Let's not be so hasty to let the old year pass

A new year is coming up fast and it is a time that many look to as a fresh start and a time to make resolutions for the coming twelve months. As the song says "fast away the old year passes". 

Before you cast the old year aside though can I suggest that you take some time to first count your blessings... and if you have had a tough year, and I know a few people who have,  I am thinking that you are reading this post and have access to the internet in some way so you might just have a couple of things to be grateful for as a starter. 

Consider this: 

Found in several places but this one I sourced from:
http://www.speakupforchange.ca/why-you-are-so-lucky/

The main reason why I suggest you count your blessings first is that you will be much less likely to toss out the really good stuff you already have as you focus on the next big thing you want to be, do or have in your life. 

Here are some questions you can ask yourself to do a gratitude audit for the last 12 months or so:  

• Have I been of service to others at some stage? 
• Have I taken care of myself in some way? 
• Have I achieved anything significant for me? 
• Have I used my skills and talents in some way? (and before you say I don't have any, I believe we all do, just some of us don't recognise them yet) 
• Have I learnt something new? 
• Have I fostered positive relationships with some of the people around me? 
• Have I had any fun times? What were they? 
• Have I had any adventures? 
• Have I overcome any challenges? 
• Have I had opportunities to celebrate the success of others? 

I hope that you have come up with a few things to be grateful for and identified some of the great things about your life that you want to keep. Too often we forget to celebrate the good as it happens and taking some time to reflect with our minds and hearts tuned to gratitude can make a big difference to our whole well being. I hope that you spend more time focused on gratitude going forward so you get to experience the joy that it brings. 

This approach also helps you work out what it is that you really do want in your life. 

Ask yourself: 

• Do you want more of the same? Great stuff- keep adding to your gratitude list and stay focused on creating more of the same. 
• Who are the people that you care about and love? If you are able to, how will you stay connected with them? 
• Is there something you want to change? If so why do you want to do that? What will it look like if you make that change? (it is important to have a clear vision of the end point you are aiming for) 
• Do you want to learn something new? 
• How will you use your skills and talents this year? 
• How will you be of service to others? 
• Is there a way you could contribute to your community this year? 
• What adventures would you love to have? 
• How will you create positive relationships with those around you? 
• Do you want to stretch yourself? If so, in what way and why? 
• How will you ensure that you are as healthy as you can be? 

Once you know what you want things to look like and you know why you want to go there then you can work how you will get there and take the first step to seeing your vision coming alive. 

And the crazy thing is that you don't have to wait for a new year to focus on the good you already have or the path you want to take going forward... you can do this anytime and anywhere! The birds do not start singing a new song just because it is the first of the year nor do the mountains shift that day so feel gratitude now and dream as well. 

A personal story to illustrate: 

Last year I made some pretty clear goals going forward in about October. I had an ultimatum put to me that forced me to make a choice (much of my thinking was centred around the vision of the future I had been fostering for a little while prior to this to be fair). The things I wanted for the new adventure that I was to take were: 

• Most importantly it was to have more time with my family and enjoy doing some things around our home- I have loved spending time with our little man this year, we have gone to playcentre together and had a lot of fun. It has also been great to remodel our kitchen using recycled materials and make it a much more useful space for preparing our food 
• Take 3 months off to get my body back in balance and just enjoy a slower pace of life (I had saved up my annual leave for some time to enable me to do this)- it was great and gave me clear headspace to start blogging and do some study for fun as well as walk daily and go swimming and enjoy our kiwi summer with my family 
• Start my own business- yup, done that and have had some great opportunities to explore and play with using my skills in different settings including public speaking, writing resources for schools, and also doing adult workplace assessments
• Growing my own vegetables- we started that this season and it has been fabulous, to those of you who follow this blog you will have already read about this new passion of mine... and I am loving enjoying the fruits of our labours immensely! 
• Teach an average of two days week- this has happened in the last half of this year and I have really enjoyed teaching students from 5-17 years old, next year I will be teaching 2 days a week in a job share role which is fantastic
• Have my own chickens so we can eat our own eggs- we are on the way there, I got a little put off the idea by the fact that some people found chickens to be rather vicious with each other but have done some more research and we have plans to build our coop in the coming month or so... and the chickens will be a late Christmas gift once we get the coop ready for them
• I have always wanted to write despite feeling a little inadequate as a writer- I have had opportunities to play and learn (this blog is one way) and am learning more about this at the moment as I explore another project, it is exciting 

It hasn't always been easy, there are always ups and downs and I have had to take a few risks, but that strong vision of what I was hoping things would look like has helped me get back on course when the chips have been down. I also spoke with other people about this vision so they were able to support me and at times hold me accountable if needed. I am hugely grateful for the opportunities that I have had so far and the dreams that have been fulfilled as well as those that are ongoing and the dreams to come! 

I hope that your dreams come true in the best ways too. 

And while you are at it ALWAYS remember you are incredibly powerful because you do have choices... 

