Drawn from a larger study on implementing visual-based literacy strategies across the curriculum, this article focuses on the ways multilingual students leveraged multimodal resources to express their perceptions and reflections on their innovative classroom learning experiences. Informed by a critical multiliteracies perspective, we analyzed a…

The high profile of fake news reveals underlying trends in the production and consumption of news. While news literacy is a lifelong skill, the logical time to start teaching such literacy is in K-12 educational settings, so that all people have the opportunity to learn and practice news literacy. School librarians can play a critical role in…

Data visualizations are now commonplace in the public media. The ability to interpret and create such visualizations, as a form of data literacy, is increasingly important for democratic participation. Yet, the cross-disciplinary knowledge and skills needed to produce and use data visualizations and to develop data literacy are not fluidly…

This article explores the relationship between critical literacy practice, digital media production, and civic agency in the Council of Youth Research, a youth participatory action research program in which Los Angeles high school students conduct research and create dynamic, multimedia presentations as leaders of a growing youth movement for…

This paper highlights the results of a project, in which a group of students, who were enrolled in an African American film criticism course at a large university in Southern California, participated in a community engagement project that incorporated visual and media literacy skills acquired in the classroom setting. The parameters of the project…

An important topic of current brain research is "cognitive overload." It is about the capacity of a person's working memory and the strategies employed when that capacity is taxed. The most common strategy for coping with cognitive overload is shutting down, like that point in a conversation with a non-English speaker when everything one…

The purpose of this study was to determine the extent that diagrammatic literacy is necessary for success on standardized science tests at the late-elementary and middle grade levels. Towards this goal, we quantified the frequency, form and function of graphical representations on select state science tests. 985 tests items from 14 states were…

Teachers often find themselves lamenting the loss of emergent readers to video games, television, and, most recently, the TTYL (talk/type to you later) culture of text messaging and Internet social networking. Trying to impart the joy of a good read to middle school students feels like pushing religion onto the perfectly content worshipers of…

Jerome Burg, after 34 years of teaching, left his own classroom last year and now helps other teachers integrate technology into the curriculum at Granada High School in Livermore, California. One new project he designed is heightening global interest in literary road trips by creating a resource that combines a new technology with a time-tested…

Graphic design's messages can reach across streets and across the globe; they can bring together countries, communities and strangers for a common cause; they can also serve to divide otherwise amenable neighbors. Design students must fully understand this potential reach and thus the responsibility they have to create tolerant, informed messages.…

A major influence this generation of high school digital natives has had on the curriculum is their natural focus on visuals to convey information. They are driving the move toward visual information. In this article, one high school expands the learning environment from handhelds to videoconferencing. Sacred Heart has found that mixing the…

Studies described briefly in this paper indicate that use of cameras generates enthusiasm, develops self-concept, and increases communication skills. The content of the traditional ESL (English as a Second Language) materials is inadequate for dealing with either the syntactical or conceptual needs of (1) the silent child, (2) the child who can…

This document is a prospectus for a pilot project being developed by Teacher Corps Rural-Migrant, University of Southern California, in cooperation with the Cutler-Orosi Unified School District in Tulare County, California. The project aims to "utilize visual literacy to teach English as a second language and to develop other communication…

Describes a year-long elective film course in modern U.S. history for twelfth grade students. Explains course methodology and objectives. Analyzes selected films to illustrate how the course elucidates the consensus-conflict theme in U.S. history since the 1930s and enhances student understanding of Hollywood's perspective on gender, race, and…

This publication offers the 56th Yearbook of the National Reading Conference (NRC). This Yearbook begins with a preface and presents profiles of three awardees, Michael C. McKenna, Douglas K. Hartman, and Michael Kamil. Included in this Yearbook are the following papers: (1) What's It All About? Literacy Research and Civic Responsibility (Victoria…