Beyond the Literal: Teaching Visual Literacy in the 21st Century Classroom

Visual imagery and composition inherently have the power to shape comprehension and interpretation beyond the literal. Today's students increasingly inundated with a steady stream of imagery from multimedia platforms including the Internet (i.e., social media – Facebook, Instagram, Twitter), television, film and advertisements (White, 2012) are global consumers of media in their everyday lives yet they often lack the skills necessary to move beyond passive receivers of visual media messages. Visual literacy is vital for 21st Century learners and those who teach. Classrooms can become spaces for students to effectively communicate in and contribute to analytical and global dialogue for discussions of race and diversity, multicultural life and history thus encouraging students to become active deconstructionists of visual grammar.