Who is taking responsibility for your learning?

For many teachers, performance management reviews have come and gone for the year. Consider your responses to these questions:

• Who is in control of your learning choices for the coming year?
• If not you then who is and what can you do to regain control?

I learn best when I am control and I chose what I learn, when. However, left to my own devices, I would apply a ’scatter-gun’ approach and end up starting many different learning strands and not finishing any of them satisfactorily.

It helps me to be accountable to someone, but for me to have made the decision for my direction is very influential on my motivation to achieve. Don’t you just hate being told what to do?

I stay in control of my learning by:

1. Create a Personal Learning Goal
2. Sharing this plan with someone that I respect and trust (perhaps by agreement at a performance review)
3. Write out the first steps to achieve my learning goal (action plan) and allocating a reward for achieving each step
4. Stick the action plan above my desk and review it monthly.
5. Reward myself for achieving the big and little steps.

In practice, the step I most struggle with is planning my learning. I am great at learning, it is one of my strengths, but like any achievements, I am poor at setting the direction.

Rewarding myself is also a struggle unless I allocate a reward in advance, i.e. in step 3. It helps me to jot down my favourite rewards.

• What parts of this process are you doing now ?
• What parts are you avoiding?

Coaching4Teachers.com has more tips for planning you learning.

If you liked this article you can sign up for e-mail updates on my latest musings here.

Let me do and I understand

Today I was asked what my favourite quote or saying is and I found myself scratching my head. If you had asked me this question a year ago then I would have been quick to respond that I didn’t hold much stock by quotes, but on my coaching learning journey there have been some quotes that have resonated with me.

I wanted to settle on a short quote that linked to learning and not having time to trawl through all my books I decided to search the internet.

I chose

“Tell me and I forget. Show me and I remember. Let me do and I understand.” Confucius

It is still not quite right, but now that I am on the lookout for my favourite quote, I am sure it will present itself to me sooner or later.

However I did Google “Let me do and I understand” and came across an interesting perspective on classroom based learning in a 3 minute video by John Abbott here. John says at the end that the approach he describes is an “absolute challenge to the pedagogy that is currently used in schools.” but I do not agree. High quality teachers understand the importance of encouraging their students to learn on the job and although this practice is not universal, it is certainly far from being an absolute challenge for all.

I do know that the majority of adults I have trained learn more ‘on the job‘ than in a training room and that teachers who apply the same awareness to their own personal learning and self development benefit greatly.

Let us get away from accepting training that consists of information delivered by a voice at the front of the room and instead spend training budgets on learning that:

1. Aligns with the strategic goals of a school
2. Recognises and supports the personal goals of the individuals who work so hard within a school
3. Actively seeks to embed long-term learning throughout the school

Creative learning for children and parents (Tony Buzan’s mind mapping)

I have been really impressed with Tim Fulford and his approach to creative learning through the use of mind mapping.
Tim is an experienced teacher and has recently worked along side Tony Buzan (mind mapper guru) at a weekend of public courses in London.
I have no doubt that any Key Stage 2 child and their parent/s would find his course in London or York both valuable and fun.
Maybe it is worth promoting within your school, or maybe you have a KS2 teacher who would be interested in attending to see if Tim’s talents might fulfil your needs?

You can see Tim’s creativity work in a selection of his mindmaps here and this mindmap was produced while Tony Buzan was talking to a group of parents and teachers about how to Mind Map (there was a live camera over his shoulder so that everyone could see what Tim was drawing as Tony Buzan spoke!)

***Details from Tim***

In response to the many enquiries we have received, we are now developing a number of training courses designed to provide ‘Learning to Learn’ skills to groups of teachers and educationalists, and to children and parents.  Mind Maps® are held in high esteem from the classroom to the boardroom, so children acquiring these skills at a young age will ensure they have a strong advantage in their school and professional careers.

The first one-day public course on offer is CREATIVE LEARNING FOR CHILDREN AND PARENTS, which is suitable for Key Stage 2 children and their parents – see below for details.  (Courses for Key Stage 3-4 and undergraduates to be announced soon.)

We also deliver tailored in-house, one- or half-day sessions, which are aimed at Teachers and School Leaders, eg INSET Days.

Our highly experienced trainers are Caroline Clark and Tim Fulford, both of whom are qualified Buzan Licensed Instructors. See the website for further details: www.buzanworld.com where you can also download our free Exam Revision 10 Top Tips.

