Crafting a Class Brand Together

As a teacher, I didn’t want my class to be known as “Mr. Vincent’s Fifth Grade.” Rather than making myself the focus, I set out to give my students ownership over our collective brand. The process gave our class a unique identity while jumpstarting a strong sense of community.

Under Construction

My 2018-2019 class spent the first week “under construction.” Our job was to develop a name, logo, and slogan for our class. This meant that we had to get to know each other. We had to collaborate on ideas, present them to the class, and learn to come to a consensus.

Before the school year began I emailed families a short video. It introduced the idea that we were going to develop our own class name and logo.

Upon entering the classroom for the first time, students saw traffic cones, yellow tape, and construction signs. They were about to spend the next week getting to know each other and building our brand. 

Building Our Brand

To get acquainted, each student made an About Me slide by combining word art, silhouette drawings, and pictures. Each student took a couple minutes to show his or her slide to the class and answer classmates’ questions. All slides were added to a master slideshow that I put on a loop on our classroom’s television screen.

It quickly became obvious that students in our class adored animals, enjoyed video games (especially Fortnite and Minecraft), and excelled at using computers. With this in mind, students chose brands to analyze. They noticed that some of the best logos are simple and immediately recognizable. They appreciated catchy slogans. They commented how brands made them feel. 

Students were inspired to create our class brand. The fifth graders brainstormed lots of ideas. Some students proposed keeping “construction” as part of our class brand. Many wanted to emulate the Epic Games shield that appears each time they play Fornite. One student sketched out a paw print made out of square pixels, combining a love of animals and technology.

After looking through all the ideas, I finalized designs for two different logo possibilities. One had Paw Crew written on a construction sign. The other had a pixelated paw on a shield, and Pixel Paws was written with a blocky font.  I presented both logos to the class, and they unanimously chose Pixel Paws. 

We were called Pixel Paws for the rest of the school year. Our logo was proudly displayed above our door, in the window, on the whiteboard, and on our rear wall. I bought the domain www.pixelpaws.us for our class website. On Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram we were known as Pixel Paws. Our logo appeared in the header for our Google Classroom and at the top of our family newsletter. I started every school day with the phrase, “Good morning Pixel Paws!”

As part of our classroom economy, students could exchange tickets for Pixel Paws merchandise. I made colorful stickers, wall decals, t-shirts, and 3D printed keychains and necklaces. Sometimes I’d see a student wearing a Pixel Paws t-shirt and a Pixel Paws necklace at the same time.

Making Good on Our Slogan

The class chose the slogan, “Big or small, be kind to all.” We defined our brand and strived to live up to it everyday. Students chose to work on a project to decrease bullying by encouraging bystanders to be upstanders. Likewise, when students found out that animal abuse is a misdemeanor in our state (when in most states it’s a felony), they collected signatures to change the law. 

Sure, I could have had the class theme determined before the first day of school. My class could have been named Vincent Vikings, Persistent Vincents, or Vincent Voices. However, taking the time to empower my students to brand themselves made for a meaningful experience. As one Pixel Paw expressed to me, “I feel like I am part of something.”