I See What You Mean...

[Leigh A. Rasmussen]

Leigh A. Rasmussen

NNWP Summer Invitational 2011

Assignment 2: Ning discussion

Book: Moline, Steve. (1996). I See What You Mean. Stenhouse Publishers Portland, Maine

 

Summary:

I enjoyed this book for several reasons. Steve Moline discussed the use of graphics as a form of communication at school, work, and home. Moline points out how the visual element is frequently used in our everyday life and people of all ages are expected to understand them. As educators we need to teach our students how to interpret graphics in their texts and in their own writing. Information literacy is more than communicating with text. Our students need to be ready for real life informative text which includes diagrams, maps, graphs, and tables. Visual literacy is a life skill. The book breaks graphics into seven types. These types are simple diagrams, analytic diagrams, synthetic diagrams, graphs, time line, maps and tables. The author defines each type, gives examples of how to use the graph in various content areas, shows student examples, explains expected outcomes, teacher tips, and gives examples of books that use this type of graphic.

One key point Steve Moline discusses in the book is how graphics make text accessible to all readers including readers whose first language is not English. Students who are considered “poor writers” (when asked to write exclusively in words) are sometimes discovered to be excellent communicators when given the opportunity to use a visual form. Another major point mentioned in the book is how visual text are complex and multilayered. They should not be used as a soft option or a replacement for writing. A diagram adds layers of information and helps to organize the students’ writing. The last point I would like to discuss is how the author uses this book to help motivate students that are considered “non-readers and non-writers” develop writing skills which aides in these students becoming independent learners. Graphics are not busy work. They help students focus on the objective of the lesson and match their writing to a purpose.

 

The two questions I have for my readers are:

1. How will you as a teacher use graphics to enhance your written communication with your students?
2. How will you have your students use graphics in their writing? How can you use it to differentiate or help your students who are considered “poor writers?”

[Gia Maraccini]

Hey Leigh!

 

Graphics are already part of our writing process in my class.  I have students develop their own visual representations whenever we learn new vocabulary, sketch their favorite part of the chapter they read for homework, do a quick sketch of a writing idea (we call them idea splashes) and then write words/phrases around the picture.  We use them in other ways too.  After reading your summary, I started thinking about text features.  I am going to try and have the students develop text features to go along with the non-fiction writing they do, so they better understand those features.  Still pondering how this will look, but excited to try and come up with some fun options for this. 

 

Gia

[Lucy Elise Peters]

Leigh,

I definitely will continue to utilize the graphics that my students use to relay learning through the type of posters I showed this summer.  Future lessons will use graphics in my culinary class where students will have journals devoted to daily writing.  I envision the poor writers blossoming in the topics given & engaging them in discussions with their peers.  When the challenged writers, ie. ELL, are encouraged to use graphics to write about the food they are learning about, they become very focused on the lesson and it reflects in their test scores.  I hope this will be a pivotal year for my teaching since I am better aware of how to help them achieve sucess with this medium.  The writing and drawing are very interrelated for these students and I believe will help them become confortable with the writing process in my foods classes.  --Lucy

[Doug Zimmerman]

Leigh -

1. In my case, graphics are of great use in WebCT or Blackboard, the on-line data collection/discussion forum/grade keeping pedagogical tool in use on most university campuses.  Students access this site and can readily navigate its various pages simply by recognizing various graphics.  Graphics such as manilla folders and so forth are usually accompanied by text, but students know from the graphic that the link contains a pdf. and/or Word Document vital to the class.

2.  Many professors use graphics as part of a visual rhetoric section.  I am not sure, however, how graphics can help me "differentiate" student writers and their skill level.  I will have to think on that point.  But I can say that I would welcome the use of graphics to help demonstrate and/or help clarify ideas during oral presentations. 

[Ashley Hennefer]

1. I am a big fan of graphics myself and I think that since our world is composed of both images and words, so should the lessons we share with our students. In both libraries and classrooms I think we can encourage students to remember that writing is as creative as it is technical. I would like to share graphic novels with them, and even art forms like movies paired with books can work well. I liked your idea of drawing pictures in their notes - so many students doodle already and it would be great to foster learning through those kinds of habits.

 

2. Visuals paired with writing can be very powerful. If we take multiple literacies into account, many of our students may have a visual learning style, and there is nothing wrong with that. If they are able to work through new concepts through images first, and then explain their choices and knowledge in words, I think that's a perfectly fine process. Also, I think it would be great to encourage the idea of writing as a graphic itself; genre writing is a fun way to mix creative, nonlinear visuals with the structure of words. 

[Megan Garijo Pruitt]

Hi Leigh!

 

I have been thinking about this topic a lot lately, especially when thinking of the growing array of electronic media and how students will need to be visual literate.  In the Common Core standards, anchor standard # 7 states that students need to know how to integrate and evaluate content presented in diverse media and formats, including visually and quantitatively, as well as in words.  This is exactly what you are talking about! 

How this anchor standard would translate to a specific grade level, for example 3rd grade, is that students are expected to use information gained from illustrations (e.g., maps, photographs) and the words in a text to demonstrate understanding of the text (e.g., where, when, why, and how key events occur). 

An example of a 12th grade standard related to this anchor standard is that students will integrate and evaluate multiple sources of information presented in different media or formats (e.g., visually, quantitatively) as well as in words in order to address a question or solve a problem.

How I would use graphics as a teacher is to first expose students to the multitude of examples of what visual literacy is.  The contexts in which they are encountered in everyday life include following instructions, filling in forms, choosing consumer goods, planning a vacation, maps, street directions, etc.  I would explicitly teach students how visual texts, or graphics can communicate certain information more clearly that verbal texts, then give multiple opportunities to practice using and even creating their own.

 

: )  Thanks for the thinking!

[Sarah Flynn]

Hi Leigh! First, I love your post because you have me thinking. Second, I want address the major point that graphics are complex and multilayered. Questions I have for myself are: How can I scaffold this? How can I model that this enhances the writing? I often see teachers accept graphics, drawings, or visuals with little writing connected to it and I too was guilty of that at one time. I liked the authors words of soft option and that it does not replace writing. Towards the end the last school year, I was able to review some middle school science final assessments and the words soft option reminded me of these assessments. It was clearly acceptable to display a visual without much writing. Did the students truly understand? Did they memorize a diagram? Can they explain the purpose?
You got me thinking Leigh! Very good. ~Sarah

[Marnie Smith]

Leigh-- I actually just had a discussion with a colleague yesterday and she was telling me how her principal wouldn't allow students to draw pictures before writing (this is second grade). She (the principal) said that students are supposed to be "writing" during writing time... not drawing. I was telling her how many times I have heard the opposite. I will tell her about this book. Maybe she can use it to support her teaching practice, rather than "hiding" it as she now does.