Burmark, Lynell. (2009, December 10). Teaching students, not just standards, with visual literacy. Retrieved from http://ascd.typepad.com/blog/2009/12/teaching-students-not-just-standards-with-visual-literacy.html
Burmark states in her article that visual elements can boost the reproduction of material on tests by 42%. This is because some people are visual learners. In addition some students are learning English at the same time they struggle with classroom materials. Illustrations and other visual learning elements can bridge many learning gaps including cultural and developmental differences. This makes the visual element of learning a critical one.
Several industry experts weigh in on Burmark’s article. My favorite reference is from Armstrong on the different kinds of intelligence that students may have. He expresses this by rephrasing a very common question in an interesting way: "How smart are you?" to "How are you smart?". A mix of engaging points for students will always help them associate classroom material to their own experience and improve their recall of specifics at test time. If humor, video and music can be used with other critical visual elements, students will benefit from our creativity and it will be reflected in their final evaluations.
Thanks for sharing this, Canan. The article seems as though it would be very interesting to read. In addition the the support/assistance visual elements provide to ESL students, this also provides a great deal of assistance to special education students as well. The confidence level of students increases dramatically when they have a sense of understanding. Additionally, I really liked the way the question was rephrased in the article, "How are you smart?" I believe that this is much more accurate in helping students understand that everyone has strengths.
ReplyDeleteThanks Canan. I also like the comment "How are you smart?" This is something that we don't stress enough with students and those who don't do well on traditional testing think that just because they don't test well they are not smart. This is one of the reasons that I like project-based learning so much as I think it allows students to utilize their various forms of intelligence in their projects.
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