Visual Literacy and Internet Impacting Our Classrooms

How can visual literacy and the use of the Internet impact the teaching and learning process in the classroom? What are some visual-thinking strategies you would like to use in your classroom? What role do you want the Internet play in your classroom?

Visual literacy can be a great aid in the classroom. I sure I am like most teachers who use visuals all time to help student connect their learning;  whether it is using picture, charts, or graphic organizers. Providing any visual allows them to gain better understanding on the topic; especially in math.  Sometimes I even draw random pictures.  Recently I drew a rainbow to help my students remember how the distribute property worked.  I let them have a little fun with it and draw a unicorn, pot of gold, or leprechaun to lighten the mood.  In one class we completely went off on a tangent and even named a unicorn Jelly so whenever I mention Jelly the unicorn the students always remember the distributive property. Whatever works!  

Again, this is a visual-thinking strategy that I use in my classroom to provide my students with pictures and visuals that they will be able to reflect back on.   I tend to often do this with their new vocabulary words.  The picture often does not necessarily have to match the direct association to the definition.  The point is to let the students create their own visual.  For example, we are starting statistics and the new word was ‘sample.’  However, a student drew a food sample that you would get from Sam’s Club or Publix.  Funny enough, this picture did correlate to the meaning but students will often find the best solution for themselves.   As for the internet, I generally view the internet for additional resources. Sometimes the internet is great for proving a point, such as, when are we ever going to use this again.  I might pull up a video or even a job description to “prove it” to the students.