Is This MyStory

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Choose to Be The Author of Your Life

Are You Happy?

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How often do you think, ‘I just need to finish this and then, I will be happy’? Perhaps friends, family or teachers remind you, ‘happiness is the reward for putting in the effort, working hard and achieving your goals’. But what about your current state of mind? How happy do you feel right now? Maybe your quest to achieve today, so you can be happy in the future, is the problem.




Shawn Achor in this TED video explains how raising positivity in our present can ‘turn on’ parts of the brain that help us function more efficiently and learn more effectively. Watch the video and see Achor using humour to illustrate why actively managing your thoughts can help you develop a positive mindset. The benefit of recognising the positive now, rather than believing happiness will result from achieving something in the future, is that you place yourself in a position to identify opportunities and create what you want to create.

Of course, happiness and positivity are not necessarily synonymous terms, but I will leave that post for another day. Watch the video and let me know what you think.

Welcome to a World of Expression

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Do You Grasp Concepts or Hold Ideas?

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Do you think, or do you follow the thinking of others? Do you use ideas, or do you repeat them? Are you willing to play with knowledge, or do you store facts in neat little memory bundles. How responsible are you for your own learning?

Dr Derek Cabrera says we need to actively teach our students to think for themselves (rather than encouraging them to memorise  and regurgitate facts on a test). I agree. Students who ‘grasp’ ideas, rather than ‘holding’ facts, tend to be more flexible, more creative and better equipped to thrive in a world that exists beyond the school gates.

Which learning experience would you prefer?

Think for a moment about the difference between the words ‘grasp’ and ‘hold’ (incidentally, recognising difference is the ‘D’ part of Cabrera’s DSRP thinking method). To grasp something is to take it firmly ‘in hand’. We also use the word ‘grasp’ to signify mental comprehension – i.e. ‘I grasp your meaning’. In contrast the word ‘hold’ generally implies to keep or maintain something.

Can you guess why it is better to grasp ideas, than hold facts? Again, think about it. While you are thinking, consider the impact of connotation. Remember connotation refers to a word’s ‘vibe’ –  its implied or associated meaning.  You may recognise that grasp implies a much stronger force than simply holding. Therefore, grasping ideas offers an impression of actively and relentlessly gathering and synthesising ideas to create a solid foundation for further thought. In contrast, holding facts presents an image of keeping information in storage. The key difference is that grasping an idea involves a proactive action whereas holding facts tends to be a passive.

You may be wondering why I am labouring the difference between grasping and holding (perhaps you want to know why I am asking so many questions). The easy response is I want to encourage you to think about your own thinking process. The more visible thinking becomes, the easier it is to identify areas of strength (and weakness) and the easier it is to direct thoughts towards generative actions. The other reason is to mentally prepare you, before introducing an acronym I use in my classes.

Put simply, I devised the acronym GRASP to describe the process of critical thinking.

G – gather information from a variety of sources
R – reflect upon the ideas within the information
A – analyse the validity of the ideas, test them against each other and your own experience
S – synthesise ideas to create new perspectives and fresh thoughts
P – propose new ideas and strategies

Students who GRASP concepts rather than holding ideas, recognise that any reading, listening or viewing activity can became an active ‘thinking’ opportunity. In this sense you participate, direct and ‘learn’, rather than simply being an observer of someone else’s thinking. Taking control of your own learning, is the first step toward becoming a lifelong learner and a positive step toward taking control of your own life.

Welcome to a World of Expression

Remember, if you liked this post you may like to subscribe to our blog or read my book, Is This MyStory (available in full or as a 4 part series)

Within, Without and Below the Story

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On its own, reading can be a passive activity. However you can increase your critical understanding of what you read by training yourself to be simultaneously ‘within’, ‘without’ and ‘below’ the story. In simple terms, when reading, you can experience the narrative as a participant (a character), you can examine the narrative as an omniscient observer and you can manipulate the narrative through direct awareness of the subtext. 

