What is it about fashion that makes it so engaging and interesting? How we can apply the same metaphorical framework to our schools and education so that students become more deeply engaged in their learning?
Wong and Hendrickson’s article,”If Fashion Were Ideas” (2008) brings forth the idea of how education could change if it were treated the same as fashion. If applied correctly, students of all ages and across all cultures, could be offered personalized and powerful educational experiences by being engaged and learning at a deeper level.
One area I really connected with in Wong and Hendrickson’s article (2008) is that teachers should not just pick topics that are hip and current to engage kids, but they should find experiences for students that are absorbing. With fashion, there is such an emphasis on creating and expressing as well as the anticipation of waiting - that there is incredible excitement around the possibilities. Why could we not apply this same framework in the classroom? Teachers can engage students by focusing on a learner centred pedagogical approach, where students are able to choose what they would like to learn according to interest and readiness. Their inquiries could focus more upon the creation and communication of their ideas to really connect with their learning on both an emotional and intellectual levels.
The authors own criticism of their work was interesting, as they mentioned that fashion sometimes led to mindlessness and conformity (2008). This is something we don't want our students to do in our classrooms - mindless learning where everyone does the same thing, the same way, because it’s always been done this way. If the “ideas were fashion” framework were applied properly, students would be on different pathways of learning and inspired by their own interests. Conformity and mindless learning would cease to be an issue.
In the show, “What Not to Wear”, by the end of the program, participants felt very good about themselves because they learned what they needed to wear to look their best. They were transformed. We need to do the same thing in the classroom. We need to make students connect at both an emotional and intellectual level so they too, are transformed and are deeply engaged by their own imaginations and the possibilities of learning.
Wong and Hendrickson’s article,”If Fashion Were Ideas” (2008) brings forth the idea of how education could change if it were treated the same as fashion. If applied correctly, students of all ages and across all cultures, could be offered personalized and powerful educational experiences by being engaged and learning at a deeper level.
One area I really connected with in Wong and Hendrickson’s article (2008) is that teachers should not just pick topics that are hip and current to engage kids, but they should find experiences for students that are absorbing. With fashion, there is such an emphasis on creating and expressing as well as the anticipation of waiting - that there is incredible excitement around the possibilities. Why could we not apply this same framework in the classroom? Teachers can engage students by focusing on a learner centred pedagogical approach, where students are able to choose what they would like to learn according to interest and readiness. Their inquiries could focus more upon the creation and communication of their ideas to really connect with their learning on both an emotional and intellectual levels.
The authors own criticism of their work was interesting, as they mentioned that fashion sometimes led to mindlessness and conformity (2008). This is something we don't want our students to do in our classrooms - mindless learning where everyone does the same thing, the same way, because it’s always been done this way. If the “ideas were fashion” framework were applied properly, students would be on different pathways of learning and inspired by their own interests. Conformity and mindless learning would cease to be an issue.
In the show, “What Not to Wear”, by the end of the program, participants felt very good about themselves because they learned what they needed to wear to look their best. They were transformed. We need to do the same thing in the classroom. We need to make students connect at both an emotional and intellectual level so they too, are transformed and are deeply engaged by their own imaginations and the possibilities of learning.