Design is something we as educators don't even think about. But should we? For instance, better ad design makes us buy products, a good cover design on a book helps us carry it to the check out register and the cereal aisle at the grocery store places the sweet cereal on the bottom shelves to attract little eyes and hands. In short, better design sells.
Design is something we incorporate into our everyday lives without even thinking about. We organize our pantry cupboards for optimum efficiency or arrange the knick-knacks on the shelves of our curio cabinet in the design that is (hopefully) the most feng shui. In doing so, we are using the same premise as the grocery store or graphic designer. The difference is that we are the buyer of our own market. We sell to ourselves.
So why should we not market our lessons to the kids we are teaching? Are the kids who are sitting in our classrooms any different than the consumers in a retail store? Or from us, for that matter? They come to the classroom for a product. They are more apt to 'purchase' that product if it is packaged well. Do we really want to force a product on them that they are not interested in?
Ok, so your product is the Civil War. The kids are rolling their eyes even before you can say "Abraham Lincoln." What if you start the segment with the story about Union Army General Sedgwick, who came upon his troops and berated them for cowering every time a bullet from a Confederate sniper came within range. "I'm ashamed of all of you, dodging that way," he said. "Why, they couldn't hit an elephant from that distance!" Minutes later, General Sedgwick became the highest Union ranking officer to be killed in the Civil War.
Nothing like a bit of irony to make the Gettysburg Address seem a little more attractive, no?
Design is something we incorporate into our everyday lives without even thinking about. We organize our pantry cupboards for optimum efficiency or arrange the knick-knacks on the shelves of our curio cabinet in the design that is (hopefully) the most feng shui. In doing so, we are using the same premise as the grocery store or graphic designer. The difference is that we are the buyer of our own market. We sell to ourselves.
So why should we not market our lessons to the kids we are teaching? Are the kids who are sitting in our classrooms any different than the consumers in a retail store? Or from us, for that matter? They come to the classroom for a product. They are more apt to 'purchase' that product if it is packaged well. Do we really want to force a product on them that they are not interested in?
Ok, so your product is the Civil War. The kids are rolling their eyes even before you can say "Abraham Lincoln." What if you start the segment with the story about Union Army General Sedgwick, who came upon his troops and berated them for cowering every time a bullet from a Confederate sniper came within range. "I'm ashamed of all of you, dodging that way," he said. "Why, they couldn't hit an elephant from that distance!" Minutes later, General Sedgwick became the highest Union ranking officer to be killed in the Civil War.
Nothing like a bit of irony to make the Gettysburg Address seem a little more attractive, no?