The ‘Within, Without and Below’ process is a 3D approach which offers an in-depth, multi perspective appreciation of a text and, it helps you determine how (and why) the narrative is relevant to you. In essence, being within, without and below the story can help you locate embedded learning. Therefore, the ‘Within, Without and Below’ process acts as a catalyst for building your own knowledge from ideas you have gathered. It is a system of tripartite synthesis that offers an opportunity to consolidate learning and create your own concepts. Deep learning occurs because you are actively blending your thoughts, with the ideas of others, to construct ‘new’ meaning. 

Interestingly, the ‘Within, Without and Below’ reading process works equally well with fiction and non-fiction. While it is true that non-fiction texts may not be ‘stories’ per se, many non fiction texts contain story elements or narrative techniques. For instance, most texts utilise specific language features (ie descriptive, persuasive, informative) to establish a particular tone or mood. Recognising how (and why) these features are used provides clues for interpreting subtext. Similarly, becoming aware of point-of-view offers signals for discerning purpose and bias. This is useful for determining a text’s relevance to your situation. Therefore, regardless of text type, it is possible to explore a text from multiple perspectives using an awareness of narrative functions.

Can you imagine how this may benefit you? Think forward for a moment and predict what the world may look like 10 years from now. Which skills and tools will be required to navigate a world where information is easily obtained and constantly changing technology promotes opportunities and delivers challenges? An endless parade of innovative goods and services will supplant current products and practices, leading to constant revisions of social norms. Who will create these fresh perspectives?

Now imagine your future. Where will you be, what will you be doing?

Chances are the world will continue to change – have you considered your position within it? While it may be impossible to accurately forecast the future, it is possible to make a choice about your role within it. You can choose today, to develop the skills that will prepare you for an unknown tomorrow. You can choose to become a lifelong learner who ‘reads’ patterns and ‘adapts’ new systems. You can choose to gather the tools of critical, emotional and creative literacy (analysis, evaluation, synthesis and construction), so you may direct a course to your future.  

The ‘Within, Without and Below’ process is best demonstrated ‘live’, however here is a brief overview:

1.  Listen while a passage from a story is read to you (you could record yourself reading the passage and then listen back to it)

2.  Listen to passage a second time, but this time close your eyes and imagine yourself within the story. You may be one of the characters or you may be an ‘additional character who acts as a friend or advisor. Allow yourself to become part of the story and notice how you react to the situations encountered.

3. Engage in a focused breathing and creative visualisation exercise where you take charge of the story. Imagine what ‘could’ happen next if you were in control.

4. As soon as you have finished the creative visualisation, write for 10 minutes about a thematic issue raised in the text (without editing or censuring your thoughts).

5. Discuss the ideas born from the text and your own writing.

6. Return to the written copy of the passage. Focus on the language used by the author. In particular pay attention to connotation and figurative language. Consider the reasons behind the author’s choice of words. Reflect how you would (and did) express similar concepts.

7. Write an evaluative piece. This will be a polished piece of writing that has been drafted several times to ensure accuracy and coherency. You may like to publish this as a blog post and invite others to comment on your ideas.

Obviously this is a process that takes time. However, if you train your mind to think ‘within, without and below’ using exercises such as this, you may find yourself reading in such a way that the process occurs almost automatically.  The key point to remember is that passive reading is not ‘learning’, it is simply following words to a destination. However, if you choose to actively think about and manipulate the words on the page, you can begin to construct ideas. This is how ‘knowledge’ grows.

Welcome to a World of Expression

Transformative Teaching Takes Time

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Australia’s results in the Progress in International Reading Literacy Study were disappointing. Peter Hatcher, writing in The Sydney Morning Herald, suggests we need “more transformative teachers in our schools”. To Peter, and anyone else who may agree with him I say, look carefully and you will see we already have transformative teachers in our schools. Unfortunately, much of their talent is wasted.

Why? Because they are buried under mountains of bureaucratic systems management. Put simply, teachers are not given time to teach. Good teaching, transformative teaching takes time. Teachers need time to prepare innovative lessons. They need time to deliver challenging, relevant, practically focused classes. Teachers need time to reflect upon teaching and learning practices. Transformative teaching also requires immense energy.

