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What is Visual Literacy?
Visual literacy is the ability to read, negotiate, and interpret the visual environment; to construct meaning from what we observe (images, gestures, and symbols); to critically analyse our observations, question, and then communicate our understanding with others. Let’s explore visual literacy and how it can be applied to reading picturebooks and then how we can support children in developing their visual literacy skills in the classroom. The back story… Although the term ‘visual literacy’ may be a new concept for some, humans have been negotiating their visual environment from the…
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“When Will I Learn to Read?”
Many parents have been asked this question as their youngsters near school age. If you haven’t already been asked, you will and … you need to provide the correct response to avoid falling into the parent trap. Had I already been a teacher when my son asked me, “Mum, when will I learn to read?”, I would have answered with more caution. Instead, I stepped right into the giant pit of gooey ambiguity and confidently told him he would learn to read in grade one. The answer wasn’t incorrect it…
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Picturebooks!
A picturebook is many things but most importantly it should be a source of pleasure, or enjoyment. This is key in developing young readers. Ever read a novel you didn’t like? Chances are, yes. Read it twice? Probably not. Providing high quality picturebooks, books children enjoy, and allowing children to choose, is part of developing, fostering a love of reading. What is a Picturebook? A picturebook is a multimodal text that incorporates a variety of modes such as text, image, and design to communicate with the reader; the different modes…
