Visual Literacy In the Classroom

From the beginning of our lives we use visual cues to make sense of the world. Seeing a mother's face or a teddy may calm a child while seeing a scary face, or a dark room may frighten them. New age learning actually has infants using sign language before they can talk. They learn to link a certain action or hand signal with an activity such as eating or drinking. How is visual literacy used later on in lives to further our education?

Modern-day classroom's use pictures to provoke feeling and emotion in kids. Decorating a classroom with summer colors, and summer images helps children understand what the season means. Getting kids to draw picture's of what they will do on summer vacation will initiate thought about what feelings the season gives them. When it is time to learn the continents, and countries of the world, children are given pictures of the map to color and label (canada still and always will stand out in my mind as red). Photo's of insects and animals are posted all over the walls to help kids learn what difference between mammals, insects and reptiles is.

Over all, teachers use many tools in order to develop the minds of children. It is important to raise creative and curious children. Digital images and visuals are one of the most important parts of this education.