  

The growing brain

A few weeks ago I attended a course about Neurobiology and Early Life Trauma delivered by Grant Sinnamon. Although it was largely designed for counsellors and therapists as a teacher and a bit of a neuro-nerd I found the content really relevant and useful. There was so much content that was amazing but for now I will concentrate on just a couple of points.
One of the take aways from the event was that trauma in early years of brain development can present in a whole lot of different ways later on (please note in this context trauma isn't necessarily major injury or intentional harm, it may be a change or loss, it could even be the result of a minor concussion).

Brain development is hugely important for us to consider as teachers. There can be standards set and expectations established for various age groups but in reality when our children enter school they come in at their own stage of development and their progress from there could be dependent on things like any early life trauma encountered. Grant Sinnamon suggested that if a trauma occurred at a time of significance in the development of the brain then there could be an impairment but with correct diagnosis this could be remedied or mitigated at least by building or strengthening pathways that may have been underdeveloped earlier in life. He stressed that interventions must mirror development, starting from the bottom and building up.

This is a challenge for schools. A powerful consideration offered to us during this seminar was if a child is struggling in some way academically such as learning to read and it is due to an interruption in their brain development (for arguments sake think about developing left/right cross over) then putting them in intensive remedial programmes and giving them extra reading to do may in fact not remedy the situation properly and could even cause greater problems by increasing anxiety and stress related to reading as a task. So the suggestion is that we go back to the earliest point of development that seems to be interrupted, with the reading example start with crawling and build up to remedial reading programmes.

He reminded us that the brain develops from bottom to top and inside to the outside. For most of the session we talked about the brain stem development. The brain stem controls our most basic and vital functions and it is where our options are most limited: flight, fight or freeze. If through early life trauma we have created a strong pathway to react with flight or fight then that will almost be an automatic reaction to any stressful situation... think about some of the challenging bahaviour we see in classrooms, could this possibly contribute to some of what you have seen? In order to support the learner it might be that we need to strengthen other pathways that may be underdeveloped, such as learning breathing techniques to calm down and therefore be able to respond better to stressful situations by accessing our thinking part of the brain. This fits beautifully with Glenn Capelli's Three Rooms of our Magic Brain. Grant talked about blowing bubbles being one strategy to help build slower breathing in a fun, non threatening manner. Creating a safe environment for these students is vital.

He has developed a model called REPAIR(tm) and is talking about this all over Australia and New Zealand. It makes good sense, and much of it relates to how we can create safe environments for children. I do recommend if you get a chance to hear him speak it is well worth the effort.

Clearly I have only just touched on a couple of small ideas from our whole day together... there is just so much more I want to learn!

The thing is that I am a classroom practitioner, not a therapist. As a teacher I would love to learn more from Grant Sinnamon and how we can use what he has developed so we are better armed to support the children we work with. For me it is about how we support the range of individuals we work with and finding ways we can help them to build secure foundations for their learning. Knowing more about how our amazing brains work must surely help us to achieve this end.


Further reference:
Slides by Grant Sinnamon from a similar seminar- http://www.academia.edu/1688621/Early-Life_Trauma_and_the_Brain_Consequences_and_Interventions
Grant Sinnamon talking about his REPAIR (tm) Model- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HBWmT_TBebA

Get Going with Growing 6

Vegetables can be pretty too.
Zucchini flower... quite lovely and the zucchini's are tasty too. 

Guess who has been eating our spinach this time??? 

We have! 

And it is great :) The taste of fresh spinach on pizza and in lasagne has been wonderful. 

Spinach waiting to become part of a meal for the family 

This lasagne was SO tasty... fresh and healthy 

We have continued to add to the garden plots... what started as four little boxes three and a half months ago is now eight boxes planted (with two more ready for new plants) and a glasshouse full of food producing plants. The apple trees are full of little apples that are steadily growing which is very exciting. I am quite surprised by how quickly things have grown and thoroughly enjoying the fruits of our labours. 

The original plots

The garden now

The weather has been really changeable which has had its challenges but earlier this week we had some really hot weather followed by warm steady rain showers, I couldn't believe the growth in the garden from that... bean seed that had just broken the surface the day before grew almost two inches over the day. Nature is amazing! 

Webbs Wonderful Lettuce seedlings

I have now planted spinach seeds and lettuce seeds and they will go into the empty plots in time. I am getting better with nursing my seeds to the next step, it is about nurturing them- giving them what they need as they grow and adjusting the care as get bigger and stronger... like any baby really. One thing that has worked for me is using egg cartons as seed trays, it makes transplanting less stressful on the seedlings and they are a little easier to keep moist once the seeds strike. 

Every day there is something new to see and, as always, learn :) 

Broccoli on it's way

Your actions scream louder than the words you use

Last week I was reading a post called What our kids learn in school (http://markmanson.net/school). It got me thinking about education and teaching again.

We are teaching much more than we have written in our planning or have milling around in our own minds... what we do screams so loudly that it often drowns out what we say.

It is said that integrity is doing the right thing even when no-one is looking. In our schools and our communities our students/children are looking so integrity becomes vital. We are teaching even when we don't think we are.

