Techno vs the Student Since I was a little boy – and that goes back quite a while –the rapid pace at which technology impacted our lives has raised danger signs. It began with the radio cutting into family time, graduated to television replacing family time, and finally resulted in the computer abolishing it completely. In many different areas of life we began to ask at what point was the human element going to be overtaken by the technological. Interestingly, the one area in which things remained more or less the same was education. Sure the slide ruler was replaced by the calculator (which, in itself, took much longer than it should have) but the blackboard remained at the front of the classroom (changing to a white board does not really qualify as a significant technological advance) and text books still weighed down our students backpacks. The argument could be made that the techno-lag that affects schools is the result of a funding-lag. After all, new technology is expensive. And, while we are frequently willing to go out and spend precious dollars to ensure that our family has the newest and latest gadgets in our living room we feel no such drive when dealing with our child’s classroom. However, this is starting to change. For one, the clear advantages that technology offers simply cannot be ignored. This is certainly true when some of our educational goals include the technology itself, calculators and computers being the best examples, but also holds true regarding the use of technology to enhance the teaching of almost any subject, smart boards being an obvious example. Secondly, since our students relate to their world through certain technological media, it has become worthwhile for teachers to try and relate with such media as well. Finally, as educators come to realize, perhaps more than ever, the need to individualize education, technology seems to offer the tools to allow such individualization. And here the need for caution. We often forget that teaching a child individually, whether in an one-on-one session, or through any technology, does not mean that you are actually individualizing. It is possible that while you are teaching the individual you are not taking the needs of the individual into account at all. (Hence we often speak of differentiating instruction, not individualizing.) Frequently, it is not addressing the needs of the individual student and tailoring instruction to his learning style that is difficult, but rather in ascertaining what those needs are in the first place. Thus, the first step is not in the realization that I must teach each child as an individual, but that I must see each child as an individual. For the former, technology is a blessing, for the latter, a curse. Pupils in classrooms today are the first generation that will go from cradle to graduation as digital natives. That's why classrooms have to evolve from non tech to high tech. Here’s what I tell Principals who want to know why they should invest in digital technology for their schools' classrooms: "imagine if your colour television at home was taken away and replaced with a 28" black and white model from the fifties. How would you feel and how would it affect your enjoyment and absorption of your favourite programmes having to watch them on a small size monotone screen?" That's the effect that today's digital-using pupils feel when they walk into a classroom with ink marker board presentation, or worse chalk! Some of them have higher technology in their pockets or at home than they work with in their classrooms. That’s no good. However good and inspirational a teacher may be, they are made even better by having digital presentation and resources to support them in their classroom. Technology doesn't replace teachers; it's the teacher's slave to use as they see fit. Schools that don't get this (yet) and aren't making the investment are greatly disadvantaging their pupils. Classroom technology needs to be the number one item on the budget application list. There's no turning back! In past posts I have lauded the educational possibilities presented by some of the newer technologies. However, if they remove our focus from the child that lives within the student, they should be abandoned. The human element in all we do should never be minimized, this is all the more so when teaching children. Let’s make sure we never forget this simple truth.

