Blog Tour - Engaging the Eye Generation

On March 3rd, Archipelago will be stop one on a four-stop blog tour for the new book Engaging the Eye Generation: Visual Literacy Strategies for the K-5 Classroom by Johanna Riddle. Download Engaging the Eye Generation, read it, and send me questions for the author before February 28th. I will forward the questions to her, along with some of my own, and she will answer them for the March 3rd blog tour stop. Also, let's discuss the book together in the comments - I look forward to hearing what you have to say.

Ms. Riddle's 25-year career in education has included being a media specialist, classroom teacher, art teacher, and arts administrator. She is also a writer, focusing on multiple literacies and integrated learning. In Engaging the Eye Generation she walks the reader through her philosophies about visual literacy as well as hand-on projects using technology she often learned with, or right before, the students. Her practical ideas should inspire middle and secondary school teachers and librarians as well.

I recommend reading this book for the practical tips but also for the well-thought out reasons for teaching visual literacy. Drawing from educational standards as well as ideas from A Whole New Mind by Daniel Pink, Ms. Riddle shows a sequence of skills and projects that not only engage students but excite them about research and creating visual images with meaning. She emphasizes collaboration, critical thinking, creativity, and trying something new. Students of every age are bombarded by images now more than ever. Giving them the tools to not only understand visual media but to make their own (and make them well) should be an important part of teaching information skills for the 21st century.

Let's talk about the book and how, or if, you teach visual literacy at your school!