How can we improve children’s behaviour and attitude in our schools?

December 11, 2013 by

How can we improve children’s behaviour and attitude in our schools?

I have worked in the schools in England as a supply teacher for the past six years.

When I came across this article from the BBC news (see below) ‘Ofsted tells schools to crack down on classroom disruption’ I couldn’t help but agree that many lessons are interrupted by low level disruptive behaviour.
Too many classrooms in England are being disrupted by minor disruption and bad behaviour, warns the head of the education watchdog Ofsted.
Launching Ofsted’s annual report, chief inspector Sir Michael Wilshaw warns of a “sloppy culture” of noisy corridors and pupils answering back to teachers. group of teen girls
Sir Michael also described the scale of regional differences in school standards as being like “two nations”.

But what is the answer to this issue?

I believe that teaching children social and emotional skills as early as possible would go a long way to solving this problem.

They would learn:

o    How to be responsible for and manage their own feelings and not take out their anger and frustration on others who are not to blame
o    The benefits of treating others with respect and fairness as they would like to be treated themselves.
o    How to get more out of life using healthy communication skills and how to improve their social interaction

If you agree with the suggestions and comments and you are a teacher or a parent or are working with children in any capacity and you wish to support them in improving their communication skills then you may be interested in our resources and/or e-training courses.

Our online courses can be accessed from anywhere in the world!
All you need for this course is internet access, an interest in
developing new skills and having fun!
We will tailor the training schedule to suit your individual needs.

On enrolment you will be provided with the full set of Programs and Resources to enable you to deliver between 8-10 sessions of Emotional and Social Skills well-being to groups of young children (primary school age).

We also have lots of activity books and resources that will help you teach children about  Social and Emotional Intelligence.

 

 

 

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Why do some children get bullied and not others?

November 20, 2013 by

Have you ever asked yourself this question?

Some children seem to have better skills at being assertive and strong and not allowing others to walk all over them!

Is it possible to teach children how to be assertive and stand up for their rights?
Could it be as easy as teaching them social and emotional intelligence skills?
This certainly appears to be a factor that can help them when it comes to dealing with bullying.boy sad

Our programs at the Rainbow Planet Connection are designed to help children to become more self-empowered and assertive when dealing with bullying and other negative social issues!

If a child knows how to speak in a clear firm voice and says ‘Stop doing that I don’t like it’ for example rather than appearing to be weak and not standing up for themselves it certainly helps to stop the bully from proceeding further!
Body language is another key to helping children avoid or deal with bullying and other challenging situations. If a child can look another one straight in the eye with a confident look for instance then this is an indication to the bully that the other child is going to stand up for themselves.
Please see our resource book which includes Body Awareness activities for children for more ideas.

Barbara Westgate a teacher in Canada was using the Rainbow Planet Connection’s Program to teach these skills to a group of children. She reports the following from one of her courses:

‘Just tonight a parent came early to tell me how her son is using the information at home and at school.
Yesterday he encountered a child who was in his personal space. He attempted to handle the situation but he was sent to the back of the room by the teacher so he would not have to encounter the behavior that was bothering him.
Today the same thing happened again and he stopped, assessed the situation and using a confident voice asked the child to stop the action that was irritating him. She did!
The parent spent some while giving further examples of how the program is working and how she too is learning to use the exercises for her own betterment. She also said her son loves the classes. Truthfully, I have had numerous positive responses and much encouragement from most of the parents.’  

The Rainbow Planet Connection’s training courses for teachers (and other childcare workers) show you how to incorporate Social and Emotional Literacy Skills into your classroom/learning environment.

Studies show that Social and Emotional Literacy is a key factor in helping young people develop self-esteem, self-responsibility, develop healthier relationships with others and improve their capacity for learning.

Children and young people can develop skills and techniques to:

o    Be self-empowered and assertive when dealing with bullying and other negative social impacts in the environment.

o    Develop effective ways of handling anger and other emotions and learn to resolve conflicts in a more positive way.

o    Be more aware of and respond in helpful more positive ways to other people’s emotional expression.

