The International Journal of the Arts in Society: Annual Review

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A Picture is Worth a Thousand Words: Emerging Readers Draw their Reading


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1 Concordia University and Lower Canada College, QC, Canada
     

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The saying "A Picture is Worth a Thousand Words" holds merit. As a practicing teacher I am always looking for new ways to understand my young learners and discover their prior knowledge on a given subject. At the start of the school year my kindergarten students were asked to draw themselves reading. As an open-ended activity, this project was child centered allowing each student to create from his or her mind and heart. The results were telling. Through analyzing each image using Lowenfelds pre-schematic stage, I was able to decipher my student's relationships to reading and determine which students need extra support or more interaction with literature. Although my experience is at the kindergarten level, the possibilities for such an activity are endless.

Keywords

Literacy, Kindergarten, Drawing, Child Centered Curriculum, Integrated Arts Practice.
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  • A Picture is Worth a Thousand Words: Emerging Readers Draw their Reading

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Authors

Lauren McCann
Concordia University and Lower Canada College, QC, Canada

Abstract


The saying "A Picture is Worth a Thousand Words" holds merit. As a practicing teacher I am always looking for new ways to understand my young learners and discover their prior knowledge on a given subject. At the start of the school year my kindergarten students were asked to draw themselves reading. As an open-ended activity, this project was child centered allowing each student to create from his or her mind and heart. The results were telling. Through analyzing each image using Lowenfelds pre-schematic stage, I was able to decipher my student's relationships to reading and determine which students need extra support or more interaction with literature. Although my experience is at the kindergarten level, the possibilities for such an activity are endless.

Keywords


Literacy, Kindergarten, Drawing, Child Centered Curriculum, Integrated Arts Practice.

References