Sometimes you get validation - thank you Jay Mathews!!! Posters are Visual Aids or Graphic Presentations

You may or may not remember, but a few blog posts ago. I was irate over a column in The Washington Post written by Jay Mathews that had negative things to say about the use of posters. He claimed with some validation, I do feel constrained to admit, that as homework - posters often became more of a project for mom than student.

Imagine my surprise and happiness to read WAPO today and find myself quoted not once, but twice. Wow!
So this confirms two things.  I preached to my students and I mean I was fired up and went into character voices and pounded my desk insuring them that writing formal letters of complaint and thanks were the stuff of magic. I told stories of epic written battles with insurance companies and winning.  I told of writing lovely thank you notes that paid off with surprising and unexpected extra coupons for free dinners and how thanking interviewers after job interviews had gotten my foot in the door. Having a gift for the courtesies, as they are called in The Game of Thrones, is a terrific, pocket life-skill. (I nick-named skills that students could use throughout their lives to be successful as pocket life-skills. I implied that if they mastered these skills (such as letter writing), they could pull them out of their pocket at will and voila, job done.

Here is the link to the article and yes, I have already e-mailed my letter of thanks to Mr. Mathews - it was a blend of formal and informal because I wanted to have a balance of treating him with respect and yet, not making it "over done".
http://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/on-parenting/why-i-was-wrong-to-trash-poster-boards/2014/07/14/bb5ecf34-078b-11e4-a0dd-f2b22a257353_story.html

Teach those letter writing skills - your students will be writing you thank you notes some day. :-)

Stop Having Parents, Guardians Do Homework - Especially Posters or Tootsie Roll Log Cabin Project

http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/education/how-to-end-homework-for-moms/2014/06/28/ead8793c-fcbd-11e3-8176-f2c941cf35f1_story.html

This blog is my response to the above referenced newspaper article which condemns posters as assignments and the journalist's daughter's Tootsie Roll log cabin project. 

Before you read my somewhat snotty letter - I acknowledge it does have a "tone", but come on - really??? All posters are not useful assignments and there aren't strategies for avoiding having moms and the care-givers do the work? PLEASE!!??!!

I promise to teach you how to teach your students to do cut letters from construction paper in a vblog giving credit to my instructor - Laurie, a teacher buddy from my first five years of teaching, who is the goddess of teaching and art. OMG - it is so much fun and everyone can do it.  In fact, I will vblog a whole thing about making bulletin boards easy.  I taught my students and volunteer parent helpers to do the cut letters and drew rough sketches of what I wanted for my bulletin boards and voila - I got a lot of help keeping my classroom looking - well, classy.

Dear Mr. Mathews:

Assignments where posters do not serve specific purposes as visual aids, aren't taught as authentic graphic representations of researched material or marketing strategies  and materials aren't provided  to prevent inequity because of economic differences do create problems and are ineffective as valid assignments.  Gardner’s multiple intelligence is a valid argument for having students use artistic skills to share their knowledge, but a greater argument is providing skill sets that will set students apart and allow them to pursue better careers when they are older. I am providing two web sites that list the top ten skills employers are looking for:  communication and public speaking make part of the top ten. I visited many more sites to confirm my thinking, so these are two of many.

http://www.kent.ac.uk/careers/sk/top-ten-skills.htm

http://www.forbes.com/sites/susanadams/2013/10/11/the-10-skills-employers-most-want-in-20-something-employees/

I would ask that you call posters visual aids or graphic presentations. Teachers need to understand that they place their students at a disadvantage if they aren’t media savvy.  This means ensuring that they have a good grasp of visual production skills - both low and high tech and their important relationship to oral presentation skills. In my language arts/English classes, students received instruction in how to make and use visual aids to enhance their oral presentations. They also received instruction in giving effective oral presentations.

I had a karaoke machine in my room with a mike and made a video of their performances that they could review privately.  After retiring, I subbed in many high school classrooms where I saw little evidence that teachers had received training in how to teach these skills to their students.  Displays of students’ work were not framed, named or located in any organized fashion for the observer to understand the purpose of the work.  Often, only one small section of a huge piece of poster board was used.

Cost can be an issue, to prevent that –I provided materials in the classroom in the form of donated magazines (local library), newspaper, free books from a local used book store, glue sticks, bulletin board backing paper or newsprint to replace poster board, construction paper and multi-colored markers stored in a storage bin with several drawers.  I got the bin at a big box store. The markers and construction paper from the dollar store if the school wasn’t providing construction paper that year. 

Usually bulletin board backing paper is a much better choice than poster board because it can be easily transported and stored. It can be rolled and paper clipped at each end. Students can store materials they have cut out in gallon size zip-lock baggies and keep them in their binders.  I also used my digital camera, if needed, to print photos students wanted to add for personal touches and to document their work for their portfolios.  Teachers have to monitor use of clip art to be sure there is no copyright infringement.

Because I started teaching in the 70’s and started in elementary school, I had to teach art and every subject to my sixth-grade students. I learned how to cut out block letters from construction paper and the mechanics of proper artistic layout.  These were skills I continued to teach to middle school students and high school students as I changed schools and grade levels - because what if something goes wrong with your high tech presentation? Will you be prepared to hold the attention of your audience?

One last comment, I just spent some time trying to find some well-researched knock-out punch reference about the halo effect of displaying student work in an appropriate fashion.  I know it’s out there, because when I taught in Fairfax County, we had an in-service on the topic – in the 80’s I think.  However, I did run across something even more intriguing. Effective teachers know how to use graphics to enhance their instruction:  http://www.ascd.org/publications/books/106006/chapters/The-Case-for-Classroom-Assessment.aspx . Hmm, what's good for teachers might also be useful for students. So properly taught, specifically purposed visual aids have a place in the classroom.

Sincerely,

Jane Jones