A dash of Positive Bradford mixed with a dollop of material design...

 Image by namraf

I love my city. I love it. We moved here five years ago when I married a Bradfordian. The city has sometimes had a bad rep. Many people associate it with the race riots of 2001 not realising how far the city has come in the decade that followed. Positive Bradford day was an amazing example of this. Two business men put it together along with this amazing website and this one which I've ruthlessly stolen from to create tomorrow's lesson.

Throw in a good, solid dollop of some new design skills based on the generous sharing of the English Raven's time and skills, and I have some resources that I'm pretty darn proud of. (Feels slightly wrong to put my name down as the designer since the content comes from Positive Bradford and the design ideas are pinched in their entirety from this tutorial.) I'm seriously excited about this new Masterclass series that Jason is doing and had a lot of fun with the materials below. I realise that unless you teach in Bradford they are unusable but I'm sharing them anyway as I feel pretty chuffed.

Read something recently about a new wave of tech that is coming allowing us to design and create physical objects. Sounds very sci-fi - wish I could find the article because it had a great quote about how people prefer something average they created themselves over something incredible someone else made. That's how I feel about these materials.

The basic lesson plan is as follows:

1) Learners write down the first five words that come into their head when I say Bradford - positive or negative.

2) Discuss those words with a partner - opportunity for emergent moments ;-p

3) Look at the Positive Bradford homepage and discuss what they think about those five words

Download Positive Bradford warmer

4) Read the sentences about Bradford's history and future and tick the box if there is anything that is new for them.

Download Did you know activity

5) Share any new information with their partner and the class

6) Group discussion on our perceptions of Bradford and the power of positivity.

7) In groups they read one of the top ten facts about the city and create a true/false quiz for the other group to complete

8) Create a poster/presentation on the city and how they feel about it.

That's about it. I'll let you know how it goes! Thanks again to Jason Renshaw I can't wait to see what tips he has in his second video! ;-p

 

 

Comments

[Account Deleted]

Hi Anna,

Wow -- brilliant materials here, love the content and intent. Brilliant example of how to really draw on local issues and information!

I also think you've done a superb job with your header and footer; really glad to hear the materials design tutorial appealed to you. The second one is up now as well, by the way:

http://jasonrenshaw.typepad.com/jason_renshaws_web_log/2011/10/teaching-materials-design-masterclass-2-making-a-practical-background.html

They'll appear on the blog every Wednesday for the next 10-12 weeks (for this year, anyway...).

Cheers Anna and keep up the brilliant work,

- Jason

[Account Deleted]

After having grown up supporting the Bantams and witnessing many a 0-5 home defeat, the collocation 'positive Bradford' felt like one of the greatest oxymorons I've ever heard, but your lovely post has won me round!

If you ever venture out to Ilkley, I'd recommend... er, actually, nowhere to be honest. That's why I onlly go back once a year.

[Anna Rose]

Thanks so much Jason - your comments have made my day! Will check out that next tutorial soon - the first one was really empowering - as was the creative process. There's not many people out there who would share as much as you do so freely and with so much enjoyment. Please don't ever underestimate the impact you have and once again thank you! :-)))

Adam well that is a compliment. I know how many Bradfordians feel about the city so I'm glad I helped make the phrase seem a little less paradoxical ;-p I've been to Ilkley a few times - I think it's really pretty. I love the moors and rocks up by the Cow and Calf. I think the whole area is seriously underrated and that's long before you get to Haworth and Bronte country! But I can see how repeated disappointment led to less than good memories. Still I have a lot of hope for Bradford. Thanks for stopping by :-)