Eclectic Technology

What is visual literacy? The Institute of Museum and Library Services defines it as  "Demonstrate the ability to interpret, recognize, appreciate, and understand information presented through visible actions, objects and symbols, natural or man-made"

(http://www.imls.gov/about/21st_century_skills_list.aspx).

This is a 21st century skill and our students need to be visually literate. This post shares:

* Standards that support visual literacy (from Common Core, National Council of Teachers of English Standards and the Mid-Continent Research for Education and Learning Corporation.

* A lengthy list of the many formats you will find visuals that you can use as teaching tools, such as political cartoons, symbols, dioramas, and advertisements.

* Visual Thinking Routines - each of the routines is described and two have videos that demonstrate them. The ones with videos are Model Think Aloud Strategy, and Introduction to Visual Thinking Strategies that is "a specific approach to whole-class viewing and talking about art that primarily uses [three] questions."

Additional resources include Asking the 4Ws, Five Card Flickr, Image Analysis Worksheets (five different ones), and a lesson: Step-by-Step: Working with Images that Matter. 

We know that many of our students are visual learners and that they need to be able to "read" images. This post provides a wealth of resources that will help make your students adept at this process.