Plain Sailing In Schools

Sometimes it can feel as though eating a healthy diet, getting enough exercise and finding the time for yourself is impossible. But learning to live a healthier lifestyle is easy when you change one small thing at a time. Follow this advice and you will soon be full of beans.

1. LET IT BEET

It sounds bizarre but beetroot could be a secret weapon against high blood pressure. The condition is a major cause of heart disease and stroke, but many people aren’t aware they have it as it has no symptoms. Now, researchers from Barts Hospital and the London School of Medicine say drinking 500ml of beetroot juice could dramatically reduce blood pressure after just one hour. So drink up the pink stuff. (Get yourself a juice making machine. I juice 2 apples, 1 raw beetroot and 2 broccoli florets every day. It’s delicious!)

2. THINK OUTSIDE THE BOX

Us lazy Brits will spend 17 years of our lives on the sofa, with 7 years of that devoted to watching TV. Next time you hear yourself saying, “I haven’t got time to go to the gym” or you opt for ready meals because you’re too busy to cook fresh food, think about switching off the box and doing something healthy instead.

3. DON’T TAKE THE BISCUIT

It may be a good idea to steer clear of the biscuit tin before you go shopping. A team from the University of Singapore recently discovered that the smell of chocolate chip cookies could make women splurge on unnecessary clothes when they hit the shops. The smell activates the part of your brain that wants instant gratification.

4. EMBRACING GOOD HEALTH

Giving your partner a good hug doesn’t just warm the heart, it can protect it too. A study by the University of North Carolina in 2005 found that hugging your other half for 20 seconds could lower blood pressure and reduce levels of the stress hormone cortisol. High levels of cortisol have been linked to heart disease and other conditions such as diabetes.

5. POURING SALT ON THE WOUND

We eat around 9.5g of salt a day, but the Government wants us to cut this to no more than 6g, as high levels of salt can push up your blood pressure, raising your risk of cardiovascular conditions. Many food labels only list salt as sodium however, but you can do a simple sum to work out the real salt content; just multiply by 2.5. So 0.8g of sodium becomes 2g of salt.

6. SUNNY SIDE UP

Get outside in the sunshine for a natural boost. The sun’s rays on the skin help your body produce vitamin D, which has been shown to fight heart disease, depression, osteoporosis and even some types of cancer. So make the most of the sun when it is around!

7. ONE IS THE MAGIC NUMBER

One of the largest studies into diet and cancer – the Europe-wide EPIC study – found that eating just one extra portion of fruit and vegetables a day could cut your risk of dying early from any cause by 20%.

8. HOLDING BACK THE YEARS

Add 14 years to your life by following four very easy principles; don’t smoke, take regular exercise, drink sensibly and eat five portions of fruit and veg each day. These simple steps can have a huge impact on your life expectancy, say scientists from Cambridge University. If you only manage one thing, give up smoking as the study found this had the biggest impact on your health.

9. A STEP IN THE RIGHT DIRECTION

Previously experts thought taking 10,000 steps a day was enough to control your weight, but a world-wide study has just established that women up to the age of 40 and men up to 50 need 12,000 steps a day to help shift that middle jiggle. Invest in a pedometer to make sure you’re hitting your target.

10. LAUGHTER IS THE BEST MEDICINE

Become a glass half-full person! Studies have found that those with a positive attitude suffer less from conditions such as heart disease. Find something to laugh at every day to give your feel-good hormone a boost.

I like Number 10 most of all, so why not share some of you ways of bringing more laughter into your life. I would love to know, so please leave a response.

One of the key elements of a good report is knowledge. Teachers deliver programmes of study through a sequence of lessons. As the lessons are being delivered and the pupils are learning, evidence of this learning is being compiled. The evidence may be transitory – through oral questions and answers, discussions and practical work such as that found in subjects like drama or physical education.

Good teachers need to be good assessors. They need to ensure that learning has occurred by assessing the quality of the outcomes from each lesson. In many cases, some recording of the outcomes should take place and the data added to on a regular basis.

A report is a statement that imparts this knowledge of the learning outcomes. It shows that a teacher has looked at the programme of study and has taken from it critical criteria that the pupil has had to meet to succeed in that subject. The teacher reports on this progress over a set period of time and the report refers specifically to this progress. The report encapsulates, for a parent, what the child has done over the school year and how their learning has measured up to the identified criteria and the skills that need to be mastered at the time.

