Blob School

Pip Wilson

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2018
• ISBN:
  9781351698085
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Education
• Subtopic: Education General

Blob School is an educational resource designed specifically for one of the main purchasers of the Blobs - teachers! This practical resource aims to cover all the key areas of school life so that teachers, assistants, school workers, pupils and parents can reflect upon a wide range of contexts and issues which occur throughout the school year. The book includes 47 images which can be projected upon an Interactive White Board or photocopied for whole class or small group discussion. The Blobs The Blobs are simple. They deal with deep issues using the primary languages we learn from infancy - feelings and body language. This is why they are used with children as young as 4, all the way through to the elderly. Without words, the Blobs can be interpreted in a hundred different ways. There is no right and wrong about the Blobs, which is very important. A leader who uses them in a 'one way of reading them only way' will find that the rest of their group become very frustrated in discussions. Each picture is a means to a conversation, rather than a problem to be solved or a message to be agreed upon.

BLOB TREE

There are hundreds of ways to use this one simple image. First, we need to unpack its basic elements.

The Tree

This is a place, a group or an organisation. It could be your family, a club, a group of friends, a church, a school, an office, a football team, a group that travel by bus, a set of friends online, the latest panellists on a television talent show, or even just yourself.

By being a tree it doesn’t restrict itself to a single place, so it can be used in any context. There is a platform and a rope to swing on. What do they symbolise? They might represent safety, leadership, separation, fun or wastefulness. It depends on how you feel as you look at them, and how you feel that day! Sometimes there is more than one tree, because the way other groups interact with us affects how our group feels.

The Blobs

These are a variety of characters expressing a variety of feelings. It’s very important to use the name Blobs, rather than ‘he’ or ‘she’, because they are not white males or females, but genderless and colourless. Ask questions such as, ‘How do you think this Blob feels?’ or ‘Which Blob do you think is the saddest and why?’ This neutral term includes everyone and keeps the Blob tool as open as possible. Members of your group may continue to ascribe gender to the Blobs but, as long as you set the lead, most of the group will adopt your expressions.

The Blobs in the Tree are interacting as all groups do. They are also interacting with the Tree. They have placed themselves on the Tree, or are trying to get on the Tree. It is important to consider their places. Some people only feel able to select from the Blobs at the bottom of the Tree, while others tend to fly straight to the top! The selection of a Blob is a snap-shot of how that person is feeling at that very moment. Some people record a date next to the image to retain that for their work. When talking at a conference of educational psychologists, Ian discovered that many use the Blob Tree page as a visual assessment tool, recording their client’s responses straight onto the image.

The Grass

Under the Tree, and away from it, is the Grass. It conveys being outside the Tree, a place where you might go after climbing out of the Tree. This isn’t necessarily a negative place. After a youth group, a day at work or an evening out with your family it is nice to retreat and relax away from the group dynamic. So the Grass might simply be that – a place of respite. It can also be a place of opposition to what is going on in the Tree. As such, it is worth exploring what people mean when they say ‘I want to be on the Grass’. The proximity to the Tree is worth noting as again it gives clues to how people are feeling at that moment in time.

Reflection exercises

Some people have been introduced to the Blob Tree at a training session where they were asked to tell someone how they felt at the start of the day, and then again at the end. While this is a useful approach, in order to use the Blob Tree and all the different Blob tools, you need to use them in a deeper way.

The activities which follow are best to be done alone first, and then with a friend, so that you begin to understand your own responses, before working with others. It is by understanding ourselves that we can see clearly to help other people. Otherwise, we are merely the blind leading the blind.

Try not to skip any of the exercises and don’t rush through them. As you answer the questions allow yourself time to wander around the Tree to identify which Blob(s) answer the question. Sometimes it is more than one Blob because we are a combination of feelings.

Exercise 1

As you stand at the foot of the Tree, consider which Blob you would like to be with most.

Do this and then carry on.

