What is visual literacy?

Streaming video - 2014

When children begin to read and write they are as interested in information as they are in fiction. But information is not conveyed only with print; the wealth of visual texts are often the clearest communicators of information. Charts, diagrams, cross sections, and maps are a few of the elements that are as critical as the words they supplement. In many cases, the visual text is the clearest way to present information. In this video, Steve Moline presents the basics of visual literacy and its place in the curriculum, illustrating his points with classroom sequences with students and workshop sessions with teachers. Viewers will learn: how reading for story" differs from reading for information; why the visual element is such a central... part of complete literacy; how to help students select the best form of visual text to incorporate in their writing; how to integrate visual and verbal texts; how to select the right visual device to communicate your ideas and information; how to use details of graphic design to organize and support meaning. About the author: Steve Moline is a writer, illustrator, and book designer who writes for children under the name of David Drew. He is an honors graduate in English Literature from the University of Sydney, Australia, and was for ten years the education publisher at Methuen Australia. Since 1986 he has written and designed more than one hundred books for the series Informazing, Realization, and InfoActive. Steve has conducted workshops for teachers on visual literacy across the primary and elementary curriculum (and given demonstration lessons) in twenty states, as well as in Australia, New Zealand, Canada, the United Kingdom, and India. He has addressed administrators, curriculum coordinators, graduate students, and teachers in a variety of educational settings including school district offices, TAWL groups, training colleges, and schools, as well as at national and regional conventions of the International Reading Association. more