Susan Davies (2006) states that a report should encapsulate and state:

• what has been taught
• what has been learnt
• how the pupil has done in relation to the expected norm for a child of that age
• what strengths the pupil has shown
• what weaknesses need to be addressed by the pupil
• the pupil’s attitude within the subject area towards classwork/homework/independent learning/working with others
• class targets for improvement that should be subject specific.

Ultimately, the report allows parents an insight into learning and ensures that they are part of a partnership made up of pupil, parents and the teacher/school.

The style

Parents are not usually familiar with national curriculum jargon, so it is best to stick to plain English. Reports look more professional if the vocabulary is descriptive and concise, so do avoid using the words ‘good’, ‘well’, ‘bad’ and ‘average’. These words give a very general picture and they are not very informative. Here are some more interesting and useful comments:

• participates sensibly
• grasps new concepts quickly
• loves learning new skills
• understands clearly
• takes pleasure in
• concentrates for long periods
• enjoys being involved in
• lively imagination
• wide general knowledge
• has a wide range of interests
• continues to improve.

The tone

Be aware of not making the whole report too negative. Try to focus on positives as much as possible. Although you have to be honest about thechild’s shortcomings, it is important to highlight their strengths and your tone should displayyour own interest in and care for the child.

Here are some expressions that demonstrate a positive attitude to the pupil:

• I was pleased when…
• I hope he/she will soon…
• I should be delighted if…
• I hope she/he will develop her/his talent for…
• I enjoy teaching X because…
• I wish X well next year.

The following comments can be used to highlight the pupil’s weaknesses without causing too much offence.

For the less able:

• slow but perseveres
• tries hard but needs extra support with
• does his/her best but lacks confidence
• is fairly keen but has a short attention span
• often tries hard but can be careless
• needs a lot of practice at each level
• copes best in a small group
• needs extra practice at each level to keep up with the class
• acquires new skills/concepts after a lot of practice.

For the reluctant learner:

• makes avoidable mistakes
• needs to check his/her work more carefully
• needs to be supervised closely to keep her/him on task
• needs to put in more effort to keep up with the group
• is easily distracted
• often needs to finish off his/her work at break-times

For the child with poor social skills:

• needs to consider other children’s feelings
• has not yet learnt how to make friends
• does not realise that other children will treat him/her exactly as he/she treats them
• does not realise that other children deserve as much attention as him/her
• must learn that he/she will never get his/her own way by giving cheek

Hopefully, these tips and suggestions will make your daunting task of writing reports much easier.

It would be great if you could share your views and ideas, so please do leave a comment. I very much look forward to responding.

As you woke up this morning and moved out into the day, you did so by gathering up a host of beliefs to take with you. You then put them on as spectacles through which to view the world.

You have beliefs about yourself (your skills, your values, your dignity). You have beliefs about other people (what makes them tick, what they want, how to relate to them, etc). You have beliefs about work, play, recreation, hobbies and volunteer activities. You have beliefs about the world (politics, education, crime, police, the justice system, other countries, wars, journalism, and environment). You have beliefs about a thousand different concepts (time, history, the past, the future, causation, personality, emotions and destiny).

Further, because you have these beliefs, you operate from them as one uses a map to navigate territory. Beliefs as mental maps govern our life, emotions, health, skills, and everyday experiences. So where did these belief maps come from? How did we develop, create, or absorb them? How much validity do they have? What compromises these beliefs? How would we change them if we wanted to?

Beliefs develop over time out of our experiences. We construct our beliefs via the ideas, thoughts, feelings, meanings that we bring to bear upon various concepts.

At birth, we have no beliefs. Rather, beliefs arise as our perceptions, understandings and learning grow and solidify as a form of focused awareness. In this way, they develop into some durable internal maps about the territory out there.

Structurally, a belief involves thoughts about some thing or another plus validating, affirming, and accepting thoughts about these primary thoughts. This explains why merely repeating an empowering belief statement will not have the same effect as believing an empowering belief statement.