How many visitors to schools take a good look at teacher’s faces? Have you seen the exhaustion behind the positive smile? Perhaps you noted how a teacher’s eyes dart with Mad Eye Mooney dexterity – to remain alert to everything happening around them. Maybe you have registered the apologetic shoulder slump as they explain they only have a couple of minutes to discuss your child’s progress because they are about to;

–  dash off to speak with a parent,
–  attend a meeting,
–  write reports,
–  answer parent emails,
–  prepare materials for the next class,
–  complete paperwork for the upcoming excursion (or to report an incident that happened on playground duty),

before they are ready to teach class for the remainder of the afternoon.

Perhaps you questioned time management and wondered if any of these tasks could wait until after school. In an apologetic tone, the teacher probably explained after school they will;

–  attend a PD session,
–  set an exam for next week,
–  mark the exams completed yesterday,
–  prepare a series of lessons based on the PD session (they are hoping the PD will be relevant so they can tie it in to a lesson earlier today when it became obvious the students needed to spend more time on foundational skills before moving on to the next content unit),
–  catch the latest twitter or linked in feed to uncover some useful PD.

Maybe, you looked up in surprise and questioned if this was a particularly busy day. Sadly, the teacher would probably shake their head and respond, “no, this is a normal day”.

If you then wondered how anyone could possibly juggle all of these tasks and still have time to;

–  think creatively,
–  read the latest research,
–  collaborate with colleagues to devise fresh teaching approaches,

you may begin to understand what Australia needs to do to lift its educational standards. It really is quite simple (and it goes beyond funding, testing and attracting the ‘best’). Give teachers time to teach.

It is time to look closely at the teachers we already have. Most are brilliant. Most teachers in our schools are compassionate, creative, intelligent innovators with high empathy skills. I know this because I worked in a school where each of my colleagues was a highly competent, considerate professional.  I regularly attend TeachMeets where I gather with dedicated, passionate teachers who share exceptional learning strategies. I have mentored amazingly talented university students (on teaching prac) who demonstrated enthusiasm, commitment and in-depth content knowledge of their subject area.

So, let’s gaze inside real schools and consider what is broken, rather than looking outside at what may be broken. Policy makers should attach themselves to ‘chalk face teachers’ and spend a couple of months within schools before they determine what is needed to raise the standard of education in Australian schools. We need primary, in the field, practical research, not a group of consultants observing from afar and collecting ‘one size fits all’ data. In the words of Atticus Finch, “You can never really understand a person until you consider all things from his point of view – until you climb into his skin and walk around in it.” We already have many brilliant teachers, they simply need the opportunity to do the brilliant work they desperately want to do.

Teachers need time to teach and although some people like to focus on  ‘all the holidays’ a teacher has remember, school holidays are for students, teachers have ‘non-term time’. During non-term time teachers either work from home or on campus. They prepare next term’s lessons, catch up on filing, amend programs, read current research and complete PD.

Finally, in the spirit of the season, let me leave you with an analogy relevant to staying safe over the holiday period. We know drivers must be well rested to remain alert. No matter how skilful a person is behind the wheel, they cannot drive with precision if they are tired. That is why we are taught to “stop, revive, survive”. We are told to rest during the ‘revive’ period – this is not a time for dashing around. We also know sleep cannot be ‘banked’ for latter. You know how dangerous it would be to suggest an extra 3 hours sleep today would let you drive an extra 3 hours tomorrow.

Please give teachers the time they need to teach with precision and expertise.

Welcome to a World of Expression

Other posts linked to this topic, What do Students Need, A teaching Analogy for the Bureaucratically Minded

Other articles linked to this topic, Students’ impression of what makes a great teacher, Characteristics of effective teachers

Are 2Day FM Presenters Schoolyard Bully’s?

