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Newsletter September 2013
Contents
Three top tips for new teachers
Chinese summer camp
Burning down the school
Emotional Well-being - 18 October, Bristol
Proof of the pudding . . .
Register with VisionWorks
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Welcome
 New term, new academic year, perhaps a new school or new job for you. Also this September is Rosh Hashanah, the New Year for Jews around the world. A common greeting on Rosh Hashanah is "shana tovah u'metukah", Hebrew for 'a good and sweet new year'. Many traditional Rosh Hashanah foods - apples and honey, raisin challah, honey cake and pomegranate - are eaten to reflect this greeting. May we wish all of you the very best in the school year to come. |
Three top tips for new teachers  1. The 3 Cs: "Be CLEAR with your expectations for behaviour and performance. Be CONSISTENT-follow through so students know what to expect from you as a teacher. Be COMPASSIONATE-show your students that you really care about them and want them to succeed." - Oktobriana Idol 2. Be kind to yourself. While teaching is often exhilarating, fulfilling and entertaining, all teachers, however brilliant they are, make mistakes. And that's OK; you are not expected to be perfect. Learn from your mistakes and move on. - Janet Grant 3. Create boundaries for work. "Go home at the end of the day! Your work will still be there tomorrow." - Kody Grisham Shepherd |
Chinese summer camp - It's OK Being Me 
In July I travelled to Wuxi near Shanghai to facilitate a 7-day summer camp for 40 Chinese youngsters, age 8 - 18. We used the activities from VisionWorks' It's OK Being Me, plus lots of group games and extra sports, to explore themes of self-confidence, effective communication, and making positive choices. The format worked really well. It was heartening to see how much the children enjoyed the friendships they made, the artwork they created, the presentations they produced, and how well they embraced the principles of emotional literacy. The truth is that these skills are naturally within us all, whether we live in the UK, China or anywhere else; it is simply a matter of encouraging them to flourish. We hope we will be able to offer Summer Camps in 2014 in the UK and Europe - watch this space! Sue Allen |
Burning down the school
Recently five boys were arrested on suspicion of setting fire to St Mary's Catholic Technology College in Leyland. The school was pretty much totally destroyed. We will all have different views about what the consequences of such a destructive act should be for these boys, if they are found guilty. The only way things are going to change is by looking at the beginning of the process not the end result; why would they commit such a violently destructive attack on their school and their community? Anger must be in the mix somewhere...rage even.
Developing our emotional intelligence means becoming aware of all of our emotions and learning how to manage them, especially the difficult ones such as anger. Then we understand what triggers us; why we have such strong feelings sometimes and find ways to stop ourselves from 'acting out'.
Thankfully more schools are becoming aware of the importance of including emotional intelligence in the curriculum. If we are to help young people grow up into successful, engaged, responsible adults, teaching these life skills needs to be seen as a key factor by all of us in education.
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Emotional Well-being - a vital key to learning Training Workshop -Bristol, Friday 18 October  We are looking forward to this training day and invite you to join us. If you are involved in education this is the day for you. Discover how to embed life skills that are essential for ultimate success and fulfilment both in yourself and in your students. This training day is an opportunity to learn the principles of emotional well-being, develop your own emotional literacy and find out how to model it in your classroom. You will also be given teaching strategies to use in school. "The trainers were fantastic; this is the best out of school day I have ever had (except for holidays)." MS, Inclusion Manager, Comprehensive in Hertfordshire "Relaxed, informative, professional delivery. Helped me to consolidate current practice and highlight direction as a practitioner within my school." GH, EBD school, Wiltshire. |
Proof of the pudding . . . Having been involved with teaching Emotional Intelligence/Well-being, (call it what you will) for years, even when most teachers thought we would be better off teaching Gobbledygook, it is both exciting and encouraging to see it increasingly become accepted as important by educators at all levels. Teaching children to understand themselves and relate well to their peers increases self-confidence and improves academic achievement. In the recent flurry of exam results, when academic achievement is rightly celebrated, a comment from Richard Cairns, head of the top performing mixed school Brighton College, stood out. "Happy children are invariably successful children." Janet Grant |
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you haven't already registered you're missing out on a host of downloadable
resources, assembly ideas and sample modules from our programmes. Register at www.vision-works.net
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