Tag Archives: visual literacy

The History of Books, Libraries, and Getting Kids to Write

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My final project for the COETAIL course in which I am currently enrolled consists of supporting a group of 4th graders as we attempt to create a digital book on the expansive topic of… The History of Books and Libraries. I work at an international school as the elementary division librarian, and the project began as a frustrated attempt to find readable and understandable material on the subject for my 3rd grade class as part of the library curriculum. I had one decent picture book to start with and had developed the curriculum from that point. After searching online for more kid-friendly information, I finally came to the conclusion that we would somehow have to create our own material. And that is why last year’s 3rd graders are now creating material that will be used by this year’s 3rd graders.

From an authentic need and an authentic audience comes an authentic use of technology.  The SAMR model helps to identify and analyze the uses of technology to determine whether technology is being used for its own sake or for accomplishing something original that technology finally makes possible.

Although academic instruction can be enhanced by the use of technology, the transformative use is the most valuable in pedagogy. The task which the 4th graders at our school are now tackling would not be possible without the use of technology.

Each student was given a subject within the span of the “History of Books and Libraries.” They were given a folder which contained a copy of one relevant page of a book on their subject  along with a few other resources. They began to work on the “who, when, where, what, why and how” or their topic and were shown how to search for additional information on the web relating to their topic.

Some of their sources were over their heads and a teacher or helper had to sit next to the student translating into age-appropriate vocabulary what their source material was trying to communicate. Then the student would write down what they understood from the material. A few students were tempted to copy the source material word-for-word into their own document, but were quickly found out when they could not explain the vocabulary words that they had typed. The content was explained and they rewrote their page in their own words. This was essential since students who were at their grade level or lower would be the audience for this book.

As the students researched more deeply and wrote in greater detail about their topic, they became more confident in their abilities. Merely learning that your first draft is rarely your best draft was worth the process as students self-edited, peer-edited and received many successive corrections back from the teachers. It was amazing to see how well the students persisted in their editing. They knew that it had to be polished and presentable as it would be published in the final book. They also understood that the content was more important than the form. They were not given the option of choosing their own font as this tends to sidetrack many for hours. They were not even given the option of finding graphics or illustrations for their page until their final text had been approved.

Students who finished editing the text of their page more quickly than others, were challenged to take their research and creation to the next level. Some wrote emails to experts on their subjects and some created models or paintings or pictures that would enhance their page in the book. A few are even creating movies to embed into their page.

One of the drawbacks of using iBooks Author was that the software is not designed to accommodate many creators or contributors at the same time. One person needs to compile the data; it is not a multi-user, magazine or newspaper publishing type of tool where copy editors and writers can all submit material in real time to a work in progress. Actually, my husband works for a company called Woodwing that sells just such a tool. It works very well and is used by Time magazine and other large companies. It has recently been adopted by the Pulitzer Prize-winning Mainichi Newspaper in Japan who used it first with their image-rich publication, Tap-i, which incorporates interactivity and embedded video into their weekly digital news magazine.

But for our purposes, the tech tools that we have chosen have served us well. We did run into some problems as the students attempted to drop their pages into my teacher Drop Box folder which has “Write-Only” capabilities and the folder did not show up. The tech department is fixing the link so that the next attempt will be successful. Students in 4th grade do not have their own email accounts so for some purposes, we had to use memory sticks to transfer data. The students could not access their student folders from home and so some could not work on their content at home. Many did not have Apple computers at home, so they had difficulty transferring some of the files. We are working around these issues, however, and the students are getting closer and closer to being ready to publish.

If this project is successful, we may make this publishing unit a regular fixture in the 4th grade curriculum. It gives the students a jump on the research and writing skills that they will need to tackle the more in-depth Independent Study Project, or ISP, that they all must deal with in 5th grade. As it is, they are getting lots of practice in editing, online research, proper image attribution and digital publishing. Many students will be embedding links into their pages that will take readers to museums, universities and other sites where further studies can undertaken. The students can’t wait to see where in the world their book may be downloaded.