Now, it is useful also to have some understanding of disbelief. To disbelieve a statement, we essentially bring thoughts of doubt, uncertainty, and questions to bear on the primary thought. In other words, we think: “I have questions about that idea”. Hence, we are in a state of doubt about a particular thought. Thus, if you question anything enough eventually you will disbelieve it, including yourself. Part of the process of being coached is to encourage the client to question some of their own assumptions and ideas.

The natural growth of beliefs starts with vague representations of what we experience. We ‘think’ about but don’t ‘know’. We have questions and doubts about how to organise our thinking into constructed and logical concepts and assumed ‘knowledge’ about a particular thing. Yet as these representations gain more and more clarity, we develop various forms of knowledge about things. As that knowledge solidifies, it takes the form of knowing ‘what we have learnt’, what we understand about life, then progressively the idea takes greater hold in our mind.

At this point, when an idea is more solidly engrained in our minds, we have fewer doubts, less questions, and more of a sense that the idea itself is reality. Now we believe in the idea considered. we feel convinced about it. Eventually we feel so convinced that it becomes a conviction in our life.

Unfortunately, negative beliefs can become a self-fulfilling prophecy. Negative expectations create negative outcomes, and naturally, positive expectations create positive outcomes. The good news is that we are all capable of creating new empowering beliefs. Several of my coaching sessions are based on the idea that we can eradicate limiting beliefs and create new empowering beliefs. Anything can become a belief. All you need to do is establish what you want to believe, or what belief would support you in achieving your goals and look for instances in your life that support this belief.

“There are two primary choices in life: to accept conditions as they exist, or accept the responsibility for changing them.” – Dr. Denis Waitley

Here is a useful exercise you might like to try

First of all, think of a goal you have in your life. You might like to write it down to help make more sense of it. Then you need to write down three beliefs that don’t support you in achieving your goal, such as “I am lazy” or “I am frightened about facing my fears”.Then, for each negative belief, write down the answers for these two questions:

1. What has this negative belief cost me so far?
2. What will this negative belief cost me in 5 years time?

Next, I’d like you to think about the hidden benefits of not getting you goal. These are often the excuses you make to not take action. Can you think of three hidden benefits? Then ask yourself what is the true cost of keeping this ‘benefit’ in your life. Write it down.

The next step is to write down three empowering beliefs that are going to help you get your goal. Now it is worth bearing in mind that there are five different ways new beliefs can be installed, from:

1. Past outcomes (remember a time)
2. Events (is there an area of your life you already do/are this)
3. Creative Thinking (could you dream/imagine it)
4. Education (what could you learn)
5. Environment (who could you model)

The final exercise is for each of your new empowering beliefs, write down two different ways you could do something to strengthen them. You may need to think of other areas of your life where you have already demonstrated having one of these beliefs. If you have the belief in another life area, then you most certainly can transfer it to another.

Good luck with the exercise, and hopefully it will leave you feeling good and motivated.

To find out more about my coaching work on beliefs, why not get in touch or leave a comment here and I will get back to you.

During my recent time twittering away on twitter, I came across a gentleman called Mark Warner, who is a primary school teacher in the UK. Mark’s passion is for using ICT in the classroom.

I share his passion very much. Visiting schools to observe my latest group of PGCE students, I have seen some wonderful use of ICT which has totally engaged the children in class. In fact, I’m seeing much fewer behaviour problems or disinterested pupils.

Please check out his site by clicking on the logo here:

‘Ideas to Inspire’ is a collection of collaborative presentations, which offer a large number of ideas for engaging lesson activities. They are the result of the collaboration of teachers from all around the world.

The presentations are grouped into different sections:

Curriculum Ideas

Providing ideas and resources, linked to specific curriculum areas. Here are some of the topics:

• Inspiring Writing
• Interactive Maths
• Amazing Art
• Marvellous Music
• Creative Geography
• ICT in the Early Years
• ICT Control and Modelling

Interesting Ways to Use ICT in Your Classroom

These presentations focus on one particular ICT tool and suggest ways of using that tool in your classroom.

Other Collaborative Presentations

This section contains even more collaborative presentations, covering a range of topics. Explore the wonderful ‘Techy Tips for Not So Techy Teachers’ or browse through the ‘A to Z of ICT’.

If you have any amazing ideas to add to the presentations on the site, or you can suggest a new topic, please get in touch with Mark: mark@teachingideas.com.

