in photographs.

Questions one might ask about photographs:

Do you think the photographer is depicting the event or situation in a fair way?
By looking at the picture/or pictures, what do you think the photographer's opinion is about this subject? What do you see that creates your response to the picture?
If you were creating photographs about a specific subject, how would you photograph that subject. Provide examples.

If viewer expectations influence the reading of an image, how can captions influence the visual perceptions of pictures? Does the caption make sense of what the viewer is looking at or frame the visual perception?

Caption activity: write possible captions for photographs
Documentary photographers capture significant historical events, but also reveal the photographer’s opinions. These photographs also stir emotions. Often, documentary photographers take specific pictures to educate people about issues in order to promote positive change.