Embedding Visuals Into Teaching and Learning

I confess, I am a visual learner! I also relate better to metaphors, since they paint a picture in my mind.

My eyes roll back when I see long passages of text, that I am supposed to read, digest, analyze, understand, etc. Don’t get me wrong, I can do it (I am an avid reader), but I can wrap my mind around concepts, thoughts and content better, if it is represented visually in some shape or form.

The majority of content presented to students in school is in form of text, the world outside of school bombards us with information in many forms of media beyond text.

Image licensed under CC by Trey Ratcliff

Our ability to navigate a media rich world and “read and write” in that world is increasingly important skill to posses.

Visual Literacy is defined by Wikipedia as:

the ability to interpret, negotiate, and make meaning from information presented in the form of an image, extending the meaning of literacy, which commonly signifies interpretation of a written or printed text. Visual literacy is based on the idea that pictures can be “read” and that meaning can be communicated through a process of reading.

I have been working with one of our Middle School teachers, Morah Ita,  and her blog. She is steadily climbing the classroom teacher’s blogging step ladder. Her classroom blog has moved from being a static replacement of the weekly newsletter sent home and information “pushed” out for students to read and consume to a hub, where students respond to prompts from her, are able to read and comment on each other and allow a global audience to their conversation.

Another upgrade we are taking a closer look at now, is a move from TEXT HEAVY to a more MEDIA INFUSED writing style.

Inspired by the website Visual Writing Prompts, I took the text based journal prompts on her blog and “visualized” them.

From creating these visuals as a journal writing prompts, my thoughts turned to other subjects.

Our 4th/5th grade Math teacher is revisiting fractions. Part of her class needs more help than others in understanding and making sense of fractions.

Again, the idea was to bring more visual “real life” elements to a typically taught abstractly (with numbers) or with clipart (blocks or circles) concept. Just google “visual fractions” and switch from web to images.

The meta-cognitive process of creating the slides and thinking of a questions to go along with them gave place to another opportunity for the more “advanced” students. As the teacher works with struggling students, they would be able to create visual fraction problems for their classmates to practice and solve.

Our Kindergarten teacher, Mrs. Yegelwel, shared the following on our school’s Professional Development Ning.

A seesaw is a perfect balance (given the right amount of weight on each side)! How do you teach heavy, light, equal to Kindergarteners? Using balances and connecting cubes in the classroom is good, but using their bodies on the seesaw outside is even better.  We (not me personally!) weighed ourselves, figured out which child weighed the same or almost the same as another child and then tried to balance on the seesaw.

The activity is excellent. I am so glad that the teacher documented it by taking the image to be later shared among colleagues and parents via her classroom blog.

I am wondering now though, how can we continue to upgrade and continue to infuse visual literacy for our 5 and 6 year olds?  Can we take images from objects the children are familiar with (ex. from around the classroom) and create visual questions for them. The objective is to teach students not only the concept of heavier, lighter, equal, but to give them the ability to see and evaluate images and transfer the concept to real life and vice versa.

PS. I used the (free)  iPad app Haiku Deck, in case you were wondering how the visual slides were created.

I have found the app to be perfect to quickly create good looking slides. The app is very intuitive. The fluency of the creation process is smooth.

1. Add your text (you are limted to up to two lines…which is a good thing!)

2. Choose an image (from Flickr’s Creative Commons pool or upload your own)

3. Choose the layout

4. Share your slides (export it as a PowerPoint file or send an e-mail with a link)

I then emailed the slides to myself, opened them up in PowerPoint and exported them as images to be uploaded to the blog. You can also view the slideshow on the iPad and take screenshots of the individual slides in order to upload them to a blog.

I am calling on all of you bloggers, presentation deliverers and teachers to

BREAK UP THE TEXT! Include less words, embed a variety of media to support you message/content, infuse visual literacy into your teaching!

Twitter as a Curation Tool

I have written and spoken extensively about the use of Twitter in education:

• as one social network tool to connect, collaborate and amplify (Seven Degrees of Connectedness, Upgrade & Amplification Exercise and Checklist )
• as a critical component of 21st century skills and literacies for the classroom ( Twitter HOTS & Establishing a Twitter Routine in the Classroom, Twitter Policy and Rationale, Guide to Twitter in the K-8 Classroom, K-2 Twitter in the Classroom Checklist,  Twitter in Education Pinterest Board )
• as an important component of Professional Development for educators (R U Ready 4Twitter?, New Forms of Learning: How to Participate in a Conference 2.0 Style?)

