I have been thinking a lot about design as of late.  Being one of the newspaper sponsors at my school, I think about it often.  I have noticed a number of interesting infographics being published lately that consolidate research and statistics into a visual format.

Is teaching design is important for language arts.  I think it is.  Visualizations persuade.  We can convey so much with visual elements.  The lack of words can be powerful as well. (See the example below.)

There are obvious uses for teaching visual rhetoric via film studies (by that I mean filming techniques to foster visualization while reading). Infographics could be used to outline a research project or to be used in a speech.  Anyway, just thought I would share.

Created by Online Education

The conference was AMAZING!  We had just under 200 people. (Read below to learn why that is impressive.)  We have already discussed changes for next year’s conference.  We hope you will consider joining us.  Check RMWP.ORG for updates.

This conference schedule is a thing of great beauty.  You can now also download the conference program.

When I first started planning for this conference, I was told to expect around 30 people to show up.  As of today we have about 152 registered.  I am amazed at the support.  I have never done this before.  It has been eye-opening.If you are interested in hearing Kylene Beers and Bob Probst along with 12 other presenters speak, I would encourage you to come on down, over, or up to Birmingham, Alabama on Saturday (27 February 2010).Here is a link to the page where you can register: 21st Century Literacies Conference(I will remove the option to register at 11:59 p.m. the night before the conference.)