Managing Stress 2

Mental Stress Management Have you ever used your imagination to escape, or cope with a stressful situation? If so, you were using "guided imagery" to relax. In this article, we'll look at how to use imagery to manage stress, and we'll discuss how you can use this technique to cope with difficult situations. Warning: Stress can cause severe health problems and, in extreme cases, it can cause death. While stress management techniques have been shown to have a positive effect on reducing stress, they are for guidance only, and you should take the advice of suitably qualified health professionals if you have any concerns over stress-related illnesses, or if stress is causing significant or persistent unhappiness. What is Imagery? Guided imagery is a stress management technique, where you use your imagination to picture a person, place, or time that makes you feel relaxed, peaceful, and happy. Imagery is slightly different from other stress management techniques, in that it relies on the use of all of your senses. For instance, in your imagination you hear the sound of birds chirping, you see the drops of dew on the grass, you feel the breeze on your skin, you smell the wildflowers, and you taste the cold drink. In imagery, using all of your senses is what creates such a powerfully relaxing experience, and this is why it's so useful in managing stress and coping with difficult situations. There are several other ways that you can use imagery to relax. For example, you can create mental pictures of stress flowing out of your body, or of your problems, your distractions, and your everyday concerns being folded away and stashed in a padlocked chest. Some people are sceptical about the effectiveness of using imagery. However, research suggests that it can be incredibly effective in lowering your stress levels. For instance, one study found that using stress management techniques alongside relaxation imagery, and even just using imagery alone, significantly reduced participants' blood pressure. Another study, which researched the effectiveness of imagery on breast cancer patients, found similar benefits: patients who used imagery to cope with their disease experienced less stress, more vigour, and a higher quality of life than those who didn't use the technique. As well as these examples, many other studies have successfully used imagery to lower stress in patients suffering from post-traumatic stress syndrome, abuse, depression, and other conditions, including occupational stress. Note: Imagery is similar to Visualization, in that you're using your imagination for a specific purpose, however, visualization is more focused on a definite outcome. People use visualization techniques to imagine completing goals or working through a situation with an exact outcome in mind. Both are useful, but guided imagery is more relevant for managing stress. Using Imagery to Reduce Stress To start managing stress using imagery, take the following steps. Step 1: Find a Quiet Place If possible, find a quiet place to sit down. This could be a park bench, an empty room, or even your office. Close your eyes, and breathe slowly and deeply to calm down. Step 2: Choose Your Setting Once you feel relaxed, picture yourself in the most peaceful environment that you can imagine. This can be an imaginary place, or a memory of a place or time that has a special meaning to you. The scene that you imagine is highly personal and should ideally be one that you feel emotionally drawn to. However, if you're having trouble thinking of an image, consider using the following: • Relaxing on a sunny tropical beach, listening to the waves, and digging your toes into the sand. • Curling up in an armchair in a remote cabin, surrounded by mountains and snow, and relaxing in front of a fire with a cup of hot cocoa. • Going on a picnic with your family in your favourite secret spot. • Sitting by a waterfall deep in the forest, feeling the gentle moisture against your face, and listening to the birds. It's important to remember that imagery's effectiveness relies on using all your senses. For instance, don't just imagine yourself in the remote mountain cabin. In your imagination, look around you. Pay attention to the rustic feel of the room. Feel the fire's warmth against your skin, and inhale the musky, earthy scent of the wood's smoke. Touch the cozy blanket, taste the sweet hot chocolate, and look out of the window at the deer finding food in the snow outside. Experience the feeling of having nothing else to do but eat, read, and go snowshoeing. Your goal is to immerse yourself fully in the scene: this includes what you can see, taste, touch, and smell, as well as how you feel. The more details that you can include in your imagery, the more effective this technique will be. Tip: Keep in mind that when you first begin to use imagery, it might feel strange, and you may have difficulty immersing yourself fully in your imagined scene. With practice, this will get easier; your imagination will get stronger, and you'll be able to enter a relaxed state more quickly. Step 3: Relax Stay in your relaxed scene for as long as you feel comfortable, or as long as your schedule allows. Continue breathing deeply, and try not to let any outside thoughts intrude. When you're ready to leave, sit quietly, and let your mind turn back to the situation at hand. You'll now feel much more relaxed, in control, and ready to tackle your challenges. Key Points Guided imagery is a useful technique for managing stress and coping with difficult situations. In this technique, you imagine a scene, time, or place that is peaceful and that has an emotional connection with you. Step 1: Find a quiet place. Step 2: Choose your setting. Imagine yourself there, use all of your senses to immerse yourself in the experience, and include as many details as possible. Step 3: Relax, for as long as your schedule allows you to. Keep in mind that imagery is most effective when you use all your senses. The more details that you can include in your imagined scene, the easier it will be to relax.

