Whilst working on my new brain-friendly teaching project, Rainbow English School, I had the idea of creating a sort of rainbow of teaching and learning values or inspirational guiding lights.
The mind map you see on this page is the result and it may well change over the months and years to come. It’s a living, evolving thing and I’ll update the links below if it changes significantly.
I’ve always been a sucker for the colours of the rainbow, and notably the simpler Red / Orange / Yellow / Green / Blue / Purple set as opposed to the ones I learnt at school along with the Roy G. Biv mnemonic given to us by my first and scariest-ever science teacher, the formidable Mr McGee: Red, Orange, Yellow, Green, Blue, Indigo and Violet!
So anyway, I started playing around with objects and emotions we often associate with each of the major colours. This fitted in very nicely with an article I wrote recently for my Creative Business Mind web site on the psychology of colours in marketing, called Blue For You.
My aim was to create a powerful and restrained set of words and icons for each colour, covering some basic aspects of teaching, learning and simply living. I will attempt to explain these ideas in the sections which follow the download and copyright notes just below.
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PDF Document ~ Sab on Biggerplate!
Feel free to use my ‘Rainbow Teaching & Learning Values’ mind map as follows:
1) For any NON-commercial use
2) Leave it EXACTLY as it is
3) Don’t change ANYTHING
4) Make sure the © Copyright text is included and intact
5) See 2) and 3) (you get the idea!)
You CAN reproduce it online or embed it in your blog or website as long as you…
6) Respect 1-5 above
7) Include a credit to ‘Sab Will / Mind Map Mad’ AND include a clickable link to this page ( http://www.mindmapmad.com/rainbow-teaching-learning-values/ ) on the web page next to or near the image – thanks!
Anyway, it’s a place absolutely crammed with cool mind maps, including mine – he he! You can download the actual original iMindMap file (the mind mapping software I use) and play around with it yourself. Nice!
After having completed all the colour sections I needed to put the map title ‘Our Values’ somewhere. Rather than have it floating outside the main map I thought I’d insert it directly into the main image.
Then I spotted some other empty areas in the middle of the main branches . This gave me the idea of adding yet another layer of richness by overlaying the map with some powerful mega-values, as follows.
If ever there was a word I feel a profound affinity with, it’s the verb create. To prove this, I’ve written extensively on this topic, especially on my I Create Therefore I Am web site, which champions the importance and joy of leading as creative a life as possible.
Further evidence of my obsession with the word create and its derivatives, you can also visit my web sites Creative Business Mind (the ‘fun’ version) and, would you believe it… Creative Business Mind (the ‘pro’ version), both of which focus heavily on creativity in all its manifestations.
I’ve also started running fun workshops on mind mapping and… creativity in Paris and the town where I live to the south of Paris, and I’ve created three Meet Up groups to chat about creativity in various forms – come along to one of our meetings if you’re in town!
My Creative Meet Up Groups: I Create Therefore I Am / Brain-Friendly Teaching & Learning / Creative Coaching Club
At the risk of people saying “Yes, but what’s that got to do with teaching English or learning advanced calculus or how to tie your shoelaces or becoming a black belt in origami?” I offer you an incredibly powerful teaching and learning principle: positivity.
And my answer to that valid question? “Everything.”
Where does positivity come from? The teacher as an external influence and the student once they have taken the idea on board.
What does positivity look like in practice? Praise and encouragement for all efforts to learn. A growing self-confidence. Laughter. A belief that we are not alone and that we can succeed whatever happens.
All very human characteristics rarely found explicitly mentioned in a ‘serious’ school syllabus. Which is exactly why I highlight them here.
Getting off your backside and actually doing something, as opposed to doing… nothing, for example, is like the difference between night and day. As I write (in purple) in my Absolutely NOT An Entrepreneur Sabism, one of life’s little secrets is, if you want a certain result, you need to do what it takes for that to happen, simple, done deal!
This has a million implications and possibilities in education.
The thing is, you don’t know what’s going to happen until you try something. More to the point, you don’t know what you can’t do until you have a go.
Finally, and profoundly, this isn’t just about a teacher trying a new technique every now and then. This principle is even more profound when instilled in the students’ minds. This idea that you should be taking responsibility for your own learning and when you do, the sky’s the limit.