 

Convolutions of Connections

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The connections that technology can weave are simply mind-boggling. On a personal scale, I can find old friends whom I have not contacted in years. On a global scale, I can discover new friends that bring fresh perspectives on the world. Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, email, online discussion groups (like SCBWI), online communities (like DeviantArt), all bring a network of individuals with common interests within reach.

This is all a bit daunting and challenging to a true introvert. I must admit that I was a bit put off by all this connectivity at first, but I can see the value in it. As certain political situations worldwide can demonstrate, it is neither wise nor healthy to live in a bubble of isolation. Connections with a variety of contacts keep us honest, humble and human. (Democrats and Republicans… are you listening? China, with your “Great Firewall,” are you listening?)

So, connections are good, but they can also be convoluted and confusing. While it may be prudent to sort your connections carefully into personal, hobby, business and political categories, the lines invariably cross. We find valuable connections where we least expect them to be. I found the illustrator for my children’s book on Deviant Art. I have discovered famous authors who have connected with me on LinkedIn. By way of my Kidsermons website, have been contacted by a pastor in Norway who translated my content and included it in a children’s sermon book, called Annerledeskongen, which has been distributed to many of the churches in Norway.

And although my blog is rarely read by anyone who does not know me, every once in a while, I realize that even this is a connection that can turn up in places where I would least expect it. I recently came across a link to my “View from the Trees” blog by a person in Sweden (who is a friend of my illustrator, Therese Larsson. I have included the blurb below for those of you who can speak Swedish:

Hi Ruth,
Stefan Zackrisson commented on a status that you’re tagged in.
Stefan wrote: “Eftersom mina google-skills är a+ ,http://ruth.ingulsrud.net/blog/2012/10/13/distractions-or-enhancements-the-interactive-question/ , Verkar helt klart intressant Therese Larsson :)”

In relating all of this to teaching… we are undoubtedly instructing our students on the importance of making good connections; not just in academic instruction (text-to-self, etc.) but in personal relationships. We are teaching them to be interested and connected to the world around them, and if we build into our curriculum, the chance to make authentic and valuable connections, we equip them for dealing with the complex interconnected world that they are growing into.

Just as we tend to straighten up and project our best image when we realize that we are being observed, students also straighten up and put their best effort forward when they realize that they have an authentic audience.

When I told the 4th grade students in our school that they would be publishing a digital book that could be downloaded by any student in the world, the intensity of focus was palpable. Most students have not even complained about the many drafts and corrections that they have had to make to their writing as they prepare to truly publish their work to the world. They know that their product, a book on the”History of Books and Libraries” will be used as part of the curriculum to teach the 3rd graders as our school, but they also realize that anyone around the world will be able to read this book as well. Connections are important.

We will be using iBooks Author to construct our book and the students are each writing a page on various topics related to the the history of books and libraries. Students are tackling subjects like, “Hieroglyphics,” “the Great Library of Alexandria,” “Pictograms,” “the Printing Press,” and even “Cave Paintings” as they attempt to show the progress of literacy and books throughout the history of man. It is a big undertaking, but I have been amazed at what the students have come up with. Some are even making connections beyond the classroom, emailing librarians at the Harvard Library system and at the oldest free public library in the United States, the Peterborough Library.

Through their research, the students are even creating connections to the past and beginning to understand history better. They are discussing ideas about what the world would be like if certain writing systems or inventions had never come to light. They are realizing the value of innovation, progress and record-keeping as they attempt to see the progression of a very big concept over time. Thinking and education should be about making connections; activating dendrites and synapses in the brain. It appears that through the challenge of research and creation, these students are certainly learning to think!