Do you have classroom rules?

Rules are crucial for any lesson and should be shared with pupils and can form the basis of your code of conduct.

Some schools have a set of standardised rules that are used for all classes. It would be good to hear from you about the specific rules you use. As I visit different schools, it is interesting to see how much the rules vary.

Here are some I would like to share with you. These are recommended by Susan Davies (2006).

What are your views on them? Can you add any to this list?

Pupils must:

• turn up with the necessary equipment, in primary schools much equipment may be provided, even so specialist kit may be needed on specific days (eg for PE or games) and ensuring this happens is important.

• behave appropriately at all times without nudging each other or distracting others from working.

• enter and leave the classroom in an orderly fashion.

• sit down and get equipment and books out ready for learning to begin.

• not speak while the teacher is talking.

• not shout out.

• not make sounds that are distracting whilst others are working, like whistling, tapping pens, etc.

• not answer back.

• do what the teacher says – if a pupil is asked to move, then they should follow that instruction, as there will be a reason for it.

• complete learning work to the best of their ability.

• complete homework on time.

Remember, the teacher should be in charge of the teaching and the organisation of the classroom – pupils need to be clear about this.

You need to clearly outline the sanctions that you will use if pupils do not comply. This may include a reference to school sanctions. Knowing the school behaviour policy, and reminding pupils that you know it, sends out a powerful message about how efficient and prepared you are,

Many schools are today realising that they need to do much more to encourage pupils to want to learn. Some schools have adopted a system called promoting positive learning (PPL). This system relies on mutual respect between staff and pupils and on staff working positively with pupils to encourage good learning outcomes.

Where PPL is used, staff are encouraged to use as much positive praise as possible to reinforce good behaviour and ensure that maximum learning occurs. I have just today come back from visiting a trainee teacher on a placement, and positive reinforcement was a major topic of our conversation. I have seen so many teachers get totally consumed by the negative behaviour of certain individuals in their class. Not only does this take up valuable teaching time for those who want to learn, but it is also very stressful and draining for the teacher to have to be constantly nagging. Far better is to focus on the pupils who are behaving appropriately and positively.

As a guideline for PPL, it is suggested that in any lesson, a teacher should try to use positive praise at least three times more often than they use negative comments. Many schools offer rewards to pupils for sustained good effort and learning outcomes. Many primary schools offer stars or stickers on a chart, or in their exercise books. When they have been awarded a certain number, they are then given a prize. In some secondary schools, funding has been found to award special merit prizes of a bike, or a DVD player. Other schools also have a commendation system where staff identify pupils who have worked well and receive a letter home to their parents highlighting their achievement.

This notion of giving rewards has raised many questions recently, so I ask you:

What are your views on offering stickers, stars, stamps, certificates to children for behaving correctly or working hard?

Many people believe that too many rewards lead to a culture of young people who always expect to be given something back in return for doing the right thing. Many years ago, we used to call this bribery!

As is the case with many systems like this, schools will adopt and adapt a system that best suits their own ethos and needs. I know one secondary school where the merit system is used for the first three years, and then in Years 10 and 11, pupils are awarded credits in card form. At the end of each term there is a prize draw, so the more credits a pupil has, the higher their chance of winning the star prize.

Pupil planners are also being used more in schools as a way of keeping parents informed about behaviour and merits or awards received. Pupils are given a diary for the year, which has additional room for comments which parents and teachers sign each week. In the diary, parents can record reasons for absence and teachers can record merits awarded or information about behaviour, concerns about homework, and so on.

Does your school allocate pupil planners?
If so, how successful are they?
Are they used effectively?
Can the system be abused by older pupils?

Home/school agreements are a statutory contract between pupils/parents and the school, outlining what each party agrees should occur throughout the year. In some cases, these are built into the pupil planners, including information regarding the school’s expectations about the conduct of its pupils.

How does your school promote positive learning?
What systems work well in your school and why?

It would be good to hear your views, so please feel free to leave a response here.

Visualisation is one of the most powerful coaching tools currently used by coaches all over the world. The process involves creating images in your mind of how you want your life to be or who you would like to be. It is not just about seeing the image, but also about trying to feel, and in some cases smell, what your life would be like. For those of you who are familiar with the Law of Attraction, you will know that this process gradually tricks your mind into believing it is a reality, and indeed with constant reinforcement it can eventually attact what you want into your life.

