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Envisioning writing [microform] : toward an integration of drawing and writing /
Abstract
Thesis (Ph. D.)--Columbia University Teachers College, 1989. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 208-222). Microfiche.
... Composition courses seek to promote similar cognitive benefits, calling for high levels of skill in activities such as researching, comprehending complex texts, and synthesizing (Carroll, 2002). However, as Olson (1992) points out, verbal language is "limited to describing one thing at a time, " (p. 46), whereas art making allows students to describe multiple ideas and concepts simultaneously through mixed methods. ...
... Art making is also accessible for students with diverse ability levels in composition courses. In studies with elementary students, Olson (1992) found that many of her reluctant writers were simply visual learners who desired to showcase their knowledge in more metaphorical ways. Dunn (2001) also noticed a dislike of writing in many of her adolescent students, which led her to recognize that creating or representing ideas visually was far more accessible for visual learners and for students struggling with language learning. ...
... Literacy in art making and writing include understanding of visual harmony, revision, and expression (Golden, 1986). Thus, both art making and writing must have order and organization for composers to tell their stories (Olson, 1992). ...
The article focuses on students often boast of their ability to put little effort into their writing while still earning high scores, but formulaic essays do not reflect literacy has been they reflect competency. Topics include the competent students easily string together a sentence that makes sense and write a five-paragraph essay, and the students may exclaim that their teacher's writing instruction has promoted development or allowed them to explore their interests.
... Cognitive brain research confirms the critical role of sensory recognition and visual perception that precedes mental linguistic or mathematical symbolic operations (Damasio 1994;Lakoff and Johnson 1999). Visual art does not illustrate language; it is an intellectual incubator of language (Olshansky 2008;Olson 1992). ...
... Allowing students to work in the visual opens a space for language to appear (Olshansky 2008;Olson 1992). In creating a visual narrative through traditional picture-making, the juxtaposition of collage, graphic narratives, or digital movies, children work toward language. ...
As demonstrated by the enduring role of Friedrich Froebel's Kindergarten, since the founding of the international project of public education, art and design education has been a fundamental part of the school curriculum. With public funding came expectations for the wise allocation of tax revenue, through efficient means of teaching and assessment of practical outcomes. These expectations have constrained conceptions of the intellectual capabilities of the child. In comparison, private models of contemporary child‐centered programs have had greater latitude in exploring more child‐centered approaches to curricula. Therefore, public education would be wise to look to these private models as incubators for best practice, which demonstrate that it is possible to teach to and assess the development of the capable child's thinking abilities through art.
... The majority of research on young children's writing in the 1980s and 1990s was conducted from cognitive and sociocognitive perspectives that focused attention on individual child writers, their texts, and their interactions. Topically, much Bissex, 1980;Clay, 1975;Hildreth, 1936Harste et al" 1984Sulzby, 1985Clay, 1975Harste et al., 1984Harste et al., 1984Newkirk, 1989 Clay, 1975 Bissex, 1980;Clay, 1975;Goodman, 1980;Harsteet al., 1984Bissex, 1980Clay, 1975;Ferreiro andTeberosky,.1982 Henderson andBeers, 1980;Read, 1971 Isenberg andJacobs, 1983;Roskos, 1988Graves, 1979Sowers, 1985Dyson, 1989Heath, 1983 of this research focused on describing patterns in the marks children used in their texts or developmental patterns in children's spelling (see Table 14.1). ...
... Young writers often link their texts to those of other authors with whom they interact -sometimes sticking close to the form and content of another author's text and sometimes using it only as a starting point for their texts (Dyson, 1998;Rowe, 1994). Even in cases where children's authoring processes appear imitative, they are engaged in constructive work (Dyson, 1989;Kress, 1997;Newkirk, 1989;Rowe, 1994). ...
... Although drawing (Lin, 2010a;Olson, 1992), mind mapping (Lin, 2010b;Pishghadam & Ghanizadeh, 2006), brainstorming and listing (Kroll, 2001) are among the most used prewriting strategies in L2 writing, they are usually implemented in paper-and-pencil-or individual learning-based approaches. How the integration of those prewriting strategies and the CSCL approach would benefit elementary-school EFL writers' writing performance and motivation is worthy of further investigation. ...
... Kroll, 2001;Reid, 1987). Furthermore, based on Olson (1992), drawing (DR) is viewed as a very suitable prewriting strategy for young EFL writers when they needed to collect and organize their writing ideas in pressure-free situations. However, DR strategy did not bring its effects into full play in this study. ...
