Thinking visually helps us understand language. Sometimes we pay to much attention to the word. How do you spell it? Pronounce it? What does it mean? When we have an image, well, this is what the word means. Icons are very good at this. At finding what exactly a word means, what we should see in our mind when we hear the sound that is the word. In this case the sound “teach.”
We looked at the #teach on Instagram and I wasn’t very happy with the images that came up. Something was missing. I hope the icons here, from the Noun Project, will capture that missing something.
Most of these really look like “teacher.” I can tell you as a teacher that that is not what I do, what “teaching” looks like. Most people are students though and I can understand how “teach” could look like this for a student. I think the icon that comes closest for me here is the two faces looking at each other with the dotted line going between them. This shows two people paying attention to each other. That to me is the most important part of teaching, paying attention. Everybody, including the teacher, has to be paying attention. The line represents sharing to me. Teaching is sharing and shaping ideas. This is where I struggle with the icon a little bit. I don’t know how the dots in the heads show the thinking of the people.
Do you see it? Can you explain what the dots in the peoples’ heads mean? Can you teach me?