Blog Posts

Quote of the week

9/14/2016

Hold it lightly and trust

If one holds too tightly on to anything (no matter how beautiful, liberating, or true) the holding tightly can limit us.
What are you holding tightly onto? Let go and trust - an open palm allows more things to come your way... a closed fist shuts out all opportunities.

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Website of the Week

9/12/2016

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Jodie Cooper, Stephanie Meades and Terri Rowe developed the 'Kindness Calendar' as a simple way to promote kindness in schools, homes, and workplaces. Together, they formed the Kindness Crew and are on a mission to make kindness a priority in the lead up to Christmas.

The intention behind the calendar is to inspire random acts of kindness and to start conversations around kindness that help to shift our mindset around what’s important. Jodie, Stephanie and Terri believe that as our lives become increasingly busy, it is challenging to focus on what matters most. The 'Kindness Calendar' is a great way to bring our focus back to kindness.

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Study Tip of the Week

9/10/2016

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Ritualise your study routine
When we are born, one of the first things our parents do is try and get us in to a routine around our eating and sleeping patterns, usually resulting in a ritual of some kind, especially around bedtime. An example of this may be after a bath we have a story read to us, a bottle, and then bed. These 'cues' or 'triggers' repeated over and over get us used to these specific rituals so that when, for example, we have a bath at night, we will know what follows.

These rituals can also be very useful when you are studying, especially if you tend to procrastinate or struggle to settle down to your daily homework. Perhaps a routine may be of use??

There are many things that you can do to set this ritual up.
Here is an idea of what it might look like:

When you get home, you put your school bag in your room and take out your lunchbox, sports gear and homework (this goes on your study desk or where you are going to do your homework)
Change your school clothes and put them in the wash basket or hang them up
Put on your Study Gear (this could be a favourite T-shirt, hat, sweater, woolly socks, scarf or some other form of clothes that you wear only when you are studying). As soon as you finish studying you take it off.
Have something healthy to eat and drink to refuel your lagging energy levels.
Spend 15 minutes chatting with parents, siblings or playing with a pet (if they are present)
Check your social media for 15 mins before you turn your phone off (this is the biggest distraction during study time - it requires a HUGE amount of discipline for this one.....).
Put a Do Not Disturb, Genius at Work poster of your door so that you will not be disturbed while studying
Choose the music you want to listen do
Organise your files into the order in which you are planning to attend to your homework
Tick off each item on your study planner sheet once you are done
Have a 10 minute break for every 50 minutes you study - get up from your desk and go for a quick walk or stretch, maybe have a glass of water)
When you finish your homework pack up your bags ready for school the next day
Give yourself some down-time as a reward for completing your homework - maybe some TV, computer game of chatting with a friend. This will be more enjoyable knowing you have completed your homework.

This is just one suggestion.
Make a study routine that best suits you and your study priorities and goals.

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Study tip of the week

8/15/2016

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Using podcasts / audio notes for revision
Many students write notes as their main form of revision but if you are an auditory learner listening to your notes may be more effective' The great thing about audio notes is that you can listen to them while you are walking the dog, riding the bus to school, doing yoga or any other time you can listen to your iPod.

Some different ways that you can create audio notes:

Ask your teacher if you can record their lectures so that you can listen to them again to catch anything you miss.
Read (or get your friends to read) various textbook chapters that you are having trouble with. Then you can listen to them repeatedly.
Ask questions into your recorder / phone and give yourself time to answer the question. The say what the answer is. This will let you know what you can and can't remember. (This is especially useful for language learning)

There are a number of Apps you can buy for your phone or you can use Evernote or OneNote which are both fantastic free note making tools. Because the information is stored in the cloud, you can access it anywhere, anytime on any device.

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Website of the Week

8/11/2016

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Storyboard Generator
The Storyboard Generator is an interactive tool designed to teach you the concepts of storyboarding. You can create storyboards either using pre-written scripts or scripts you create yourself. There are a series of short videos to help you through the process. Once done, you can save and share your storyboard video with friends.
Some of the themes you can explore include:

Community
Change and resilience
Belonging and identity
Ability and disability.... to name a few

Remember to register with Generator first if you would like to save your storyboard.

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Web 2.0 Tool of the Week

8/10/2016

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Instagrok
Instagrok allows you to research any topic with an interactive concept map, that you can customize and share. These interactive concept maps are a great way to organize and share information visually. Type a word into the search field and watch the mind map appear before your eyes. You can then click on each of the tabs that links to a web resource (which can be a definition, website, video and much more. This is a great tool for visual learners.

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Wellness Tip of the Week

8/7/2016

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Is Laughter the best medicine?
Laughter is a powerful antidote to stress, pain, and conflict. Nothing works faster or more dependably to bring your mind and body back into balance than a good laugh. Laughter is also good for your health

Laughter relaxes the whole body. A good, hearty laugh relieves physical tension and stress, leaving your muscles relaxed for up to 45 minutes after.
Laughter boosts the immune system. Laughter decreases stress hormones and increases immune cells and infection-fighting antibodies, thus improving your resistance to disease.
Laughter triggers the release of endorphins, the body’s natural feel-good chemicals. Endorphins promote an overall sense of well-being and can even temporarily relieve pain.
Laughter protects the heart. Laughter improves the function of blood vessels and increases blood flow, which can help protect you against a heart attack and other cardiovascular problems.

http://www.helpguide.org/articles/emotional-health/laughter-is-the-best-medicine.htm

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Website of the Week

8/6/2016

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Brainrush is a collection of adaptive learning games online. You can also create and share your own. There are literally hundreds of games to choose from. This may be a great supplement to helping you consolidate and / or test your knowledge on different topics

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Quote of the Week

8/6/2016

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Life is a series of natural and spontaneous changes. Don't resist them - that only creates sorrow. Let reality be reality. Let things flow naturally forward in whatever way they like.
- Lao-Tzu

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Website of the Week

8/6/2016

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On September 25th 2015, countries adopted a set of goals to end poverty, protect the planet, and ensure prosperity for all as part of a new sustainable development agenda. Each goal has specific targets to be achieved over the next 15 years. These goals have taken over form the UN Millennium Goals that were set in 2000.
There are some excellent resources on this website to use both in schools and in your everyday life. There is a list of actions that you can take in your everyday life to contribute to a sustainable future.

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