How school librarians focus on activating critical thinking through traditional literacy development can proactively set the stage for the deep thinking that occurs in all literacy development. The critical-thinking skills students build while becoming accomplished readers and writers provide the foundation for learning in a variety of…

Despite the fact that to date Visual Literacy (VL) scholars have not arrived at a general consensus for a theoretical organization of the VL field, important conceptual investigations have emerged over the past four decades. In this paper we discuss and synthesize those studies. We then present a first attempt toward a cohesive theory of VL. The…

The emergence of quality multimodal texts such as graphic novels may provide new vistas that allow adolescents access to more complex readings of difficult texts. This is especially true for the large number of graphic versions of Shakespearean text that have recently come on the market. However, it is still unclear as to what students actually…

The second semester of the new art education studio art course that the author teaches, which explores the possibilities of literacy learning through the visual arts, yielded an unexpected outcome. The author worked together with the art department chair to establish the fundamental criteria for this course and write the syllabus. The course is…

This column examines research studies that foster children to explore the relationship between text and images. The collaboration of an engaging picturebook and a good teacher unlocks rich discussion and interaction among the students. Through visual literacy, children are active participants while making meaning and strong connections. The cited…

The past century's technological revolution has returned images to a central place in people's individual and collective lives. Photography became widely popular in the first half of the past century, creating new visual forms of high art, mass advertising, and amateur entertainment. During the latter half of the twentieth century, innovations in…

Apps, specialized programs used on mobile computers, can be used in innovative ways to enhance science and literacy learning. With the skilled guidance of their teachers, students can exploit app affordances for learning and acquire disciplinary literacies unique to science. This article showcases apps that help students to access information,…

The fundamental purpose of education is surely to ensure all students benefit from learning in ways that allow them to participate fully in the economic and creative life in both the local and global community. Where does literacy fit in this definition? Everything depends on how you define "literacy". This article argues that all too often…

Since students are continually influenced by the visual culture surrounding them, content teachers should take steps to capitalize on the potential of instructional and communication technologies (ICT) to enhance their effectiveness. The article discusses the importance of integrating visual literacy and identifies the teaching environment needed…

Picturebooks tell stories in both words and pictures. Interacting with the printed word, the technical elements of illustration--color, line, shape and composition--work to establish and enhance the story. Sometimes simply by adding description of characters and setting, and, at times, by challenging the veracity of the text with ironic or…

As the keeper of the library's fun tools, the author was one of the school's original digital photographers. She was hooked on the ease of digital photography after using it one summer and realized its value--first personally, then professionally. Thus it seemed natural for her to develop a digital photography class to address visual literacy,…

Children are natural visual learners--they have been absorbing information visually since birth. They welcome opportunities to learn via images as well as to generate visual information themselves, and these opportunities present themselves every day. The importance of visual literacy can be conveyed through conversations and the teachable moment,…

During the post-convention of the 2006 National Council of Teachers of English Conference, members of the Children's Literature Assembly organized and sponsored a day-long workshop on the subject of developing visual literacy within the context of picture books. The workshop featured children's book illustrators (LeUyen Pham, Margaret…

Like a printed text, an architectural blueprint, a mathematical equation, or a musical score, a visual image is its own language. Visual literacy has three components: (1) learning; (2) thinking; and (3) communicating. A "literate" person is able to decipher the basic code and syntax, interpret the signs and symbols, correctly apply terms from an…

Teachers can integrate discussion and writing about photographs into the early childhood curriculum to build speaking, reading, and writing skills in any language. Although little available research focuses on photography and early childhood education as related specifically to English Language Learners, several current teacher resources do focus…