I hadn’t tried the warm-up exercise that we performed today before. What we did was kind of like the “telephone game,” but involved verbal (spoken messages), auditory (messages as they are heard), and visual literacy skills.
One of the many, many artists that have influenced Shaun Tan is the American artist, Edward Hopper. As we all now know, the painting below is called, “Boy and Moon.”
Before sharing this painting with the class, and without letting anyone know what was going on, I asked for 5 volunteers (Thanks, Abby, Shane, DaSharra, Keltney, and Devon).
I asked Abby to stay in the classroom while the other 4 volunteers went out to the hall. Next, I showed the class and Abby “Boy and Moon” on the projector screen. I asked Abby to study this painting very closely so that she could describe the painting to Shane next.
Once Shane returned to the classroom, Abby described the painting aloud to Shane, who was not shown the painting. Next, DaSharra returned to the classroom, and Shane described aloud what he knew of the painting to her, but still I did not reveal the actual painting to them. DaSharra proceeded to describe the painting out loud to Keltney, and then Keltney did the same with Devon–still the 4 volunteers who had been in the hallway had not seen the painting.
Devon was the lucky one who was asked to draw the painting on the board and to offer an explanation for what he drew.
Finally, I showed the “Boy and Moon” to the volunteers.
As a class, we discussed how the image changed throughout the activity, and possible reasons for such changes.
We observed that a lot of the details from the painting were lost in the descriptions and often other details were added or altered.
When descriptive language is used, we get pictures in our heads; that is, we think visually. However, each person has had different life experiences, which can alter the visual image we form in our head, and the way we describe the visual image in our own words.
We CONNECT the visual images by using our past experiences and knowledge.
While reading The Arrival, the way we read the visual images provided by Shaun Tan will be influenced by our past experiences and knowledge.
For much of the story, the man is alone. He seems to feel very isolated.
For your homework:
- Read Section II of The Arrival. Take your time reading, and read it more than once if you feel like you might have missed something. Ask yourself questions as you go along, using the “Bank of Questions” at http://www.arhu.umd.edu/vislit/bank_content.php if you need inspiration.
- Choose a page or a framed image depicting the man feeling lonely in Section II.
- Open the PowerPoint file at http://www.box.net/shared/r1sd7et112. This is a tool for reading visual images.
- For the picture you have chosen, answer the questions on each slide by typing your answer on the lined “paper” provided on the slide. Do the best you can, and use the links to learn about any new terminology you come across. While answering the questions, reflect on experiences you’ve had when you were feeling lonely or isolated. In other words, try to CONNECT your own experiences with those of the man in The Arrival.
- Save your file on your Homework USB Memory Stick.
- We’ll go over this in class tomorrow.
Until then,
–Silver Lisa
◊◊◊◊Note: The image used in this blog entry is digital reproduction of Edward Hopper’s Painting, “Boy and Moon”. You may access it at Museumsyndicate.com by visiting the link at http://www.museumsyndicate.com/item.php?item=9413.◊◊◊◊
Reading Wordless Books 