by Roy Blumenthal on October 23, 2007
It’s a pretty simple concept. And Jennifer has implemented it in her classroom. And it’s working a storm with fourth grade kids.
Here’s how it works…
The ‘Praise Wall’ is a pin board on the wall, with a header such as this painting. The class members are invited to get up at any time they like to write a note of positive praise for a fellow class member.
That’s it.
Very easy. Very simple. Very elegant in the way the positivity becomes something addictive.
We’re going to be observing whether or not the kids abuse the system. But so far it seems to be flourishing. And it’s flourishing pretty much with the kids policing themselves.
I’m thrilled that the idea has taken off. And I hope it can live on in other classrooms. Maybe it’s one tiny way that peace in this world might be promoted.
I made this painting in several stages. Firstly, it’s based on a sketch from one of my Moleskine notebooks. Secondly, I messed around with the pic in Photoshop CS2, getting the layout right. Thirdly, I painted the lettering and colouring in ArtRage 2.5. Lastly, I did the texturing and finishing back in Photoshop.
by Roy Blumenthal on October 23, 2007
I’m in the habit of asking myself three questions every night before I go to sleep. I ask, ‘What did I learn today? What did I contribute today? What did I enjoy today?’
I told Jennifer about the questions, and she thought it would be a good idea to start the school day off with a little one-minute meditation on a particular question.
So I’m making five posters for her to use. One for each day of the week. There’ll be the three questions I ask myself. This one: ‘What am I proud of today?’ And a fifth one: ‘How have I touched someone’s life today?’
She’ll be choosing three kids at random to share their answers with the rest of the class if they choose.
You’re free to use any of these as resources in your own classroom or training situation. Please go ahead.
The resolution of this pic means it’s cool to print it to around A2 with no hassles. It might even be fine up to A1. Enjoy!
And please let me know if you get any super results from this.
I made this painting in several stages. Firstly, it’s based on a sketch from one of my Moleskine notebooks. Secondly, I messed around with the pic in Photoshop CS2, getting the layout right. Thirdly, I painted the lettering and colouring in ArtRage 2.5. Lastly, I did the texturing and finishing back in Photoshop.
by Roy Blumenthal on October 10, 2007
I’m basically open sourcing my thinking, and inviting the internet community to offer me their thoughts.
This is my very first grappling with the concept.
Dave’s brief is fairly simple. He wants the Lifekludger logo to evoke the idea that things can be converted from their original purpose to make the lives of dis- or differently-abled people easier.
One of his missions in the world is to generate change in the way things and environments are designed. He’s a quadriplegic in Australia. And to him, access equals community. Denial of access equals enforced isolation. When an architect or designer makes something that is fundamentally unnavigable by a disabled person, that architect or designer is actively isolating the disabled person.
I’ll get deeper into his brief in another post. And I’ll also talk a bit about my thinking.
In the meantime, this is the first idea. And as all designers and inventors and writers know, the first right idea is not necessarily the one to go with. It’s important to generate many ideas. Some have to be crap. Some will shine. But it’s essential not to be too critical (positive OR negative). Cos that stems the idea flow.
This sketch was scamped up in ArtRage 2.5 on my Toshiba Tecra M4 tablet pc after a long bath.
