Visual Literacy

This week the reading was on Visual Literacy. There is a lot that goes into Visual Literacy. One thing that stood out to me was the subject of meaning and how it relates to Visual Literacy. In the NES text, the author writes, "Meaning does not exist in a text. Meaning exists in the interplay between viewers and readers and the text". In teaching, it is crucial to note that students will interpret material in different ways. For example, lets say im teaching and I show a video or a painting pertaining to the unit we are on. Student A will interpret in one way, but that does not mean Students B,C,D,E etc. will interpret it in the same way. In the Common Core State Standards there is no specific section on Visual Literacy. I think that is due to the latter. Visual literacy is interpreting information that comes in visual form. While this sounds simple I think it is difficult to set a standard for it. It is difficult because people interpret images in a different way. That is why it is difficult to create a standard and focus it specifically on that. There are some standards that relate to Visual Literacy. Some of them include:
  “Integrate visual information (e.g., in charts, graphs, photographs, videos, or maps) with other information in print and digital texts.”

 “Integrate and evaluate content presented in diverse media and formats, including visually and quantitatively, as well as in words.”

These standards do touch on Visual Literacy, but they do so in a way that it is not to broad. All in all, I think visual literacy is crucial when it comes to ELA. It does not matter HOW, but students need to be able to interpret an image, video, etc. They need to be able to understand in their eyes what that media is trying to portray.



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