Seven Power Lens on 21st Century Literacy Week Two

Week Two

"Learning to look without drawing inferences is a powerful observational tool that can gather rich visual data for the observer."

As an observer we want to obtain as much data about a subject or situation that we can. When we can observe and not draw inferences it will benefit not only us, but those that we are trying to reach. Often times we are so quick to pass judgement or criticize without knowing the whole picture.

This also reminds me of a quote that my friend's mom used to tell us all the time, "Believe half of what you see and none of what you hear." It is more beneficial to find out the truth than to spread false information, so if we observe and obtain the needed data we will be able to report the truth. There is enough propoganda out in the media, but I don't think that it is because they are not taking the time to make inferences. It is based solely on the story that they want to portray.

Abilock, D. (2003, November/December). A seven-power lens on 21st-century literacy. Multimedia Schools, Retrieved from http://www.noodletools.com/debbie/literacies/newsmedia/PowerLensSingle.pdf


ON BECOMING A DIFFERENT AND MORE POWERFUL OBSERVERby Alan Sieler


I really liked this article by Alan Sieler. Here is one of the things that he wrote that I can relate to, "As observers we always will view a situation from a particular perspective and have a point of view. However, our tradition of observing has rarely encouraged us to take a look at the position from which we observe and how that will influence the particular viewpoint we take." If we can look at things from another perspective, how will that affect what we observe? I think that whether it changes our perspective to be more positive or negative of a situation that at least we are trying to broaden our views.


Sieler, A. (n/a). On becoming a different and more powerful observer. Retrieved from http://www.newfieldinstitute.com.au/html/ap012.html