Miller Fox's post brought up interesting ideas of using images and visual representations to explore and better understand concepts. I believe in the importance of using visuals in my writing classroom, so I found this article--and the "poster" assignment that Miller Fox used in her own classroom--inspiring. So inspiring, actually, that I decided to adapt the assignment (let's be honest: I stole it outright) to use for an in-class activity in my English Composition 152 classroom last week.
Since the beginning of November, my students have been working on a synthesis problem solving essay. They've identified an issue related to violence in schools (one of the texts for the class is Columbine by Dave Cullen), proposed a specific and reasonable solution, and then argued the solution's workability and effectiveness.
The students were turning in their final drafts last Tuesday, so I decided, after reading Miller Fox's article, that I'd have them create a poster to advertise one of the solutions detailed in their papers. I asked them to choose a target audience and explain where they would hang the posters. These are just a few examples of what the students produced.
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| Student Nick R. created a poster based on a service learning component he completed for his proposal paper |
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| Joshua K., a student studying criminal justice at MCC, identified juvenile delinquency as a serious problem to be solved |
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| Kiersten C., an active member of MCC's Pride Club, made this poster reflecting solutions to anti-LGBT bullying |
In addition to creating the posters, the students explained the posters, their intended audiences, and where they'd hang them. They also created MLA style citations for any images they'd found and used from the Internet.
I've decided that this is an assignment I'll start using in the future for this particular paper, and I'll restructure it to give students more time (they only had forty-five minutes of one class period).
For more detail and great ideas for your own classroom, check out the Miller Fox article and other articles from the Faculty Focus blog.
