What is visual literacy?

The Common Core State Standards for English/language arts focus heavily on teaching students to read text critically and write in a variety of formats. However, beginning in elementary school, children are also tasked with becoming visually literate. But what does that mean? Here's what visual literacy is and how it relates to the Common Core:

What is visual literacy?
Visual literacy is all about having the ability to comprehend and interpret the complex messages sent by visual media. Visual media could include pictures, videos, advertisements, charts, graphs and many others. Students are taught to read critically and evaluate the meanings of written texts, but they should also learn how visuals can and do send messages. For instance, when viewing a photograph, students should be able to evaluate not only what's going on in it, but also what the photograph means and why it's important.

Consider the Mona Lisa: Students viewing Leonardo da Vinci's famous painting for the first time will see a smiling woman, but a deeper look at the painting's history reveals the subject's enigmatic expression and how the techniques used by the artist add a completely new dimension. Understanding the background of the painting may change the message the visual medium is sending.

Visual literacy and the Common Core
The Common Core fifth grade ELA standards ask students to "summarize a written text read aloud or information presented in diverse media and formats, including visually, quantitatively, and orally," and "include multimedia components (e.g., graphics, sound) and visual displays in presentations when appropriate to enhance the development of main ideas or themes." In other words, by the end of elementary school, students must be able to "read" pictures and other visuals as critically as they do written texts, and they must also know how to use visuals to send their own message. In fact, beginning in kindergarten, the Standards ask students to begin using visuals to supplement their written texts and provide clarity or a deeper meaning. 

So how can students become more visually literate? The key to learning how to evaluate visual information is to just start talking about it. Begin discussions using questions like these:

• "What do you see?"
• "What do you think the photographer was trying to capture?"
• "Why do you think this image is important?"
• "Does the accompanying text help you understand more about the visual?"
• "How does knowing the context change your understanding of the visual?"

As students become more adept at understanding the ways visual media can send messages, they can then start including their own images, videos and graphics in presentations or written assignments.