The current study investigated the effects of different computer-supported cooperative prewriting strategies (text-based brainstorming, drawing, and mind mapping) on the writing performance of elementary-school EFL (English as a foreign language) learners in Taiwan. Three intact classes of fifth graders (N = 81 students; 27 per prewriting strategy group) participated in this study. These subjects in different classes used different prewriting strategies at the prewriting stage. A quasi-experimental design was adopted in this study to collect experimental data, including the scores of English composition (two writing works), the level of grammar knowledge, and the level of English writing motivation. The analytical results indicated that in both the mind mapping group and the drawing group, the participants' English grammar knowledge had increased significantly after the treatment. It was also found that different computer-supported cooperative prewriting strategies benefited young EFL writers in different dimensions of English composition. The influence of using the mind mapping strategy seems most powerful on young EFL writers, followed by the drawing strategy and the text-based brainstorming strategy. As to English composition motivation, almost all of the participants appreciated the computer-supported cooperative prewriting activities and were also aware of how these activities benefited their English writing.
... We argue that the very act of researching in this study provided a platform for people to reflect more deeply and to find their thoughts, then give voice to them. The opportunity to engage in a dialogue about what they were viewing was fundamental to promoting reflective awareness and to enabling more complex ideas to surface (Olson, 1992). Using language to engage people in provocations for educative purposes, such as food and its role in society, extends upon the 'viewing' experience. ...
Engaging people in critical conversations about food practices is often challenging. In this paper, we explore how an exhibition was used as an educative site to explore food insecurity and food cultures and to promote food ethics and healthy eating. Surveys and interviews from the opening night of an exhibition were collected and Bourdieu’s habitus was used to theoretically inform analysis. The diversity of artworks displayed were found to provoke critical reflection about food cultures among participants. Findings revealed the exhibition was a non-intrusive space for meeting people ‘where they were at’ in understandings of food and food practice. Artworks were found to evoke reflections on food as a cultural phenomenon and as a deeply personal component of everyday worlds. The tensions in making food choices and food as agentic in participants lives were highlighted. Findings suggest that exhibitions may support critical engagement with food practice when audiences are given opportunities to discuss their thoughts and ideas.
... Verbal instruction is only one of the many pathways to literacy for our diverse learners. In Envisioning Writing, Janet Olson (1992) reminds us that ...
This article makes a case for providing students with visual as well as verbal modes of thinking throughout the writing process in order to support the acquisition of critical literacy skills, particularly for at-risk learners. Findings from a school-wide adoption provide compelling evidence.
... Building upon their creature character drawings and discussions, the participants imagined elaborate backstories, environments, habitats, and storyline trajectories. Th is display of visual thinking extended beyond visual imagery and proved to be a useful strategy for creative writing, as is indicated in literature about the powerful cross-curricular connections between visualization and literacy (Huse, Bluemel, & Taylor, 1994;Johnson, 1991;Olson, 1992;Smith, 2012;Smith, 2013). ...
In the context of a 10-day summer camp makerspace experience that employed design-based learning (DBL) strategies, the purpose of this descriptive case study was to better understand the ways in which children use visualization skills to negotiate design as they move back and forth between the world of nondigital design techniques (i.e., drawing, 3-D drawing with hot glue, sculpture, discussion, writing) and digital technologies (i.e., 3-D scanning, 3-D modeling, 3-D printing). Participants included 20 children aged 6–12. This research was guided by Vossoughi, Hooper, and Escudé’s (2016) call for explicit attention to pedagogical practices during the integration of “making” activities. Content analysis was used to analyze qualitative data, including observation, researcher/facilitator field notes, think aloud protocols, daily reflective exit tickets, and participant artifacts. Findings highlight the ways in which participants negotiated visualization skills through (a) imagining, drawing, and seeing through creating 2-D sketches, (b) reasoning and relating through writing stories, (c) transforming through 3-D extrusion, (d) observing and noticing through 3-D sculpting and 3-D scanning, and (e) manipulating through digital 3-D modeling, mental rotation, and mental transformation. Implications for formal K–12 educational contexts and teacher preparation programs are discussed.