The Secret by Rhonda Byrne talks about how the process of visualisation has been taught by all the great teachers and avatars throughout the centuries. Think of the great inventors and inventions such as Thomas Edison and he light bulb, or Alexander Graham Bell and the telephone. These things were only created because the inventors had a picture in their minds. They saw it clearly, and by holding that picture of the end result in their minds, all the forces of the Universe brought the inventions into the world, through them. The secret also is to not just create a static picture in your mind, but to create lots of movement in the picture.

Genevieve Behrend (1881-1960) said: “Everyone visualises whether he knows it or not. Visualising is the great secret of success. We all possess more power and greater possibilities than we realise, and visualising is one of the greatest of these powers.”

Now of course, many people find this a very difficult process, and therefore I would like to share some ideas with you about creating vision boards. The idea behind these boards is that by surrounding yourself with images of who you want to become, what you want to have, where you want to live, or where you want to go on holiday, your life changes to match those images and those desires. Before you set about making a board, you need to sit quietly and set the intent. With lots of kindness and openness, ask yourself what it is you want. Images should start coming into your head and slowly you will begin to create your vision. The process can be quite a deep experience. Some people like to put on music as they are doing this.

The next step is to find the images you would like to use. You may have some photographs, but your best bet is to go through magazines, newspapers, catalogues and brochures. It is also a good idea to look for key words and phrases too. Some people like to type their own favourite quotations or powerful words to incorporate into the images on their vision board. You can have lots of fun doing this, but ultimately you need to make a pile of appropriate images and words.

Then you need to start putting your favourite images onto a board. This could be poster board, thick cardboard, or even a piece of plywood. Start to discard the images that you don’t think will work. As you begin to lay the images on the board, you will begin to get a greater sense of what you want to achieve. Some people like to asign different corners of the board for different aspects of their lives, or you might prefer to have a series of small boards. I personally prefer to use images that summarise my overall goal that I am working towards. Then you can start sticking onto the board. You can add writing, which you can paint on, or write with markers, or use printed words. Make sure you leave a space in the middle to put a great photo of yourself – although this is optional. Then hang your board in a place where you will see it often.

There are many different types of vision boards for different purposes. One such is the “I Know Exactly What I Want” Board. This would be where you are very clear about your desires, or you want to change your surroundings, or if there is a specific thing you want to manifest into your life. People who are trying to lose weight often use images of people to illustrate their perfect body type. I know of someone who wanted a new bathroom, so she had images of her perfect bathroom suite and decor.

The “Opening and Allowing” vision board is for when you are not too sure what you want, or if you have been in a period of depression and grief. In other words, you may have some clear vision of what you want, but are unsure about some aspect of it. Or, you may know what you wantto change, but don’t know how it’s possible. With this type of board, you need to collect images that give you a great feeling of happiness and joy. Don’t question why, just collect the pictures spontaneously. Then, look at each picture and ask what it is telling you about you. It may not give you an answer straight away, but in time it will. This type of board can be a powerful guide for you and can go much deeper than the first type of board, as it goes much deeper than just getting what you want.

A third board is the “Theme” board. This works well if you are working on one particular area of your life, such as love and relationships, or work and career. It’s also effective for starting a new cycle in your life, such as the New Year or a birthday.

You can use a combination of all three boards. It might start out as one and then develop into a completely different type. It’s important to be creative and go along with the whole process and where it takes you. Good luck if you decide to give this a try, and let me know how you get on with it. Even better, email me some photographs of your board(s).

A report by the Independent Schools Association out today in the UK states that many children are living in a “prison-like environment” surrounded by technology.

John Gibson says that such experience does not prepare children for adult life and schools should challenge this.

Playing conkers and mending bikes helped children in later life, John Gibson told the ISA’s annual conference. Recent research suggests 5 to 16-year-olds are spending up to six hours a day online or watching television.

Mr. Gibson, who is head of Stoke College in Suffolk, said “playing out” as a child and taking part in activities such as putting an oily chain back on a bike, or playing conkers, exposed children to emotions such as disappointment which would prepare them for adulthood.

In his speech to the conference, he said: “When your life is lived through images constructed by a technical genius from Silicon Valley played on high definition screens, I just feel it will be more difficult to experience those important rehearsals for life.”