Successful Principal's

I believe that all schools that are committed to high performance should have access to the thoughts of educational and sporting leadership. y empowering our educators and coaches to become winners through learning – The WCSS has emerged as a true winner, equipped with better skilled staff to serve its’ learners and athletes in a more competent and committed way. Learning and competence are what keep our athletes ready for the challenge. Positive Emotion, Engagement, Relationships, Meaning and Achievement in tough times demand resilience from athletes in our schools. Optimistic individuals, unlike pessimists, tend to believe that defeat is just a temporary setback. When optimistic individuals are confronted by a bad situation they perceive it as a challenge and try harder. Optimists recover faster and are able to lead in a proactive and productive way, thereby preserving their wellness and the wellbeing of the staff who work with them. I believe tough times in sport require resilience. The good news is that optimism can be learned. he main point of well-being is not merely to have learners, educators and coaching staff in the office who smile more. Rather it is the downstream effects of well-being: people have high well-being: to be more productive, have better physical health, and are more peaceful. Using our values in action sit right at the core of our life and enhance the degree of happiness and fulfilment for staff. Make sure their level of competence is aligned to their level of challenge. Too much competence and too little challenge leads to boredom. Too little competence and too much challenge lead to anxiety. Find their flow and they will be engaged and enjoy what they do. In summary, consider the findings of some of the best companies and research institutes the world over: • Unhappy people only work 2 days a week. • Employees who score low on life satisfaction or happiness have a decrease in productivity by 15 days per annum. • Employees who scored high on life satisfaction generates R21 more in earnings per square foot of space which translated into R32 million in additional profits. • Happiness = 37% rise in sales | 31 % improvement in productivity | 19 % increase in task accuracy. • South Africa ranks 90th out of 156 countries. • A thriving workforce – one in which employees are satisfied and productive demonstrates 16% better overall performance. • A thriving workforce – one in which employees are satisfied and productive demonstrates 125% less burnout. Great leaders build abundant schoolss. Identity – aligning personal identity with the schools’ identity. Purpose – clarifying personal purpose aligned to jobs and assignments in your school. Relationships – creating high relating teams that lead to high performing teams. Connections – creating positive work environments by the way the work is done. Challenges – Finding challenges that personally energises and encourage staff to find meaning at work. Change & Learning – Using change as an opportunity for growth. Delight & Creativity – Helping employees have fun at work through creativity.

Swearing!

I find this whole debate over swearing really interesting. It seems odd to me that swearing at a teacher carries the automatic penalty of exclusion whereas other behaviours which are potentially physically dangerous do not.

We have to ask ourselves why children swear and what it means to them. For many children this is the language of the home. They have been spoken to like this from birth and hear it everyday. Some children swear at teachers because they are in a corner, or are out of control, it may be the only place they know to go when they are frustrated or angry, others do it to provoke a reaction(and what a reaction if they get excluded).

I think we have to ask ourselves many questions about this. Does the punishment really fit the crime? Although unacceptable, is swearing really as bad as we think? Are we missing something potentially more important if we focus on swearing? Does the teacher really lose their dignity if they are sworn at, is it not the child who has lost theirs?

As a principal I do exclude if a pupil swears at a member of staff. I would add that there is a real dilemma created for me when a pupil swears at a member of staff. I am well aware that I am not necessarily resolving the issue by excluding the pupil, but, I do believe that I am taking a step towards reducing the likelihood of the swearing happening again and, importantly, making a public statement that swearing at or threatening staff is totally unacceptable and will not be tolerated. In my school, in the past three years, only two pupils have been suspended on more than one occasion for swearing at staff.I.e. repeat offending.

Pupils at my school know that swearing at a member of staff is a line they must not cross or they will be excluded. This applies to all staff, regardless of their role at the school or their position. On some occasions, because of the circumstances, I have decided not to exclude. In all such cases the reasons are made clear to both the member of staff concerned, the pupil and the family concerned.

Creating your best self!

Creating your best self as an athlete is easier than you think.

It has been great watching the staff take out their old takkies and begin to walk around the track each afternoon. I envy you and hope to join the group real soon. The idea of getting back into shape got me thinking about the creative powers of visualization, you are using your imagination to make-over yourself, literally.

With the seed of your imagination, you can transform any element of your performance - your skills, your shape, even your confidence. As the saying goes, "Little hinges swing big doors." Of course, creating your best self does not mean manufacturing something fake. By showing the world that you are working hard at your health is a positive sign to the learners at the school.

It also means finding your authentic athletic self and allowing it to be expressed. Time has taken its toll on a number of our bodies and the wear and tear is showing mostly on my face and belly. Finding your self is real important and with each passing year we need to reanalyse or health, body shape and fitness.

To start is the greatest problem and how we overcome that barrier will determine our strength of character, which we must use each day in the classroom. The learners can become your biggest competitors.

