Successful people know exactly how they got there. They are the goal-setters and dream-chasers of the world. Now imagine how much more they could accomplish if they started their vision to succeed at a young age! That’s why teachers should challenge students to dream big. And it all starts with a vision board.
What is a Vision Board?
Have you ever heard of the phrase, out of sight, out of mind?
Well, the vision board keeps dreams in sight. It displays the student’s goals in life made out of symbols, words, and images. It can either be their dream career, house, family, or even a specific mindset and lifestyle.
Generally, the vision board serves as a tool and a constant reminder for students to visualize their biggest dreams. It follows the principle that if they can see it, they can believe in it; therefore, they can achieve it.
However, this exercise is not just for kids. Countless celebrities like Oprah Winfrey, Jim Carrey, and Lily Singh advocate using vision boards as adults because they play an instrumental part in helping them achieve success. In fact, many update their vision boards every year!
What You’ll Need to Create Vision Boards
- Cardboards, cork boards, or poster boards
- Colored markers
- Scissors
- Glue, tape, or thumbtacks
- A lot of magazines (check if they’re child-friendly)
- Newspapers
- Access to a computer with an internet connection and a printer
For Online Students
Good news! If your class is online, students don’t have to deal with cutting or messy glue. There are several ways you can guide your students to create a digital vision board, for free.
For instance, this step-by-step guide on how to use Canva to design a vision board, is a good option. If your students are too young, they can make a physical board with the resources they have at home. That’s with supervision from you or their parents of course.
Be Clear on the Purpose of Vision Boards
To make sure everyone understands the purpose of the exercise, explain to the class the importance of having dreams. Remember to encourage them to believe in themselves. Stress, for example, how to make a vision board can help them discover their passions and live the life they desire.
It helps to show them their favorite internet personalities who also practice vision boarding.
Additionally, emphasize that they don’t have to see it as committing to a specific career or plan. Instead, creating a vision board is simply an exercise to help them move towards what inspires them.
While many students may surprise you with their ability to think ahead and dream big, some need a little nudge in the right direction.
To help with that, we’ve prepared a list of 20 questions you can use to help them envision their ideal life. Print out these questions on paper and give the students some time to write their answers before they start searching for images.
Vision Board Prompts
For online students, send them a document of the questions in order to get them to type in their answers.
- Which famous person inspires you? why? (This can be an athlete, a political leader, a celebrity, or a YouTuber)
- Where would you like to travel when you’re older?
- Where would you like to live?
- What kind of car would you like to own?
- If you could do something and achieve fame, what would it be?
- How would you help the world to be a better place?
- What makes you happy?
- If you could learn as much as you can about something, what would it be?
- What kind of school or college would you like to attend?
- What kind of work interests do you have?
- If you could design anything at all, what would it be?
- If you could choose the best type of friends, what words would you use to describe them?
- If you could be extremely good at something, what would it be?
- If you could start a business to sell something or provide a service, what would it be?
- What is one thing that would make life easier for everyone?
- Which famous person do you wish you could meet in person?
- If you could have all the money in the world, what would you do with it?
- What kind of family would you like to have? What are some words to describe it?
- What qualities do you want in a life partner (for older students)
- What would you improve about yourself if you could?
Don’t underestimate your kids. Even young children can have very big dreams with proper guidance. However, they may not be able to process so many questions at once. So just focus on a few.
Break out the Scissors
finally! It’s time to look for anything and everything that relates to those written answers. It can either be dollar signs representing financial security or a map of Europe to show a child’s dream of seeing the world. Anything goes as long as it has meaning to the student.
Also, remind them that they should make their vision board colorful. This will draw their attention to it every time they look at it.
Tell them to look for words as well. Words like ‘BELIEVE’ or ‘STRONG’ in large fonts can resonate with some students. As a result, they’ll be driven to go after what they want. This could be a good exercise for ESL learners to learn new words as they actively search for one that represents their dreams.
If they can’t find what they need from magazines, give students the freedom to look for online images. It’s important to note that kids need to see people accomplishing great feats who look like them. If they need the Internet to look for an idol that has their ethnicity, let them.
Presentations
One way to solidify the experience in students is to encourage them to present their vision boards.
Since only the vision board creators know what each image means, getting them to explain helps everyone understand their visions. Nevertheless, teachers should respect the students’ privacy if they rather keep some things private.
Additionally, as each student declares their aspirations, you can foster an environment of accountability. You can encourage students to help one another achieve success with their vision boards through support and encouragement.
Where to Put Vision Boards
Lastly, tell the students to place the vision board in their bedrooms or somewhere they can look at it frequently. The more they visualize and dream, the more their daily decisions will lead them towards achieving their goals.
Of all the things children learn from school, the thing that can truly change their lives is the courage to dream and the drive to succeed.
As educators, we get to be a part of that change. Do you want more tools to empower your students? Maybe you need some exciting games to liven up your classrooms. Well, we have tons of free resources for you. Click here to discover how you can level up your ESL classes the easy way!