I’m enjoying the topic of course 3 because I feel visual literacy is often overlooked and yet increasingly essential. I would argue however that visual literacy is being taught more than most realize and it’s happening in the art room. Visual literacy and sometimes media literacy are core subjects in the art room. George Lucas stated in his Edutopia article that “We need to take art and music out of “the arts class” and put it into the English class.” This statement points to what I believe is a largely overlooked problem in schools today. I believe each subject tends to be too compartmentalized when in reality, outside school walls the world is not run by lone subject matters but more often a collaboration of subject matters. Visual literacy doesn’t need to come out of the art room and go into english class. Teachers need to demonstrate how subject areas overlap more naturally. Many teachers do this to a small extent but kids still don’t make the connections. When you tell a student to make a visual for a science class do they stop to apply the elements and principles of art the learned in drawing? Mostly likely the answer is no. I often think that if our school systems were set up with less compartmentalization between subjects then our students would be more equipped to see how everything is intertwined and overlapping. If only we could break down some of the walls between our subject areas. Then, just maybe students would be more likely to apply visual media and literacy skills they have been nurturing in the art room to observations in literature, science and technology.
As an art teacher I thought I would attempt to start this process by sharing some simple tools that I use to enhance visual literacy. Hopefully a few of you will find this useful in a classroom outside the art room.
- VTS, otherwise known as Visual thinking Strategies is a great way to get kids verbally talking about imagery, breaking down there thoughts and expressing them out load. One thing I love about VTS is that there are no wrong answers, just curiosities and self expression which helps kids to build there confidence. The following is a video of VTS being facilitated with a group of adults.
- “Picture This: How Pictures Work” by Molly Bang is a wonderful book that shows how simple shapes in different arrangements create expression.
- The Elements of Art and Principles of Design are considered to be the common set of vocabulary for talking about and describing visual components of a work of art. This vocabulary is used in art classes from kindergarden through 12th grade and could easily be used in other classrooms when looking at, creating visuals, or developing descriptive writing
I hope some of my non art teacher colleges might find some of this useful. If you have materials that you think would make a good resource in the art room I would certainly like to hear about it.
Cassandra Pupovac 
OK, I’m ready to break down some walls. Heck, I’ve got my Star Wars hero, George Lucas giving me the thumbs up. I like this idea of talking art and music out of the art and music classrooms, and sticking them in the English classroom, something I’ve been sneaking into my English classroom ever since I was given a classroom. Making connections between music and lyrics and literature has always been pretty darn easy, it’s a feet and socks combination for certain. But I was just thinking about the art element last week while giving a guitar lesson to a couple of students. I was showing them how to play “Hotel Yorba” by the White Stripes, and the two students, one in 7th grade and the other in 9th, were making fun of the lyrics of the song. The younger of the students said he was unimpressed by the lyrics but followed up by giving a resounding “have you seen the awesome video for Seven Nation Army? Which the other student confessed he had not. As we sat and watched it we were all fairly enamored. It’s a cool video, and the song a throwback to the 80s metal scene. I need to start showing more cool videos in all of my classes—they are out there!
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Cassie, I just need to say how glad I am that you are in this COETAIL class! Your art teacher perspective is great to have as we go through this visual literacy class. (Of course, being married to an art teacher gives me a soft spot for the visual arts 🙂
I second your idea that we need to de-compartmentalize visual literacy and other subjects. Honestly teachers are doing their students a disservice when they downplay (ignore?) visual literacy. I think most teachers just say, “Well I cannot “draw” so I won’t grade you on the visual element of your presentation”. It’s true most teachers are not amazing arts and they really do want to assess the content, not the “art” in a project, but by making the visual side of a project irrelevant they are missing a great opportunity!
This important element of visual literacy will only get the “air -time” it deserves if and when teachers themselves understand it. I am not sure how to get there, but I know that the more a teacher understands visual literacy, the more willing they will be to hold up its value in the classroom. Do you think it could start with a little “show and tell” time in a faculty meeting? Really and truly I am not sure the best place for it, but a little training for teachers would go a long way.
One other idea may be to do the integration part in your classroom. Invite kids (maybe you do this already) to bring in their projects/assignments to your art class and work on them. Do a critique in your class of the kids’ posters they are making for health class. Take it a step further and analyze a video your kids made for science class. I think over time your work would pay off and eventually the teachers would start to see the value in the work you are doing towards visual literacy.
Visual literacy is going to become more and more important and people will become more and more open to the integration of art and other subjects. You’re doing great work. Don’t give up the fight!
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