Make the Most of 2017
It’s relatively easy to start the year feeling refreshed and recharged and ready for the year ahead. It’s a little more difficult to maintain that energy level throughout the year. A little planning now can set up 2017 as your best year yet! The Queen’s Christmas message advocated a careful balance between reflection and action. Without reflection, we will continue to repeat the same mistakes of the past. Without action, nothing is achieved. Take a moment or two now to reflect on 2016. What areas worked well and what areas contributed to higher levels of stress? Were you organised and prepared for peak periods eg report time? Were you efficient with your time or did you procrastinate or focus on lower…
Just For Laughs
Funny things happen in schools all of the time! On some occasions we are too busy to appreciate the humour. This week think about some of the funny things that have happened in your school – share them with a colleague during a break! Here are some to get you started… English is a funny language In a Year 2 class students were asked to draw pictures of themselves as adults in response to the prompt, “When I grow up, I want to be…” A number of students asked the teacher to help spell words they needed as they completed their pictures. Caitlin came up and asked how to spell “princess.” After a number of other students asked for help,…
The Evolution of Stress
Stress is something we all feel at some stage in our lives. Some of us deal with it better than others! Stress is basically what you feel when life’s demands exceed your ability to meet those demands. There are actually two types of stresses in our lives: The first one is known as ‘acute stress’ and goes back in time to when we were hunters and gatherers. Our bodies were designed to deal with life threatening situations through a ‘flight or fight’ response which leads to a chemical reaction in our brains and allows us to outrun the danger or stay and face it with a sudden burst of power. This type of stress is what our bodies were designed…
10 Steps to a Positive Attitude Towards People you Deal With
Our attitude has a huge impact on our interaction with others. It therefore has a significant impact on our ability to relate to people and our stress levels. Optimise your optimism. Attitude comes before behaviour. The more positive your attitude, the more positive your behaviour, the more positive the results. Learn to be optimistic. Have a favourable attitude towards all people. When you expect people to be untrustworthy or of questionable character, your attitude will be cautious and suspicious. Enthusiasm is contagious. Be a passionate person when it comes to your work. People prefer to deal with enthusiastic people. On every occasion, treat a person’s issue as if it’s the first time you’ve dealt with an issue like that one.…
Brain Food – Part 2
Don’t damage the boat- No boat owner would knowingly damage their boat, so it follows that no human would knowingly damage their brain. Apart from accidental injuries and illegal drugs, things which can harm the brain range from smoking, stress and sleep deprivation to poor dietary habits and a negative mindset. Goal number one is to avoid these damaging entities. Dock the boat in stimulating surroundings- Our brain function improves in every measurable way when we find ourselves in environments that are mentally, physically and socially stimulating. Adventure prevents dementia! Fuel it the finest- Our dietary choices affect the health of our brains. Our brains consume 1/5 of all the nutrients and kilojoules we ingest. What we eat has a…
Letting Go of Hurt and Grudges with Colleagues
If you work with people long enough, there will be times when there are misunderstandings and upsets with colleagues. When difficulties continue over time, very significant hurt and distrust are often the result. This is very understandable, of course. I don’t know any perfect people and we are all allowed to be human. But at the same time I am concerned about the cost of holding onto hurt, both for the performance of the team and also for the individuals concerned. On this, the research is clear – holding on to negative emotions over the long term, has a significant detrimental effect on our mental and physical health. As soon as we possibly can, we are better off letting go…
Celebrate Your Achievements
At times we focus too much on the many things that we have NOT done, instead of celebrating the many things that we have achieved. This can especially be the case at the end of the year. At this time of the year it is important to reflect on the MANY things that you HAVE achieved during the year. Think back on the key events that happened each term. Remember the school events and trips that have been successfully undertaken, the parental concerns that have been resolved, the crises that have been managed, the many initiatives undertaken and especially the progress that students have made. This progress is easy to see in early childhood years where students emerge as readers…
The Power of Positive Language
The Language we use supports and continues our Beliefs, Beliefs become our Experiences, Experiences influence our Outcomes , Outcomes reinforce our Language and the cycle continues. Therefore it is important that wherever possible we use positive language. This is especially important in our ‘self-talk’ – that very personal language you use on yourself! If it isn’t positive then it doesn’t serve you! If you say “I don’t have the ability” you will get just that! Change this statement to “I anticipate I will find the way to have the ability?” The words we use are powerful. Consider powerful, positive alternatives to these dis-empowering, habitual words. CAN’T – Unless it is physically impossible then you CAN. We sometimes use…
The Law of Attraction
When reading please keep an open mind. This is not one to dismiss as new age rubbish. Try to relate what I explain to your personal life and daily experiences as a teacher. You have probably heard about “The Law of Attraction.” It has received a lot of attention recently through books and movies such as The Secret. It has been around for thousands of years though. You have heard expressions such as, “Birds of a feather flock together”, “Be careful what you wish for” and “Ask and ye shall receive.” So what exactly is this law and how can I use it to help me? In simple language the Law of Attraction states that, “like attracts like.” That’s it.…
Batch Activities for Green Days
Every person in the education system has such a hugely important role to play, not just to impart knowledge to our children but they really are investing in everyone’s future – future leaders, future parents, future business owners and the list goes on. It is imperative though that to be able to do this well, they take care of themselves first. “Work-life balance” is currently a real buzz term and whilst you have heard it many times, you may then ask the question “but how?” One strategy is to think about the type of activity you’re going to be doing and give it a colour. RED for working ON your role at the school to develop it YELLOW for working…
Teaching Grit – Building Resilience
Many of our students appear to be wrapped in cotton-wool by their parents to protect them from the world. Unfortunately, a bi-product of this situation is that many students lack the persistence necessary to keep going when circumstances are challenging. They give up at the very first hurdle. Asking students to persist or struggle with classroom tasks can be very beneficial for deeper learning. Significant learning benefits result when students are allowed to do some of this hard work on their own and struggle with ideas they do not quite yet understand. Teaching grit is important. What is grit? According to Angela Duckworth, Associate Professor of Psychology at University of Pennsylvania, “Grit is a disposition to pursue very long-term goals…
Brain Food – Part 1
We are the architects and builders of our own brains. For millennia, however, we were oblivious to our enormous creative capabilities. We had no idea that our brains were changing in response to our actions and attitudes, every day of our lives. We unconsciously and randomly shaped our brains and our latter years because we believed we had an immutable brain that was at the mercy of our genes. Nothing could be further from the truth. The human brain is continually altering its structure, cell number, circuitry and chemistry as a direct result of everything we do, experience, think and believe. This is called “neuroplasticity” and comes from two words: neuron or nerve cell and plastic, meaning malleable or able…