Distractions or Enhancements? The Interactive Question

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What is a book? The concept of “book” is changing so fast, it’s hard to keep up with it all. There are so many options available now when designing a book, that it is almost mind-boggling. I would even go so far as to say that the options may begin to distract one from the original purpose in creating a book. This is a problem for the author as well as for the reader.

guardian.co.uk Photograph from Rex Features

An article published by the UK’s “Guardian” suggests that interactive digital books tend to distract children from the content and storyline of the book and make it harder for them to remember crucial details from the story. The headline of the article declares: “Enhanced eBooks Are Bad for Children.” The article then goes on to detail the results of a study done in the USA where parents, with their children, read a story together. Half of the group settled in with a print book and the other half with an interactive digital version of the story. The print book kids could recall more details and discuss the story much more readily than the digital book kids. The researchers concluded that while “print books were more advantageous for literacy building co-reading”, ebooks, and particularly enhanced ebooks, were better “for engaging children and prompting physical interaction”.

So an author has to consider the goal of any particular book before beginning to design it. Is the book created to promote physical interaction and initial interest or is it created to build literacy and present an engaging story? This is what I have been asking myself as I consider the digital options of my first illustrated children’s book. I began the project with an illustration that simply begged for a story. It was chosen as a “Deviation of the Day” and was simply titled…

“You!”

When I first saw the illustration on the Deviant Art website, the picture was so compelling that the story began to write itself in my head. And then it wouldn’t let me sleep until I had written it down.

So when designing the book, I knew that the detailed illustrations were a key factor of this story and they would be displayed beautifully on a retina-display iPad where the viewer could zoom in on the picture to see all of the creative, little details which the artist has tucked into every page. For example, there is a dragon hidden on almost every page of the book if you take the time to look carefully. And there are critters hiding in trees, in the grass and in wee hidey-holes, just waiting to be discovered. Because this particular artist, Therese Larsson, is very skilled at portraying light in her digital art, the back-lit iPad is an ideal platform for showing it off.

The story should always be the reason for a storybook. You write a book to tell a compelling story. Too many digital books that I have seen lately, seem to have been produced to distract a child or to provide a platform for playing games; they often lack an original story. So when thinking about how to design my digital book, I decided that I did not want to include animation or distracting games. I wanted to add things that would enhance the story. The read-aloud function will be included as the story uses a higher level vocabulary than is customary for a picture book. Some words may present an pronunciation challenge for younger readers and the read-aloud function can help with this. I certainly did not want to “dumb down” the text, especially not after the discussion I had with the 5th grade students at my international school when they realized that many modern authors are doing just that as they attempt to make their books more consumable to young readers who may not want a challenge. (The 5th graders were offended and went and checked out challenging books just to spite those authors.)

“Wily” and “plundering” may not be commonly used words, but they are delicious and poetic and deserve some airing out, and so they are staying in the book. But it does help to have a function that will read the words out loud so that “wily” does not become “willy,” (heaven forbid). I work with many students who are struggling to learn English as a second or even third language, and they are helped out a lot by being able to check out from our school library audio books and books with read-aloud CDs included in the back cover. Some of our EAL students check out the audio version of a novel when they check out the print novel so that they can hear the native pronunciation of the words while they are reading the text. I see read-aloud digital books as being very useful in the international school context where students may not have native language speakers at home.

In deciding what digital enhancements to include or not include in a book, the author has to think carefully about the purpose of the book. Will the book’s purpose be amplified or diluted by the choice of digital enhancements. This type of consideration applies to using technology in the classroom as well. A tool should help achieve one’s goal instead of becoming a distraction unto itself…. (one reason why I just cannot appreciate the design of certain pencils).

made-in-china.com

 

 

Challenging the Base

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“Challenge Based Learningis an engaging multidisciplinary approach to teaching and learning that encourages students to leverage the technology they use in their daily lives to solve real-world problems.” This statement begins an outline of outcome-focused learning that Apple is promoting and supporting in an effort to revolutionize the way we do education.

From Orange Co Register

The concept of challenge-based learning really does challenge the basic assumptions of our current educational system. We have an idea of what these kids should know by the time they exit high school and, by-golly, we’re gonna make sure they learn what we think they should know. No wonder they’re not engaged in this process.