Consider the following:

• if we state that speaking kindly is important and then yell at a student or put them down 
• if we state that we need to sit quietly and listen to others, then talk to a parent/colleague at an assembly when the students get 'the hairy eyeball' for chatting
• if we state that when you do something wrong you need to apologise but refuse to admit when we make mistakes 
• if we state that it is important to reconcile differences maturely and then backstab our colleagues or glare at them in public 
• if we are teaching healthy habits and yet eat poorly 

... what are we teaching in those circumstances? 

• That the rules don't apply to us
• That when you are in a position of power the rules don't apply to you 
• That our students are powerless 
• That we are right and they are wrong 
• That you don't trust people in authority, they lie 

Of course this isn't the way it is with every teacher, or parent, grandparent, caregiver, coach. In fact I'd like to believe most of us value our role as role models. Our students/children need to know they can rely on us to stand by our words, so that when we tell them we care about them and that they are valued they will believe that too. 

Here are some small examples from my own experience and I'd love to hear your examples too as I find our stories are powerful motivators and reminders : 

Not so long ago I apologised to a student for telling her off publicly when she said something very unkind to another student. She was flummoxed and stated that she couldn't understand why I was apologising to her when she was the one who had done something wrong. I explained that I was apologising for my behaviour because how I reacted was wrong and then we were able to talk about her behaviour. 

I do this at home too, I know sometimes when I am tired I can snap or react rather than respond, when I do I apologise (not as often to my husband as I should!). My four year old is quite adept now at letting me know when I have hurt his feelings and he is right to call me on it. It is OK to be human, none of us have to be perfect. 

Getting Going with Growing No. 5

Another update is well overdue I think.

If you have read my other posts re. gardening (1, 2, 3, 4) you may have figured that our horticultural beginners journey is one of highs and lows, and it continues to be so. 

So far I have identified a couple of 'enemies': 

• Sheep- who loved my cabbage plants but ignored the spinach 
• Weather- hail stones that had no problem with attacking both cabbage and spinach, as well as leaving a considerable frost which killed the pumpkin seedlings that I had planted 

And I have two more to add: 

• Firstly, and I apologise for not mentioning this sooner, but cats can be a bit of a problem in the
  
  garden... one cat in particular for us I fear is our own rather heavy grey feline called Pippin. When I first started preparing the beds I think she misinterpreted my work as creating a sunbed/toilet for her. This did not stop when the first seedlings were planted! We remedied this with placing large netting over the beds as you may see in the background of the image here. 
• Secondly birds! Our first strawberries had ripened about a week ago and I was all ready to share them with my little man as a treat for our evening meal but... I left the glasshouse door open as the day was hot and I wanted to get fresh, cooler 
  
  air moving in the space. I assumed my strawberries were safe in the glasshouse and didn't even think to cover them... I was wrong! Lesson learned. 
• Weather again... this time heat. I was away for work for a couple of days and one of these was particularly warm. I had left instructions for watering in my absence but neither of us had anticipated the impact of heat in the glasshouse on the seedlings. When I came home found that most of my delicate capsicum seedlings had fried in the hot sun. Another lesson learned. 

As you can see our setbacks have been based around nature, and so it seems to me that learning to garden successfully is about learning to live in harmony with nature itself. We are finding our way. 

So let's now focus on the highs of the gardening journey at the moment: 

• Our basil is growing well and I will be thinning it out in the next week or so. 
  
• My last lot of corn planted is growing and the wind break cloth seems to be working with protecting it from some of the harsh winds we have had lately. 
• I have also nursed our last three pumpkin seedlings to ensure they are as healthy as possible and just planted them outside in the last day or so. So far they are looking good, I wonder if I had planted them too early last time? 
• We have little apples beginning to grow on our three old apple trees as well, yum, apples for Autumn. 
• The potatoes have survived the frost and are now showing
  good growth. 
• I have been experimenting with striking seed on dampened paper in plastic lidded containers, so far the beans and peas have responded well. Will keep playing with this method. 
• We have eaten some of our own spinach and it was delicious. It seems to have come away from the hail storm OK, not perfect but OK. 
  
• The zucchini are doing really well and we will be eating our first one soon. 
• We have little tomatoes on all of our tomato plants. I love the smell of our tomato plants, it brings back fond memories of my dad including one of the last moments I shared with him in his garden when he was ill. He loved his garden and grew the best tasting tomatoes, I hope that my use of the 'ucky' bucket juice (seaweed soup) will help to replicate the flavour a little at least.  

And to close the best and biggest gardening highlight for me...  

The other night we finally had another ripe strawberry, so when my little man came down to tend the garden with me I got him to check the strawberries for me, there was much excitement when he saw the juicy red strawberry sitting there. We picked it and I gave it to him to eat. He took a small bite and the response was one of absolute joy "oh mumma, it tastes soooooo goooood!" He ate it slowly and thoroughly relished every bite. It was wonderful to see and in some ways I wish I had taken a photo but on the other hand I am pleased that I was just able to enjoy the moment with him. 

Teaching is leading

From my perspective if you are a teacher (and let's think broadly about that term as well) then you are a leader and that is a tremendous privilege and responsibility.

Recently I attended a presentation about successful educational leadership with associate professor Ross Notman from the Otago university. He presented findings from his own research as well as international research including the International Successful School Principalship Project. As we went through there were opportunities to reflect on our own leadership practices and experiences of leadership, in this time I often came back to the thought that these qualities are not the exclusive domain of successful school principals.

