This poster reminded me of Dr. Bruce Tobin’s art therapy lesson “Magic Shop.” Last year I improvised the lesson with my students and couldn’t believe the positive long term effects.
The lesson is simple. Provide students with three cue cards. Have them write down three qualities/virtues they admire about themselves: caring, friendliness, happiness, patience, kindness, loving, organization, courage, honesty, etc.
While students are writing their virtues, create several of your own cards with the following labels: anger, ambition, efficiency, commitment, enthusiasm, disappointment, happiness, kindness, patience, thoughtfulness, empathy.
Once students have written down their virtues, demonstrate the way the roll-play “game” works. Explain to them that you run a shop outside of teaching hours. It is a special shop that specializes in trading feelings and virtues. No money is ever exchanged; people simply come to your shop and trade on of their feelings for another they might be in need of.
Ask a student to volunteer to demonstrate. The student will come with their cards to your “shop” and look at the ones that you have on display. Once they have decided on a virtue they would like to trade, they will give you one of their cards in exchange for one of yours. Before they do, however, ask them to explain their reason for the trade (they do not have to get too personal here!). An example: “I have a lot of happiness in my life, but feel like I need more patience.”
Be sure to ask one of the student’s who enters your shop if they are sure they don’t want any ambition or frustration. Explain that too much of something is a bad thing, but sometimes it is helpful to get frustrated instead of pretending everything is okay. Explain that it is also okay to get angry, as long as there is not too much of the emotion.
Optional: allow students to fill out one more cue card with a feeling they might have TOO much of (so called negative feelings *in this exercise there is no such thing as a negative feeling, only an excess of…)
Once the trade is complete, the students card becomes a part of your display and the next student comes to make the trade. Once you have demonstrated for the class at least three times, explain that you are having an open house where people can come and swap cards on their own. The only condition is that they explain the swap.
Students will mingle for 10-15 minutes. During this time, circle the room and encourage students. (*One student approached me and said “I would like to create a gift certificate.” She handed me her “kindness” card and asked me to give it to another student. The student smiled happily when she received the card and was really grateful for the gesture!)
At the end of the lesson, allow for a reflection time. What worked well? What did students struggle with? What surprised them? What would they do differently next time? How will they use their new cards?
A few months later, when students were doing a locker clean up, I noticed that most of them had taped these cards inside their locker. It was a good reminder, I think, to build new virtues and to share the ones we have.
Multiple Intelligences in the Everyday Classroom 