Perhaps you can tell from our title (or perhaps it’s just appeared as those boxes that occur when we use emojis) … this week’s challenge is about emojis. It’s the first time the Student Blogging Challenge has used emojis for one of the topics, and I’ll admit I 🙄 when I saw the title in my inbox.
However, visual literacy is a part of reading and comprehending texts, and emojis are one of the fastest growing “languages” in the world, such that 😂 was the Oxford Dictionary’s Word of the Year in 2015. Different emojis combined send different messages in the texting world (and translating those messages is not something restricted to teenagers, by the way; more adults than you might prefer know the various combinations). We’ve learned a lot about some pretty key aspects of blogging in the past few weeks, so although emojis aren’t something you want to include in more formal posts, it may be fun to play around with them this week. (Besides, knowing your audience is crucial as a writer: knowing when and when not to use emojis can be part of that.)
After analysing the best visual literacy comments from the past several assignments, our class has come up with success criteria. Each group’s criteria is posted in the comments below; our consolidated criteria are in this post.
Learning Intentions
I can use various strategies to understand visual text.
I can think critically and reflectively to explore ideas within and beyond texts.
I can identify the elements of visual texts.
Success Criteria
Block D
I can describe a visual text fully and completely, including the background, shapes and expressions and other smaller details, using descriptive language.
I can explain what I think is going on in the text and support my explanation with specific details from the text.
I can identify parts of the text that confuse me or for which I don’t have an explanation and share my thoughts on them.
I can write carefully, checking my spelling and grammar.
From this point on, when you’ve posted your visual literacy comment, you need to self-assess it according to this criteria – either by posting your self-assessment as a comment to your V.L. one, or by writing down your self-assessment and handing it in, if you’re not comfortable with other people seeing it. Use the following template and write a comment assessing yourself on each of the required criteria:
1. (detailed description)
2. (what’s going on)
3. (confusions or questions)
4. (spelling and grammar)
Block A
I can describe a visual text fully and completely, including the background and smaller details, using descriptive language.
I can explain what is going on in the text, making sense of it in a way that considers most, if not all, of the details in the image and hypothesizing logical explanations for those details that don’t fit my explanation.
I can make connections between the image and my prior knowledge to help make sense of the image.
If I want to go further, I can do research on elements of the picture to help me create a more accurate explanation of what is going on in it.
From this point on, when you’ve posted your visual literacy comment, you need to self-assess it according to this criteria – either by posting your self-assessment as a comment to your V.L. one, or by writing down your self-assessment and handing it in, if you’re not comfortable with other people seeing it. Use the following template and write a comment assessing yourself on each of the required criteria:
This week’s visual literacy post is a little different. In honour of Martin Luther King Day (in the States), we are going to watch his “I Have a Dream” speech. You can find more information out about him here, and here. If you are interested in authentic artefacts (things actually written or created by Martin Luther King Jr.), check out this slightly more challenging website.
In your comment, I want you to consider the following question: Do you have to be disobedient if you want justice? Consider the speech, but also consider the things happening in the world today – the Black Lives movement, the arguments about cultural appropriation, the conflicts in the United States around race and religion. What do you think?
