S1 Ep54: Wellbeing or academic success…and can we teach kindness? - Book Launch Panel 4 Part 2
For Flourishing's Sake
In the second half of the final For Flourishing's Sake book launch discussion, we discussed where the priorities should lie, between dealing with mental health and wellbeing in the context of Covid-19 and the Black Lives Matter movement, or ensuring children “catch up” academically if they have fallen behind. We also had a fascinating conversation about whether kindness can be taught, and if so, how, and ended the discussion by sharing each of our dreams for the future of education.
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S1 Ep53: Wellbeing or academic success…and can we teach kindness? - Book Launch Panel 4 Part 1
For Flourishing's Sake
In this first half of the fourh For Flourishing's Sake book launch discussion, we shared our definitions of positive education, discussed whether educating for character and wellbeing are the same thing, and whether they come at the expense of academic progress. Finally, we shared our thoughts on and examples of whether Positive Education works anywhere, in any setting, with any age group.
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S1 Ep52: A whole school approach to education for good citizenship - Book Launch Panel 3 Part 2
For Flourishing's Sake
In this second half of the third For Flourishing's Sake book launch panel discussion, the panellists share their thoughts and experiences, with examples, of elements required for a whole school approach to positive education. They particularly focus on the important role that staff training and leadership play. And finally, they share how it feels when you get it right - when it goes well - and their hopes and dreams for the future of education.
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S1 Ep51: A whole school approach to education for good citizenship - Book Launch Panel 3 Part 1
For Flourishing's Sake
In this first half of the third For Flourishing's Sake book launch panel discussion, the panellists discuss their interpretation of positive education, character education and the role of wellbeing in education, particularly in relation to educating for good citizenship and promoting inclusion, diversity and social justice.
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S1 Ep50: Practical Examples of Character and Positive Education - Book Launch Panel 2 Part 2
For Flourishing's Sake
Another chance to hear part 2 of the 2nd panel of fantastic educators during the For Flourishing's Sake book launch. Panellists discussed their interpretations of a whole school approach to character and positive education, then moved onto discussing how we “catch” character and wellbeing behaviours, before progressing to a great discussion about bringing people on board that don’t understand what we’re trying to do.
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S1 Ep49: Practical Examples of Character and Positive Education - Book Launch Panel 2 Part 1
For Flourishing's Sake
Another chance to hear a panel discussion between great educators and school leaders. In this half of the discussion, the panellists shared their definitions of positive education, character education or wellbeing in education. They quickly moved on to some concrete examples of implementation in their schools, from specific staff wellbeing initiatives and their impacts, to whole school approaches and their effects on the entire school community, including parents.
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S1 Ep48: The what and how of Positive Education - Book Launch Panel 1 Part 2
For Flourishing's Sake
Today's episode features the 2nd half of the 1st panel discussion as part of the For Flourishing's Sake book launch events. Panellists discuss putting teacher wellbeing first and sharing a language for wellbeing in schools. The role of Appreciative Inquiry processes and Action Research are also touched upon to support empowering staff and creating lasting change. Panellists also address cost, and the role of Positive Education in the context of Covid-19 and the Black Lives Matter movement.
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S1 Ep47: The what and how of Positive Education - Book Launch Panel 1 Part 1
For Flourishing's Sake
Over the coming weeks, For Flourishing's Sake will feature extended podcast episodes, where you will be able to listen to the replays of the book launch events. Today's episode is the first half of the first panel discussion.
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S1 Ep46: Positive Education - from individual happiness to the greater good
For Flourishing's Sake
Is Positive Psychology all about individualism and selfish happiness endeavours, or does it support societal flourishing and encourage us to connect with and support one another? What role do schools play in this? In this episode, I explore some of the criticisms levelled at Positive Psychology and invite you to consider the opportunity we have as educators to change the world for the better.
