TOWARD NEW MEDIA TEXT (ARTICLE)

Toward New Media Text, an article written by Cynthia L. Selfe, she is giving the argument that visual literacy needs to be implemented more in English composition classes. She does bring up a good point that makes sense to me. She said that many teachers do not feel confident teaching visual literacy because they are not tech-savvy. I am one of those kind of people. I do not know much about using computers and digital devices. In Dr. Bishop's class, he has took me out of my comfort zone and made me use the computer more than I have used it in other classes, except IT365. Anyway, I think I am coming out of this class feeling a little more confident about computer use.
The author states that english composition teachers would rather use the alphabetic texts over visual texts because they know how to approach a book or an essay. They know how to analyze and interpret the text. This is so true. Visual literacy has not been around long, so most teachers were taught how to read by using printed books, not visual literacy tools. I think the author seems to want to disregard the written alphabetic texts and mostly use visual literacy tools. I do believe that visual literacy is important in today's world, but we still need to use the good old printed books also.
This article gave several ways to use visual literacy in the classroom. I liked the Traveling Photo Exhibit. The students select photos from the web, and write about the importance of the photo. They get into groups and discuss each others exhibits. Then the student writes a curator's commentary about their photo exhibit. I think this is a good activity that lets students explore the internet, print photos, discuss them, and write about the importance of them. This helps students build vocabulary and speaking skills, and builds writing skills as well. I guess I can see where visual literacy is important, but let's keep alphabetic texts in the classrooms too.