When you think of interventions to use with problem and challenging students, normally you probably think of active approaches. But, there is a whole world of powerful, passive approaches that are frequently forgotten or completely overlooked. With that in mind, we ask you to look around your classroom or office. What do you see on your walls? The items on your wall can have on-going, major impact-- all without you doing anything at all. We tend to forget that young people may spend hours each day just staring at what surrounds them. If you surround them with nothing, they may get nothing. If you surround them with something powerful and persuasive, you may change lives.



Our unusual, startling posters (http://www.youthchg.com/posters.html) have been drawing an awful lot of comment lately, and that's what made us realize how easy it is to underestimate the power of passive interventions like simple posters. People have been commenting that our posters can sometimes accomplish what conventional approaches couldn't. The range of posters that you can use is unlimited, from thought-provoking to haunting, from inspirational to motivational, from troubling to sarcastic, from silly to calming. Let us show you how to maximize your impact beyond conventional, active interventions. Put your walls work for you, and you will be surprised how much more you can achieve when you surround your students with powerful agents of change. You may end up being pleasantly surprised how passive interventions can underscore, enhance and even "hammer home" the points you are trying to make with your young people.

We will look at passive interventions in two ways. First, we'll cover the surprising range of passive intervention posters. Second, we'll show you free, fast and low-cost ways to make your own posters if you have more time than budget. These ideas will not require you to have a lot of time, art skills or computer expertise. We'll even show you how to get customized posters without you having to make anything or invest much time yourself.

TYPES OF POSTERS

Everyone has seen the motivational and inspirational posters that have become commonplace, but there are so many more options than that. Here are some other often overlooked ways to make your walls work for you all day:

* Shocking Posters

Shocking posters are jarring and unexpected. See an example (Poster #15) at the link above. (You will want to view each poster as examples to get full value from this article.) It's hard to just shake off the comment of "I'm looking for the lowest paying job I can find ." If you have to look at that comment for hours per day, it could stick with you.

* Posters That Can Teach

It's hard to believe that a piece of paper tacked to the wall can teach, but look at this silly poster (Poster #22). It does convey important information to students about how to get help from teachers. It's silly but effective to call teachers "lousy mind readers."

* Posters That Reinforce What Has Been Taught

Poster #22 (from the example used directly above) can also reinforce and remind students of what they already know. It's better that a poster provides an on-going reminder than you have to stop the class to provide a verbal reminder. See how passive interventions can work better than active ones.

* Posters Deliver Messages When

Words Don't Work Words sometimes fail to deliver the message, but pictures and colors may do the job when words fail. Take a look at Poster #28. A counselor might work hard to let a vulnerable youngster know that the counselor is a helping resource, and the child may not act on the message. This poster-- a passive intervention-- perhaps placed on the outside of the counselor's office door, can actually be more effective and lasting lure than mere words.

* Posters Haunt

A poster can look down on students for months or years at a time. Some posters can end up being down-right haunting. Well-executed pictures and text can gnaw at a youngster in ways that words can't accomplish. Look at Poster #7 to see how bothersome a poster can be. Obviously, the headline of "Dropouts Needed for High Paying Jobs" could linger.

* Other Jobs for Posters

Posters are obvious candidates for inspiration and motivation. See Poster #34 as an example. Sarcasm that might seem harsh when spoken, can become more acceptable on paper. Sarcasm can be a powerful tool when used very carefully. The next examples, Posters #31 and #33, definitely approach that limit-- although they do so for a good cause (drug abuse prevention.) Posters can also heal and soothe. Look at Posters #29 and #30 at to see how posters can even be reassuring.

HOW TO MAKE POSTERS

You may be surprised to learn how easy it is to make posters that fit your students' issues. The internet has made it so easy. You can find endless clip art and photos all over the net. Before you use any art or photos, be sure that the site grants you use of their resources. A popular source of clip art is at Discovery.com (www.school.discovery.com/clipart/). Free photos are tougher to find because many photos are protected by copyright, but a site that has completely free pictures that you can use is Geek Philosopher.com (www.geekphilosopher.com/MainPage/bkgPeople.htm.) Word, Paint, Adobe Photoshop and many other programs can be easily used to create quick but powerful posters that can work all day every day on your wall. To grab a picture or piece of clip art, simply put your cursor over the item, right click "Save Picture As" and voila, the item is all your's. It's that easy.

Posters can be of any size. To easily make posters without a printer that produces large-size pages, print the poster using the largest size paper you can, then enlarge the poster on your copier. Printing shops can also enlarge and print full color posters for you, often for a cost of under $2 per poster. If you use a common computer program to make your posters, you can even send in the poster file via the internet, and not even have to leave your office or classroom.

You don't even have to make your posters yourself. Instead of traditional consequences for misbehavior, have students make posters. You can even have the students use their misbehavior as the focus of the poster. For example, if students get in trouble for bullying peers, perhaps they craft a poster on bullying. Another idea: hold contests for students to make posters. Yet another idea: have poster construction become part of your instruction. For example, making posters could legitimately become an activity for language arts if substantial text is used. Making posters could be a far better activity than staring at the walls during study hall, detention or in school suspension. You can transform those unstructured, often unproductive times into the source of endless posters that make your walls work for you.

I wish I could have included thumbnails of all the the example posters. Words don't convey their lively, unexpected contents very well. But do take the time to check out the referenced posters and the recommended resources sites, and the article will make more sense. Plus, viewing the two resource sites and the unusual example posters may spark some great ideas for you to make for your walls.