We all know the feeling of when we are walking down the sidewalk
of a city street, driving in our car and see a billboard, or flipping through a
magazine, and see a beautiful, stunning image of an advertisement. We remember the ones that are visually stunning
and forget the ones that are boring. The
same goes for our classrooms. As
teachers, we should always keep this in mind when we are creating posters,
slideshows, or just a simple screen of directions. As humans, we like to look at appealing
images and content, therefore, we should be creating such. As we all know, students can be brutally
honest and they will tell you when something is cool to look at or vice versa
and will be talking to their neighbor when they shouldn’t be. Creating quality graphic design in our classrooms
is very important and I believe underestimated.
I think teachers would be surprised to see how much improvement they
could see with their students if they spent a little more time with their
graphic design content. It is definitely
easier said than done but there are so many resources of people on the internet
now with tips and different ways to help or create things. What would we do without the internet!?
In the article “The Power of Visual Communication Infographic”
from the Wyzowl blog, they referenced several studies that show people remember
10% of what we hear, 20% of what we read, and 80% of what we see and do. That stat should be broadcast all over the
world, but especially in the field of education. Students need to see and DO things in order
to truly learn the content of what is being taught. That is why I love Physical Education because
there is so much “doing” that is going on during class. What I need to improve upon is adding the
visual and audio to my lessons to better support all learners. Students are drawn to video and when they can
watch someone doing a skill and then try it themselves, there is a significant
improvement in their focus and development.
With the Winter Olympics just around the corner, I am deep in the
planning process of creating some exciting lesson plans to bring the Olympics
into our classroom. As I think about
creating the posters and the different content that I plan on posting in the
gym, I want them to be visually appealing so that the students get excited when
they see it. Having students create infographics
would be another great resource for this unit because they are easy to
understand and fun to look at. I think
it would be neat for a group of students to create different infographics about
different trivia or tidbits about the Olympics that people might not know.
