For Me...It was really...Always The Pictures

I often compare my learning styles and techniques to classmates because I’ve always struggled to comprehend certain class materials and for a while never understood why. “If you look at a picture, it puts more ideas in your head” (170). In most of elementary and middle school I rarely read, not because I couldn’t but because my teachers wouldn’t allow me to use any books with pictures. I needed the pictures to better understand the books and to have a longer lasting impression of what I read. I shared this information with my roommate and she told me about her frustration growing up because she wasn’t given the time she needed to translate words into pictures.

I’m currently placed in a sixth grade inclusive ELA classroom. Unfortunately it is not the “inclusive” classroom we learn about and strive to have in today’s schools. I understand that it is difficult for many teachers but it is not an excuse. There are a number of ways to teach literacy instruction to students with disabilities and the majority of the time, like the many examples in It Was Always The Pictures, all students’ benefit from visual learning techniques not just students with disabilities. These students are missing out because teachers are not taking the time to give students meaningful instruction that they can understand and as a result they are unable to participate in many class activities because they do not understand or they are unable to grasp a concept because they aren’t given information in a useful way.

Students like me, my roommate, the sixth graders and many other kids would benefit from simple classroom modifications or additions like graphic organizers, picture books, graphic notes, etc. The graphic organizers are one of my favorites to use for almost anything. In order for them to be successful in the classroom teachers must support and teach students how, where, and when to use them. Encouraging students to pair words and pictures is also useful for graphic organizers or any type of writing or note taking. The article mentioned mind mapping which I love to use and get excited when I see students making. Sometimes their information looks unorganized or may not makes sense to others but to the student, the pictures, words or whatever is written on their mind map paints a clear picture for the content that student is learning.

My mother told me a story about one of her students with autism who had an obsession with whales. He was loosing key learning opportunities (like mentioned in the article) in almost all subject areas. My mom found ways to incorporate his obsession into the different learning areas and helped him create picture books and write stories on different scientific and historical aspects of whales that enabled the student to learn and use his literacy skills on something he was passionate about.