Typically, teachers talk about three main types of learners: auditory, visual, and kinesthetic. Visual learners are the most common. Because of this, it is extremely important that a teacher considers how they will use visuals in their classroom. Common types of classroom visuals include pictures,, drawings, charts, graphs, posters, and cartoons (Smaldino, Lowther, & Russell, 2012). Visuals can help students remember content, make abstract ideas more concrete, motivate students, draw attention, repeat information, recall prior information, reduce learning effort, and enhance the classroom culture (Smaldino et al., 2012). Teachers should strive for a balance between negative space and visual space so that learners are not under or overwhelmed.
In my classroom, I want students to immediately feel comfortable. I want the overall essence of my classroom to be warm and welcoming. In order to do this, I plan to incorporate a variety of visuals. I like to embrace my "math-nerd" side with math humor. I have a shirt that says (using math symbols) "I ate some pie and it was delicious!"
Currently I teach in alternative education at a school for pregnant and parenting teens. I love these girls, but most lack positive role models. I also try to incorporate positive quotes and inspirational sayings to help motivate my students. Next year, in honor of Maya Angelou, I am going to decorate my window with "Phenomenal Woman." I am also taking over a bulletin board and making it "Math in the News." These types of visuals are more about my classroom culture and environment.
I also want to include visuals that will help students academically. I typically do not make my students memorize formulas. I believe that with the integration of technology in the classroom, students will generally have these resources available to them. As such, I want to make sure that I have common formulas, abbreviations and problem-solving strategies displayed. These things will help reduce the learning effort of my students. One tool that I use for this falls under the analogical visuals category. I use a YouTube video to help students remember the equation for slope of a line. Next year, I want to have students help me create something that will help them remember the formula without using the actual formula.
As a math and computers teacher, I am well aware of the positive roles that the Internet can play in the classroom. As a teacher of high school girls, I am also well aware of the negative roles that the Internet can play in the classroom. This year, we had a huge problem with cell phones, social media, and cyberbullying. Next year, we will not be allowing cell phones in the classroom and computer access will be severely limited. Unfortunately, this means that we will have to sacrifice some of the benefits of the Internet. One large benefit that I will be sad to lose is that a good portion of my students worked really well when they could listen to music on their devices. It helped them to focus. I do plan to use this as a reward that they can earn. More importantly, I have a couple of whole group projects planned. In one project students will be researching Tessellations and creating a media presentation describing a specific tessellation. I am also hoping to compile a number of resources that will prepare me to "flip" my classroom.
Reference:
Smaldino, S. E., Lowther, D. L., & Russell, J. D. (2012). Instructional technology and media for learning (10th ed.). Boston, MA: Pearson.
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