- Why might incorporating graphic design into your classroom be valuable?
- Thinking about how our students absorb information, how might we better support the learners in our classrooms?
- Envision an activity, unit or event that is approaching how might you incorporate some of the design principles?
Incorporating graphic design into your classroom is valuable because of the variety of learners we have. Students that are visual learners can be overwhelmed by text heavy information. If we can create lessons that include infographics we are also creating something that doesn’t look boring! If we as teachers create something that looks interesting, our students might be more intrigued by it and absorb the information better. We are making the learning process memorable and something then can recall.
I have several activities that incorporate design principles. One of my go to activities when learning new vocabulary is to have students include an image or cartoon to describe the word. Once students create them I choose some great examples and those become our word wall. Many students are able to recall the words better because of the image they have associated with them.
My introduction to my class activity is to have students create their own logo and brand for themselves. This allows them to create graphics that represent themselves and understand how graphics play an important role in our world. I have had some very creative logos doing this activity and students learn more about each other and recall their names better because of this activity. They put their logos on all their work instead of just their names!
Within my classroom, I decided this year I would brand my classroom. All my signs, activities, posters, etc. have my class logo I created and a special font to differentiate my class from others. My students love referring to my class as Studio 208, not just communications class.
Brooke,
ReplyDeleteReally like the idea of of the students creating a logo. Logo's are powerful and companies spend millions designing their logo. It's cool that the students have to think about what makes them who they are and how to turn that into a logo! I also like the Studio 208- sounds more "hip" in the hallways I am sure!
I also agree that visuals help reach visual learners that otherwise might be intimidated by long text. I know because I was one of those students. I have a couple grade schoolers living at home with me and they also use pictures to associate new vocab words. It works great, although sometimes I worry my kindergartner relies to heavily on the pic and skims the word. Overall though it really helps them.
Thanks,
Jim
Hi Brooke!
ReplyDeleteI really love the idea of having student-made vocabulary projects make up your class word wall. 1) This allows the students to strive to get "on the wall"! and 2) It allows for less prep on your part as you are putting the creating portion back on the students. By having the students incorporate an image you are also hitting part of Marzano's 6-steps for vocabulary acquisition.
The logo idea is really neat as well! This is a great ice breaker activity for the beginning of the year and can allow students to get to know more about their peers in the class. I think it is great that you keep the logos active in the classroom as well by having the students include the logo on their work! How creative!