Multiple Literacies

I had such a wonderful time at Friday's workshop--thank you to everyone who attended! As promised, here are the links to more information about multiple literacies.

This is a nice introduction to multiple literacies:
http://www.drawingwriting.com/multlit.html

This site includes links to videos with teachers explaining how they use multiple literacies in the classroom:
http://faculty.uoit.ca/hughes/Contexts/MultipleLiteracies.html

Here is a discussion of how to use visual literacy in the classroom:
http://k-8visual.info/whatis_Text.html

During the workshop, we looked at how readers process information that is composed of both images and text. I love the Elephant and Piggie books for this--they are an easy introduction to reading pictures. Older students enjoy Calvin and Hobbes. The story doesn't live in the pictures or the print--it exists in the combination of the two.

"Re-composing" means taking information from one modality and transferring it to another. This is a great reading activity, as it requires students to integrate ideas. Last school year, I wrote about how students can do this to build summarizing skills. But re-composing doesn't have to be a formal lesson. On a visit to South Middleton Park last night, my youngest son and I re-composed some of the signs that were posted around the park, putting the information from the pictures into words. (The sign about how dogs must be leashed and cleaned up after was particularly funny!)

Reading visual texts is not necessarily easier than reading print--instead, it requires a different set of skills. Modeling your own thinking as a reader interacting with these texts is an important way to help kids understand how to integrate pictures with text.  For our readers who struggle with both decoding and language comprehension, visual texts can be a pathway to helping them to understand making inferences and summarizing stories.

Here is a collection of links related to graphic novels, visual literacy, and multiple literacies.

Graphic Novels in the Classroom (teacher blog)
http://classroomcomics.wordpress.com/category/classroom-practice/

Cartoons for the Classroom
http://nieonline.com/aaec/cftc.cfm

Graphic Novels for (Really) Young Readers (includes a list of suggested titles)
http://www.schoollibraryjournal.com/article/CA6312463.html

The Comic Book Project
http://www.comicbookproject.org/index.html