Field Notes
A running journal of Visual Voices as it develops, including interviews with educators and researchers, classroom and site visits, observations from working with young children, and reflections on questions or ideas that are changing the way I think about the project.
Returning to St. John’s Preschool helped me see a familiar childhood memory in a completely different way: before I could rely on written words, I already had other ways to communicate.
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Working at an ice cream shop, I noticed the flavor wall pairs written names with photographs so customers of all ages, reading levels, and language backgrounds can compare choices and communicate what they want. It made me wonder what classroom walls might look like if written language were paired with photographs, illustrations, gestures, objects, and other meaningful visual supports too.
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My conversation with Dr. Eliza Akua Thompson made me think more carefully about when visual supports help and when they might get in the way of skills children still need to build.
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A visit to a forest kindergarten outside Copenhagen challenged my assumptions about visual supports — and showed me how communication can be built into the environment itself.
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My conversation at The River School made me think differently about what happens when visual communication is part of everyday instruction rather than added later as a support.
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A small red-and-green signal on one student's desk shows how the environment itself can give children a way to communicate without saying a word.
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