Abstract:
Students interact with a variety of texts each day, most of which contain visual as well as written information. TV, movies, video games, magazines, ads—all are a part of their daily lives. Students are seldom taught how to read these images, however, and can easily miss messages that are being sent to them. This unit will help eleventh-grade general English students understand those visual texts by analyzing how they interact with written text.By observing how professional graphic novels, websites, and advertisements utilize visual text, students will prepare for writing their own short graphic novels in groups. Workshops geared toward research methods, narrative storytelling, illustrative design, storyboarding, and advertising will give students hands-on experience in using visual texts to convey meaning. This unit gives students professional examples and firsthand experience with texts that combine both visual and written elements, supplying the knowledge they need to understand and interpret the variety of texts they come into contact with outside of the classroom.
