5 September 2009 - Design Your Life through Successful Goal Setting. By Karen Boyes

There are two choices you have about the future... let it happen or make it happen. Take a moment to reflect on what your life was like ten years ago. What were you doing? Where were you working or were you studying at College or Uni? Who did you spend time with? What was your personal life like? 

Could you have imagined back then that your life ten years in the future would have been like it is today? If you answered yes to this, chances are you had some goals, a plan or a vision for what your life would be like. Now imagine ten years from today. What will your life be like?

Setting goals and having a vision for the future are sensible if success is something you aim for. Not just New Year resolutions that are forgotten by the next month, but meaningful goals that give you a direction and a purpose. Nearly all the successful people, whether it be in sport, politics, career, family etc have had goals and/or a vision to make it happen. It rarely happens on its own if left to chance. 

There are seven simple steps to SMARTER goal setting. 

Your goals must be very SPECIFIC. If I set a goal that states "I want to be successful" it doesn't say at what. You get what you ask for in life. "Ask and you shall be given." How can you get what you want out of life if you don't tell anyone, especially if you are not even sure yourself? 

Your goals must be measurable. What would happen if you ran a marathon and there was no finish line? How would you know when you had completed the run? You would either stop short or keep going. If getting fit is a goal - how will you know when you are fit? Does it mean you can run to the letterbox and back without puffing or does it mean you have 15% body fat? How will you determine that you have completed the goal? Make your goals measurable so that you will know when you have achieved a goal and celebrate your success. 

Set your goals so they are achievable. If you want to be an Olympic swimmer and you don't know how to swim, this goal may be too big. If you want to be a Mechanical Engineer and you are good at language and not so good at maths, you may want to reconsider your goal. 

A friend once set a goal to run a particular half marathon in 2 hours and 22 minutes. She wrote her goal down and displayed it so she could see it daily. This goal was an achievable goal for her - but not for me because I don't run! When she ran the half marathon the stop watch stopped at 2 hours and 22 minutes!

I asked my friend "What if you had set your goal for 2 hours and 18 minutes?" She replied that at the time this was not realistic, however it is now. The difference between achievable and realistic is that it is achievable for every student this year sitting exams to pass. What will be different is realistically are those students willing to do what it takes? Are they willing to study, ask questions if they are not sure, learn the information they got wrong, practice old exam papers, use colour and effective note taking. Are you willing to do what it takes to achieve your goals? 

It's also essential to put a date or time frame on your goals. When do you want to achieve this goal? A time frame creates urgency. If you say your goal is to complete all the marking on my desk, it doesn't say by when. If I say "My goal is to complete all the marking on my desk by the weekend" there is a bit more urgency to get on with it.

Goals are all the more powerful when they EXCITE you. When your goals are aligned with your personal vision or mission they are more likely to come to fruition. If you are not sure of your purpose, consider for a moment the answers to these questions? If you had 25 hours a day, what would you do with the extra hour? (You are not allowed to answer sleep! That will not aid in finding your mission.)

What three things would you do if you knew you couldn't fail? Think of 3 people who know you best, what would they say your strengths are? When was a time you were really excited, passionate about what you were doing? If you had $1 Million to give to a cause, which cause would you give to and how would you advise them to use it?

Find or design a vision or mission that is bigger than yourself and you will discover an energy and liveliness that you have never imagined.

The very last step to successful goal setting is to RECORD and REVIEW. Write your goals down and read them as often as possible or display your goals in a pictorial form by cutting out pictures and words from magazines and hang it somewhere you can see it each day. The impact of having a written set of goals is demonstrated by this study. A 1953 survey of the graduating class at Harvard University, revealed that only 3% of the class had a set of written goals. Twenty years later this 3% had obtained more wealth, happiness and success than the other 97% combined. 

Dreams don't come true magically. They usually become a reality slowly through experiences, encouragement from others, examples from people you know or personalities on TV or that you have read about. 

Once you know what your goals are, it is essential you plan the steps involved to complete them. If you are not sure of the steps involved, you could use the Planning Evaluation Review Technique (PERT) that NASA used to put a man on the moon. You start with the final outcome and work backwards asking "what happened just before that."

Reviewing your goals is also essential. Once you head on your journey towards your goal it is important that you reflect on the journey - are you continuing to head in the desired direction? Have you slipped off course? Once you start taking action, you may slip up on a step as all the steps are not the same height. If you do - learn from your mistakes and attempt it again.

A way to fast track your goals is to model successful people and find mentors. Successful people love helping others become successful. Just ask. 

Find people who have already succeeded at something you want to do. Find role models who have overcome obstacles. Read books about successful people. Watch documentaries about people who have achieved. Take a successful person out for lunch. 

The exciting part of goal setting is that you are in command of your future. It may not happen exactly as you expect, but what if it does? 

