Over the past few weeks, we've watched our eighth-graders give in-class research presentations. We kept making notes about the readability of their Prezis, which frequently and frustratingly paired neon colors with squinched text or dark lettering with dark backgrounds. We realized we should be doing more to teach our students about making crisp visual choices. The role of typography in education can take many worthwhile forms. For students, the crucial message is that a font must complement the information on display. The visualization must accompany the meaning.
Graphic illustrators and digital artists obviously take seriously the role of visual language. Students of any age, though, are intrigued by the value of clever fonts. They hate Times New Roman and rush to change the typeface when they open MS Word. They love playing with WordArt, and they were giddy when Prezi recently expanded its font options. Typography, like any linguistic tool, can be coached to enhance rather than detract from student endeavors. We can steer them away from the dreaded Comic Sans and toward more supportive lettering choices.
Media specialist Carrie Cousins extends a similarly key message in her post, "Establish a Mood With Typography.' "The typefaces you select for a project," she says, "can impact what people think as much as the actual message you convey." Her engaging article would make a rich teaching guide to share with students. Typeface choices should be organized like good curriculum design, starting from the desired end and working backward to select the appropriate visual lettering.
Typography, in essence, is the pictorial incarnation of language, the visible medium by which today's kids absorb significance. We've already seen how a precisely chosen font can embody an entire political message of hope and change. Creative typography is the epitome of information design. The short, animated infographic below presents an arresting lesson about typography. Directors Boca and Ryan Uhrich from the Vancouver Film School make it clear that "typography is what language looks like."
Other terrific educational resources include "A Beginner's Guide To Pairing Fonts" by Ian Yates and "Best Practices Of Combining Typefaces" by Douglas Bonneville. Yates offers the equivalent of a graduate-level master's course in visual thinking, as he lays out a systematic, approachable list of typeface do's and don'ts. Erudite without being condescending, Yates answers common questions, such as how many fonts to include and how to balance concord with contrast. Bonneville, writing in Smashing Magazine, gives similar recommendations about keeping things simple, differentiating font weights, and assigning distinct roles to each line. Bonneville also includes a classic .pdf grid to hand out to students about which font choices are acceptable in mixing typefaces.
If students get excited about exploring fonts, PBS Arts features a seven-minute "Typography" mini-documentary from its Off Book series (recently highlighted by An Xiao Mina at Core77). The film includes great analysis from famous designers, such as Jonathan Hoefler and Tobias Frere-Jones. The clip also dissects the role of fonts in infographics and includes a one-minute tutorial at the end, called "How To Talk About Type Like You Know What You're Talking About." For example, we finally learned the actual difference between a "font" and a "typeface."
We teach kids today who are overly influenced by brands, products, and labels. They proudly display their wares on everything from clothes to electronics. In other words, they are walking examples of product identity. Well, why not use it to our advantage? Brand identification can work for us as teachers, too. Sprinkled throughout this post are some of the project logos that we have created to use for our projects.
Designing logos and acronyms are simple and effective ways to create a look that immediately identifies everything for a particular unit of learning. Just like we see and use acronyms today, many of our students simply refer to projects by their acronyms. For example, our students commonly refer to the eighth-grade independent research project as their IRP. It is as natural to them as it is for broadcasters using acronyms in the news.
We have branded many of our research assignments and project-based learning (PBL) work. Our students love it. You’ll often hear kids say, "bring your 'HTC' (History Trading Card) folder to class." More importantly, all paperwork for each of these projects, from readings to templates, is branded with that image for full product recognition.
With the availability of clipart, WordArt, and Web 2.0 photo editing tools such as ImageChef or iPiccy, it’s easy to design an identity for specific units in the classroom. For quick logo designs, try using Supalogo or Cool Text. Both of these are simple tools to make instant creations without signing up for an account.
Project identity appeals to the students. Not only does it connect all the tasks, but it also helps the less organized keep everything for the assignment together. The benefits are multifold. Whether creating a new investigation or using an existing project, try adding a visual identity through branding. It’s also a perfect segue toward integrating media literacy into the discussion, too.
Building on our earlier posts about entrepreneurship in the elementary classroom and whether it is possible to raise entrepreneurs, we believe when kids are given the opportunity to be creative in their thinking and to actually take their idea to fruition, they begin to picture themselves as entrepreneurs. We can see the results this year with our current 6th graders who went through the entrepreneur project last year. We introduced the concept of social entrepreneurship with them, and they now are putting together their ideas to raise money for a cause, such as the school’s Pencils for Peace program, or are making a loan through the Kiva organization to help others around the world. What we noticed was that the 6th graders went straight to work on coming up with a concept for a project and could see the benefit from the work they went through the year before, because they knew exactly what to do.
