Beyond Visual Literacy: Using Photographs in the Classroom to Teach Comprehension Skills

Using images to reinforce reading comprehension skills can produce very positive results, particularly in students with learning disabilities and for English language learners. Images can also be excellent writing prompts.I used to be a seventh grade Language Arts teacher in a city just north of Seattle, Washington. A good portion of my students were either learning English as a second language and/or came from low-income homes. More than half of my students read well below grade level, many with the 3^rd/4^th grade comprehension skills. Without a solid set of skills to comprehend text, students also struggled through the writing assignments because of low vocabulary and a weak grasp of grammar and structure.

As part of an amazing teaching team, myself and the other 7^th grade Language Arts teachers employed several strategies using image-based materials to support the comprehension of the texts we required in the classroom. We also used images as writing prompts. For our purposes, image-based materials included photographs, artwork, political cartoons, comics, advertisements, icons, etc.

Below I have given some examples of how I used photographs in the classroom to enhance student comprehension and writing skills.

Pre-Reading Strategies

When introducing a new text to students, either fiction or non-fiction, studies have shown that using pre-reading strategies and anticipation activities improve comprehension.

Picture Splash

I taught a major unit on the novel The Outsiders, by S.E. Hinton. In order to introduce this book, I started with a group of images that touched on the themes of the novel. I did the same activity with vocabulary from the book as well. The word-based activity is called a “Word Splash”, so I originally titled the photograph activity a “Picture Splash”. The word splash is more or less a word cloud with vocabulary, themes, and sometimes character names from the reading. I applied this to images relating to the text, and used Power Point to cycle through a group of 10 - 12 images related to the story.  I then gave students a handout with a set of anticipatory questions that would lead them to start thinking about some of the ideas and themes we were going to cover in the novel. Throughout the reading I would refer back to the images, and sometimes re-use them to as writing prompts.

Here are a few examples of images similar to the ones I used for The Outsiders Picture Splash:

 Anticipatory Questions:

1. What do you think this book will be about?
2. What does it mean to be an “outsider”?
3. Choose two images from the slideshow and make a prediction about how each is related to the novel.

Making Inferences and Predictions about a Text

Strong readers have the ability to infer meaning into the words on the page, while struggling readers cannot easily build predictions and conclusions that are not explicitly stated. Strong readers are also able to pull in their own background knowledge to develop inferences about a text and draw conclusions about character motivation. Students with limited background knowledge or experience with a subject will find this more difficult. In order to teach this active comprehension of a text, teachers often employ the use of a K-W-L chart: What do I know; What do I want to know; What have I learned.

(K-W-L chart)

A similar tool is the O-W-I chart: What do I observe; What do I wonder/want to know; What can I infer. I found that this chart is more useful when using images as part of the lessons for introducing a new text.

 

 

Using the O-W-I Chart

When teaching the inference unit in my classroom, I used many images. It was a very helpful way to get students to understand the differences between direct observation, inferences with evidence, and guessing. You can equate each of these to comprehension skills in reading. I chose a combination of images, some that might be familiar to them, current events, historical events, etc.

I posted an image, and each student or pairs of students would work through an O-W-I chart and a few questions. After practicing these skills with images, I would work this into the reading lessons. Again, these images and examples are approximations of what I actually used in the classroom.  

As seventh graders, Washington State students learn about the Japanese internment in 1942. In our area so many people were forced to evacuate and were sent to  internment camps. I would use images similar to this and ask groups or pairs to complete a chart.

http://seattletimes.com/html/localnews/2004389711_japanesememorial03m.html

Example of a completed O-W-I Chart:

I would have students then share their charts with the entire class and we would construct a class chart to keep up during the lesson/unit. We would read non-fiction and fiction based on this event as well as poetry.  As we answered the "W's" or found out more information to back up or challenge our inferences, I would have students amend the chart.

Conclusion:

There are so many ways to use images in the classroom, both as the teacher and in having the students use images to convey understanding. Many 7th graders are reluctant readers for a multitude of reasons), images brought most of my students together at a level where we could begin the discussion of a topic. 

References:

www.loc.gov/teachers/tps/

http://www.densho.org/

Fenice, B. B., & Deborah, R. H. (2006). Teaching warriors don't cry with other text types to enhance comprehension. English Journal, 95(3), 61-68. Retrieved from http://0-search.proquest.com.library.simmons.edu/docview/237301488?accountid=13870

Salinas C, Fránquiz M, Guberman S. Introducing Historical Thinking to Second Language Learners: Exploring What Students Know and What They Want to Know. Social Studies [serial online]. September 2006;97(5):203-207. Available from: Research Starters - Education, Ipswich, MA. Accessed December 3, 2012.