You only get one shot at this life - design it and live the life you dream of. 

Check out our website at www.spectrumeducation.com and shop online for books and educational resources. 

5 July 2009 - Gathering Data Through All Your Senses  - By Karen Boyes

In Art Costa's book Discovering & Exploring the Habits Of Mind he suggests intelligent people gather data for evaluation, problem solving and learning, using many of their senses - not just one. 

When faced with problems to solve, it is important to look at many options engaging your senses. This is illustrated well in Aron Ralston's book, Caught Between a Rock and A Hard Place, where Aron finds himself in a slot canyon with his arm jammed between the canyon wall and a rock. He evaluates his situation using all his senses and eventually amputates his own arm for survival. 

There are six main pathways for information to enter the brain - all sent by electrochemical signals to individual brain cells for storage and retrieval. These pathways are visual, auditory, tactile, kinesthetic, olfactory and gustatory. 

How do these senses work? 

Over ninety percent of sensory input coming into the brain is through the eyes. The sense of touch is from the largest sensory organ, the skin. Hearing is the only sense fully developed at birth so while this sense cannot be improved, the ability to listen can be. Smell, the olfactory sense, is the only sense not filtered by the brain. Smell goes directly from your nose cavity to the emotional centre of the brain, releasing chemicals and endorphins into the body causing an emotional or physical response. Humans have four taste receptors, sweet, salty, sour and bitter. 

The more you can engage and develop each of these senses, the greater to opportunity for learning to occur. Dr Vernon Magnesen affirms this with his statement; We remember 20% of what we read, 30% of what we hear, 40% of what is seen, 50% of what is said and 60% of what is done. He continues to say, "If you see, hear, say and do, the brain will remember 90%."

Art Costa states "to know a wine, you must drink it; to know a role, you must act it; to understand a game, you must play it; to achieve a goal, you must be able to envisioned it. An ancient Chinese proverb says, "To know and not to do, is still not to know." When planning your lessons, engage as many senses as possible. Encourage students to use other senses, rather than the most obvious ones. When the senses and dull and sluggish, thinking will also be dull and sluggish. Many studies show arts and music have a huge impact on improved mental functioning. Through the arts and music develops strong vocabulary; patterns, texture, colours, shapes, rhythms, tone, tempo, which in turn affects the ability for higher order thinking. 

Developing the senses...

Improve visual literacy by using pictures, video clips and photographs. Show the image and then remove it from sight and ask questions about it. 

Write instructions of the board for visual reference. 

Discuss what life would be like without sight, hearing, taste etc. 

Invite students to listen to a track of music and hear particular instruments

Explain a task to a friend without demonstrating

Use a ‘feely bag' activity to touch and describe objects such as sandpaper, soap, chalk, steel, silk etc. 

Invite students to move to the rhythms of a piece of music. 

Act out or dance a poems or prose

Provide students with different fragrances to smell such as cloves, cinnamon, eucalyptus, lemon, perfume etc. 

Teach students to smell with small sniffs and their mouth open for a different sensation

Incorporate the senses into story writing and telling

Blind fold your students and put different tastes on their tongues: sugar, salt, lemon juice and vinegar. Cleanse their palate between tastes with water or plain crackers. 

When problem solving, encourage students to visualise 

Build models 

Enrich language by using multiple senses: a waterfall of ideas, loud music slapping my ears. 

Provide a tactile environment with a ‘hands on' approach

Give students a choice in which mode they present ideas

Ask questions to evoke different senses: What would it look like? How might that sound? What smells would you associate with this situation? 

Use real examples or analogies to enhance the learning

Add more physical participation into your lessons. For example, saying the times-tables while bouncing a ball on the wall. 

Go on field trips

Encourage students to draw visual representations of an experience

There are many books that can be used to introduce the idea of using all your senses. These include: 

The Blind Men & the Elephant - Robert McCloskey

Little Read Riding Hood

There's a Nightmare in my Cupboard - Mercer Mayer

Charlotte's Web - EB White

James & The Giant Peach - Roald Dahl

Anne Frank - The diary of a young girl

Student love finding out how there brain works. Where the different senses are located in the brain and ways to maximise this learning potential. Frank Smith has been quoted to say, "If children find learning difficult, it could well be that there is something the matter with the way we are asking them to learn, rather than something the matter with their innate capacity for learning." 

References: 

Discovering & Exploring the Habits Of Mind - Art Costa and Bena Kallick: 

Creating An Effective Learning Environment - Karen Boyes: 

Caught Between a Rock and A Hard Place - Aron Ralston

Teaching with The Arts In Mind - Eric Jenson 

Study Smart - Karen Boyes

Boys Education & Homework - Ian Lillico

5 May 2009 - Food for the Brain - By Karen Boyes

Children's blood sugar level cycles about every 45 minutes. In adults, it's every 90 minutes and in teenagers, about every 60 minutes. When their blood sugar levels are low, learning is difficult. Keeping your and their blood sugar levels up is important. However, what students eat is important. There are good foods for your brain and memory, and there are some not so good foods. 