Below are three of the areas discussed and how these might look for classroom practitioners:

Building a strong vision and setting expectations
Here we are talking about motivating others, setting high expectations, having a clear sense of purpose 
In the classroom how do you share your expectations? How do you motivate your learners? Are you clear about why you are doing what you are doing? And how do you communicate this with your class?
When we set clear expectations our students have confidence to complete set tasks. When they know why we are doing what we are doing there is a better buy in and if well thought out with them in mind then the learning will have greater relevance and therefore be more meaningful. Motivated students are more likely to be self managing and committed to the task at hand, whilst we don't want to create a dependence on us for motivation it is important that we support the students to get on board and stay on board. We can use WALTS (We Are Learning To Statements) to help clarify the our expectations, we can use rubrics and tools like SOLO taxonomy among others.
When talking about expectations we are not only talking about teaching and learning, there are behavioural expectations as well. One important thing to consider about expectations and is that unless these are held/owned by the whole group then they are unlikely to be motivating or sustainable.

Understanding and Developing People 
Thinking about building relationships and developing dispositions, valuing others, practicing what you preach
The three R's of teaching is sometimes described as relationships, relationships, relationships. I agree! The fabulous Allie Mooney shared the following quote at a conference I attended many years ago "you need to reach me before you can teach me", I have never forgotten it.
How do you build relationships with your students? It is not about being friends but getting to know each other. How do you develop dispositions in others? What about valuing all the students in your classroom? Do you practice what you preach?
If we know what switches people on and turns people off we are better able to help them stay motivated and share a vision that is palatable. When you are teaching is your focus on the subject/topic or the different learners you have in your class? Where your focus is will make a huge difference to the quality of the relationships you have with your students. It is not always easy to like all the children/young people who enter our classrooms, some come with some pretty tough baggage, it does help though if we approach all students with a desire to identify their strengths and unique gifts as everyone has something of value to offer. A question I have gained from a parenting expert Dr Monika Potter is to ask yourself 'what would love do?', it is a helpful reminder when dealing with difficult behaviour.
If we want our students to walk along a path with us, to respect and respond, then we need to be authentic... they can smell the disingenuous a mile off and if we don't practice what we preach then that will erode trust which is one of the foundations of relationships. It is OK to be human and make mistakes, admit it, apologise and move on if you do... in just the way you would expect your students to make amends if they made a mistake.

Redesigning/Refreshing the Organisation 
This is where we are establishing collaborative cultures, restructuring to meet changing needs and managing conflict. 
How do you create opportunities for collaboration in your classroom? What about distributed leadership... do you share ownership? How do you identify the needs of the learners in your care? What do you do about changing needs? How flexible is your classroom programme? How do you manage conflict? Do you create opportunities for honest, healthy discourse in the classroom?
We can be the masters of all destiny in our classrooms but when we do that we disempower our learners. Think about ways that we can share decision making with our students. I remember with one class giving them some guidelines for choosing desk groups then let them go for it, I was impressed with the quick way they selected their groups and how successful they were. Collaborative cultures take time to build and it is important to work on creating an environment where it is safe for students to disagree or have different opinions even with the teacher. When groups go too far with their desire to reach consensus we start to lose divergent, innovative thinking as the need to fit in with the group supersedes anything else. This is called 'group think' which I would imagine as teachers we would want to avoid developing in the minds of our young people if they are to be the leaders of the future.
Teachers have a lot of competing demands on our thinking when planning for our students so consider how much of what you do in the classroom is driven by student needs. When you are thinking about needs are you only concerned with the academic or do you look at the whole person? I suggest that if you are not considering the social, emotional, physical aspects of your students lives you might be missing out on some important information which will enable you to better tailor your programme to meet diverse needs and help your students do their best. If a child is struggling with their learning sometimes the root of the problem may not be the subject area or lack of ability but could be a health issue, problems with friends, or any number of things going on. Focusing only on the academic may lead to little improvement or, worse still, increase anxiety and create more problems. This brings us back to knowing our students and relationships, relationships, relationships.

There are many other qualities we could discuss including being leaders of learning, modelling an inquisitive mind, thinking dispositions and so on but I think this is a helpful start to establish the understanding that teachers are leaders. These qualities can equally be applied to parenting and other contexts I am sure.

Leadership for me is a learning journey. I see so many opportunities in everyday life to apply aspects from my learning in leadership so far. If you are interested in exploring leadership a little more I suggest that Simon Sinek's leadership material is a good place to start.

Simon Sinek shares valuable insights around leadership and is well worth following. 

Getting Going with Growing 4

Gardening is a pursuit that teaches important life lessons... this week resilience, patience and wonder.

After the attack of the killer sheep and the subsequent repairs to the fencing as well as putting up some wind proofing for my latest attempt at growing corn I thought we had catered for just about everything.... but not quite!

Public enemy no 2 has been identified and no it is still not the white butterfly.

This time it was unseasonal weather! Check out the little video clip below to see what hit, literally, our garden earlier this week.