He went on: “When William Wordsworth wrote 150 years ago that ’shades of the prison-house begin to close upon the growing boy’ I believed he was talking mainly about school. But today’s prison-house is just as likely to be the home, a seductive, comfortable prison for boys and girls whose nimble fingers are adept at working their mobiles and computer games, but have never used them to play conkers.”

He told ISA members – heads of independent schools in England and Wales – that they should offer children a diversity and excellence of experience to challenge the culture of technology in which they live outside school.

In doing so, they should always pay attention to assessing risk, while preparing children for the world they would grow up in, he added.

In a survey by Childwise research agency last autumn, 1,800 children were asked how much time they spent either watching television, on the internet or playing on games consoles.

The survey suggested the children were spending 2.7 hours a day on average watching television, 1.5 hours on the internet and 1.3 hours on games consoles.

A casualty of this amount of screen time had been reading, it suggested. The children questioned were spending just over half an hour a day reading. In particular, older boys were resistant to reading, with 42% of 11 to 16-year-olds saying they never read books for pleasure.

However, playing sport still appeared to be a major part of young people’s lives, representing nearly five hours per week.

What are your views on these findings? Are you a teacher who has noticed the impact on children’s learning. Please leave a response.

It can often be very difficult to start a lesson. Often the whole group seems to not be interested in anything. So just what does a teacher have to do to fully engage children right from the start?

One great way of starting is to remind the class of the really good things they did in the last lesson. You could pick out the names of the children who did well – although try to not pick the same people. Then you can encourage them to do even better in the current lesson. For example:

• “James, well done on completing the story you wrote last lesson. I’m sure you will do just as well at today’s task.”
• “Linda, you managed really well to understand ‘x’ concept in our last maths lesson. Let’s see how well we can build on that this lesson.”

The beauty of using this strategy is that it anticipates a good lesson. How often do teachers start a lesson moaning and nagging children? Sometimes you even see teachers writing names on a board for detention at the beginning of the lesson. This is totally the wrong approach.

This method enables you to quickly set up a strong sense of success and because it’s based on the last lesson, it makes all the children feel reasonably confident that they can achieve something at least as well as last time.

However, in order for this to be totally effective, you must ensure that you have good notes of what happened in each lesson and highlight which children did particularly well.

Once you have delivered this upbeat message, you can then launch straight into your starter.

Another great way to involve the children right from the start of the lesson is to have a set of flash cards ready with answers to simple questions with one-word answers. For example, “Which country is Mount Everest in?” You could use A4 cards with large lettering, and even better if you use card in a variety of different colours.

Hand the cards to your children as they come in and then start asking them questions. To reply they must hold up the correct card. For example, the child who has Nepal would hold up their card in response to the question. You can of course adapt the questions for any subject. It has the advantage of:

• involving the children straight away in the lesson and focussing their attention on you;
• giving them something physical to do;
• being easy for them as no writing is required;
• allowing them to respond without talking.

I would love to hear your ideas about how you start lessons effectively, and if you try either of these strategies, please let me know how it goes.

The great Chinese thinker and philosopher Confucius once said that reflection is one of the most important methods to learn wisdom, and yet why is it that it’s the one thing that most people have little time, or don’t know how, to do? Coaching Interactive provides the perfect opportunities through a range of programmes to finally give anybody, anywhere, the chance to really reflect on their life and how they would like it to be.

So why is it that we rarely have the chance to reflect? Think about how many times you have been in a situation where you have really struggled to put your thoughts together in a cohesive way.  Have you ever been in a situation where you felt rushed because of time constraints, and then when you tried to verbalise your thoughts, all the words came out in the wrong way?

To give some examples of when either of these could occur, think job interviews, an important meeting, a presentation to an audience, or an appointment with a doctor or a solicitor. Bearing all of these scenarios in mind, how often have you been put on the spot to give an answer or make a decision, but because of the pressure you were under, what you said was not the best you could have chosen?

To take this even further, how many times have you come away from one of these scenarios and then suddenly everything you should have said miraculously comes into your head? Maybe there have been times when you wish you had planned better by thinking through beforehand about what you wanted to ask or say.