In addition to the above mentioned uses of Twitter, I am increasingly becoming aware of the importance of Twitter as a CURATION tool for me.

The term “curation” in itself has become quite popular recently. I am not sure yet, if it is another term destined to become a victim of talking at cross purposes among the educational community.

Mike Fisher has blogged about curation and what it means versus the concept of collection.

Collecting is what kids do when asked to find resources for a particular topic. Usually, it represents the first 3 or 4 hits on a Google search, without meaning, discernment, or connections.

Curating is different. It’s the Critical Thinker’s collection, and involves several nuances (see Figure 1) that separate it as an independent and classroom-worthy task.

Mike created the following image to point out the continuum from collecting to curating

The stages and progression of using Twitter as a mere consumption tool of collected information (by others) to curating information, adding value with additional perspectives, connections,  resources or interpretation, the platform of Twitter as a potential tool for curation becomes evident.

There are different sides to Twitter as a Curation tool:

1. Taking advantage of a network of curators working for you (building your own customized network), consuming their curated information
2. Collecting, organizing, connecting, attributing, interpreting, summarizing the vast amount of information that comes across your desk/ feed /books/articles/etc.  for YOURSELF!
3. Becoming consciously the curator for others for a particular niche, area of expertise or interest. Disseminate resources, add value, put in perspective, create connections, present in a different light/media/language.
4. Real time curation allows you to be part of an event, that you physically might not be attending or being on the opposite end allows you to be the bridge for others to participate at an event where you are present, but your network is not.

Download Twitter as a Curation Tool as a pdf file.

Taking advantage of a network of curators working for you (building your own customized network), consuming their curated information.

Create lists on Twitter, that will clump together users who are experts and curators for a particular area of interest to you.

Ex.:

• Library & Media Specialists (List by Langwitches)
• LanguageTeachers (List by Langwitches)
• International Educators (List by Langwitches)
• Classrooms Tweeting (List by Langwitches)

Follow #hashtags of topics or groups.

Ex.

• #Kinderchat (for Kindergarten teachers)
• #1stchat (for First Grade teachers)
• #educoach (for educational coaches)
• #edjewcon (for Jewish educators)
• #globalclassroom (globally connect your classroom)
• #iosedapp (for educators interested in educational apps for iPads/iPods/iPhones)

Collecting, organizing, connecting, attributing, interpreting, summarizing the vast amount of information that comes across your desk/ feed /books/articles/etc.  for YOURSELF!

A few years ago, I set up the Langwitches Twitter Blog,  another WordPress blog under the Langwitches domain. Using the Twitter Tools plugin, any tweet, I am posting to Twitter, automatically gets posted to the Langwitches Twitter Feed Blog.

I am finding myself using the blog’s search function more and more when I am trying to recall a resource, need to quote someone, find a username of someone I interacted with on Twitter, etc.

Since I am increasingly using and relying on the search function of my Twitter blog, I am also more aware of the Tweets I am posting. I am carefully thinking about future keywords, I might be searching for in order to recall a particular tweet (s).

Consciously becoming the curator for others for a particular niche, area of expertise or interest. Disseminate resources with added value, put in perspective, create connections, present in a different light/media/language.

This is the difference that separates the “collectors” from the “curators”. Establish yourself as an expert, by sharing selected quality information freely. This is when YOU become the trusted member of a network that funnels QUALITY / FILTERED information to others.

Real time curation allows you to be part of an event, that you physically might not be attending or being on the opposite end allows you to be the bridge for others to participate at an event where you are present, but your network is not.

As the event unfolds in real time, you use Twitter to document and link what you are hearing, witnessing and learning.

I recently published a blog post outlining the symbiotic relationship between physical and virtual attendees of a conference: New Forms of Learning: How to Participate in a Conference 2.0 Style?

How else are you using Twitter as a curation tool? Please share.

New Forms of Learning: How to Participate in a Conference 2.0 Style?

I have narrowed down my leitmotif of learning in the 21st century (the time we happen to live in!)  …to being self-directed and self-motivated learning.

There is an opportunity, as a professional, to put exactly these two skills into action.

Take a look at INNOVATE13.  A physical conference to be held in Sao Paulo, Brazil next month (January 19-21, 2013).

While there will be educators physically traveling to Sao Paulo, there will be the ones who will attend virtually THROUGH those attending face to face (f2f).

It is a tremendous opportunity to gain perspective, network and possibly kick start further global networking and collaboration as a professional, but also for the students in your charge. It does not matter if you live in Sao Paulo, Brazil, Iowa, USA or in the Australian Outback,  YOU can be part of a global network of educators and participate in the conversation to re-imagine schools.