A lot of aspiring athletes think they need to trash talk and get into the heads of their competitors to win. A classic example of how you handle your biggest competitors. Rugby coaches would shout at the players how much they hate the opposition, hoping this would somehow ignite a fury of success on the field. Imagine if we used this method on our learners in the classroom.

Trash talking, talking down too or arguing with the learner rarely brings out their best self. Show them by training and taking charge of your life.

See you on the track, real soon!

Twitter you Twit!

When some people hear the word "Twitter," they automatically think of wasting time. After all, how can you have time for work when you're telling people what you had for lunch, or spreading the gossip from your 2 p.m. staff meeting? It's true that Twitter can be a distraction. But it can also be an important resource for both personal and organizational growth.

Twitter is a social networking site that allows users to connect with each other and send short messages, or "tweets," about what they're doing or thinking. Imagine that! What if the school assigned a learner to an educator or vice versa, an educator assigned to an individual or number of learners to monitor their daily activities? Your "followers" would see your tweets in a rolling feed, called a timeline, when they log into the service on their arrival at school.

Each educator could decide what they want to tweet. Tweets can be trivial - "what someone ate for breakfast" example - or they can be significant and valuable, for example, when they highlight key news, or articles from the school.

Here are some tips to help you learn the lingo of ‘tweeeting’
Hashtag - (#) can help people track different topics to find information easily. Simply put the # symbol in front of your tweet's most relevant word, or use it to "tag" a tweet under a certain category. For example, #leadership or #football.
Followers - These are your friends or connections - the people who are following your tweets. Your tweets will appear on their timelines. But please remember, all tweets are technically "public" and searchable unless you decide to make your account private. Be careful what you say.

@ Replies - If you want to tweet to someone else, use @ right before that person's username. For example, tweet "@mary45 I saw your tweet. Interesting!" - and mary45 will get the message in her timeline (if she follows you).

If you put the person's name at the very start of the tweet, as in the example above, only you, her, and people who follow both of you will see the Tweet in their timelines. If you put her name elsewhere in the message, everyone who follows you will see the tweet. For example, this would happen if you tweeted "Me and @mary45 are working on a new matric dance proposal."

Use a strong headline - Most followers simply scan Twitter, so your "headline" should be effective and authentic enough to capture their attention. Keep it short - Twitter allows only 140 characters, so your messages must be simple yet powerful.
Write clearly - Use the same good writing rules you would use when writing any professional document. Grammar and style - and proofreading - still matter with Twitter.

Keep it useful - If you tweet a link or share an article, make sure it's something that your followers will find useful or valuable. Get “tweeting”...

Positive Life Style

Professor Chris Barnard was asked the question; “How do you keep so positive in your stressful life”? His answer was very simple, “I walk away from negative people”!

Sometimes it is challenging when dealing with a colleague, friend, or spouse because there seems to be two people in the same body. He's a cold person one day and a warm, supportive person the next. To get respect and consistency from this person, your job is simple:

Avoid the cold person and embrace the warm person.

Let's imagine you have a colleague who tends to be moody at work. Sometimes they even affect your performance, because you take it personally and feel down when they are uncommunicative.

In this situation, most people will try hard to please their colleague when he's in a bad mood. They'll go out of their way to be friendly and nice. This is an excellent approach to try the first time he is moody. If he doesn't respond, though, you must abandon this demeanour.

I recommend you keep your contact with the cold person brief. If necessary, look at your watch and say, 'Wow, I didn't realize it was so late...must get back to that deadline.' This way, you're not creating a distraction for yourself at work. You're also not creating a reason to become angry and resentful of your colleague.

But here's the most important point:

People do not respond to negative words, but they do respond to no contact. When you accept others for who they are using these methods, you communicate self-esteem and flexibility. You're saying, 'I don't need you to be any particular way at
all.' Avoidance is not manipulation. It is acceptance.

Avoidance works because you are not doing it in an attempt to manipulate your colleague. Instead of trying to change him/her by being super-nice (or getting angry), you are merely reducing your social contact with him because it is unpleasant for you.

Using avoidance and indifference with people when they are unsupportive is a radical concept. Most of us need to be in control. If a person is not giving us
the support we want, we try to control him. We go back and forth between being angry vs. nice in an attempt to get our way. This never works, because the person
we are dealing with senses what we are doing and rebels even
more.