Week 4

Topic 1

I think visuals are very important in a classroom, especially for elementary aged students.  The visuals allow for students who might not have prior background on what an elephant is to look and understand.  Visuals also allow for simple and usually inexpensive ways to differentiate the classroom.  While visuals are great, just having them is not enough.  The image needs to connect to what the teacher is talking about, otherwise the visual and the opportunity becomes wasted.

The article “Using Visual Aids” is great at supporting this thinking.  The article provides background into how to use visual aids and reinforces the idea that a poorly done or inappropriate visual aid will not enhance the lesson but detract from it.  The author gives tips on how to prepare visual aids.  At the end of the article she breaks down images in to different media categories and provides techniques.   Some of the tips include to keep the visual aid brief, give student the opportunity to look over the image, and do not ask students to look and listen allow them to do one or the other.  The two most important rules the teacher should remember is not to talk directly from the aid and to give students paper copies.  

Looking to the first statement, the teacher should not just read from the text in the aid.  They should highlight the important words in the phrase or sentence and then continue to add more detail and understanding.  If a teacher just reads from the text, she is not giving any new information.  If the visual is an image, the teacher should highlight the important points and then continue addressing those points with information the students should concentrate on.

In the second statement, while the classroom is becoming more digital teachers should hand out paper copies for their students to use as references or study aids.  Looking to a digital classroom though, the image could be made available through the use of the classroom blog or another digital place the teacher provides.

I think visuals are very important to a classroom.  Some children are visual learners and seeing a chart or picture will only enhance their understanding.  Teachers need to remember that just like technology not to use visuals for visuals sake.  The visual need to have purpose and connection in order for it to enhance the classroom.