... Berghoff and Hamilton, 2000;Clyde, 1994;Dyson, 1986;Gallas, 1994;Harste et al., 1984;Hubbard, 1989;Lancaster, 2001;Kress, 1997;Rowe, 1994;Newkirk, 1989;Upitis, 1992). Most often described have been authoring practices that combine writing, art, and oral language (Hubbard, 1989;Newkirk, 1989;Olson, 1992), but researchers have also noted children's connections between writing, music, dance, dramatic play, and drama (Dyson, 1989;Gallas, 1994;Rowe, 1994;Rowe et al., 2001;2003;Upitis, 1992). They argue that multimodal authoring practices allow children to draw on meanings formed in a variety of sign systems and to gain access to authoring events using nonlinguistic forms of communication (Clyde, 1994;Harste, 2000). ...
... A child's imagination is a wonderful re source for a wide range of characters (Olson, 1992). Many children never seem to run out of ideas. ...
Drawing can move children from the visual to the spoken and then to the written word.
... Thus, their scribbles are the beginning of written language (Clay, 1975). In fact, drawing may be the single most essential leading activity for reading and writing (Klein, 1985;Olson, 1992). Hsiao (2008) found that early childhood educators who adopted different teaching methods had a great www.ccsenet.org/ies ...
Current kindergarten parents’ attitudes toward and beliefs about children’s art education in majority cities and counties of Taiwan were investigated. A review of the literature was conducted to identify several possible influences on parents’ interpretation/ assessment of children’s art education. Then, the researcher developed and distributed a questionnaire for parents; 1,010 copies were distributed and 800 copies returned—of these, 758 were valid. Findings were as follows: (1) Parents’ occupations, educational backgrounds, genders, ages, classes attended by children, and children’s genders had significant effects on the interpretation of children’s art education. (2) More than 66% of Taiwanese kindergarten teachers used the theme-based teaching approach. (3) Over 72% of parents believed that kindergarten art educators should have basic drawing skills and familiarity with art supplies and craft equipment. (4) Majority parents believed children could attend art classes by 3 years of age, and also informed that their children had attended art classes at that age.
... Graphical literacy involves a range of visual thinking and communication skills (Jolliffe, 1991) and the ability to use graphic tools to construct, present, read, and interpret charts, maps, graphs, and other visual presentations (e.g., spreadsheets, timelines, cartoons, photographs) that supplement prose in textbooks, nonfiction trade--books, and newspapers (Readence, Bean & Baldwin, 2004). Visual thinking is defined as processing information through images or graphics instead of words (Olson, 1992) and graphical representations help support and externalize visual thinking, aiding creative problem solving and intellectual development. Visual thinking is a fundamental and unique part of our perceptual system aiding in the construction of mental models that can lead to productive thinking and learning (West, 1997) and supporting verbal and symbolic forms of expression (McLoughlin & Krakowski, 2001). ...
This study examined growth in graphical literacy for students contributing to an online, multimedia, communal environment as they advanced their understanding of biology, history and optics. Their science and history studies started early in Grade 3 and continued to the end of Grade 4; students did not receive instruction in graphics production, nor were they required to produce graphics. Results show that students spontaneously produced graphics that advanced along seven dimensions, including effective representation of complex ideas, use of source information and captions, and aesthetic quality. On average, the scores for the seven dimensions were higher for Grade 4 students with two years of experience with Knowledge Building pedagogy and technology (Knowledge Forum®) than for Grade 6 students with one year of experience. The overall pattern of results suggests reciprocal enhancement of graphical, textual, digital, and scientific literacy, with students exceeding expectations by available norms, and performance enhanced through extended Knowledge Building experience.
... It is important to challenge conventions around children's drawings not just to improve communication between adults and children. A persistent and dominant view in Western education sees drawing as a useful preparation for the transition into writing (Caldwell & Moore 1991;Olson 1992;Rich Sheridan 2002). This drawing-to-writing discourse suggests that drawing is slowly disregarded as a central communication tool as a child matures, and that this is a part of their 'natural' (i.e. it is automatic, universal) development. ...
This paper explores concepts of desire and rhizomatic working through a series of intergenerational collaborative drawing episodes. Particularly, mother/daughter relationships are examined via drawings created by the author and her young daughter. Drawings hold on their surface unpredictable connections to things experienced, known, conceptualized and imagined. In the context of this paper desire is seen to drive adults and children into expressing and making a mark, to make an imprint. Here, the prompts that inform a drawing are regarded as a rhizomatic network of chaotic actions and thoughts that connect each drawer to the tools, the paper and each other in unpredictable and mutable ways. The paper concludes by discussing how these intergenerational collaborative drawing episodes offer opportunities to re-imagine relationships, communications and learning in early childhood education.