It’s scientifically proven. The brain loves a laugh, and learns better with it than without it.
Fun can be jokes or light-hearted activities or amusing anecdotes or even just smiling at silly mistakes we all make as part of the learning process, including the teacher.
It could even be internet resources like my Fun English Lessons and Hotch Potch English web sites where I have great fun laughing at the absurdities of language whilst delivering rock-solid content, or so I’d like to think.
Try it, you might like it, and your students too!
RED Arrow: VisionThis holds an image / object / visual representation / picture which you can use as an anchor and trigger for the emotions and attitudes linked to each colour.
ORANGE Flag: CharacterThis holds a word describing a positive character trait associated with this colour. These are not directly linked to teaching or learning; they are general positive character traits which will help the learning process and life in general.
YELLOW Cloud: AttitudeThis holds attitudes which are closely associated with success in education as well as elsewhere. These should be encouraged and worked on to make the most of any and every opportunity to learn and develop.
GREEN Star: SymbolThis the word which names the vision or symbolic image from the red arrow. It can be used to represent and reinforce the image in written, spoken and imagined scenarios and situations where you need to focus on a particular colour’s characteristics.
BLUE Smiley: EmotionThis is a cheerful smiley face to be both fun and a strong reminder of the emotions and attitudes associated with this colour. And everyone likes smileys, right?!
PURPLE Icon: MetaphorThere are many icons scattered throughout the map in no particular order. These include animals and insects, plants and flowers, fruit and nuts, and weather symbols. The idea is for learners or teachers to associate personally chosen human feelings or positive attitudes with these happy images and use them for inspiration and ideas.
? Red is one of the strongest colours and so the things it represent should be strong in nature too.
Indeed they are: the picture is a rose, universal symbol for love, passion and beauty. Not forgetting its protective thorns, which can be metaphorically exploited in many imaginative ways.
Red makes you think of blood rushing through veins and sensual red lips and fast beating hearts – lovely.
Hard work is the positive and essential attitude for success I’ve chosen for this colour.
Passion is fine and great and all very well, but if you don’t actually roll up your sleeves and get down to the job at hand you’ll just be a dreamer.
Don’t be a dreamer, be a dooer, full of passion and practical effort and appreciation for the intrinsic beauty and goodness in everyday things and you’ll do great!
? Orange sends forth warmth, being closely related to the sun in shape and colour and suggesting a huge reserve of potential energy bursting with possibility just waiting to be bitten into.
The colour has long been associated with positivity and creativity, a confident attitude and friendly disposition.
Someone wearing orange is sure to liven up the company they find themselves in!
Friendlness, openness and approachability is another characteristic we link to the colour orange.
When you bite into a fresh, juicy orange segment it’s one of the most wonderful sensations there is; it tastes wonderful and you feel great!
Finally, it’s a powerful symbol of fruition and the idea of the reward for your efforts – of reaping what you sow.
? Yellow is a radiant, joyful colour, often associated with light summer dresses and beach balls and, of course, the sun.
Our own personal heat and life-giving star is a great symbol to represent optimism and a positive attitude to life.
People often feel happy and cheerful and, in countries where it rains a lot, like in Britain for example(!), a sunshiny day is almost always considered a good thing.
The sun and the warmth it provides makes the plants grow, causes the earth’s water to circulate and brings precious life to the planet.
As the centre of our universe, the yellow glow we appreciate each day is a grounding and reassuring force.
The yellow banana, a fruit packed with energy and goodness, is nature’s way of smiling at us, and reminding us that a positive outlook on life is the way to go.
? Green has to be the ultimate colour linked to growth, nature, a healthy approach to life and respect for the planet we live on.
The idea of a healthy mind in a healthy body has never been truer, with brain science showing us how being fit physically makes us, quite simply, more intelligent.
As a methphor for all sorts of growth, intellectual, emotional and personal, the tree is without peers.
Just look at some of the grandest, most majestic oaks, beeches, chestnuts, pines or firs in your local park or countryside, and you’ll see how powerful a representation of potential and strength the tree is.
Even the mightiest towering oak starts life as a tiny acorn we can cradle in the plam of our hand or, alternatively, crush under our foot.
