September 2019 – Happy Schools

Meditation to Calm the Mind

September 26, 2019

Many societies use meditation as a means of calming the mind from the busyness of everyday life. You don’t have to go to a rainforest, a health retreat or a temple to gain the benefits. Taking just 5 minutes from your busy day to focus on your breathing and calm your mind can have great benefits – see the left hand column for a 5 minute exercise. What is meditation? It is a practise of focusing your mind on one part of your body and working towards a state of peacefulness. If you have never practised or participated in meditation before it can be an interesting step forward in life for you. Where did meditation first begin? Meditation first began…

Motivation in the Classroom

September 19, 2019

Stevef

Effectiveness

It’s important to reinforce student self-motivation on a regular basis: Praise Effort and Specific Actions If we only praise students in general—”You’re very smart”—many will then try to avoid taking risks and stretching themselves. They will focus more on maintaining their image and believe that they will embarrass themselves by making mistakes. Praising effort— “You worked really hard today”—or praising specific actions —”Your topic sentence communicates the main idea”—can make students feel that they are more in control of their success and that their success is less dependent on their “natural intelligence”. Build Relationships Staff in schools build relationships with their students by showing that they care about them and by learning about their lives, dreams and challenges. This is…

Getting Better Sleep

September 12, 2019

Stevef

Resilience

Often the affects of stress are compounded by problems of not getting the sleep we require. Our active minds and negative self-talk can keep us awake or wake us during the night. Many people who suffer from insomnia start to sleep poorly for some understandable reason (e.g. a baby kept them awake, accumulation of stresses or a trauma). However the sleep problems often continue after the event as a habit has developed. Dr David Morawetz’s self-help program “Sleep Better…Without Drugs” provides a great 4 to 6 week program for overcoming bad sleep habits. Like all programs, the benefit will only come through discipline in applying the advice given. The following Nine Rules for Better Sleep are offered as a starting…

Do You Need a Digital Detox?

September 5, 2019

Stevef

Communication

Technology advances in society and particularly in education have brought about some amazing advantages and should be making our lives easier. Unfortunately, these gains can come at a cost for many of us – our work can now seep effortlessly into nearly every corner of our life. Most school staff own and use a personal smart phone to communicate and be contactable in their professional role, as well as accessing a work laptop or desktop computer, often a tablet… and usually run more devices at home too! While our digital connectivity can enhance our productivity and bring about positive outcomes, it can also very quickly increase our stress and anxiety, affecting both our personal balance and ability to perform. Not…