Keep reading…

Innovate 2013

Innovate 2013 marks Graded School’s commitment to re-imagine the school that best serves and inspires students for tomorrow. Please join us and innovators from across the globe to engage in a dialogue designed to ignite new ideas resulting in building a foundation for the change our students deserve.

In partnership with Un-Plugged at the American School of Bombay, the Lausanne Laptop Institute at Lausanne Collegiate, the European 1-1 Learning Institute hosted by the Frankfurt International School, and the Association of American Schools in South America (AASSA), Graded School is honored to launch the conversation in South America.

In order for learning across distances to be  possible, a symbiotic relationship between the physical and virtual attendees has to be in place.

If  in-person attendees are not opening their conference walls and sharing with the outside, the online participants will not be able to connect, add, reflect, ask questions, contribute perspective or curate resources generated by the community physically present.

If the online participants are not visually participating in the conference platform (NING), using backchannel venues, blogs, twitter hashtags or other collaborative tools and social media platforms to connect their experience, the in-person attendees cannot actively amplify and connect their learning, their connections & perspectives to theirs.

Both kinds of attendees (physical & virtual) of the conference have to posses the following requirements:

• a desire to connect with other educators from around the world and grow their professional learning network
• an ability to use technology tools that allow for synchronous and asynchronous communication and collaboration
• a wish to be part of a group of “pioneers” who are exploring new forms of learning
• a disposition of being a reflective practitioner, not afraid of being transparent
• an ambition of overcoming obstacles and “making it work for YOU”
• a resourcefulness to overcoming obstacles, such as time zones and geographic boundaries
• an understanding of having to experience and experiment with global connectedness, collaboration and learning before you can bring that experience to your students
• a love of sharing
• the power of ACTING on this call to participate

It is up to you (physical & virtual attendees) to make it happen. Self directed and self-motivated learning is what sets 21st century educators apart from others.

Physical Attendees:

This is a call to in-person participants to make a commitment to:

• share openly and connect your learning experience at the conference to a larger global audience BEYOND the other f2f attendees
• be transparent and reflective in your own learning.
• find ways to summarize, synthesize, curate and document ideas, learning, projects, concepts, etc.
• choose one or more platforms to share
• make a concerted effort to include and make the virtual attendees feel PART OF a learning community
• become a buddy/mentor to someone who is not physically attending.
• volunteer to a be the “online moderator” of a backchannel during a live presentation/workshop/keynote
• approach someone at your school or maybe someone in your network and ask them to experience a conference together IN NEW FORMS.

Virtual Participants:

No travel costs are involved, NO registration fees are required. Make a commitment to:

• mark your calendar to be able to participate. January 19-21, 2013
• find a dedicated “conference attendance” time. Use that time to read through the Twitter stream/hashtag, Ning activities generated through the conference, resources being shared.
• ACTIVELY participate versus PASSIVELY consuming information. Contribute resources, your own perspective, thoughts and experience.
• make strategic connections with physical attendees. Connect with them even beforehand via the Ning, on Twitter or via a blog. Leave a comment, @mention someone in a Tweet, use the conference hashtag to connect your voice to the conversation.

Take it from… I always wanted to… and…What an incredible opportunity… to…I can make this happen!… I can experiment with learning in new ways…

Here are some tips/steps to take for the active collaborative connected conference attendee:

1. Make a commitment to attend virtually (add it to your calendar/block a time off)
2. Participate in the conference Backchannel
   Follow the conference Twitter hashtag (#innovate13)
3. Become a member of the conference Ning
   Fill out your profile, say hello and introduce yourself, join groups, post valuable resources
4. Join the Twitter List Innovate2013 with Tweeps participating (virtually & physically)
   Being part of the list will give everyone an idea who will be joining f2f and from afar.
5. Find a Buddy, someone who will be physically at the conference
   Discuss before hand how your can help each other

Learning in the 21st century has taken on new shapes and forms. Professional Development can happen 24 hours a day, 7 days a week from all corners of the globe. It is critical for educators to develop the skills and capacities to be able to ACTIVELY participate by connecting, communicating and collaborating virtually .

Just do it!

Step forward, out of the shadows of being a “lurker” in order to take your learning in your own hands. Let  SELF-MOTIVATED and SELF-DIRECTED LEARNING become your mantra as an educator.

Looking for a buddy at the conference? First Steps? Leave a comment here on Langwitches or become a member on the conference Ning in order to connect.

Looking forward to learning with you at INNOVATE 2013!

Download the “Attend a Conference in Person or Virtually” Guide as a pdf file.