It was difficult to cut off my last blog where I used Marty Sklar’s 10 commandments from Mickey as inspiration and reminders of best practices in the education environment. I love all things Disney; and frankly, I am fascinated not just by Walt Disney’s educated risks, but also by the past to current Disney Institute which has become a master class for leadership and culture in business.
Without further ado, here is the rest of the commandments of Mickey according to Mr. Sklar and the Imagineer manifesto:
#5 COMMUNICATE WITH VISUAL LITERACY
Make good use of color, shape form, texture—all the nonverbal ways of communication.
Marty Sklar was a writer and often scripted speeches for Walt Disney himself and was a major contributor to the theme parks. He wrote a book called One Little Spark!: Mickey’s Ten Commandments and the Road to Imagineering. I loved his panache in describing the 5th commandment and the reason why the design and architecture of the Disney parks and work culture “speak volumes about the importance of communicating to [the] guests with visual literacy” (Sklar). I can take inspiration from this thought in regard to how we design our schools and classrooms. With flex furniture, greater access to technology, and community spaces, we can re-imagine the way we invite our students to approach their education.
Think about the visual ques and literacy of your school and your classroom. If you are not sure what your school or classroom environment is communicating, take the opportunity to ask your community.
#4 CREATE A WIENIE (VISUAL MAGNET)
Create visual “targets” that will lead guests clearly and logically through your facility.
Ok. If you are not a Disney geek like me, you might be confused and maybe even laughing at the idea of creating a wienie. This is not a hot dog reference nor an attempt at immature middle school humor. Walt Disney himself created this concept of making an obvious and clear target to attract guests towards. Think of the old cartoon where a dog is chasing a hot dog on the stick to be enticed to run around in circles. So, Magic Kingdom has Cinderella Castle as a wienie and Disneyland has Sleeping Beauty Castle. I will give one more; Spaceship Earth is the wienie or target for EPCOT.
I find this idea extraordinary in terms of a school. If I want to think about it for an entire school, I question 2 things: What is important to the guests/community that occupies this space? What are the guests/community most proud of claiming that is represented by the school? I ask these 2 questions because I think it helps to determine the wienie. If the guests and community in the school building find socializing, collaborating, and networking as the most important aspect of the day, I would encourage the school to build-up a community space that is a target for guests. This might be the media center, cafeteria, maker space, or open space with tables and chairs. Emily Pilloton would probably refer to this as “design with, not for”.
If you like this idea of reconfiguring your space by creating visual targets, I would recommend watching these TED Talk presentations.
#3 ORGANIZE THE FLOW OF PEOPLE AND IDEAS
Use good story telling techniques, tell good stories not lectures, lay out your exhibit with a clear logic.
Walt Disney was a great storyteller. He knew how to ignite a spark of inspiration. And in many ways, teachers are best when incorporating stories to learning. There has been a great shift away from the constant lecture in the classroom while students sit at their individual desks writing notes that is just verbatim of what their teacher or professor is saying on the subject. The workforce is asking for more critical thinkers and a lesson in story form invites that kind of thinking. Even in the math class!
I had an amazing conversation the other day with a colleague who is a math educator, dashboard guru, and all-around smarty pants. As we shared out nerdy stories, she proclaimed a love for reading about the various ways people around the world have come up with a theorem or deduced a mathematical discovery. She gathered from learning about these various geniuses that each person, based on culture, interest, and thinking process, discovered or came up with equations and solutions in a unique way. To me, this is story telling. I never thought about looking at math through stories.
#2 WEAR YOUR GUEST’S SHOES
Insist that designers, staff and your board members experience your facility as visitors as often as possible.
I don’t know about you, but I want time to do this. I can envision this being a good opportunity for leadership to follow in the footsteps of a teacher. Sometimes we see that there is a disconnect between what is expected and what is reality. I hope that you have leaders at your school that support you and find time to work with you in the classroom. That is where the real inspiration comes from when we work together and gain understanding of how things work from the top down. With that being said, leadership has a lot on their plate too and even they get frustrated with the demands put on them from the district administrators. I would also recommend that teachers and faculty take turns shadowing leadership to see what they do day-to-day. Why not also follow a cafeteria or maintenance worker too. There might be chances to make connections to the students in other capacities.
Most importantly, it would be nice to follow a student’s schedule. As adults, it can be easy to forget about the academic and social demands that a student endures in one school day. We might become more empathetic when their head is on the desk or they just can’t seem to get that brain of theirs working on a given day.
#1 KNOW YOUR AUDIENCE
Don’t bore people, talk down to them or lose them by assuming that they know what you know.
Ahhh…this is a good one. I think it ties in nicely to the #2 commandment. Let’s be creative and find ways to get to know our audience. In this case, primarily our students. My favorite way to tap into my audience is to ask for feedback either through informal conversation, polls, or reflections. This is just good customer service. I might enjoy teaching a lesson, but if the topic or delivery is not benefiting the audience than I am only serving myself. I got into teaching to grow minds and that does not mean just my own. Think about it.
I really enjoyed using these Imagineer guidelines to inspire how we serve our students. It makes me question the delivery of messages in a school whether indirect or direct. Let me know if you find yourself noticing these virtual literacies at your school and how you plan to change the perspective for the better. It just takes ONE SPARK of inspiration.
See You Real Soon,
Erin
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You as well Erin – are a gifted storyteller! Thank you for your blog! #Inspired