Gerri Davis

Book Blurb #4

7/18/01

Claggett, Fran. Drawing Your Own Conclusions: Graphic Strategies for Reading,

Writing, and Thinking.

Fran Claggett's Drawing Your Own Conclusions describes ways in which to incorporate and promote visual imagery in the study of reading and writing. Claggett says that the purpose of bringing pictures into the language arts (or any other) classroom is to unlock students' creativity and their ability to understand metaphor; her work is research-based, and, it seems, a precursor to brain-based learning theories.

There are several ways in which Claggett uses graphics in her classroom, among them, the mandala and the graphic map. The mandala is circular-shaped and uncomplicated in design. Claggett uses mandalas as the basis for everything from getting-to-know-you exercises to creating a mandala from the perspective of a character in a literary work. Claggett also uses the mandala as part of the writing process, both as a writing topic and as a brainstorming activity. The graphic map is "An organizational tool through which students can make sense of a text by tracking and integrating their own ideas with words and symbols from the work they are studying." Graphic maps seem to be a less threatening way for students who are less artistically-inclined to experiment with the idea of using pictures and symbols as part of their thinking process. Both the mandala and the graphic map make abstractions concrete, which is particularly helpful to students who have language difficulties, such as ESL and special education students.

I really like how Claggett devotes a special section to using graphics in the study of literature, and she includes wonderful student samples of the assignments she outlines in the book. However, though Claggett promises in the book to address the issue of assessing graphic assignments, she was not forthcoming. All she said (three chapters later) was that graphic assignments could be used as part of an end of the unit assessment. Duh! This was the only thing that was an outright disappointment.