1. A quote I liked this week: “Because of changes in
technology, our society will most likely not go back to a time when written
texts are distributed without accompanying visual images” (Serafini,
2014). This idea really helped me
realize that print dominated media was probably just limited phase. Throughout about readings, it occurred to me
that many ancient cultures used multimodal texts in various, and that it was
the printing press that caused the mass produced picture-less page to
emerge. However, thanks to technology,
we are gravitating toward style of hieroglyphics, or illuminated books. Perhaps combining words with symbols, pictures,
or even music is a more human approach.
Maybe it’s how we’ve always wanted to write and read.
2. Why should educators care about multimodal texts? To quote Serafini on this one, “In order to
support students’ development of the skills necessary for success in modern
times, teachers need to develop units of study that focus attention on these
ensembles and create lessons that help students make sense of these complex
texts” (2014). Serafini is correct.
3. How is your definition of literacy different or similar
to the definition of literacy presented in the book? Or how did the reading
change or expand your definition of literacy?
My definition of literacy used to be “Students can read proficiently at
grade level.” It has now changed to say
that it is being proficient in communicating, understanding, or doing something
in a particular context. My
great-grandparents would have been considered highly literate in their
agricultural lifestyle by this definition of literacy.
4. How can visual literacy support the development of the
kinds of reading and writing we want children to learn through schooling? Visual literacy can help students make
critical assessments of the visual elements of a media message. This gives them a greater advantage because they become more aware of why and how
a media message was created.
5.An online resource: Check out this article and its embedded videos. It relates to our reading by attempting to give teachers some practical tips to help break the ice on visual media discussions- Edutopia- 10 Visual Literacy Strategies
.
6. An image that relates:
Just one more time, I wanted to take us back to remember the visual nature of ancient languages. This meant something to the people of its time and culture. Those who understood it were literate.
Jared, I am in agreement with your quote as mine was very similar in context. Just to solidify that, this quote gives a good explanation as to why we are not going back: " Due to advances in technology, the creation and dissemination to texts with visual images and sophisticated design features has become commonplace."
ReplyDeleteI like your literacy analogy as it related to your great-grandparents. Our text indicates that "although early definitions of visual literacy often focus on individual cognitive abilities, visual literacy is being reconceptualized as a social practice as much as an individual, cognitively based ability or set of competencies."
I like your visual image of the ancient language.
You made some excellent connections that made the thoughts in our readings even more visual for me.
ReplyDelete"This idea really helped me realize that print dominated media was probably just limited phase." Wow! It is hard to imagine that it was a limited phase but you are right. It was limited due to the technology that was available. Sometimes it is hard to see evolution in our own backyard and foresee where it is going.
"My great-grandparents would have been considered highly literate in their agricultural lifestyle by this definition of literacy." Another "Wow!" moment for me. We limited ourselves on the definition of literacy for so long when in actuality it was probably the lack of technology to produce the images we needed to include all literacy.
So many good points!