How Images Change the Meaning of Text

Khan Academy

This engaging educational video explores the critical relationship between text and illustrations in reading comprehension. Using a lively narration and simple line drawings, the video introduces a two-step strategy for analyzing images: asking what new information the image provides that the text does not, and determining how that information changes the reader's understanding. The narrator uses a "cherries and chocolate" analogy to describe the powerful combination of words and pictures. The video centers on a poem about a character who is gentle but feared by others. The narrator reads the poem first without visuals, then reveals a drawing of a giant man holding a flower, demonstrating how the image solves the mystery of why people are scared. To further illustrate the point, the narrator swaps in alternative drawings—a man with antlers and a man with "stink lines"—to show how changing the visual context completely alters the narrative even when the words remain exactly the same. This resource is highly valuable for elementary ELA classrooms focusing on visual literacy and inference. It moves students beyond passively looking at pictures to actively interrogating them for meaning. The clear, explicit questions provided give students a repeatable framework they can apply to picture books, graphic novels, and textbooks to deepen their comprehension.