Graphic Design in the Classroom
Greetings Everyone,
In this post, I will cover my experiences with graphic design elements in the classroom. First off, I want to clarify that when I reference graphic design, I am referencing free web-based tools that my students accessed via Chromebooks. My skills are nowhere near sophisticated enough to instruct students in the ways of photoshop or the Adobe suite of graphics programs.
I did learn to use and instruct my students in the use of tools like Storyboardthat for the creation of super customizable storyboards, and Easley for infographics. Both tools became a regular part of my classroom culture and students really took to expressing themselves visually.
Incorporating graphic elements added a whole new dimension for my students. Especially for those (like myself) who cannot draw well. As an English teacher, I can say with absolute
confidence that the classic maxim, A picture is worth a thousand words, does indeed hold true and giving students that were visually inclined the opportunity to create visuals to demonstrate their understanding of a text was empowering as they took control of their learning.
The first time I had my students use Storyboardthat to demonstrate their understanding of a text, it was obvious that their level of engagement jumped dramatically. They were no longer just using words but were analyzing deeply to determine how to best create images that lined up with their interpretation.
The activity was so successful that I purchased a class license for the program and we ended up using the program as part of our final exam for the first semester. Each student had to create a storyboard for a single work of literature that we covered sometime during the semester. They could pick any piece they wanted but needed to demonstrate their understanding of the text using textual evidence.
The activity was fun and successful. In retelling the stories visually they went beyond a superficial understanding of their selected piece and dug in as they had to determine how to tell an entire story using only a limited number of story cells. They needed to determine which were the critical scenes and moments for the characters.
We also used infographics, specifically for The Great Gatsby, as a way for students to demonstrate their understanding of color theory in the novel. The activity exceeded my expectations as many students really grabbed onto the chance to do something different to demonstrate their understanding rather than writing another paper.
I am posting some student samples below.
Sample 1: Storyboard created via storyboardthat:
Sample 2: Infographic Project detailing color theory from The Great Gatsby created using Easely:
Tony,
ReplyDeleteYour example graphics tell such an analysis that are only enhanced by your students' decision making when including images and graphics, especially with symbolism in The Great Gatsby. Knowing you personally, I admire your innovation in the classroom and I know your students do, too. As you know, I've been itching to use Storyboardthat in my classroom, too, for students to demonstrate character development and other plot lines through the use of comic strips and graphics. It seems like you are finding all the right ways to introduce technology into the American Lit classroom! Really nice work here and I look forward to learning more from you about these programs at Stagg.
Andrea
I really like Storyboardthat - they even have science clipart to use! I'm going to introduce it to my A&P and Medical Careers students this Fall. I have my A&P students solve case studies in order to learn each system unit and we participate in a RoundTable at the end of each unit to summarize and teach one another. The addition of producing a Storyboard to tell the story of their particular case will be great! Thanks for introducing us to it! I can't wait to share it with my PLC.
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