“A picture is worth a thousand words”. This commonly used phrase suggests that a picture can have considerable impact and meaning to many people. It also suggests that a picture can almost have more impact on some people than words, due to the stark reality that a picture can relay. Pictures can convey messages with one simple look of an eye, a different angle on an ordinary object, or an unknown lifestyle with a landscape picture. Visuals are able to captivate an audience with these simple features; however, visuals can also skew the audience’s perspective on many issues, which can lead to problems.
The person making the visual has their own point of view, and could choose to only depict the portion of the issue that they agree with. For example in The Burger King comparison, to the left side of the advertisement it depicts what we, the consumers, see in a typical Burger King advertisement; conversely, on the right side of the advertisement it depicts what an actual Burger King whopper looks like. The advertising executives at Burger King have skewed the way their famous whopper burger looks in order to entice consumers to buy and eat it. Advertisements such as this is a great example as to how the person taking the picture can change the way it looks in order to get their chosen point across. Additionally, it is the job of teachers to explain and enlighten students about the ability to be visually literate, so that they do not fall into traps that visuals can present to our society.
Gray defined visual literacy as the “ability to both read and write visual information; the ability to learn visually; to think and solve problems in the visual domain (as cited in Baker, 2012, p. 167). This simply means that students must be able critical in their thinking and taking in of visuals. Visuals are everywhere in our world; road signs, billboards, business signs, etc. Students must be able to read and write visual information in order to keep up with our visual world. Teaching students both the positive and negative effects visuals can have on our society allows students to think auditory and visually throughout their lives.
In the classroom, it is important for teachers to use a wide variety of resources to enhance learning for their students. Different learning styles, such as being a visual, auditory, or kinesthetic learner, cause the teacher to expand their teaching practices to using more than one teaching style. However, as noted above, teachers need to be aware of the point of view of the visual creators in order to not skew the thoughts and opinions of the students. Students need to be able to critically analyze the visual messages they are receiving. Teachers can do this by reviewing and examining pictures, whether that is advertisements or other pictures, and critically analyzing who made the picture, why they made the picture, and how could these reasons change the person’s point of view? Being visually literate enables students to communicate to their fullest potential more effectively and efficiently.
References
Baker, Frank W. (2012). Media Literacy in the K-12 Classroom. Washington, DC: International Society for Technology in Education.
Dario D. (2010, August 20). Ads vs. Reality- Fast Food. [Web log picture]. Retrieved from http://www.alphaila.com/articles/
The person making the visual has their own point of view, and could choose to only depict the portion of the issue that they agree with. For example in The Burger King comparison, to the left side of the advertisement it depicts what we, the consumers, see in a typical Burger King advertisement; conversely, on the right side of the advertisement it depicts what an actual Burger King whopper looks like. The advertising executives at Burger King have skewed the way their famous whopper burger looks in order to entice consumers to buy and eat it. Advertisements such as this is a great example as to how the person taking the picture can change the way it looks in order to get their chosen point across. Additionally, it is the job of teachers to explain and enlighten students about the ability to be visually literate, so that they do not fall into traps that visuals can present to our society.
Gray defined visual literacy as the “ability to both read and write visual information; the ability to learn visually; to think and solve problems in the visual domain (as cited in Baker, 2012, p. 167). This simply means that students must be able critical in their thinking and taking in of visuals. Visuals are everywhere in our world; road signs, billboards, business signs, etc. Students must be able to read and write visual information in order to keep up with our visual world. Teaching students both the positive and negative effects visuals can have on our society allows students to think auditory and visually throughout their lives.
In the classroom, it is important for teachers to use a wide variety of resources to enhance learning for their students. Different learning styles, such as being a visual, auditory, or kinesthetic learner, cause the teacher to expand their teaching practices to using more than one teaching style. However, as noted above, teachers need to be aware of the point of view of the visual creators in order to not skew the thoughts and opinions of the students. Students need to be able to critically analyze the visual messages they are receiving. Teachers can do this by reviewing and examining pictures, whether that is advertisements or other pictures, and critically analyzing who made the picture, why they made the picture, and how could these reasons change the person’s point of view? Being visually literate enables students to communicate to their fullest potential more effectively and efficiently.
References
Baker, Frank W. (2012). Media Literacy in the K-12 Classroom. Washington, DC: International Society for Technology in Education.
Dario D. (2010, August 20). Ads vs. Reality- Fast Food. [Web log picture]. Retrieved from http://www.alphaila.com/articles/