The main point being made here is that in our fast-moving lives, full of stress and a great deal of information overload, we rarely find good quality time to reflect. In simply meeting the day-to-day demands of our everyday lives, all too often there is no time left over for reflection about where our lives are leading or, even more important, where it is supposed to lead. It is so easy to lose sight of long-term goals when you are busy dealing with more immediate challenges. Even in our schools today, timetables are so full with subject content involving the learning of knowledge, that children are rarely given time, or taught, to think and to reflect. These skills are vital for a whole range of activities in our rapidly changing world, such as: problem-solving, evaluating, assessing, adapting and modifying – to name just a few.

So why is the ability to reflect so important and what exactly does it involve? The verb ‘to reflect’ originates from the Latin word ‘reflectere’ – meaning to bend back. By a simpler definition, to reflect involves thinking and/or expressing carefully considered thoughts. If we look at the noun ‘reflection’, its sense comes out much stronger – it means a thought or opinion resulting from careful consideration during mental concentration. To give an example in relation to the earlier scenarios, you could say after an interview: “Upon reflection, I wish I had expressed my opinions and ideas more clearly.” In many ways, that sentence highlights the major problem – there was no time for reflection during the event, and this is very common in our lives.

Effective and excellent coaching should always involve a great deal of thinking and reflecting. These are vital ingredients for a coach to be able to take the coachee forward and help them find solutions and pathways to facilitate the necessary changes required. It’s a two-way process – the coach frequently reflects on the required action and strategies appropriate for the coachee, and the coachee reflects a lot on how they are going to take the action and what obstacles or barriers they might encounter along the way.

Up unto now, coaching has traditionally been carried out on a one-on-one basis – either face-to-face or over the telephone. Modern technology, as rapidly changing as it is, even now allows us to talk over the internet with a headset and speakers. The next step on from this was only ever going to be a short matter of time away – namely eLearning based programmes with automated responses and/or feedback via email. And now, Coaching Interactive has arrived to bring affordable and reflective coaching to the masses, wherever they are and at whatever time.

The beauty of interactive online coaching is that, unlike traditional one-on-one coaching, it allows more quality time for reflection in a choice of environments – many of which are much more conducive to reflective thinking. Going back to the scenarios outlined earlier in this chapter, most of those situations contain factors which inhibit reflective thinking – such as limited time, feelings of anxiety or nervousness, being intimidated, and simply not feeling comfortable in a highly pressurised environment. Coaching Interactive enables the coachee  to work through coaching programmes in the comfort of their own home and at a time that is most suited to them. In fact, you can take as much time as you need before committing to answering a question – and if you change your mind, you can go back to it and make amendments.

The coaching environment is a key element of effective coaching and getting productive results from a client. In this light, there are certain characteristics of environments that can promote and support reflective thought. The table below illustrates the extent to which Coaching Interactive meets these characteristics.

The Reflective Journal is a method that most coaches introduce to their clients and is most effective as support for the whole coaching process. The written word, or in this case the typed word, is an excellent way of reflecting. By recording your experiences, thoughts and feelings in a systematic way, it enables you to analyse what you have written and as a consequence gain more insight. Increased insight is another very important part of being coached, especially in terms of planning life goals and how you are going to get to where you want to be. It is also the ideal way of identifying the barriers and obstacles you may encounter along the way, and which potentially may jeopardise your progress towards achieving your goals and aspirations.

Many people who keep daily diaries find this an excellent way to reflect on a range of everyday problems and situations – perhaps by asking themselves: What went well? What didn’t? Why? How do I feel about it? By writing these things down, thoughts and emotions are allowed to gradually come to the surface. You could say that reflective writing is essentially a kind of loose processing of thoughts and feelings about an incident, a situation, an event, or any experience at all.

All the data a client enters by answering questions in any of the programmes on Coaching Interactive is stored within their journal and can be returned to and amended over and over again. Time restrictions within traditional one-on-one coaching sessions do not allow as much for this level of re-visiting and re-thinking. It is the perfect way of fine-tuning your thoughts and reflections, facilitating a much greater chance of success and achievement. This level of repetition, often by going over something several times, helps to give a broader view and check nothing has been missed. Again, this is an experience we are so rarely afforded in our lives – whether it is as a student in the classroom or as a potential employee in the interview. This type of online reflection is an extremely useful way of getting the best out of someone, which is one of the main priorities for any coach.

