If you read a book about reading books in the twenty first century you will almost certainly be struck bluntly by the now cliched fact that “reading is not dead! Quite the opposite, in fact, since people today read more words than ever before, from billboards to text messages to television ads to…”
The well-meaning point of these authors, while technically true, does not reverberate with reassurance, and in many ways it gives the people who care about literacy (read: English teachers) a flawed perspective. We see in the words of these authors a false affirmation of our work, when the reality is that, if we can take a deliberate step back, there is a much more real sense of purpose that can be found: teaching visual literacy.
Images, videos, GIFs, emojis, and more are placed before our students countless times each day and, like the words that accompany these visuals, our students need to be trained in how to read these messages effectively. After all, “the medium is the message.” So as they engage with Instagram and Tik Tok, television and Youtube, billboards and in-app ads, our students need to understand what they are being taught both implicitly and explicitly.
What are they hearing about their value when they see a Tik Tok dance that they can or can’t do? What are they being taught about politics—left versus right—right versus wrong—when they see the ever-present media campaigns from Biden and Trump? (Think about the images and videos that accompany smear campaigns.) These visuals and more are being presented to our students who happily accept them as an alternative to reading—whether they realize it or not—and subconsciously analyze and accept the messages they contain. So why not teach students to think critically about all of their media, as opposed to just books?
I want to be quick to add that I’m not suggesting we don’t teach reading. Quite the contrary. I think teaching students how to read (and read deeply) is central to what we do. But in an effort to adapt to the quickly changing times, I think that teaching visual literacy should be an important part of any school curriculum and I think that English teachers are uniquely equipped to fill that role. After all, the same critical analysis skills that students use to analyze a photo, Instagram feed, Youtube video, etc.—that lens through which they filter their world—are the self-same skills that they need to analyze Baldwin, Bradbury, Hurston, and the like. In fact, if students can learn how to read a message in an image then it will (and does) strengthen their ability to read a message in a book, an article, a word. I’ve found, too, that because of how image-saturated our students’ lives are, they are naturally more inclined towards and adept at reading visuals.
So, again, why not try? Call it a tool if you like, a booster shot in the analysis skills they need to read a book. Or call it what it is, an important skill for 21st century students. Either way, show your students (your kids, your friends, yourself) that images are powerful and images can be read. And look, too, at the results—how do you see it affecting their work, their reading, their thinking?
If you’re curious…
I like to teach graphic novels to my students. Many of these novels (like Maus) are great for visual analysis and literary analysis. Studying films, too, especially after reading the book, is a great way to boost student engagement and help them process visually the themes and symbols they’ve just read.
Write with a Point 