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S1 Ep45: Flourishing Despite Fear
For Flourishing's Sake
In this week's "For Flourishing's Sake", I share how we can flourish and thrive despite experiencing fear. Not by eliminating the fear, but by flooding our system with happy hormones from positive emotions, to counteract the negative effects of the fear. Learn to use Positive Psychology to your advantage so you can experience wellbeing even at times when you are feeling fear and uncertainty.
info_outlineWelcome to episode 27. Last week, we explored the importance of savouring - not just food but moments and experiences. So let’s talk a little more about the importance of experiences.
Do you go out of your way to create enjoyable experiences for yourself, the people you love, and your students? Do you spend your money and any free time you have on experiences or possessions? I’ll admit I am a bit of a shopaholic - though it’s a habit I am working on curbing - but as I’ve got older, I have found I increasingly value experiences, especially if I can share these with the people I love. Whether it’s an evening spent with friends, watching a favourite TV show with family members, or going for a walk in nature by myself, it’s those experiences that bring me the most joy and contentment, and that ground me when I find life hectic, stressful or worrying.
Research (1) has shown that spending time and money on experiences rather than possessions is linked to increased happiness. One piece of research (2) which involved a number of separate studies looked at whether extraordinary or ordinary experiences make us happier and found that this very much depends on age - specifically how much time we have ahead of us. The researchers found that younger people generally value extraordinary experiences more, whereas as we get older, we tend to value the ordinary everyday experiences. Yet another piece of research (3) found that when we spend money on experiences - or indeed on other people, incidentally - this promotes happiness because it enhances our social relationships.
So how can this research help your personal flourishing? Have a think about the experiences that have brought you joy, serenity or allowed you to reminisce happily time and time again. Consider whether these were everyday ordinary experiences or extraordinary life moments. What do these experiences have in common? Can you deliberately bring more of these kinds of moments and experiences into your life?
And how about your students’ flourishing? Perhaps, in conjunction with conversations about savouring, you can help them focus on the experiences that they find helpful to their wellbeing. When it comes to your lessons, can you build in some exciting experiences to make those lessons more fun and more memorable? I know one physics teacher who brings so much excitement into his lessons. I’ve never been interested in physic, but I think if he’d been my teacher when I was at school, I may have viewed the subject very differently! I also remember a Year 9 class in my second year of teaching - it was a school where, until Year 8, all students studied two foreign languages, but afterwards, only those who did particularly well in languages carried on with both; the others just continued with one language. Year 9 was a bit of an anomaly though - students carried on with a second language, but those that weren’t considered to be gifted in languages were not assessed in any way in their second language.
After my initial confusion and panic about what to teach that particular Year 9 class, I realised that this gave me immense freedom: No compulsory curriculum or learning objectives, no exams, no restrictions! I could have fun with language lessons with this group. So I made the lessons fun, with lots of language games. Learning a language, for this group of students, became fun, rather than a means to an end. These were students that didn’t generally engage very well with education, but in this particular lesson, they had fun, and made tremendous progress in their language learning.
I’d like to think that, had I stayed in the teaching profession longer and gained more experience, I could have found a way to bring that element of fun to my other lessons, too. I see plenty of teachers who do this very well. If you can turn more of your lessons into ‘experiences’ for your students, you will not only make them more memorable and help your students’ learning, but you may support their wellbeing in the process, too.
Let me know how you bring ‘experiences’ into your life and your teaching. I love to hear your stories!
And, as always, I look forward to catching up with you next week. Until we speak again, For Flourishing’s Sake, have a great week!
References
- Mogilner, C. and Norton, M.I., 2016. Time, money, and happiness. Current Opinion in Psychology, 10, pp.12-16.
- Bhattacharjee, A. and Mogilner, C., 2014. Happiness from ordinary and extraordinary experiences. Journal of Consumer Research, 41(1), pp.1-17.
- Yamaguchi, M., Masuchi, A., Nakanishi, D., Suga, S., Konishi, N., Yu, Y.Y. and Ohtsubo, Y., 2016. Experiential purchases and prosocial spending promote happiness by enhancing social relationships. The Journal of Positive Psychology, 11(5), pp.480-488.