When I first started reading the article “If Ideas were Fashion” I thought to myself ….okay where is this going? Do I carefully have to “fashion” my lessons to integrate actual fashion and science and math? Needless to day I was confused. However, the arguments began to unfold. I started to learn that fashion is clothing, fashion is music players, fashion is the type of water you drink (just watch one Jenifer Aniston Smart water commercials), etc. I began to think about the ideas and information we teach to students and how we need to adapt to present them in a more “fashionable” way. This is a metaphorical fashion. How do I make a unit about pioneers for grade three students COOL?
It is no mystery that ads evoke “feel and sense we would experience with the product” (P.187). Thus as the article explained we as educators would have to take the ideas we would to teach students and give them the sense that they will experience good things by learning throughout the unit. Maybe give them an overview of the activities would help with this so they can look forward to the experience to be had with a particular unit. Suggestions appreciated.
Ads also seek to “evoke feelings of connection and possibility” (p. 189). This can be done in teaching by having students make connections to the learning. Does the lesson remind them of something that has happened in their lives? Have they used information from the unit in a constructive way in their lives? Have the students visualize and make these connections to ensure what is being taught is relevant and interesting.
What will stay with students is their feelings as they were learning with you, which brings me to the metaphor “teaching as advertising and learning as shopping” p194. When a person goes shopping they do not buy everything in the store, just as certain subjects are going to be more appealing based on individual preference. However we must do our best to use strategies of fashion to sell what we want our students to learn. We must be the Staceys and Clintons of education to guide our students on the path to learning. This can be done by connecting content with their interests and by connecting popular ideas to the curriculum.
References
David Wong and Danah Hendricksen, “If Ideas WERE Fashion.” Mirror Images. Diana Silberman-Keller et al, Eds. Pp. 179-198.
It is no mystery that ads evoke “feel and sense we would experience with the product” (P.187). Thus as the article explained we as educators would have to take the ideas we would to teach students and give them the sense that they will experience good things by learning throughout the unit. Maybe give them an overview of the activities would help with this so they can look forward to the experience to be had with a particular unit. Suggestions appreciated.
Ads also seek to “evoke feelings of connection and possibility” (p. 189). This can be done in teaching by having students make connections to the learning. Does the lesson remind them of something that has happened in their lives? Have they used information from the unit in a constructive way in their lives? Have the students visualize and make these connections to ensure what is being taught is relevant and interesting.
What will stay with students is their feelings as they were learning with you, which brings me to the metaphor “teaching as advertising and learning as shopping” p194. When a person goes shopping they do not buy everything in the store, just as certain subjects are going to be more appealing based on individual preference. However we must do our best to use strategies of fashion to sell what we want our students to learn. We must be the Staceys and Clintons of education to guide our students on the path to learning. This can be done by connecting content with their interests and by connecting popular ideas to the curriculum.
References
David Wong and Danah Hendricksen, “If Ideas WERE Fashion.” Mirror Images. Diana Silberman-Keller et al, Eds. Pp. 179-198.