Workshop on Visual Thinking and Visual Literacy for the Independent School Association of British Columbia (Mulgrave School, Feb, 2015).
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With the changing media landscape, our streams, memes, and zines have exploded with imagery, ushering in a need for visual literacy skills. We have some false beliefs about visual language - that it is equated with “art”, requiring “talent” from “creative types” - and therefore it is unfortunately often not overtly taught and practiced in schools. Technology has affected knowledge in such a way as to diminish the value of “raw” information and increase the value of sense-making, as well as chip away at attention spans, sparking a need for distillation of complex ideas. Images can essentialize the cumbersome in beautiful ways. They have a “stickiness” for the viewer and challenge the critical thinking of the creator.
8. !
Exquisite Corpse Post-It Intro
head= show emotion: What’s your mood?
hands= hold favorite creative tool
feet= stand on something representative of
what you teach or do in ed.
13. External memory aids,
such as sketches and diagrams,
can help us overcome
the limited capacity
of our short- and
long-term memories
Allen Newell and
Nobel Prize winner
Herbert Simon
26. "Scholars will be instructed through the eye.
It is possible to teach every branch of
human knowledge with the motion picture.
Our school system will be completely changed
inside of ten years"
- Thomas Edison
34. have a story in mind
draw as much of that story as possible
in 1 min
pass book to next person
1 minute to “add”
to the story
divide paper into 4 boxes
35. RULES:!
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no talking (this game must be entirely non-verbal
until the end)
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you may draw in the next box of the storyboard
or embellish the previous person’s drawing
try to avoid “drawing” words
and phrases
36. last person who drew should share out loud
with the group what they perceived the stories to be
first person should then share in what ways
end result was similar or different than original intent
37. Part II: Debriefing Viziphone
What types of symbols and icons were useful in
communicating specific abstract ideas?
What was challenging about this activity?
What was most fun and why?
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38. Part II: Debriefing Viziphone
!
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What surprised you about the way the stories
developed with the imagery?
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Do you think your team was successful at
communicating an entire story with visuals only?
Why or why not?
39. “If only we could pull out !
our brain !
and use only our eyes.” !
!
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― Pablo Picasso
163. “A few weeks later, in the wood,
I came across Miss Riding Hood.
But what a change! No cloak of red,
No silly hood upon her head.
She said, “Hello, and do please note
My lovely furry wolfskin coat.”
- Roald Dahl