What is brain food? 

To begin with, one the best food groups for your brain is protein. The best sources of protein are unsalted nuts, chicken and fish. Fish, for many years, has been called brain food. Fish contains essential oils and amino acids that your brain uses directly. I'm not talking about the processed "fish and chips" fish, or takeaway chicken, but fresh good quality fish and chicken. 

Takeaway food looks quick and easy and even tastes good. On February 23rd 2002 I purchased a burger from a well known burger restaurant. I left it on a plate in my office. Four years later, this hamburger looks the same as the day I purchased it. The bread, cheese and meat hasn't gone mouldy. There are so many chemicals in it making it look good and taste good, and it doesn't have nutritional value for the brain and learning. Do this experiment in the classroom with your students - they will be amazed. 

Another food group that is good for your brain is fruit and vegetables. Essentially, what your brain needs from fruit and vegetables is vitamin B and vitamin C. If you're not getting enough vitamins B or C, you may find it a little harder to remember things. In fact, research shows that when elderly people supplemented their diets with vitamins B and C, their memory recall went up 100%. 

There is one other food that is absolutely fantastic for the brain, and you can eat as much of this as you like — popcorn. Popcorn is a complex carbohydrate giving you lots of energy without the sugar rush. It is best eaten plain and unsalted. Many teachers through NZ have popcorn machines in their classrooms, allowing students to eat throughout the day. Teachers and students are finding it easier to concentrate, comprehension is going up and behaviour challenges are lessening. 

What should my students avoid? 

Sugar creates an addiction cycle in your body that makes the brain work overtime. When you eat something sweet, your body starts to pump adrenaline and you feel good - the sugar high. However, while your body is using the sugar, your pancreas produces insulin to bring your body back into balance. This makes you feel worse than you did before eating the sugar. Then you think you need something else sweet to eat, and suddenly you've set up an addiction cycle. It's particularly detrimental for students around exam time and when they are studying because the brain focuses on the need for more sugar, rather than devoting energy to memory and learning. 

Caffeine is found in tea, coffee, coke, pepsi and other manufactured drinks, cigarettes and chocolate. Smart drinks also have contain caffeine. Dr Batmanghelid, in his book "Your Bodies Many Cries For Water" states "It's an elementary but catastrophic mistake to think caffeine drinks are a substitute for water." He continues to say" It's true they contain water, but they also contain dehydration agents and use the water they are dissolved in as well as the reserves from the body." Caffeine is a diuretic and this means each cup or glass of caffeine that you drink dehydrates your body of up to three glasses of water. You may have a cup of coffee and then feel quite thirsty. You have another cup of coffee, become even more thirsty and have another cup of coffee. 

Approximately 70% of our bodies are made up of water and over 80% of our brains are water. Not enough water can lead to dehydration which causes headaches, lack of concentration and focus and tiredness. Drinking at least six to eight glasses of water a day is important for health and success. Younger children should consume about 4 glasses of water a day. Allow students to rehydrate between classes. They do not need to be sucking on a drink bottle continuously in class. However at any time of stress the body also dehydrates. Have you ever stood up in front of a group to speak and your month suddenly goes dry? According to Dr Batmanghelid, the ‘dry mouth' signal is the last outward sigh of extreme dehydration. Dr Carla Hannaford suggests under any stress the body needs two to three times the normal daily amount of water. 

What can I do in my Classroom? 

Many teachers are beginning to allow their students to eat during class. You may like to give parents a list of appropriate foods. Talk to you students about the positive role of nutrition and how it affects their performance, thinking and reaction times. 

Too much time between eating can cause a loss of concentration and decrease alertness. This obviously has implications for skipping meals, especially breakfast and students who eat early before school and have nothing again until 10.30am. 

Many schools are changing their bell times to allow students to eat regularly. In primary schools morning tea has been renamed ‘brain food break' instead of ‘playtime' with the emphasis on students refuelling for the next session. In general Primary schools bell times look like this... 

9-10 Class 

10-10.15 Brain food break

15 -11.15 Class

15 -11.30 Brain food break

30-12.30 Class

30 -1.15 Lunch

15 - 3pm Class

A shortened lunch time in most schools has been welcome as most of the behaviour challenges happen in the last 15 mins. Cutting this out has resulted in fewer playground incidences. 

Many Secondary Schools have also shifted their bell times to avoid the after lunch tired or hyperactive students syndrome. Schools have two classes in the morning, then morning tea, two classes before lunch and only one class after lunch. Teachers have reported students being more focused and less likely to cut the afternoon class.