Sun, rain and nutritious elements from the soil are analogous with the positive and testing experiences, hopefully couched in loving care that go to make up the human being we become.
? Blue sky thinking is a term which conjures up ideas of limitless possibilities and boundless potential.
The sky’s the limit is another powerful and pleasing phrase we can adopt as our own.
Blue is widely regarded as a calming and meditative colour, allowing us to ‘ground’ ourselves and get back in touch with our thoughts and feelings.
Many large companies, like banks (holding our money) and social networks (holding our entire life stories?) use blue to suggest trust, security, reassurance and solidity. We can apply the same principles to our own emotional ‘bank account’.
Large bodies of water, such as lakes, rivers and the sea are often represented by blue. Which is your favourite, and why?
Respect, towards those who are helping us to grow like our parents, friends and teachers, towards our fellow classmates and students of life, and towards ourselves and our huge latent potential, is nicely summed up by the colour blue.
☔️ Purple has long been my secret favourite colour, and represents all sorts of wonderful things for me, such as witches and weirdness, magic and mystery, imagination and creativity.
The expression purple prose is used to refer to writing that is considered too extravagant, ostentatious and over the top.
Purple is very little used in the business and even the educational community, as it’s not considered ‘serious’ enough.
If purple is the perfect colour to represent disruption, then darkly glowering violent violet stormy skies are the ideal image to suggest change and lack of respect for conventional wisdom and the status quo.
Read When I Am An Old Woman I Shall Wear Purple, by Jenny Joseph, often voted Britain’s favourite poem, and see what you think.
Purple stands out from the crowd, for those who dare to be different. Handle with care, but maverick thinking and wildly ‘unrealistic ideas’ have often led to the greatest innovations, given the chance.
Here I choose to focus on the positive aspects. There is nothing to stop you, though, from discussing all our unique associations attached to the rainbow colours and more. These may vary from person to person and from culture to culture, which makes it all the more interesting and rich as a discussion topic.
I could go on at enormous length about how to exploit such a resource in a teaching context but here is not the place. I’ll probably do a lot more of that over on my Rainbow English School web site and blog so you can catch me there or on our Facebook pages if you want to chat, with pleasure!
I’ve done a French version for my friends here where I live with hopefully a Spanish one to follow, so you can transfer the ideas over to those languages if you wish.
Finally, don’t hesitate to let me know how you use colours or other visual techniques in your lessons or learning processes – I’d love to hear from you. Have a multicoloured day, OK?
2016 Sab Will / Mind Map Mad
If you’d like to join our friendly mind map discussion group on Facebook to learn more about mind mapping and submit your own creations, then you’re welcome!
Just click the button below and join up
straight away – I look forward to meeting you there 😀
JPG Image 800 px ~ JPG Image 1920 px ~ JPG Image 3500px
PDF Document ~ Sab on Biggerplate!
JPG Image 800 px ~ JPG Image 1920 px ~ JPG Image 3500px
PDF Document ~ Sab on Biggerplate!
Feel free to use my ‘Rainbow Teaching & Learning Values’ mind map as follows:
1) For any NON-commercial use
2) Leave it EXACTLY as it is
3) Don’t change ANYTHING
4) Make sure the © Copyright text is included and intact
5) See 2) and 3) (you get the idea!)
You CAN reproduce it online or embed it in your blog or website as long as you…
6) Respect 1-5 above
7) Include a credit to ‘Sab Will / Mind Map Mad’ AND include a clickable link to this page ( http://www.mindmapmad.com/rainbow-teaching-learning-values/ ) on the web page next to or near the image – thanks!
Anyway, it’s a place absolutely crammed with cool mind maps, including mine – he he! You can download the actual original iMindMap file (the mind mapping software I use) and play around with it yourself. Nice!
Sab Will enjoys creating fun and helpful mind maps and articles on a wide range of topics.
As well as Mind Map Mad (this site!) Sab runs
Sab is available for training in innovative thinking, creative problem solving and mind mapping. Please get in touch here to find out how increased creativity and innovation can help boost your business.
P.S. Keep up to date will ALL Sab’s latest creative output over on his newest home on the web, the Sab Lab!
© 2016 Sab Will / Mind Map Mad