... The use of drawing ± and other art activities ± as a pre-writing strategy has recently been recommended by Tompkins and Hoskisson (1991), especially with children who otherwise have problems expressing themselves in written form. Olson's (1992) research and work with young students suggested numerous benefits of such an integration, and she has discovered that children's vocabulary improved as much as their drawing skills when the two processes were integrated. Olson also noted that the characters whom children have first brought to life in drawings are easier to develop in stories. ...
In this study the writing products of 60 third-grade students, who drew before writing a story on a self-selected topic, was compared with the writing products of 59 third-grade students who wrote without drawing. The students in the group which drew before writing tended to produce more words, more sentences and more idea units, and their overall writing performance was higher than the students who wrote without drawing. These findings were consistent for boys as well as girls. Implications for writing research and instruction are discussed.
L’utilisation de dessins par les enfants comme strate´gie de pre´-e´criture
On a compare´ dans cette e´tude les productions e´crites de 60 e´le`ves de troisie`me anne´e qui avaient fait un dessin avant d’e´crire une histoire sur un sujet libre avec les productions e´crites de 59 e´le`ves de troisie`me anne´e qui avaient e´crit directement sans faire de dessin. Les e´le`ves du groupe qui avaient dessine´ avant d’e´crire ont eu tendance a` produire plus de mots, plus de phrases et plus d’ide´es, et leur production e´crite en ge´ne´ral a e´te´ meilleure que celle des e´tudiants qui ont e´crit sans dessiner. Ces conclusions valent pour les gar¸ons et pour les filles. On discute des implications pour la recherche et pour l’enseignement de l’e´criture.
... However, the notebooks differed from workbooks because the notebooks required a great deal more writing and often encouraged student drawing. Although researchers support allowing young children to integrate drawing and writing (Altieri, 1995;Olson, 1992), it was evident that this teacher did not feel the drawing was necessary. ...
The purpose of this study was to examine a first-grade, rural school teacher's use of a newly adopted literature-based reading series. The goal was not only to see how she used the materials but to also examine any struggles she experienced during her first year with a literature-based series. The participant/observer spent one day a week for an entire school year observing the teacher's reading class and interviewing the teacher at regular intervals. It was apparent in the interviews that this teacher had a positive attitude toward many aspects of the new series and believed that she had changed her methods and beliefs of teaching reading. However, classroom observations revealed that in fact she modified the materials to meet her epistemology. Although prior studies support that the literature based basals are significantly different from previous editions, a change in reading instruction will only occur with greater teacher guidance.
... Dyson (1982) stated that drawing provided the meaningful context for writing while not simply an illustration of writing. Olson's (1992) research suggested numerous benefits of the integration of drawing and writing, and referred to it as "the visual-narrative approach." ...
This study explores the effect of student-generated drawing on idea production and writing performance of fourth grade children. The drawings and notes were created by 22 students in grade 4 using an online multimedia environment--Knowledge Forum--to advance their understanding of optics. The findings indicated that children who drew more while writing produced significantly more words, sentences, idea units, and earned higher overall idea grade in writing than did those who drew less in writing. The results suggested that it was the combination of drawing as a planning strategy and as an external support for representing ideas in knowledge building that contributed to its effectiveness in making differences in idea production and writing of fourth grade children.
Visually rich digital and media-based texts feature prominently within the educational discourse on preparing learners for their twenty-first century global futures. In discussions of young children’s learning, many early literacy professionals now express familiarity with the term multimodality, although not necessarily a substantive understanding of its application to practice. In this introductory chapter, I offer a starting point for constructing multimodal perspectives of language, literacy, and learning by focusing on the creative “art” of making meaning. Noting the dual use of the term “art,” I draw attention to the notion of making meaning as an “art” and, secondly, to the point that visual images (frequently synonymous with “art”) have become a particularly critical feature of engagement as we prepare children to navigate the changes and challenges of our millennium. I briefly explore relevant constructs: meaning-making, multimodality, and creativity and provide an overview of early phases of young children’s visual language development. Through an insightful description of the multimodal meaning-making processes that emerged in adult-child interactions surrounding a toddler’s early scribbles, I offer authentic illustration of theory in practice. Citing the disconnect between the proliferation of visual textual forms encountered within in our twenty-first century culture and the verbocentric orientation of many adults who influence young children’s learning, I purposefully highlight social justice concerns that problematize the issue of meaning-making in early childhood education relative to adults’ misperceptions of art and children’s image-making.