‘Mind Maps®, Your Brain and ‘Learning to Learn’

Who should attend? Key Stage 2 Children and their Parents

‘Learning how to learn is one of life’s most important skills’ Tony Buzan;

Cost: £90 + VAT per person

Dates: Sunday 10^th May (London),   Sunday 14th June (York)

Top 10…tips for starting in business

1. Devote plenty of time to getting the foundations of your business right

2. Read ‘Good to Great‘ by Jim Collins

3. Read ‘e-myth‘ by Michael E. Gerber

4. Go on a ‘Business Link – Start your own business‘ course (They have a handful of outstanding trainers)

5. Get as much for free as you can (i.e. Podcasts, ebooks, blogs and there are even some high quality free courses out there)

6. Understand what marketing is and just how essential it is to your business – I didn’t have a clue!

7. Employ a business coach/mentor to kick start your personal development  and to help you to be the best you can be – the right professional for you will be affordable and I have both a business coach and a coach-mentor ‘to coach me on my coaching’

8. Love learning and new experiences – because if you don’t, you may not be doing the right things

9. Exploit the power of the internet – there is serious money to be made in passive income streams no matter what your business

10. Network to promote ‘you’ – if people like you they are more likely to buy from you. Most people in your network will not need your services but, if the desire to buy is there, then they may well recommend you to a colleague/friend/family member in need.

What else would you add to this list?

If you are already an established business then you might find the 7 critical success factors listed here by Donna Lendzyk insightful.

Achieving remarkable performance

You may think that spending in excess of 50 hours every month reading, reflecting, discussing, listening, watching, doing and talking, sounds like a nightmare. However, to me it is, most definitely, an important part of achieving the remarkable performance I aspire to in my coaching practice. As you might have guessed I am still thoroughly enjoying my Advanced Diploma in Coaching Practice programme with the OCM.

 

In September I set out a Personal Learning Plan (PLP). I rewrote in November. Now I come to review it again, it is mainly about time management and how I am going to fit all my learning into what was already a busy work/life/me balance. My coaching practice took second place.

 

On Monday, my Faculty Coach-Mentor asked when I was going to write my second Personal Learning Plan. “Second!” I thought, “Have I missed something? Wasn’t this my second? Wasn’t this one good enough?”

 

It quickly dawned on me that, to be the best coach I can be at the end of this qualification, now I need to write a Personal Learning Plan that focuses on my coaching practice.

 

The importance of what I now knew I needed to do was reinforced by the following equation, which I found in Jeffrey Gitomer’s e-zine:

 

P + D + A = RP
Passion + Discipline + Action = Remarkable Performance

So rather than beating myself up for the fact that my first PLP fell short of a complete plan, I revelled in the fact that this learning was an important developmental step for me.

 

With a passion (P) and need to be organised, I have put a lot of effort and energy into creating, starting, maintaining and refining processes and procedures for my own personal time management (D). These now include improved diary management for balancing work/life/me, a daily mind map to-do list as well as daily and weekly star charts (A). From the comments I get from others and the sense of control I now have, I certainly believe my time management to be ‘remarkable’. 

 

I look forward to doing the same for my coaching practice. I consistently get great feedback, but also know I want to learn so much more so that I can continue to provide the best for my learners.

  
The idea that I can and will achieve remarkable performance in whatever I set my mind, and learning, to gives me a warm glow every time I think about it.

 

“You can’t do anything about the length of your life, but you can do something about it’s width and depth”

Shira Tehrani

Normal Service is Resumed

I’m back after an extended Christmas break, so I thought you might appreciate an update from me:

 

Hannah’s best bits of 2008

·        Embarking on an exciting, challenging, learning journey of self discovery

·        Articulating and writing down what I am passionate about

·        Finding a niche for BlueKiteCoach that fires my passions on many levels

·        Registering BlueKiteCoach as a Limited company

·        Being delighted that the teaching profession want what I want to give

·        Discovering that I need to be careful what I ask for, because I have an uncanny knack of getting it

 

BlueKiteCoach 2009 Highlights

 

·        January – Being inspired by head teachers and leading teachers

·        February – Visiting schools, observing leadership in action and understanding the learning needs of management teams

·        March – Developing WOW factor workshop and seminar resources

·        April – Delivering a ‘Coaching for Teachers’ workshop to 50 leading teachers in Swindon

 

OCM Advanced Diploma Progress

 

·        Actively coaching 4 learners (3 teachers)

·        6 out of 10 books read

·        14 Reflection Notes written, 10 Pending, many many more to do K

·        6 out of 7 face to face workshop days attended

·        Participated in 2 discussion threads, 1 pending, 4 more to do

·        Completed 2 out of 5 self assessments

·        Participated in all 3 telephone tutorials to date

·        Listened to 3 out of 20 audio/visual resources

·        Created 2^nd Personal Learning Plan for my developmental needs

·        Attended inaugural Cohort 160 South-West Action Learning Group

·        Submission date Summer 2009

New e-zine edition available

Passionately Inspiring Lifelong Learning

This e-zine includes

·        how incorporating coaching into your management style is a great way of developing your team

