Pictorial Communication in the Classroom
Posted by PLB Blogger · 1 Comment
When I was growing up there were two kinds of kids – kids who could draw and kids who couldn’t draw. Kids who could not draw stayed away from art activities, and many later chose professions where drawing was not required.
The world is different today, and pictures are becoming a new language in themselves. The global multi-language society puts us in a situation where we all can better communicate and express ourselves through pictures. Teachers teaching in multi-level classrooms can better reach students when lessons are rich with images. Not only that, it has been found that when test instructions or assignment instructions are supplemented with images, students with conditions like ADHD and learning disability find it easier to comprehend the directions.
The process of communicating with images is becoming increasingly easy too. We no longer need to take a pencil and draw every time we need to communicate a thought. Stock images and clipart are readily available to communicate almost anything. A variety of graphics software make it easy to create images and charts even if you are not an expert at drawing. And of course, displaying these digital images has become simpler and convenient through computer technology, smartphones, tablets and smartboards.
This is something we all as teachers need to consider. How are you using images and pictorial communication in the curriculum?
Visuals are the bridge to comprehension! If every lesson begins with visuals, then struggling readers, and all readers, will engage. In 2009, I won the Outstanding Elementary School Social Studies Teacher of the Year from the National Council of Social Studies. One reason I won is because I visited the places I taught, Japan, China, Hopiland, India, Ghana, armed with a videocamera and digital camera. I started to film aspects of culture that I knew would be interesting for young children. When I arrived home, I made PowerPoints, slideshows, and videos that were the “visual introductions” to the informative texts that followed. What I did not have the chance to film, YouTube had just the right video for my class on-line. (I have over 200 YouTube “favorites” saved to SHOW students, not tell them information. The students were hooked to every aspect of visual culture, asking interesting questions that engaged every student to read to find answers. My classroom was inquiry based. Social Studies became the focus of the day, integrated with literacy and technology. My classroom was filled with diverse students who rose to the rigor and standards of the Common Core Standards before they were even written! I have been proud to be a teacher for over 34 years. Without visuals, used for EVERY curriculum area, some students may have fallen through the cracks. Visuals are the “universal” language, reaching out to all students to help them engage, learn, and grow as learners and global citizens.