An additional benefit is that you as a teacher will feel less stressed and hopefully have a more harmonious classroom.

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Tips for teachers. Why teach whole body listening?

November 15, 2013 by

Why teach ‘Whole body listening to the children in your class?’

Teaching whole body listening will make your life as a teacher a lot easier!
It will improve the quality of learning and lead to more co-operative, harmonious classrooms.
If you are a parent this technique could also greatly improve your communication with your children!girl looking up

Many children have not been taught how to listen well. Perhaps this is a sign of our times when communication skills are changing due to the increasing use of technology for communication.

However, I feel that it is really important to teach our children good listening skills (also known as active listening) as this is the basis for all good learning and acquisition of knowledge and wisdom and will serve them well as they grow into adults.
Everyone feels more appreciated if they know someone has listened to them and acknowledged what they have said.
rainbowplanetconnection.com

What is whole body listening?

Whole body listening means using the whole body eyes, ears, body posture and facial expression to listen well to someone else.
You can use this concept each week in your sessions to remind the children of good listening skills. Ask them:

‘How do I know you are listening really well?’

‘Are you listening with your whole body?’

The following list explains how this works:

o    Listening with your eyes – looking at the speaker, making eye contact (depending on the culture)
o    Listening with your ears – listen to the speaker with your ears (not the person next to you)
o    Listening with your mouth – the mouth should be quiet
o    Listening with your body – your body is facing towards the speaker
o    Listening with your hands – quiet hands (not moving)
o    Listening with your feet – quiet feet
o    Listening with your brain – thinking about what the speaker is saying
o    Listening with your heart – caring about what the speaker is saying

heart art

If a child is not listening, then you can simply remind them in a gentle way such as
‘Harry I would like you to listen with your body. Can you show me how you do this?

There are other activities that you can do to improve listening and communication skills with the children in your class.

Here is a simple activity from our E-training course for teachers that you can do to show the children the importance of eye contact.

Role Play 1 – Communication – Listening Skills

Preparation: Children sit in chairs or on the floor back to back. Children are not allowed to turn around and look at each other for this activity.

Step 1. Child A talks about what he/she did last weekend or about their pet or a member of their family. Child B listens and responds.
Step 2. Ask each child in turn – How did this feel?
E.g. Did you feel listened to? What difference did it make not being able to see who you were talking to?
Step 3. Discuss and emphasize the importance of eye contact, posture and body language in communication. Discuss ‘How do you know you are being listened to with regards to a) eye-contact, b) body language and facial expression and so on?

For other sample ideas on improving social skills and communication in your classroom please contact us!

From rainbowplanetconnection

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Can Emotional Intelligence Be Taught?

October 18, 2013 by

We spend a lot of time in our children’s education focusing on literacy and numeracy and academic skills. Are we now realizing the importance of teaching children social and emotional intelligence skills too? After allchild at desk classroom children (and adults) have emotional needs as well as mental and physical.

At Rainbow Planet Connection we believe that teaching social and emotional intelligence is paramount to the well-being of children. Learning these skills will help them in all aspects of life. There is growing evidence that emotions can either hinder or enhance our ability to learn. Imagine being really worried about something in your life and trying to concentrate on learning!!

The following article from the New York Times supports teaching children emotional intelligence.

Below is an excerpt from the article:

Wade’s approach — used schoolwide at Garfield Elementary, in Oakland, Calif. — is part of a strategy known as social-emotional learning, which is based on the idea that emotional skills are crucial to academic performance.

“Something we now know, from doing dozens of studies, is that emotions can either enhance or hinder your ability to learn,” Marc Brackett, a senior research scientist in psychology at Yale University, told a crowd of educators at a conference last June. “They affect our attention and our memory. If you’re very anxious about something, or agitated, how well can you focus on what’s being taught?”

