Karl M. Heist

Heist's "Visual Literacy: Integrating Art in the 21st Century Curriculum" will give students visual ways to think about their studies by making connections between literacy-oriented learning and visual material. Art will now be implemented as an integral part of the social studies-based curriculum. Thank to Heist, kindergarten students will learn about the way they look by photographing each other. First grade students will fashion props. Second graders will make birdhouses, and third and fourth graders will learn about abstraction and symbolic meaning by designing masks and beaded jewelry. Heist's "Visual Literacy" project upholds literacy as a key component of elementary education and gives children the tools they need to explore their visually-oriented world thoroughly and analytically. Heist's hands-on art curriculum recognizes different learning styles and aids Midtown West's fundamental goal of reaching all students. He is a resident of New York City.