I asked my daughter, who is in her first year of high school if she thought that what she was currently studying in school was relevant to her life and future work. “Not really,” she said. “Well then, what would you study if you could choose?” “Art, humanities, social studies, science, math that is actually interesting and applicable.” “So how is that different from what you are doing now?” I asked. She responded, “The math is not applicable; we’re not doing humanities and not a lot of writing in English, just reading; and science class goes too fast and we’ve only done, like, one or two hands-on experiments.” Continue reading →

Becoming a Polyglot; Adding Media-Speak and Tech-Speak

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I recently went to see Martin Scorsese’s first film created for children called “Hugo,” based on the award-winning book, “The Invention of Hugo Cabret.”

The movie followed the book’s plot-line fairly closely and was a perfect vehicle for the partially fictional story which centered on one of film’s early pioneers, Georges Méliès. Scorsese claims that he decided to make the film after one of his children complained that they were not allowed to see any of his films, which often carry an “R” rating. When I discovered that Scorsese had started a visual literacy program for middle school students, everything seemed to fit together.

The program was created when Scorsese realized that kids needed to tools to interpret the  visual imagery that they are immersed in every day. “So much of today’s society is done visually, and even subliminally, for young people, that it could be dangerous. One has to know that it is a very, very powerful tool.” The director should know. He was not willing to let his own young children watch his powerful movies; the images and ideas that they presented were not appropriate to their stage of development. The awareness of other images that they were being confronted with on a daily basis, no doubt occurred to him at the same time.

Continue reading →

Graphic, Novel Information

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Our world seems to be bursting at the seams with information. There is too much to take in at once. And even when we do bite off a chunk of information that we think we can handle, the information is often too complicated or convoluted to be digested, let alone masticated in the first place. A well-organized and visually-appealing graphic which presents the pertinent information can make an attractive gourmet meal out of a jumble of ingredients.

Presenting real information and even fictional stories has become increasingly visual. While the comic book market is decreasing (at least in the U.S.) the graphic novel market is exploding. At the same time, consumers of information want to see the data presented in a visually-compelling way.

In Richard Byrne’s blog, “Free Technology for Teachers,” seven tools for constructing data visualizations are detailed. The first tool, Better WorldFlux, with its pre-entered data is an amazing example of how visually-intelligent graphics can quickly elucidate complex sets of data. I went to their site and experimented with the graphics by choosing just a few countries and data parameters. I could immediately see how Japan lagged behind most civilized countries in its inclusion of women in the legislative process and government, and how far ahead Norway was in comparison at the data starting point of 1987. Then, by scrubbing through the years to the most recent data set, I could see how far Japan had caught up in this area, so that it is almost in the average range now, and how Norway has remained in the lead among world countries in this aspect. Here is a snapshot of the percentage of women in parliament with data included showing ratio of girls’ to boys’ education in 1990:


One can see at a glance how far Japan lags behind the world average in this aspect and how progressive Norway is. If we scrub ahead using the year-indicator bar to 2010, we see that Japan has made considerable progress and is approaching the world average, while Norway still has a large proportion of women serving in the government.

For my own purposes, I use Google Web Analytics to keep track of trends in web traffic flowing to my website of free children’s sermon resources at www.kidsermons.com. I can compare the amount of web traffic for the current week with the traffic from two years ago, for example. I can see when the peak access times occur, and this can inform me as to when I should be posting the new children’s sermon for the following week.

The challenge for me is to find the correct tool and type of display for the information that one wants to clearly communicate. One of the best examples of visually displayed information that I have seen is the progression of economic and physical health of world countries over the years. While I have only begun to learn to use this tool, some are already masters of visual display. In one of the best demonstrations that I have seen, Hans Rosling shows how the general trend is toward richer and healthier countries worldwide. This is the type of visual information that can transform the world:

The World from 1810 to 2010

 

 

 

 

Image Frustration

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Girl Reading; 1888; CC Attribution 2.0 Generic

The fifth graders have just begun a “Read-Aloud” unit in the library. They are required to choose a picture book of an appropriate length (around 5 min.) and read it out loud to the rest of the class with correct speed, clarity and expression. They must remember to show the pictures, especially when they are an integral and complimentary part of the story. It would be nice to remind the students visually of the reading requirements, so I set about looking for a Creative Commons image that would underline the importance of an excellent read-aloud.