The process of trial and error to figure out problems with regard to construction, cost, and time makes kids think on their feet. It builds essential life skills that they need to know. It helps develop their ability to be creative problem solvers, work independently, and deal with the possibility of failure. Above all, it lets them think creatively, which is at the top of Bloom’s taxonomy. It is also at the top of the list for what Chief Executive Officers (CEOs) think, too. The IBM 2010 Global CEO Study surveyed 1500 CEOs in 60 countries and 33 industries from around the world. They ranked creativity as the most important factor for future success. Without this skill, it will be difficult to adapt to changes in a fast-paced, growing, complex world.
While many of the ideas that our students come up with are not totally new, it is the process of trying to develop a business from its first inkling to its final execution that’s important. Not everything needs to be new and original. Sometimes a simple improvement can change the way people think. In a recent Wall Street Journal Classroom Edition newspaper article, “Re-inventing Inventing,” Andy Jordan described how a new company called Quirky uses the power of the community to select new ideas to take from design to market.
It astonished our kids that the simple concept of changing an electrical power strip from rigid to flexible generated 22-year-old Jake Zien approximately $30,000 a month since his invention, Pivot Power, went on sale. It is stories like these that play a role in making real-world connections and inspiring kids to think differently. Sometimes a small change can make a huge difference. Best-selling author Peter Sims makes this point throughout his book, Little Bets: How Breakthrough Ideas Emerge From Small Discoveries.
Quirky is just one of a handful of online businesses that seek to make the invention process more open to amateurs with bright ideas. “Our job is to act as sort of shepherds of our inventions,” says Quirky’s 24-year-old founder, Ben Kaufman. “People will submit ideas to the site in various forms." For him, "Invention is just sort of ingrained in us as human beings. If you look at kids playing, they’re inventing,” says Kaufman. “And for some reason, just society or whatever it is just scrapes it all away from you, and makes you feel like you can’t do it.” (WSJ Classroom)
We want our students to be inventive with their approaches to learning new things, playing with ideas, and creating ways of seeing differently. We shepherd them daily through lessons, and so why not shepherd them as entrepreneurs?
Our goal is to carry entrepreneurship in some facet through our entire middle school to keep kids thinking that their ideas matter and could very well be the next big thing. We can't guarantee we can raise entrepreneurs, but we can definitely get them to think like ones.
Sometimes as we approach spring break we can barely keep our students engaged, because they know a vacation is just around the corner. That's why we've tried to keep a line of infographics in our toolkits for just that reason. Our holiday infographics have proven to be a great way to distract kids from checking out of learning. In fact, they now look forward to these visualizations, with their colorful presentations of data, images and facts. Infographics and creative ways to view Peeps, bunnies, and chocolate candy all add to the enjoyment.
The Ten Fun Facts About Peeps and Easter by the Numbers infographics from DegreeSearch easily connect to math lessons, but could just as well make great writing prompts in a language arts class. Students could take their own surveys or polls, too. Another good infographic to use is Easter Facts, designed by Yang Li at Chillisauce, Ltd., with its clear arrangement of data, graphs, and charts. For other interesting tidbits with a lot of math ideas built in, take a look at Easter Fun Facts: 700 Million Peeps to Be Eaten on Easter. Use this information to have students predict what they think might be the outcome.
We would be remiss if we did not include the Washington Post's annual "Peeps Show." To talk about ingenuity in designing information is an understatement when you look at how Peeps are used to create content. This annual event uses marshmallow treats to interpret politics, pop culture and more.
Guaranteed to be a hit with kids, these amazing dioramas are vignettes into history and current events with a sense of humor. Take a look at the 2012 finalists from Occupeep DC to Creating a Masterpeeps. These incredibly creative dioramas will not disappoint. They even have one for the latest hit movie Hunger Games called Hunger Peeps. Just think of the possibilities in the classroom. It might be a good idea to add an inventive Peeps show of your own next year by having kids use historical events or their favorite books to make instructional dioramas. If you have a little extra time, have the students read Peep Fun Facts from NPR and then take the Test Your Peeps Knowledge quiz from the Washington Post.