The size of the hailstones were quite spectacular too.

The spinach that survived the attack of the killer sheep did not fare quite as well against the hail stone

bullets that pelted down from above.
Worse still was the unexpected frost from the hailstones overnight as they did not melt away... the potatoes (largely self seeded) did not fare well as the blackened curled leaves here show. I am hoping that they might come away again though... fingers crossed.

The pumpkin plants however do not look like they will come away again. It was so disappointing as this is my second attempt with my pumpkin seedlings and they were looking so good, now they are yellowed, curling up and very sad.

BUT this is gardening, and there's no point moping around about it. This is where resilience comes in, I could chuck it in claiming it is too hard with the pumpkins, the spinach and the brassicas but I have a glasshouse full of growing plants (and I am lucky I still have five pumpkin seedlings in the glasshouse to transplant).
There are seeds coming away that we planted a couple of weeks ago and I thought were not going to strike... they are now popping up all over the place!
The other day I was looking at the bed where I had planted sunflower and sweet pea seeds two weeks ago and there was nothing happening, I had decided I would put nasturtiums in there instead when I got the time... well today I walked past and had a look to water a couple of seedlings I had planted earlier and lo and behold there are a whole heap of little seedlings now coming through, what a difference three days make! A little bit of patience pays off, and if they had been right up when the hail hit, who knows, they might not have fared so well.

Sunflower seedling... exciting! 

On reflection there are lots of life lessons I am getting from gardening, here are a couple from this week:

• very few things in life are ALL bad, focus on what is going right if you can
• don't put all your plants in the one spot, diversification is key
• if at first you don't succeed, look at what you could do differently and have another go 
• it is OK to try something and fail... that is a great place for learning to happen 
• patience is a virtue and nature knows it well

In gardening, as in life, you win some and you lose some. If you are prepared to focus on the wins, work through the losses and approach as much as you can with a sense of wonder then all going well things will bear fruit. 

Getting Going with Growing 3

Well we are another few weeks on from my last gardening blog post and we have actually eaten something from the garden so that deserves a mention among other things.

So here is our first scrumptious offering from our garden, a Great Lakes lettuce, which we have enjoyed for several meals so far. Crunchy leaves for fabulous salads and juicy sandwiches... all the tastier because it has come from our own garden!

One of the great things I am discovering about gardening is that it is an opportunity for ongoing learning through trial and error. I am loving the opportunity to be a bit of a scientist with the garden and trying some new things out.

• We have grown seeds in individual pods using empty toilet rolls. We have filled them with dirt (seed raising mix) and have placed one or two capsicum seeds in them. To be honest I was beginning to despair that nothing was going to happen but in the last day or so some shoots are coming up. We have planted both seeds from a packet and some I harvested from a capsicum we had eaten so it will be interesting to see what grows, 
• We are now using our 'ucky bucket' seaweed water to feed new and transplanted plants. We water this down so it looks
  
  like weak tea and use this when we are planting... at the moment most plants have responded. 
• We have had a go at planting onions from onions that have sprouted in the cupboard. I found this blog post and thought I would give it a go. So far they seem to be growing, well they haven't withered and died so that's a good start! (http://www.anktangle.com/2011/03/growing-sprouted-onions.html) 
• We have planted our second lot of pumpkin seedlings, this time in a new plot with some slightly different soil so here's hoping this time they don't die! 
• I am still to master the mixed plantings with flowering plants, I have had some success with nasturtiums but my marigolds are pathetic. We will work it out eventually. 

• We have also had a little go at a slightly different planting arrangement inspired by the 1 metre squared garden concept. It gives a little bit of a patchwork effect and so it looks good at the moment. I have sown carrot seeds on the side plots, brassicas in the corners and corn in the middle. We are trying the corn again, but this time in different soil and with a little more protection from the wind we hope. (http://www.tuigarden.co.nz/howtoguide/square-metre-gardening-guide) 
• I continue with the broken eggshell slug protection system and whilst I think that is working I have discovered an even more vicious enemy of our humble brassicas... read on... 

This week public enemy number one of the garden became... SHEEP! 

Oh they look very innocent back in their paddock now but the results of their ruminating in my garden was quite obvious. Clearly they don't love spinach but have a thing for cabbage, broccoli and cauliflower! 

One of the cabbages that were savaged but still in the ground. 

The spinach that lived to tell the tale

We have put in some measures to deter the sheep from doing any more damage with some additional fencing at the bottom of the garden and hope that proves as effective as the cat proof netting over the garden plots has. 

So for now I have forgiven the sheep, as long as they stay on their side of the fence!

It is getting exciting as some of the plants are beginning to fruit so I will leave you with some images of new fruit coming... the anticipation of a fruitful summer is a wonderful thing. Happy growing folks. 

Zucchinis....

Strawberries....

 

Little grapes!

Same bat time, same bat channel- can TV help us improve student engagement?

Here's a little thought I have been having for a while... what if we looked at what TV stations do well to capture and maintain an audience and applied that learning in our classrooms?

I know it sounds a bit odd and in our day where we have varied forms of visual/digital entertainment perhaps the analogy is redundant but I'll let you decide that.