The Blob you have chosen is an important place to begin. It probably represents your comfort zone, somewhere you feel safe and secure. That place of safety may extend beyond one Blob. Ask yourself why you want to be on that branch with that Blob. What makes them so attractive? Some people choose a branch with many Blobs; others choose to sit with a sad, quiet Blob. Our choice is our choice; there’s no right choice, no wrong choice and no unacceptable choice. Even if we don’t want to join in, that is merely another choice.

All we have to do is choose.

When I (Ian) made my first choice I discovered that I began to think about why I had decided to sit with that Blob. I discovered that my choice was different from my friend’s choice. I discovered that I was different from others.

Pip often asks people to look at their fingerprints. He invites people to touch someone else’s fingerprints with theirs. Our uniqueness encounters the uniqueness of others. It is a moment to appreciate our differences and value them.

Exercise 2

As you stand at the foot of the Tree today, consider which Blob you would least like to sit next to.

Do this and then carry on.

It may be a different Blob from the one you chose yesterday; it may be the same. Our feelings change from day to day. As we experience new events, and different people who cause us to rethink our actions, our choices change.

Sit with that Blob and ask yourself why you find them so difficult to be with.

• • Are they like someone you try to avoid in your life?
• • Are they like someone in your family?
• • Do they remind you of yourself?

When we find a feeling that makes us uncomfortable, it would be easier to move away, back to the cosy branch. In order to grow, we need to explore why we feel that way.

Exercise 3

As you stand at the foot of the Tree, consider which Blob you feel like on your birthday.

Do this and then carry on.

For some people a birthday is a celebration, for others it is another step closer to death. Ask yourself:

• • How do you celebrate it?
• • What feelings does it stir in you each year?
• • Have you always felt like this or has it changed as you have got older?
• • Do you like to have lots of people round, just a few close friends and family or to be on your own?
• • Which Blob would spoil your birthday fun … and why?

Exercise 4

As you stand at the foot of the Tree, consider which Blob you feel like when you walk into your home.

Do this and then carry on.

Each time we walk into our home it stirs such strong feelings. For some people it is a place of refuge; for others it is a place of trouble and torment.

Ask yourself:

• • What makes you feel the way you do about home?
• • Who makes home special or awful for you?
• • Who do you have to support at home, and who supports you?
• • Have you always felt like this about home?

Exercise 5

As you stand at the foot of the Tree, consider which Blob you felt like yesterday.

Do this and carry on.

Ask yourself:

• • Was yesterday an enjoyable experience?
• • Did you feel like several Blobs depending on the ups and downs of the day?
• • Have you ...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title Page
• Dedication
• Copyright Page
• Table of Contents
• About the authors
• How to use this book
• Questions and the Blob pictures
• Blob ABC
• Blob Annual Review
• Blob Anger Circle
• Blob Artists
• Blob Assembly
• Blob ‘You Can See a Person’s Behaviour But You Can’t See Their Past
• Blob Bullying
• Blob Caterpillar
• Blob Caged
• Blob Cars
• Blob Changes
• Blob Child/Teen/Adult
• Blob Choir
• Blob Classroom
• Blob Coffee Break
• Blob Collaborative
• Blob Computers
• Blob Disability
• Blob Disco
• Blob Exam
• Blob Eyes
• Blob Faces
• Blob Fight
• Blob First Day
• Blob Friends
• Blob Groups
• Blob Holidays
• Blob Home
• Blob Homes
• Blob Hometime
• Blob Involved
• Blob Jigsaw
• Blob Leader
• Blob Lessons
• Blob Life
• Blob Lord’s Prayer
• Blob Meals
• Blob Mobiles
• Blob Music
• Blob Olympics
• Blob Parents Evening
• Blob Playground
• Blob Prayer
• Blob Pupils
• Blob Retention
• Blob Sleep
• Blob Sports Day
• Blob Step Up
• Blob Study Tree
• Blob Swimming
• Blob Talents
• Blob Tree