Lastly, we could not resist including the following video animations Project Peepway (Project Runway) and Peep Wars (Star Wars). Enjoy!
Sometimes it’s hard to convince kids that not everything is what it seems. They are so taken by advertising and too often believe everything they see is real. Kids need to know that designing information is the foundation of all media. To help them learn to question media, we have taken to using the acronyms LAMSTAIH (Look At More Stuff; Think About It Harder, from Look At More by Andy Stefanovich) and FEAR (False Evidence Appearing Real, origin unknown).
Both acronyms point the students in the right direction. In order to tell if something is true, they need to look at more things and think about them. Simply put: analyze the evidence to determine reliability.
We use several resources to drive home the point of FEAR to reinforce our students' media literacy skills. The first is the Don't Buy It website produced by PBS. This website is full of resources, from being an ad detective to buying smart, but one of our favorite parts to visit with students is the Food Advertising Tricks page. They find it amazing that food is manipulated with everything from glue to a blowtorch to make it look delicious. It's hard for them to believe at first. They are surprised to learn that photographers use dyed shortening instead of real ice cream, because it would melt too quickly under the lights. They're fascinated that to photograph a juicy hamburger, food stylists can use up to 100 hamburger buns, 2 cases of lettuce and a dozen tomatoes before they get the perfect picture for the ad.
Most kids have never heard of a "food stylist" or a food "makeup artist." It thoroughly amuses them that people do this for a living. Advertising is big money, and it costs a lot to produce beautiful ads to sell goods and services. Companies depend on getting a return on their investments. For a great closer to a lesson on creating well-dressed food, show them the following video segment, Food Ad Tricks: Helping Kids Understand Food Ads on TV. This is part of the series Buy Me That, which can be taught using a valuable lesson plan by Frank Baker, who maintains the Media Literacy Clearinghouse website.
By constantly talking to kids about FEAR, we can continue to help them grow as media savvy individuals who question what they see because they know how to LAMSTAIH.
Literacy and phonics are the bread and butter of early classrooms. The thread of language subsequently loops through all age levels. If you haven't yet seen this hypnotic clip about visual vowels, it's worth a look. Shared by Studiocanoe, the film is based "on an archival sound recording taken from the 1945 Linguaphone series." The soothing, illustrated sequence emphasizes linguistics through snapshots and crisp voicing. Teachers can use the video to reinforce word choice, self-expression, spelling, and vocabulary. The clip is somewhat hypnotic, with accented speech and intriguing word selections to highlight each vowel sound. Ambient piano chords underscore the unexpected image pairings. This type of simple movie would also be an easy project for students to recreate. They could choose their own pictures to link with their words of the week.
An interesting tie-in to the role of vowels in everyday discourse is Matt Ward's write-up about "The Vowels of Design." He uses the five phonic building blocks to point to key criteria for visual design: Aesthetics, Experience, Information, Organization, and Understanding. These principles are ideal for students when creating multimedia projects. As a freelance digital artist writing at the "echo enduring blog," Ward explains that, "there is a strong connection between language and design through the art of typography." He makes an interesting and compelling case for clarity in information design.
The integration of technology into learning at this juncture in time should be a moot point. Yet schools continually block access to websites on the Internet and struggle to decide on a policy that would allow students to bring their own devices (BYOD) into the classroom. "A New Literacy: Making Connections in Electronic Environments," by Frank Romanelli, addresses the idea of embracing the literacy of a digital native by using sketches drawn as the narration progresses.
Beginning with quill and paper, Romanelli makes the point that resistance to change has always threatened earlier ideas of how things should be done. The trouble is the change our students are experiencing is happening at lightning speed. As teachers, we need to embrace the idea that writing as we know it on paper is changing, too. In fact, kids today do more writing electronically than we might think. In addition, new genres are emerging, from text novels to tweet poetry contests. If you think about it, how many people do you know who are playing Words With Friends? It seems to be all the craze, yet it is basically online Scrabble.
The bottom line is that technology is now and is not going away. Kids, however, still need to learn how to express their ideas; that's the teacher's job. How they do it should be irrelevant. It is also our job to train them to communicate in their world. Teachers need to learn how to use new media, and schools need to support its full integration, even if it means BYOD. Like the animated video, Ode to #Pencilchat: Technology Integration in the Classroom, from the Think and Dream in English blog, technology is the game changer and we need to change with it. Perhaps both of these animations should be used not only at professional development workshops for teachers on integrating new technology in the classroom, but also for school administrators.
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