·        Hannah’s Top 10 sensible snacks for learning

·        a book review of Power Up Your Mind, by Bill Lucas

Click here to view the latest BlueKiteCoach e-zine

Passionately inspiring lifelong learning

 

In November my passion for learning has been well and truly reignited and I am starting to have lots of ideas about inspiring learning in others. After saying goodbye to my training role in February I consciously closed that door to allow me to focus on my new role as manager. However, over the last week I have come almost a complete circle as I realized that my style of managing was all about developing my team of ‘learners’ and brining out the best in them. Yes, I am not standing up in front of a training room motivating and inspiring individuals to learn but instead, through my thoughts, words and actions I am encouraging development at a much more fundamental level. 

I guess ‘training’ for me had become a forbidden pleasure, one that I was preventing myself from indulging in to concentrate on things that didn’t come so naturally or were as pleasurable. Training had also become all about product knowledge and the best way that my team learn that is by on the job ‘doing’ so it didn’t need me to get too involved. While reading Power Up Your Mind by Bill Lucas, see review below, I have started to think about planning and structuring new learning courses, ones that develop the skills that I want my team to have now they have climbed high on the product knowledge ladder.

Bill Lucas introduces the concept that we all have multiple intelligences such as Emotional, Social, Physical, Practical and Spiritual. He concludes that to achieve effective learning it is essential to develop all your intelligences and not just your IQ. This thinking resonates with me because it brings together wisdoms I have learnt and supports some of my actions this year. I know that supporting my children’s emotional and social well being is far more important than ensuring that they can read and write before they go to school, sure I want them to be achieving academically, but I also want them to love learning and they need my support of their other intelligences to engage effectively with the learning on offer at school. The concept of maintaining similar development across all your intelligences also explains why starting the sport of triathlon this year, on top of all my other commitments, was actually a sensible and logical action. The reaction I get from some people when I mention that I am swimming, cycling and running is of amazement and they then ask “Why would you want to do that?” and “How do you find the time?”. Developing my physical intelligence is all the motivation I need to know that sprinkling exercise through my weekly routine is helping me to keep my ‘life wheel’ running smoothly.

What I have learnt is that the majority of learning actually happens outside a classroom and it is exciting to see your whole life as a learning opportunity. I will certainly be actively seeking opportunities to develop each of my intelligences and, as difficult as I find it to do, if I can reflect and draw learning on these experiences then I will be a happier person for it.

I would love to hear what you think, please post your comments below. 

Inspiring, innovative, informative

 Book Review Power up your mind —Bill Lucas «««««

 

Power Up Your Mind is an engaging, inspiring page turner which even enticed me to pause and try out several of the suggested exercises. It brings together thinking from industry leaders and helps you to make sense of how your brain works before supporting you to challenge and stretch your learning on the subject.

The lessons learnt in this book are applicable to everyone, anywhere, doing anything. They challenge your limiting beliefs and exercise your creative talents.

The format is innovative and puts into practices many of the concepts that it preaches in an exciting and informative style.

An example of this is the way that mindmaps head up each section. Exercises every couple of pages illuminate the text and to support you to absorb more learning through ‘doing’ and ‘reflecting’. The narrative continually gets your mind to form connections and patterns by referring to earlier chapters and information yet to come.

After reading just the first couple of pages of Power Up Your Mind I quickly bought a second copy of this book for the learning library I have started to create for my team. Out of the three books I have bought, Power Up Your Mind is the book that has engaged my team  most.   

You can buy this book and others recommendations from my website or by clicking here.

 

Recipe for success

a cup of limiting beliefs
150g of belief in yourself
1 inspiring goal
1 dose of reality
2 heaped teaspoons of self worth
3 tablespoons of identity
2 litres of total responsibility
1 notepad and pen

Put your ‘limiting beliefs’ and 75g of ‘belief in yourself’ in a large bowl, stir until all the limiting lumps have gone.

Take your inspiring ‘dream’ goal and finely chop into SMART, CLEAR and PURE performance goals
In a glass jug blend your performance goals with reality
Examine from all angles
Write down what you see, think and feel

Gradually add the contents of the jug into your beliefs, sprinkle on your identity and self worth, then mix carefully
Make a list of all the alternatives, large or small, complete and partial solutions

Take the rest of the ‘belief in yourself’ add to the self motivation mixture, then pour over your total responsibility
Mix together until you feel inspired, eager and ready to continue

Decide which option or options you choose and write them down
Against each option decide and write down your commitment to taking these agreed actions on a one-to-ten scale

Cut into steps and serve as soon as you are ready for the challenge of your first step

Warning: Well made Success will be highly addictive – handle with enthusiasm!

Inspiration from pg 109 Coaching for Performance – John Whitmore