The coach too, during interactive coaching, can record notes in response to a client’s answers to the questionnaires and refer to these when planning future sessions. The coach can also set tasks for the coachee and the calendar system acts as reminder of what needs to be done. All of these processes contribute to building up a reflective journal for each coachee. It can really help confidence by being able to look back over a journal and see progress, how difficulties were dealt with, and how the ideas have moved on.

Another very important element of reflection is that it turns experience into meaningful learning, helps us to make sense of the world around us and to learn from previous experience. How many times have you looked back on an event, thought about what happened and then considered what you would do differently in the future? These experiences can sometimes become blurred unless they are written down. When you are in an interview it is extremely hard to stand back and reflect when you are so caught up in the nerves of the interview. ‘Standing back’ helps give a better view or perspective on an experience, issue or action.

Coaching Interactive provides a structured step-by-step process to help you think about the issues in your life and what can be learned from them. Many of the questions are designed to help you reflect on events, situations and feelings in your life. This reflective process is illustrated in the following table.

Perhaps one of the greatest benefits of online coaching is that the level of reflection it allows enables the coachee to express deeper honesty. Reflection is often associated with ’striving for truth’, and online it is much easier for people to acknowledge things that they find difficult to admit in the normal course of events. Face-to-face coaching or one-on-one coaching over the telephone can often lead to feelings of being put on the spot or embarrassment. Are clients always totally honest in these situations? Do they not sometimes feel awkward about telling the coach certain things that they think will make them look silly? These issues are much less likely to arise online, as there is a certain level of anonymity attached to it and far less fear of being judged.

Ultimately, reflecting about your life through an online coaching programme can also bring much greater clarity, like seeing events literally reflected in a mirror. This can help at any stage of planning, carrying out and reviewing activities. It also enables more balanced judgements to be made by taking everything into account, and not just the obvious. If you forget what you said in the previous session, you have the option to look back and review your statements and observations.

Finally to conclude, it would be useful to examine the thoughts of John Dewey, who is one of the most renowned writers about reflective thinking. He said:

“We all acknowledge, in words at least, that ability to think is highly important; it is regarded as the distinguishing power that marks man from the lower animals. But since our ordinary notions of how and why thinking is important are vague, it is worthwhile to state explicitly the values possessed by reflective thought. In the first place, it emancipates us from merely impulsive and merely routine activity. Put in positive terms, thinking enables us to direct our activities with foresight and to plan according to ends-in-view, or to come into command of what is now distant and lacking. By putting the consequences of different ways and lines of action before the mind, it enables us to know what we are about when we act. It converts action that is merely appetitive, blind and impulsive into intelligent action.” (p.212, John Dewey on Education, University of Chicago Press, 1974)

Dewey makes several key points here that not only highlight the benefits of reflective thinking, but also how online coaching provides greater opportunities for this to take place. For example, he mentions “merely impulsive and routine activity” – this surely illustrates how people generally go about their lives, especially when faced with a challenge. In an interview, most of the answers we give are impulsive as there is little time to truly reflect. However, in answering important questions about yourself and your life through an online questionnaire, you are able to take your time and perfect your responses by changing it as often as you wish – giving a much more honest and accurate answer.

Dewey explains how thinking “enables us to direct our activities with foresight and to plan accordingly to ends-in-view”. How many people in their everyday lives plan with great foresight? Generally, they have ideas floating around in their heads about what they would like to do or achieve, but how rigorously is this planned for? Many people are afraid to plan and set goals because they fear failure. What they don’t realise is that achieving the goal isn’t half as important as setting it and then taking massive action towards its attainment. Coaching Interactive enables the coachee to focus through reflection and prepare for taking action – “intelligent action”, as Dewey calls it. We all know that the harder you prepare, the greater the chances of success.

Lastly, to return to Confucius – we are all constantly searching for greater wisdom. Wisdom that will help enhance our lives so that we can be as happy, successful and productive in all our endeavours, as is possible.  At last, the convenience of the internet, skilled coaches and powerful online tools, are combined to enable anybody to learn wisdom through structured and effective reflection.

Why not try a FREE interactive online coaching session now?Just go to the home page and click on the blue banner.

Let me know how you get on with it.