Some teachers teach the same way they were taught. Is that OK? Is that doing the students justice? I think it comes down to the question of, are the students today the same as students when we were in school. Sure there are some similarities, but overall the differences greatly outweigh the similarities. We were much more accustomed to learning from a textbook. Students of today are very visual. They are used to hundreds of channels of television, extremely realistic video games, and the Internet giving them they ability to see just about anything at any time. As a coach I've always heard that your strategies need to fit the abilities of the athletes you have on your team. If you don't have a quarterback with a good arm then you don't focus on a passing game. In the same respect, if students work best with visual learning, then you don't give them everything from a textbook. In fact, to get them to learn best, they need to be able to work mainly with methods that will work with them.
Technology and the Internet must be a large part of the classroom. As a science teacher, the Internet can be a wonderful source of visuals such as interactive diagrams, simulations, videos, and images. Whenever I am teaching a unit I try to incorporate as many of these visuals as possible. In some cases I create a WebQuest for the students to follow as they do the learning. Much like technology is always changing, so is my teaching. I'm always on the lookout for a better way for the students to learn, or a way in which they will be able to use more skills such as collaboration, or evaluating a scenario, or using higher level of thought. Teachers need to be able to shift our styles as better options become available.
Blog 2 prompt: Mod 4
ReplyDeleteHow 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?
We are a media-centric society. As a result, students a saturated with information that may or may not be accurate and unbiased. We communicate and share information in many ways; verbally, textually, physically, using letters, words, colors, images and numbers. Understanding to interpret and use the methods of communications is a key part of what we do in Education, from the early years an through college and beyond. Visual literacy is a life-long skill.
Yes, we live in free democratic society in the west, but as the information to which we have access is more globalized (via the Internet), the information comes from a wide range sources and perspectives. Information is available at our fingertips today. No question there. What does that mean? It means that we can get information easily and the Information Age is quickly being replaced by the Knowledge Age. In the Knowledge Age, we need to be able to evaluate the reliability of information sources and establish where information may fall along the bias continuum line. These are the skills that our students need to be learning. This is also part of working with and teaching visual literacy.
Visual literacy crosses all academic areas and grade levels. It includes skills to interpret and appreciate various languages and cultures around the world. We are just scratching the surface of what visual literacy means to each of us who work in the area of education and communications.
DrE