This is some of what I have been considering:

• On TV channels they have specific programmes airing at certain times but it shifts and changes depending on the day. There are some regular programmes and some variation, there are also thematic times such as Christmas or special days of remembrance where the schedule reflects that theme. 
• There are regular ad breaks, often every 10-15 minutes, which can be entertaining in themselves or provide us with an opportunity to shift focus or move around a little. 
• There are a range of programmes scheduled which are designed to meet the interests of varied parts of the target demographic. 
• The target demographic is carefully considered and monitored. 
• Programmers use cliffhangers and other strategies to hook their viewers in and make them want to tune in next time (as the old Batman series said 'same bat time, same bat channel') 
• Sometimes programmes that are less popular are sandwiched between two more popular programmes to keep their viewers tuning in. 
• What is coming up may be talked about in the credits from the previous programme to ensure that viewers do not switch channels. 

When we apply this to the classroom here is what it might look like:

• Lots of consultation with the students so you understand your 'demographic'. What are their favourite subjects, least favourite, how do they prefer to learn, what are their goals, strengths and needs... then consider how you can cater for that (hint: they won't be the same as the class you had last year, or the year before and they will probably change preferences throughout the year too)
• Short snappy lessons- don't drag on boring your audience or they will tune out! 
• Previews of what is coming up as we round off what we have just done e.g. (after a summation of what was learned) "so that was maths folks, coming up we will be exploring the fascinating world of adjectives in our writing...".  
• You can also preview a new topic coming up next week or next term at different times to build anticipation and buy in.  
• There will be predictability with daily scheduling but there will be variability between lessons and you may adjust your schedule seasonally. If we do things the same way all day engagement will drop off (hint: being talked at for long periods of time in the classroom is exhausting and encourages tuning out). 
• If something is a less popular subject then schedule it between two other more popular subjects or parts of the classroom programme e.g. if there is a general reluctance with math and written language don't schedule them immediately one after the other.  
• Stop regularly to allow people to move, shift focus, stretch, ask questions or talk. (Click here for some reasons to consider more action in your classroom) 
• If something isn't working then consider changing it, do something new or different, find another way. You could trial different things to see if they work, like pilot programmes.  

We want our students to tune in, buy in and engage just like a TV station wants their viewers to do, the big difference of course is that we don't want our students to be passive 'viewers' of the learning but active participants whose opinions, interests and needs do matter. And to finish here's a really bold thought, what would it look like if every student had their own schedule designed with them in mind? Just an idea...  

So, how do you get your students to tune in to the learning offered in your school or your classroom? 

By the way, please excuse the spelling for some folk out there, I come from New Zealand :)

Getting going with growing Part 2

Last time I wrote about our garden we had just started getting established.

A month later and the garden is growing in many ways, as are the gardeners! We have had our ups and downs of course but there is enough success to keep me going ;) I am learning to be more in tune with nature, more observant and responsive. I am learning through doing, trial and error, which is really quite motivating, although the thought of eating our own lettuce sandwiches real soon is quite motivating in itself of course!

I am also finding the time in the garden really quite rejuvenating. It is like a quiet break for my brain and even weeding is not a real chore. My little man was quite unwell for a week or two so time in the garden was limited and I did find that I actually missed it... we haven't had the garden for that long but it is already becoming a habit.


Here's the round up:

The highs:

• the lettuces are growing beautifully and hearting up, I am just about to put another lot of lettuce seedlings so we can keep it going
• the tomato plants are also doing really well, I have staked them up and they now have flowers on them too 
• the strawberry plants in the glasshouse are much bigger than those outside but both have flowers and are doing fine
• we have planted some pepper, cabbage, cauliflower and spinach plants, all of which are doing well 
• the garlic in the glasshouse is going well and the onions outside are now looking stable 
• the wire over the outside beds is working well at keeping the cat from sunbathing in the garden beds 
• we have collected enough eggshells to create the slug equivalent of barbed wire fencing to help protect our leafy greens 
• I have also shifted a little lemon tree and so far it looks as though it is thriving in it's new spot 
  
• the compost bin is working well and we have a great seaweed soup working away... hopefully we will have some lovely homemade fertilizer to use soon (I stir this regularly and have just added some more water to the mix too) 

The lessons: 

• the corn I planted has died (well it is yellowed and mostly lying flat)... combination of not planting as soon as I got it, stormy weather hitting after it was planted, our unscheduled week away in hospital where watering was sporadic... and I am wondering if the soil was unsuitable, perhaps needed more compost and less sheep poo? Will protect it better next time too 
• my bean seedlings wilted and died... I left them in the seedling tray too long and they dried out then I overwatered them... note to self, prepare the beds before you need them to reduce delays when plants are ready for planting 
• my pumpkin seedlings that I planted did not do well either, they were planted at the same time and in the same bed as the corn so I need to investigate that a little with the next lot 
• my marigolds that I am planting with the vegies don't seem to be thriving but the plants are so I will wear that 

So I still have to learn about nursing those small seedlings that I have grown from seeds, the striking of seeds has never been a problem and my father used to take the seedlings for the next step so now I have to find out how to do it right... we will get there, this is all part of the adventure of the beginner gardener. 

