How do YOU see it?

Our students’ backgrounds or prior knowledge may be the cause of very different interpretations of visual aides in the classroom.  For that reason, visual literacy may need to be “tested” or norms set for the students.  As stated in a previous post, families are very mobile these days.  Students are coming to us from a huge range of backgrounds.  Two students may understand the same image, graphic or video to mean two very different things.  Creating a safe and open place to communicate in the classroom will help to deal with these differences of opinion.

  In the business classroom, visual-thinking techniques are key to teaching marketing.  When helping students understand why market research is so important YouTube commercials are a great help.  Start by teaching the students what a market segment is and then use any of the activities below to help them see why it is so important for businesses to focus their marketing strategies towards their target market.

·      Commercial Analysis- Show your students real commercials. You can find great ones on YouTube but be sure to watch them in their entirety to ensure that they are appropriate for young eyes and ears. Also, try to find commercials for things they are not familiar with (ex. In a primarily African American community, try to find a commercial for a Latino audience).  Ask them what channel, time of day and day of the week this commercial would be appropriate for. Why?

·      The Magazine Game- Collect magazines that your students are unlikely to have ever seen before (ex. In a lower income community students have probably never seen or heard of Good Housekeeping Magazine).  In groups, ask the students to look through the magazines and figure out who the target consumer is.  Give them a hint to use the advertisements as a clue.  Students are to then give a very detailed description of their magazine’s target audience.  She is wearing a Prada business suit, she has a corporate job, two kids that are very active, she is a member of a very exclusive country club etc.  Ask how their group came up with that description.  Provide them with the actual target market of that magazine.

·      Uh oh! Marketing Faux Pas- The International Marketing Association has a wonderful collection of marketing blunders by huge companies ranging from McDonalds to Calvin Klein.  Show your students a collection of these mistakes and ask what they think went wrong and who the company was actually trying to reach.

After going through the activity or activities just be sure to bring it all back to our objective “How do we effectively market to your company’s target consumer?”  Use this question as perhaps an exit ticket or homework assignment.

The internet can be a wonderful tool in our classrooms.  As in the activities above, you can gather wonderful imagery, videos and even great mistakes!  It’s our job to work as a filter for our young businessmen and women.  In my classroom the internet also serves as a forum for learning, reflection and growth by way of Edmodo, our class newsletters (via the school website) and our class emails.  Hope this helps and happy surfing!