Since I started teaching, I have always been obsessed with creating engaging and visually appealing resources. In my first few years, I recall spending hours making worksheets and displays on Microsoft Word, painstakingly fighting with the ruler bar, image wrapping, and a plethora of other built-in barriers to my creativity.
Then I evolved.
I discovered I could use PowerPoint not only for my class presentations but also to make worksheets, posters, display boards, etc. Suddenly, I could move things freely and put a textbox anywhere I wanted. It was liberating!
These were still baby steps, though. Now, with my ideas, plus AI and Canva, I feel superhuman. If you haven’t used Canva yet, stop reading and go sign up for a free account now. It is extraordinary. To quote myself from a previous post: “Now anyone can be an averagely good graphic designer, and better than average if you play around long enough!”
To show how YOU + AI + CANVA can work, here’s a recent example:
A colleague and I decided to create a massive interactive wall display on the theme of economic history for the corridor outside our classrooms. We spent over an hour chatting—sharing ideas, giving feedback, and interrupting each other—the usual constructive brainstorming session. In the end, we came up with the idea of a big, vibrant map of the world, with specific locations pinned to highlight a seminal event in economic history that took place there.
In stepped my genius colleague, who quickly put together a list of 30 seminal events in economic history, dating back to Ancient Mesopotamia. Then came Chatty. I uploaded the events and asked for feedback on their relevance and general thoughts on the idea. Chatty provided useful insights and helped refine some ideas, cutting the list to 24. I then asked Chatty to write a 250-word summary for each event, focusing on its significance. These summaries would then be accessed via QR codes on the edges of the display.
Once we had all the content, it was time to put it together, which meant it was Canva time! I won’t go into the details, but after a lot of playing around, we had the final product. And a few days later, there it was on the wall outside for all to enjoy.
I’ll let you judge the display below, but I’ve definitely noticed the admissions team bringing more prospective parents through the economics corridor this term, which is evidence enough for me!
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