Food fighting

So when did food become so complicated?

Lately I have had a few interesting things coming up on my newsfeeds that have got me asking this question. As a former health educator I have an interest in food and it's contribution to our wellbeing. I am also interested in research around health and wellbeing.

Here's the thing though, there are proponents of particular diets (being more about food choices people make rather than options to lose weight) and ways of eating battling it out on social media using research and it almost seems like a battle of 'my research is bigger than your research'.

What concerns me is that some people are using research to share their opinions as absolutes. Research rarely offers that much certainty. When using research to support a position I think it is wise to consider some of the following: (I am sure there are other questions to consider as well but this is a starter)

• Who has sponsored or requested the research? 
• What questions were asked?
• What questions are not asked? 
• Is the sample size large enough to make generalisations? 
• What is the range for the sample?
• Is it a diverse population or a specific population? 
• How has the research been conducted? Are you comfortable that the process is fair? 
• What are the findings?
• Who stands to gain from the results of the research? 
• What questions do you have after reading the research? 
• If you are really committed you may want to explore the references to see how widely the researchers have explored the topic. 

Then you can state your position referencing the research in a manner that acknowledges the limitations i.e. some research states ... "there is evidence that for people in xxx situation this works".  I just don't think we can be so sure especially when we are talking about food. 

Our knowledge is changing all the time. It wasn't so long ago that eggs were the bad guys but now they are OK, then it was potatoes at some stage too if I recall correctly. See the image here, eating tapeworms (sanitised of course because that is healthier?!?) as a method to manage weight? Not sure how well researched that method was at the time, or is now, but let's say I am thinking with my limited biological knowledge that whilst losing weight is likely I would have a whole lot of questions about other potential side effects.

It seems to me that there's a huge amount of advice and research out there about food and diets, much of it conflicting. I am all for embracing new knowledge but I do wonder if we become too hung up on what we are eating, do we lose the satisfaction we can feel from enjoying our food? The other day I had some slices of fresh orange and the taste was amazing, sweet, juicy, cool, tasty... YUM! It was a moment of mindful eating and absolute delicious joy.

From my perspective if what you choose to eat helps your body work better and feel better then that's great but let's not assume that it is the answer for everyone's body. We live in different places with different climates and food sources, we have different levels and types of activity, we may react to different foods differently... our circumstances are kind of unique despite the similarities in our anatomy. When we run around labeling food as good or bad, then we risk judging ourselves as being good or bad depending on what, when, where and/or how much we eat, and that can lead to negative emotional responses including guilt... who needs more guilt!?

Perhaps what we need to do is get back to basics by learning to listen to our own bodies again rather than being told by the media, marketers and manufacturers what we should or shouldn't eat this week? We are born knowing what our bodies need and perhaps we have allowed ourselves to become ignorant and easily influenced. I know I am not an expert but would like to think that if we could find some way to reconnect with our own needs, and remove the guilt from food and eating, then perhaps we would all be happier and healthier. 

The big bad red bug

I have been absent from the blog for a little while as we have been in hospital with our little man, we are home now and hopeful that things will continue to improve.

To help explain what was going on we talked to our little boy about the bug and that the doctors were trying to find it so they could help his body stop it hurting him. I talked with him about this bug and what it might look like and where it might be... I thought it was probably a green a spiky but my very unwell little boy was adamant that this particular bug was red, just red.

I wrote this poem for our little man and we have read it often. It has prompted a lot of discussion including where the big bad red bug might be hiding out, what the robot machine is doing, how the little army inside is working hard etc. Even though we are home my little guy asked me to read him the poem again and then exclaimed that the big bad red bug is gone with his cough and the robot machine has it... here's hoping!

Big bad red bug- A poem for Will J

By Megan Gallagher

The big bad red bug is lurking inside

It comes out and makes trouble and then it hides

My army of helpers that live inside me

Are searching throughout to find it you see

But that big bad red bug is sneaky it’s true

It hurts me and makes me feel hot and cold too

My army needs help so we call in the team

Doctors and nurses take some blood to screen

They’re looking for clues to help them to find

That big bad red bug and where it hides

The blood tests come back, a clue they all shout

Let’s give you some medicine to scare that bug out

The put a handy tube into my vein

So we can put an end to that red bugs’ mean game

It means that I have a special bandage to wear

And a robot machine that gets the medicine there

It takes a while for that bad red bug to be found

It knows it’s in trouble so it goes underground

But eventually big bad red bug is through

Thanks to my own army and the medicine too

I need lots of rest, fresh water and hugs

To recover from that mean nasty big bad red bug

Soon I’ll feel better and my own army will too

I wonder what colour your bug would be if this happened to you? 

Are you being a human being right now?

Are you a human being? Of course you are in scientific terms but let's think a little wider.

What else might you be if you are not being a human being? 

Well you could be a human doing or a human been. 

A human doing is busy. They are always thinking about 'stuff''. They may be worrying about things. Committed human doings are likely to be perfectionists and/or procrastinators. They are likely to say yes even when they aren't sure they have the time or energy to add another thing to the list. They avoid silence, there is always something happening. 

