Visual Symbols in My Life - 1-24-2011

Visual  Symbols in My Life

This visual symbol is a big part of my life right now. I have worked with the Janesville high school at risk students for the past three years. This particular letter head shows the techno cat emblem that is used on almost all of the sports uniforms and t-shirts worn by students and staff. The photo included on the letter head is the new library addition that was completed right before I was hired. With the library endorsement part of my masters program I found this to be an important addition to the visual images in my life. A school’s logo and mascot image is so important the community it represents. We take ownership and feel pride when our school does well in both academics and sporting events. This is true of both high school and college logos and those of the professional sports teams that we may follow.

I have been using visuals to help reading students to understand the setting in the story Fudge-A-Mania, by Judy Blume. This story takes place in Maine.  Some of these students have never been out of Iowa so I had them view virtual tours of the tourist attractions that are most famous in the area that the story takes place. I did this by going to http://www.maine.gov/sos/kids/

This gave them the opportunity to actually see the place where this story was taking place and to learn a little about the state. There were also more photos on the tourism page that we took time to look at as well.

Other symbols in my life would be the Coco Cola logo. I have collected Coco Cola items for a number of years. My dining room is decorated with these items. I also drink Diet Coke each and every day, I have been accused of being addicted. If I can get it to work I will add a link to my all time favorite Coca Cola Commercial. If you watch it closely you can see the Coco Cola logo in many different languages besides all the people dressed in their native costumes. The original commercial is from the 70’s but the message and images still hold true today.

A movie that I would recommend for the class would be “Breaking Away”. I felt a connection to this movie when I saw it in high school. The movie was made in the 1980’s and has some great images and the story is about the preconceived perceptions people make about others and how those perceptions guide the characters perception of themselves.