Literary Expression

I agree with Amy Schultz when she says it is important to give students “a chance to create not only with words”. I worked in a first grade classroom last semester, and they were just beginning to learn how to spell and write out their language. Therefore, I planned a lot of lessons where the students were able to express their ideas through visuals. I found that in some cases, the students were able to express themselves much more fully through these images, than anything they would have written (or in this case dictated).

A form of expression through art in order to describe an activity that takes place during the morning time. Note the bottom picture labeled "Darius", the student drew a picture of brushing teeth in full detail.

Other visuals that are important to use in a classroom that incorporate literacy are thinking maps. The students draw out the medium in which they would like to express their thoughts, and then add words. Thinking maps can come in many different forms, and students should be allowed to choose which one they want to represent their ideas.


Here are two different forms of thinking maps, that both include the same information.

One of the programs mentioned in the article called Picturing Writing: Fostering Literacy through Art, by Beth Olshansky sounds really interesting. It sounds like a program I would be interested in using in a classroom of my own. Now, with all of the technology available, students would probably also be allowed to use a computer, which might help enhance their drawings and therefore literary expression.