When a child falls short of teachers’ perceptions of achievement, the label “struggling” is often applied and solutions are sought to address the young learner’s “deficiencies.” In this chapter, attention is focused upon teachers’ perceptions of the learner and the factors that contribute to these assessments. Viewing these concerns through selected critical lenses: twenty-first-century learning, social justice concerns, and pedagogical content knowledge, I argue that teachers’ negative perceptions of children’s achievement may be attributed, in part, to teacher education’s failure to prepare teachers who are literate in multiple modalities. As drawing, painting, and other visual arts experiences are common to most early childhood classrooms and as visual texts are critical to twenty-first-century learning, I focus my critique on early childhood teacher preparation and development in visual arts practice and pedagogy. Specifically, common “theories-in-use” regarding children’s visual texts (“art”) are examined, and the question is posed: does teacher education adequately prepare early childhood professionals with the substantive arts learning needed to support young children in multimodal language, literacy, and learning? Inverting the problem frame to position the adult as “struggling,” rather than the child, I suggest structures for critical review of early childhood teacher education programs and practices.
This paper summarizes three mixed-methods studies of Drawing Children into Reading, (curricula for ages 4-8), four instructional projects evolving from the vision of Wendy Anderson Halperin, a children's book illustrator. Researchers conducted the inquiries in rural Michigan from 2008-2013.
Although Edvard Munch's The Scream is widely known, the story of his early years is less well known, and the work from his childhood and youth has rarely been examined. Edvard Munch left his life's work to the City of Oslo, including some 500 works done between the ages of 12 and 20. The contents in the collection of early work are reported in this paper, accompanied by an exploration of the insights the collection offers into Munch's artistic beginnings. A larger frame for considering this work is created by examining the manner in which art historians have dealt with Munch's early work as well as related studies in art education which deal specifically with early work of artists. Implications for art historians, art educators, and museum curators are discussed.
In this chapter, we explore children's art learning in different museum environments (archaeological, contemporary, craft)
using the in-depth approach. Basic elements of this approach include the child, chorotopos (space/place), the teacher, and time. Our research involves teachers and young children from Greece (area of Thessaloniki,
Northern Greece) and Cyprus (Lefkosia) and suggests that children's contact with a range of art exhibits in museums and other
cultural settings is an important part of children's educational meaning making experiences if appropriate approaches and
methods are used.
In this chapter, the process of making meaning through arts learning is explored in the context of an elementary education
methods course. Common theories-in-use are discussed alongside of current theory, research, and practice to facilitate new
perspectives of language, literacy, learning, and art. Examples of learning experiences promoting pre-service teachers' abilities
to teach art as a visual language to inform, express, narrate, and persuade are provided.
Two critical aspects of providing equity and excellence in education for all children are 1) how we perceive individual differences
and 2) how we assess students' talents and abilities. In this chapter, I will provide an overview of the historical antecedents
that have shaped our current policies and practices related to art learning and individual difference, and suggest that a
fundamental shift in perception is needed; away from the deficit model toward an asset model; away from a culture based on
perceived limitations toward a culture of presumed competency.
Thesis (Ed. D.)--University of Toronto, 2003. Includes bibliographical references.
The purpose of the study was to determine how exceptional writing teachers utilize visual images in their teaching of writing. Specifically, the researcher was interested to discover how drawing might be used as a learning tool in the various stages of the writing process. Nine elementary teachers - recognized as exemplary teachers of writing, completed a detailed questionnaire in reference to their writing instruction. All of the teachers surveyed value visuals highly and recognize the potential impact that drawing can have on writing. However, not all of these teachers are utilizing drawing or visual strategies in their writing instruction on a regular basis. Descriptions of writing instruction and types of visuals used, along with examples, are provided. Additional information was gathered by conducting a case study and observing the instruction of one of the teachers, a particularly information-rich sample, who does integrate drawing and writing. This teacher's beliefs and resulting purposeful instruction are described as evidence for how others might incorporate these valuable strategies. The data reported here highlights the use of visuals and drawing as instructional tools in writing instruction and supports the conclusion that these strategies can be incorporated into the teaching of writing for more effective instruction.
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