How can visual literacy and the use of the Internet impact the teaching and learning process in the classroom?

I am a visual learner.  I get bored when someone stands up and just talks for a long period of time.  Lecturing is not my favorite thing to do or to sit through.  The internet is a wonderful resource for those students who are like me--visual learners.  It allows someone to see what is being talked about and not just listen to what is being said.  It gives them colors and images to associate with the subject matter.  Instead of someone describing to me in math what a cylinder looks like, the internet allows me to see many, many examples of a cylinder.  It allows me to see different sizes of cylinders and the many different ways that a cylinder can appear in the real world.

In my classroom, I like to show videos and images to my students when we are studying something.  When we study space, I love to have the internet at my fingertips to show them pictures of what the planets look like.  We took a virtual tour of the moon and of the planet Mars this past year.  It felt as if we were there when we were many miles away.  My students remembered these virtual field trips and talked about them throughout the year.

I also like to display a picture at the beginning of a unit and have students brainstorm about what they think the picture represents,  Sometimes I have them talk in their groups and sometimes I have them write down their ideas.  I have even used Padlet so that they could write their ideas for the class to see.  This gets their minds thinking about what is to come in our unit and what they already know about the subject matter.

The internet plays an everyday role in my classroom.  I am privileged to have each student assigned a chromebook at the beginning of the year.  They use their chromebooks to research, complete projects, watch videos of the subject matter, doing math problems and drills, and many other activities everyday.  They collaborate with one another in Google Docs and Slides using images and videos to enhance their projects.  They use their chromebooks as a tool to explore the world and become better informed on what is going on in their world.