- 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?
One: Classroom engagement
Two: Students’ personal connections
Three: Authentic
Four: Familiarity with it all
Five: Learning Style
By incorporating graphic designs, students engagement on the material is so much greater. They see the graphic designs, whether it be the font, color, shape, meme, etc., and they want to know more. It is more likely to stick with them as well because the engagement factor is there. Students are much more tech savvy than we were at their age and can make those personal connections with the graphics. Most of my students in first graders know how to change the color, the background, font, and so much more without me even showing them how. So by me incorporating those features, they can connect to them and follow along much easier. It also makes it authentic and a genuine experience for the kiddos. Not all students learn the same way, so graphic designs can be used for some students to really help with their learning and learn in a way that is most beneficial for them. I know I am a visual learner and like to associate things with pictures, so this is something that really helps me as a learner.
We read a lot of nonfiction texts throughout the entire school year. For example at the beginning of the year, we focus on Inspiring Individuals. If I want my kiddos to remember specific parts of our learning, I can use a different font, color, or even shape so I can stress how important this section is. For math, I love to incorporate graphic designs to grab their attention and keep them engaged. First-grade math was mostly about introducing many different strategies and working with word problems. I needed to find something to grab my students attention and keep them wanting more, so I often used graphic designs to go along with my word problems. They loved it and were engaged during the lessons, which can be a challenge. Something I can change however is rather than having my students write about their inspiring individual learning, I can have my kiddos create their own infographic to show their learning. They can then present these to the class to show what they learned.