Class Reading Choice.

The subject I have decided to explore for my reading assignments in Language Arts class is Visual Literacy in Language Arts.  The first reading is the following article from the New Horizons for Learning at John Hopkins University.

Visual Literacy and the Classroom

by Erin Riesland

     Ms. Riesland discusses how the move to a more technological society is making visual literacy more important to our students.  Most students today are taught through interactive media that includes sound and visual cues.  The article explains how there is more use of hypermedia text where students can interact with the program.  These types of experiences and the visual nature of the classroom are motivating factors that are alluring to children.

    It also addresses some of the warnings that need to be taught to our students about visual learning.  The main one is the use of visual advertising to influence their buying decisions.

     The use of visually interactive learning aids changes how students can be taught in the classroom.  The students can become the producer instead of just a consumer of information.  They can create web pages and interactive movies either independently or as part of group activities.

     These areas of design have in the past been used as an addition to reading and writing.  In society today the visual portion is used more as the central focus with reading and writing being the explanation to the visual.  In society today visual literacy empowers students with ways they can succeed in our technological age.