ECELA Year 2 Toolkit for Coaches & Teachers

Visual Thinking Strategies (VTS) is an approach to facilitating a discussion centered on works of art. Learning is stimulated by a teacher-facilitated discussion that promotes active listening and speaking. Meaning about a work of art is discussed by building upon one’s own and others’ observations.

After providing time for reflective examination of an image, the discussion centers on three questions:

• What do you see? –or What is going on here?;
• What do you see that makes you say that? (citing evidence in the image to support their observations) and;
• What more can you find? (dig deeper).

The high-impact method of VTS will elicit key behaviors sought by the Common Core State Standards for Literacy: thinking skills that become habitual and transfer from lesson to lesson, oral and written language literacy, visual literacy, and collaborative interactions among peers.

Visual Thinking Strategies can be very effective for English learners if appropriate scaffolds are provided and all four language domains are used during instruction. 

Learning to look and talk about works of art offers students not only the ability to develop Visual Literacy but also Emotional Literacy and Cultural Competencies. 

Cultural Competence is defined by the National Education Association as having an awareness of one's own cultural identity and views about difference, and the ability to learn and build on the varying cultural and community norms of others. Students and teachers that are more skilled in recognizing, understanding, labeling, and expressing emotions in themselves and others will be more likely to have increased compassion and empathy. Increased compassion and empathy in the classroom will undoubtedly increase the prosocial culture of the classroom where students and teachers are authentically invested in the overall community of their shared space.

Practicing observation and inquiry skills afforded by various Visual Literacy Development activities (such as “See-Wonder-Think”) teaches students how to make non-judgmental or non-value laden comments about what they observe and then how to ask sensitive and appropriate questions. Development of these Social and Emotional skills provides rich opportunities for students to develop Cultural Humility, such as:

• Recognizing perspectives of others
• Understanding cultural uniqueness of self and peers
• Appreciating different viewpoints and their cultural contributions
• Connecting via identifying cultural differences and similarities