I pictured a Keynote presentation where the proper and improper portrayals of read-alouds and public speaking would be visually illustrated, but I was stymied by the lack of free-use photos on the internet. I used various methods of searching, but finding good photos of bored kids or storytelling scenarios was frustrating. Even when I searched within the parameters of Creative Commons, the usable photos were always labeled, “All Rights Reserved.”

So I had to change my approach. I would get the students to create the images themselves and they would be responsible for producing a short video demonstration or a instructional poster for the library.

The rubric grades students on reading speed, clarity, expression and visibilty (which applies to the showing of pictures in a book.) The students could stage photos or videos to illustrate each and add their own graphics and lettering to further elucidate the point.

As they create this instructional material, the content will be further embedded in their minds to help them do better in the final evaluation. Creatively teaching a concept or skill is, after all, the deepest and most effective way to truly learn something.

I will post images and short clips to demonstrate the students’ progress as they complete the steps of the project. Stay tuned….

Eye-Brain Coordination

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Reading articles on the web can be very stressful. Pop-up ads, blinking advertisements, related and unrelated articles, sidebar widgets all vie for the coveted focus of my eye and brain. Although I make a conscious effort to ignore the extraneous rubble, I find myself pulling at the corner of the screen to make the viewing area smaller and hopefully block out the circus performing around the periphery. The “Reader” function on a Mac sometimes works, allowing you to just see the article, but not always. I find that getting information off of the internet is an exercise in eye and brain control as I try to force my eyes to stay on the topic. Here is an example:

Article Distractions – Cellular

In the article “Lazy Eyes” by Michael Agger, even as I read about how one should make online information easier for the reader to consume by presenting information in bulleted lists and small blocks of text, smack dab in the middle of his article is a distracting ad wanting me to click on it. Can you stick to the article content below? See how it spills outside the neat little reading rectangle… that’s even more distracting.

And surrounding this article are oodles of other distractions. It’s no wonder that online reading is “25% slower than reading on paper.” Our eyes are constantly dragged away from the text.

I can see what Michael Agger means by “Moby Dick” being a modern spa. Pure print on white paper. No extraneous distractions. Just give me a book and leave me in peace, and don’t you ever interrupt me while I’m reading a book, as Julian Smith so deftly admonishes his distractors.

From my own eye-tracking experiments, I have found that my eyes do go first to the main title but then, if there is an image or a moving gif on the page, that is the next stop for my attention. If those images have nothing to do with the information that I am seeking, then I am distracted by a feeling of annoyance that my time has been wasted and I attempt to find a way to eliminate the distraction so that I can get back on track.

I understand that advertisers and designers of commercial websites are very intentional in how they create these distractions, hoping that it will eventually end in us being distracted out of our money. If they know what our habits are, then we should know what their habits are and we should be teaching our students to be savvy internet viewers. More than that, our students should be savvy creators of content.

I think that George Lucas got it right when he said that students need to learn how to tell a story. They must acquire visual literacy. (Life on the Screen; Visual Literacy in Education) They can look up any kind of information that they want, but they now need to know how to interpret it and use it in a way that advances civilization and knowledge. “The human race survives on its educational system,” says Lucas. “The society that has a great educational system becomes the prominent society because that’s the way the human race survives.” Evolve and adapt or perish.

One of the greatest skills that we can teach our students, along with visual literacy, is the ability to quickly learn new ways of interacting with technology and making use of the new applications and ways of communicating that are continually evolving.

I recently rented “PressPausePlay” and watched this documentary which explores the democratization of content creation as anyone can now create and publish. The question is raised, “Does this water down and drown true talent or does the cream rise to the top?” One message that consistently comes through is that artists are constantly being presented with new technologies and ways to communicate, and the ones that learn quickly and play with those technologies are the ones who produce relevant, cutting edge creative content.

In order to survive and thrive in the modern world, our students need to learn how to creatively adapt and use technologies for their own purposes. While their eyes may be drawn to the flashiest new uses of digital tech, their brains must always be creating new and useful applications for these technologies.