Once a small corner of education theory, Social-Emotional Learning (S.E.L.) has gained traction in recent years, driven in part by concerns over school violence, bullying and teen suicide. But while prevention programs tend to focus on a single problem, the goal of social-emotional learning is grander: to instill a deep psychological intelligence that will help children regulate their emotions.

boy sadFor children, Brackett notes, school is an emotional cauldron: a constant stream of academic and social challenges that can generate feelings ranging from loneliness to euphoria.

But in practice, Brackett says, many children never develop those crucial skills. “It’s like saying that a child doesn’t need to study English because she talks with her parents at home,” Brackett told me last spring. “Emotional skills are the same. A teacher might say, ‘Calm down!’ — but how exactly do you calm down when you’re feeling anxious? Where do you learn the skills to manage those feelings?”

If you agree with the suggestions and comments and you are a parent or are working with children and wish to support them with Social-Emotional Learning then you may be interested in our e-training courses.

  • Our online training courses can be accessed from anywhere in the world!
  • All you need for this course is internet access, an interest in developing new skills and having fun!
  • We will tailor the training schedule to suit your individual needs

On enrolment you will be provided with the full set of Programs and Resources to enable you to deliver between 8-10 sessions of Emotional and Social Skills well-being to groups of young children (primary school age).
We also have lots of activity books and resources about Social and Emotional Intelligence.

Please read our testimonials from others who have successfully used our training courses to suit their own individual situations.

Barbara Westgate – Canada. “I feel this is an extremely valuable program and I am anxious to learn as much as I possibly can from the Developers of the Rainbow Planet“.

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Should children start school later?

October 9, 2013 by

British academics and teachers have highlighted the need to learn through play in an article in The Guardian on 12 Children drawingSeptember 2013 and called for a later start to formal schooling. Do you agree?

They wrote a letter to Michael Gove (UK Secretary of State) to demand that children be allowed to learn through play and to call for a delay the start of formal teaching and testing.

The letter says:
Very few countries have a school starting age as young as four, as we do in England. Children who enter school at six or seven – after several years of high-quality nursery education – consistently achieve better educational results as well as higher levels of well-being.

One of the signatories, Cambridge researcher David Whitebread, explains why children may need more time to develop before their formal education begins in earnest. I was delighted when I came across this article. I have felt for a long time that children need to play and have fun before we put too much pressure on them to be successful academically.

As a school psychologist I have seen many young children who had emotional and social issues which needed to be addressed before they could be receptive to learning. Allowing them to play and have fun whilst learning these social and emotional well-being skills provides them with a great foundation for the rest of their lives.

Happy child with painted handsWith this in mind I created Rainbow Planet Connection several years ago which offers resources and training for teachers, parents and other professionals in this area.

Our philosophy is that EMOTIONAL AND SOCIAL WELL-BEING are now being recognized as key factors in helping children to develop in a much healthier way, where they feel happier about themselves and are more likely to be successful in learning.

The programs and resources developed by The Rainbow Planet Connection are based on:

  • Teaching and encouraging children to be responsible for their own energy and emotional state.
  • Teaching children how to express their feelings in a fun, creative way using Art, Drama, Movement, Music, Story Telling and other creative activities.
  • Encouraging children to express their feelings, without being embarrassed or ashamed of them, and without blaming or hurting others in the process.
  • Teaching children to communicate and interact with others in more responsible, caring ways.

Dr. Maurice Elias, a leading child psychologist, researcher and expert on SEL from Rutgers University says:

“Emotional well-being is “dramatically and positively predictive not only of academic achievement, but also of satisfactory and productive experiences in the world of work and marriage, even of better physical health.”

The Montessori and Steiner schools have for many years adopted the philosophy that a child is better left until the age of seven before they are taught more academic subjects as outlined below. Waldorf (Steiner) pedagogy distinguishes three broad stages in child development, each lasting approximately seven years.

The early years education focuses on providing practical, hands-on activities and environments that encourage creative play. In the elementary school, the emphasis is on developing pupils’ artistic expression and social capacities, fostering both creative and analytical modes of understanding.

For more information about Rainbow Planet Connection’s online training, kid’s activities and workbooks, please visit our website and read our testimonials about other people’s experiences using our resources.

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