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This morning I cried. I wept for the nurse who died. Jacintha Saldanha was the victim of a prank call; her death was reported as suspected suicide. After the swell of grief came the waves of anger. I am not the only person writing about this today, I hope my voice will join with millions of others to say No! No, prank calls are not harmless fun. No, they are not amusing. No, radio stations should not promote them. And NO, NO, NO, prank callers cannot justify their humiliating antics by saying they are entertaining. Let’s just call them what they are, prank calls are a bullying behaviour.

 Imagine for a moment this tragedy being played out in the playground. What would be reported? How would parents, teachers and students react? The immediate response of other DJs (the peers) was to applaud the stunt. They even congratulated Mel Grig & Michael Christian for being hilariously funny and clever in their deceit.

Again, imagine this occurring in a school yard.  Can you see why it may be difficult for teenagers to learn the difference between compassionate behaviour and cruel trickery? What hope have our children got when the people they listen to on the radio deliberately embarrass and harass a fellow human being, simply to improve their own social status? Of course Grig and Christian did not intend the tragic consequences However, they did intend to lie, cheat and profit from embarrassing hospital staff. Why? Perhaps they thought it would be funny and wanted to see if they could get away with it. Maybe, Grig and Christian wanted to match their wit against another’s because they thought their audience would be amused. Sound familiar? Is this the message we want our kids to hear?  Why are prank calls legitimised in the name of entertainment?

I have always greeted the radio prank call with disdain. I turn the dial and let music from another station soothe away the anger words such as ‘prank call’ inspire. Now before you go questioning my sense of humour, ask yourself this;

“Would you find it acceptable if teenagers made prank calls?”

If you answered, “it depends on who they call and what they say”, ask yourself a second question;

“Who decides who can be deceived and what degree of humiliation is acceptable?”

While your thinking, consider this; “how much suffering does a victim have to go through, and who measures it” – because it seems to me, asking a victim or their family about degree of pain, after they have already experienced it, is too little too late.

Finally, a more pertinent question relating to teenagers who are still forming values and preparing to live in a cohesive society;

“How can our children learn limits when pranking is seen as acceptable on radio and TV?”

Yes, there is public outcry when a stunt goes too far, but that happens after the fact, when the damage has been done. If adults in the public eye model poor judgement, what hope have teenagers got?

Perhaps you would like to imagine another scenario, one where a student hides a classmate’s pencil case (containing a mobile phone, USB and other treasures). The student hiding the pencil case claims ‘it is all in good fun’. But who decided it was ‘funny’? What about the victim? What message does it convey to them? The perpetrator has the group beside them. They pick a victim to humiliate and the group laughs. But what happens to the owner of the pencil case? They are singled out; separated. They are not ‘in’ on the joke (which in itself can be soul destroying). Added to the disconnection,  are the feelings of anguish they are forced to endure. If the victim becomes angry or upset, the group, led by the perpetrator, derides them for not ‘taking a joke’. The victim withdraws, often vowing to regain power by playing the same prank upon another. This is bullying at its most insidious and, as The Big Bang Theory, The Spekerman Recurrence (season 5 episode 11) highlights, often the person doing the bullying is not aware they are a bully. The bully simply believes they have committed a harmless prank. Why, because pranking is often legitimised in our culture.

Clearly some members of the community believe deliberately causing emotional pain, sending out cruel taunts thinly veiled as innocent questions, is hilarious. However, if we are serious about helping our kids and preventing bullying, we must stop condoning this type of behaviour. What message are prank calling DJ’s sharing; are they saying it is ok to play a joke on someone? Is it ok to deceive, humiliate and shame, simply so ‘friends’ may laugh? It is little wonder our kids are confused.

Is This MyStory and MyQuest teach critical, emotional and creative literacy. We help teenagers identify  the harm caused by deceitful behaviour. We believe our students can become critical thinkers who possess the courage and compassion to turn the dial and shout out against bully behaviours. Please join us, and say NO to prank calls.

Welcome to a World of Expression

As you may have guessed I am passionate in my desire to address this problem. My book, Is This MyStory includes a short story which explores the damage caused by prank calls. You can read the extract here.

Remember support is available for anyone who may be distressed this issue. Lifeline 13 11 14,  Kids Helpline 1800 551 800.

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