Graphic Design

      This week our readings focused on the ideas of Graphic Design and Infographics. I really enjoyed these readings and the different perspective it provided me. I think that through these reading's my ideas of Graphic Design changed, and similarly, I have a new appreciation of how I can and should be incorporating it more into my classroom. I think prior to these readings my basic understanding of Graphic Design was art created on the computer often for advertising. However, my point of view has changed significantly. One article that really stood out to me was titled, "The Power of Visual Communication Infographic" from the wyzowl website. Both the information presented and the way it was presented were very powerful. It really spoke to me about how using graphic design in my classroom could be so valuable. One statistic that really stood out was that people remember 10% of what they hear, 20% of what they read, and 80% of what they see and do. This is a huge selling point for including graphics into the classroom. If using different visual aides would increase my students memory, and hopefully in turn their understanding of a topic that significantly, it is hard to ignore it's value in the classroom. Another article that stood out to me about the value of graphic design in the classroom was "Why Teachers Should Care About Typography"from the ASIDE blog. I found it really interesting about how the different types of typography can affect students learning and understanding. The font we choose seems like such a minor decisions, however it can have large impacts on learning. This is something I know I need to be more aware of when I am creating items for my classroom. However, as my students are becoming more creators, than just consumers, I feel like this idea has value for them as they are creating different projects. Finally, I also noticed how much more engaged I was with the various infographics that we looked at this week. It seems to obvious that this would be a great way to increase student engagement in a topic. By creating and sharing infographics and then having students' create it seems like a great way to increase student engagement and understanding about a given topic. 

       Many of the articles and videos this week discussed how people absorb information. As I mentioned earlier, the article "The Power of Visual Communication Infographic" discusses how people only remember 10% of what they hear, 20% of what they read, but 80% of what they see and do. Using this information we can modify our instruction to better support the learners in our classrooms. If we think about the traditional classroom and the "Sage on the Stage" mentality, we can see that this most closely aligns with have students hearing, of which they remember 10%, and often times reading, of which they remember 20%. This is obviously not the most effective teaching strategy and we need to modify our teaching to include more of the "see and do." I think one way we are already doing this is in math where we are providing manipulattives and integrated task problems where they are actually "doing" the problem. They are thinking through, using tools and models, and not just learning and regurgitating an algorithm. I think another way that we can improve is to include infographics or other types of diagrams to help show information in a new way. This will help students to see and remember the information. Finally, I think it is such a great idea for students to take the information they have been studying and then creating their own infographic to show their understanding and then share it with their peers to reinforce understanding of the whole class. 

     I am really excited about this type of project and already have several ways in which I would like to experiment with this new type of Multimedia tool to encourage my students' learning. One lesson where I would like to try to incorporate having students create an infographic would be in relation to our study of Nonfiction. We spend time focusing on different nonfiction genres. One idea I have is for students to do research and read about a person of their choosing. Then have them create and biographical infographic on the famous or historical person of their choosing. I think this would be great because students would have to research, read, and gather information. Then they would need to decide on what would be the most important information to share in their design. Another idea I have connects to our Social Studies unit on the Midwest. Students use a hyperdoc to learn about different states and write a report discussing the advantages and disadvantages of a given state. I think it would be a great extension for students to create a flyer advertising a state and why someone might want to visit.