Statement of Intent: Learning how to read symbols is a task that students undertake as early as elementary school and continue throughout high school. The first part of this task is to learn to see the world of the concrete and translate it into abstractions. One aspect involves learning to understand traditional symbols used for hundreds of years. The difficulty of the task is often compounded with cultural illiteracy of students. It seemed to me that using a visual mode of learning, specifically using Renaissance art that is filled with traditional symbols "telling" a story in vivid terms, would be a good way to help introduce and familiarize students to all aspects of the task and to help them transition to reading symbols in literature. My intent here is to provide some resource materials that any teacher can use, adapt, or expand to fit his or her own particular situation in teaching the concept of symbols.

Contents:

• Objectives and Procedures
• Commonly Found Symbols in Art and Literature: Animals And Birds; Plants; Heavens And Earth; Colors; Shapes; Numbers
• Bibliography
• Resources