VISUAL LITERACY REDUX

by Mary Quattlebaum

Joan Waites’s  8/12/12 blog post on Visual Literacy got me thinking about enhancing visual literacy for older kids.  Joan spoke of the playful (and important) learning opportunities surrounding picture books and offered two intriguing classroom prompts.  (These can be helpful for adults interested in writing for kids as well as youngsters in school.)

Alas, as students move into middle school, opportunities to enhance visual literacy tend to diminish.  Budget cuts often target in-school art programs and art teachers first, and classroom teachers may lack the training and time to expose children to art.  And face it, self-conscious middle schoolers may scoff at picture books as being “for babies.”

Enter Jennifer Holm’s two collage-novels, perfect for 5^th-8^th graders.  Middle School Is Worse Than Meatloaf and Eighth Grade Is Making Me Sick, both brilliantly illustrated by Elicia Castaldi (Random House, 2007 and 2012, respectively) follow Ginny Davis’s 7^th and 8^th grade years in suburban Pennsylvania.  Author and illustrator create the “stuff” of Ginny’s life—doodles, refrigerator notes, bank statements, text messages, doctor’s reports, invitations and school assignments—and arrange these pieces and images to tell the story of Ginny’s relationship with her practical mom, troublesome older brother and new stepdad.  They also chronicle dramas with braces, cute boys and a BFF, with one plot thread--the family’s worsening financial situation, with the stepdad “downsized” out of a job—feeling especially believable in the current economic climate.  Ginny’s fresh, funny “everygirl” voice makes her easy to relate to as do these written fragments of her life, so similar to those of today’s students.

To have students attend to and write with a focus on visual imagery:

1.  Discuss the way that the images/fragments are put together to tell a story.  Ask students to list at least 15 different types of fragments (bank statements, refrigerator notes, Ginny’s poems, etc.)

2.  Have students bring in photos and written fragments from their own lives.  What do each of these things say and reveal about them? Ask them to create a self-portrait.

3.  Ask students to create a short visual story (at least 3 pages) in which they make up written fragments and use images cut from magazines.  Have them give their character a name, age, and particular interest or passion and then “tell” the story of a bad (or good) day in this character’s life.  (Students from middle school through college and adults can learn much about character development; showing, not telling; the importance of details; plot; structure; and visual imagery from this prompt.  Plus, it’s fun and helps students to relate writing to their real world.) 

www.maryquattlebaum.com

VISUAL LITERACY IN PICTURE BOOKS

by Joan Waites

As we have discussed in previous blog posts, the words and images in picture books make up two equal halves of the whole project. Whether a book is read independently by an older student, or read to a younger one by an adult, the images an artist uses to accompany the text add another level of understanding-Visual Literacy. Visual Literacy refers to the ability of an individual to understand and interpret images. The term "Visual Literacy" is credited to John Debes, Co-Founder of the Visual Literacy Association.

An artists' choice of images, style and medium all help to further tell the story. Point of view, cause and effect, mood, emotions, setting, features, and age of characters etc., can all be conveyed in the illustrations, even if not explained in the text.

Two exercises I have used with student groups which focus on Visual Literacy are as follows:

1.  Pick out several of your favorite picture books. After reading the text aloud, ask students to point out examples of how the artist tells the reader more than is explained in the text. Do we learn more about where the story takes place? Do we learn what the character's room looks like? Do we see how the main character reacts when he meets the new kid on the block?

2.  Present several examples of the same story illustrated by different artists. There are endless versions of Fairy Tales such as Beauty and the Beast, Cinderella, Sleeping Beauty and The Little Mermaid  Ask students to point out the similarities and differences between each version. How has each artist depicted the main characters? How are they dressed? Do the versions show the characters in similar settings ? What about the choice of colors used?

Lastly, chose either one contemporary picture book or well known Fairy Tale and ask students to illustrate the same scene. Have students present their work to the class and discuss how each artist has used their own unique point of view to tell the story in pictures.

For more information Visual Literacy go to:

International Visual Literacy Association