Day: April 7, 2016

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Joyful Illiteracy? Yes! Yes! Yes!

Cuerda Desgastada

While our Aussie children are stretched and snapping, children from a far away country are thriving. Can you imagine a nation revelling in words such as THE JOYFUL ILLITERACY OF KINDERGARTEN CHILDREN? Well read the link provided at the end of this article!

While we are ripping children from sandpits and block corners to give them boring workbooks, the Finns are quietly allowing (actually encouraging) their young children to play and experiment and be active and NOT stressing about literacy. In fact their children enjoy extraordinary literacy standards with far fewer tests and worksheets.

They TEACH their children rather than continually testing. Over-testing of children is like digging up beautiful, flowering, healthy rose bushes to see if they have roots. Eventually they will wither. This is happening to our children- right before our eyes!

In Finland children are encouraged to play because the well documented power of play is understood by their educators. There’s an old Finnish saying, “Those things you learn without joy you will forget easily.” I would like to see that on a poster in every classroom in the world! (Universities as well)

Every 45 minutes, children in Finnish schools are encouraged to get up and go outside to play (even in cold weather!) We know what happens when children are allowed to freely move and actually get outside- better results!

So why are we modelling our system on those that do the opposite to these practices? Erroneous thinking, lack of research and knee-jerk reactions rather than calm consideration of what is actually best for children.

Will it only be when our classrooms are full of depressed, nervous and stressed out children who are stretched to breaking point and “snapping” like dry leaves that we will consider change? Well that is already happening. Even ONE child snapping and losing joy, confidence and a sense of I CAN is too many!

It’s time to say WE WERE WRONG and allow children to become children once more. Maybe it’s time to celebrate the joyful illiteracy of our own pre-schoolers and leave them in the sandpits if we want the high literacy standards enjoyed in Finland.

I’m off to jump in our sand-pit with some playful, creative pre-schoolers……..

 

http://www.theatlantic.com/education/archive/2015/10/the-joyful-illiterate-kindergartners-of-finland/408325/

 

 

 

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The ABC OF CHILD WHISPERING L is for limiting thoughts and beliefs

New mindset new results motivational phrase sign on old wood with blurred background
New mindset new results motivational phrase sign on old wood with blurred background

Yesterday I was talking to a bunch of young people at our centre- upper primary and secondary.

They were talking about how scary the forthcoming NAPLAN tests are for them. One of the students was very worried about a test she had coming up at school today.

I suddenly realised I was confronting a dense smog of self-limiting beliefs and that it was worth taking some time away from our writing lesson to help the children see what they were doing.

I reminded them that repeating these negative affirmations was just making the likelihood of failure more likely!

We looked at how simply worrying about NAPLAN could ruin the forthcoming holidays and not help one iota. We then examined how taking a positive attitude and using positive affirmations would be likely to lead to higher marks. (Along with some judicious practice and well applied study skills!)

We discussed the pointlessness of obsessively worrying about the questions that MIGHT occur. It is a far better strategy to write down the questions that would be most difficult and then write answers.

Playing WORST QUESTIONS EVER is actually a very positive strategy where children together write the hardest questions they can think of and then collaboratively set out to answer them!

Chances are that they will actually get easier questions and even if they don’t- they will not have spent days or weeks worrying themselves into a negative wormhole!

The limiting thoughts and beliefs we carry from childhood have a massive impact on our adult lives and in turn get visited on our loved ones.

Common examples are I AM HOPELESS AT MATHS, I AM NOT SMART, I WILL NEVER HAVE ANY MONEY, I WILL NEVER BE SUCCESSFUL, PEOPLE DON’T LIKE ME, I DON’T HAVE MANY FRIENDS, I WILL NEVER PASS THE EXAM…………

We deal with these negative self-beliefs within all our learning sessions and in particular during our evidence-based EQ4KIDZ course.

Children need to be helped to squash these thoughts and place them under a “microscope” to see how damaging they really are. Then they need to be shown how to use positive affirmations that can be immediately substituted for negative thoughts.

Children and teenagers CAN be empowered to overcome these self-limiting beliefs. It just takes time, sensitive, deep listening and a willingness to demonstrate and scaffold thinking techniques that need to be applied. Our young people are often very stressed and worried at this PRE-NAPLAN time and they need our calm support!

 

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