Visual Literacy Creation

Andrea Edbauer
April 14, 2014
May 5, 2019

When brainstorming ways to use visual literacy in my classroom, I kept coming back to a social
studies unit that my team does at the beginning of 2nd grade about life long ago and today. I
have been looking for ways to make this unit more exciting, and incorporating a visual literacy
lesson would be a great way to do so. Since this unit is taught in the beginning of the year, I
didn’t want the assignment to be too complex or difficult. The district’s objectives for this unit
are as follows:

A.2.1 I know that people and environments change, use and relate to one another over
time.
Students will know:
● Modes of transportation have changed over time
● Types of homes vary according to time period
● Changes have occurred in school settings over time
● Ways in which people receive news have changed over time
● Roles of men, women & children have changed over time
● Life has changed & stayed similar to the past in different ways

Students will be able to:

● Compare & contrast students’ lives to life long ago. (include examples of change
in: transportation, housing, schools, news & social & family roles)
● Understand that their peers may interpret the images differently than they do

Procedure:
1. Students will be working in small groups. The first part of this lesson will be used
as an introductory activity. Students will revisit their projects later at the end of
the unit.
2. Each group will be viewing a picture on padlet.com. The picture will be a
representation of one of the areas mentioned above (transportation, homes,
schools, news, gender roles, life in general).
3. Use the following image as an example: ​http://padlet.com/wall/awel71ar3g​.
a. Ask students what they notice about the picture.
b. As students begin to share what they notice, ask questions such as “Did
anyone else notice that? Did anyone notice that until ___ mentioned it?
 Why do you think they had that in their classroom?”
c. As is becomes apparent that students are noticing different things in the
image, point out the differences in observations, and how it can be
beneficial to work together, because different people notice different
things.
4. On the first day of the unit, each group will interpret the picture, and answer 1
question: What do you notice in this picture?
5. Students will present their picture and findings to the class. Other students will
have an opportunity to join in on the conversation, discussing what they notice
about the picture, as well.
6. At the end of the unit, after learning more about life long ago, students will
return to their padlet, and answer the following questions:
a. How are schools (or transportation, homes, etc.) today different than
schools long ago?
b. How are schools today similar to schools long ago?
7. Groups will present their findings with the rest of the class.