Some of this may come from people pleasing, some of it could be a way of avoiding facing ourselves, some of it might just be habit. 

A human been spends time living in the past. They worry over old regrets. They may relive past events in their minds and hold on to old hurts. They are afraid to step out of their comfort zone because they may have failed in the past. 

Some of this may come from being hurt, some of it could be to avoid taking risks, some of it might be because they want to resolve something from their past. 

A human being is focused on what is happening here and now. They notice the taste of their food, what they see and feel. They appreciate that what is happening right now will pass. This does not mean that they are living in a perpetual bliss with every moment wonderful but that they are aware of themselves in the moments as they move through life. 

This for me is where mindfulness resides and there is a whole lot of good news about practicing mindfulness for mental, social, emotional and physical health.  

Many spiritual masters and mindfulness experts talk about human being/doing dynamics. I have a feeling for most of us we are a little of the three types mentioned above at different times. It is useful to raise our awareness though and know what type of human we are in different circumstances so we can balance ourselves better, improve our sense of empowerment and even improve our relationships with others.

At the moment I am in a human doing zone... there is a lot happening and at times it has been threatening to overwhelm me. In the midst of this chaos (and trust me it has felt a little chaotic) I have created moments of clarity and simplicity which have helped me cope. This morning for example I put my little boy who has been unwell this week in the pushchair and took the dogs for a walk. It was a gorgeous spring morning here and we stopped to talk to a couple of older ladies who patted the dogs, looked closely at a train (the way that some of the machinery is visible is quite neat so we were able to look at springs and pistons etc), noticed the stunning blossom on a weeping cherry tree and enjoyed going down hills fast and over the bumpy gravel. This hour out of a busy and tiring time was the best medicine ever and that is because I left the house as a human being not a human been or human doing... it could just have easily been doing another thing to cross off my to do list or a time where I allowed my mind to wander to worrying over problems from the past or what else I needed to get done. The frame of mind I chose did not change what I did but it made a significant difference in how I felt and what I gained from the time spent. 

It has taken me a long time to understand that it is OK to switch off from our mind chatter, the world will not stop if we do. I am so grateful for this awareness, it is empowering. We cannot always choose the circumstances we are presented with but we can sometimes choose the type of human that we are in those circumstances.  

To help get started just every so often check in with yourself and ask what sort of human am I right now? And then check that the choice you have made is working for you. 

Could you be happier at work if you worked like a volunteer?

Be happier at work by working like a volunteer. 

You might have heard the statement that to get more out of your job you should work like you own the company and perhaps that is true. I have been reflecting a little lately and think that working with a volunteer mindset is a good way to get more enjoyment from your work. 

Here are three simple reasons: 

• Volunteers choose to work there 

This is a big shift in thinking... rather than having to go to work (insert groan here) if we approach this as a choice that we make then we are more empowered. Volunteers choose to give what they can because they want to and they care. 

If we give what we can rather than just what we are 'paid to do' or 'what is in our job description' or even because 'the outcome is part of my professional development plan' then we get to stretch ourselves, show the best of ourselves and, if this is what you want, create a positive name for our selves.  

• Volunteers work because they believe in their organisation 

Volunteers usually believe in the organisations they choose to give their time and energy to. If your organisation has a organisational culture statement, stated values or philosophy then get to know them and understand what this looks like and feels like in action. Embrace and exude those parts of the philosophy that knit with your values. 

The volunteers I have seen often share their volunteer work with as much if not more passion and enthusiasm than their day jobs so imagine the positivity you can create adopting this attitude about your work. 

• Volunteers feel good in their work because they are contributing to something worthwhile

This is how volunteers stick with it even when the work they are doing is hard, time consuming or unpleasant. When I am cleaning the toilets at our local playcentre (a family/whanau led early childhood setting) I don't really mind as I know that it helps create the healthy, safe environment that we want for our children. 

Again if we find a way to feel like we are contributing to something outside of ourselves that has worth then even the mundane, difficult or unpleasant tasks will be easier to bear. 

Now this might all sound like a fairy tale version of the cut throat work environments some of us may work in. I know that there are challenges including employers that take advantage, difficult colleagues, unreasonable bosses, annoying clients to name a few (and this isn't even touching on the mechanical/technical frustrations we may be faced with) but this approach is working with a mindset that is about you and not necessarily the other people around you. If this approach doesn't work in your workplace then I urge you to volunteer in your community so you can experience the benefits of this perspective if nothing else. 

I guess perhaps this is also a call to change the culture of our workplaces too... imagine if we all worked like this, if we all gave what we were able to because it felt good to contribute, because we wanted to? Imagine as employers and managers if you embraced this mindset with your staff, offering them greater freedom in exchange for increased productivity perhaps. The other day I read a little article about Richard Branson with interest about offering employees unlimited vacation time, this kind of knits with the volunteer approach that I have been speaking about.  

There is a caveat here about working like a volunteer and that is managing your time so you maintain a balanced lifestyle. This is more about thinking how we spend our time and valuing all those things that are important to us. All ideas to think about I guess. 

Image from: http://blog.trophies2go.com/recognizing-volunteers/