The Friday Mindset - Issue #46

March 25, 2022

Hi all and a very happy Friday!

First of all this week, a quick training update. We've got a few slots left this summer - maybe half a dozen - for staff training. If you're at all interested in sessions on...

  • Introducing VESPA to staff, with example activities

  • Effective revision, motivation and organisation

  • Improving student performance and changing culture

  • Preparing students for university-style working patterns

  • Implementing VESPA

  • Coaching students

  • Running research projects

  • Using the psychometric and online platform

...or you know anyone else who's been thinking about it, get in touch soon! It's always disappointing to have to turn schools away, or defer training for months when organisations really want to get started, but there's only so much time in our calendars. The usual email address, [email protected], applies.

Right that said, on with the issue. Lots to get our teeth into this week.

Something to try...

We've been checking out the work of Vanessa Hill after her Youtube channel, Braincraft, was recommended. We were impressed with her analysis of procrastination; why it happens and what we can do about it.

In this short powerpoint we've taken a two-minute clip of Hill giving 4 pieces of advice for tackling procrastination.

There are just a few further activities - we're particularly happy with the video we've clipped together of the skateboarder using mental preparation - but the rest is a chance for students to reflect and plan as a result. They could watch and then discuss which of the four pieces of advice strikes them as most useful, they could make a commitment to start working on a task they've been putting off... there are plenty of options to consider.

Hope you find it useful!

A short clip with 4 tactics

Something we're reading...

This week's paper is fascinating; a collaboration between academics at universities in New Zealand and the Netherlands based on extensive undergrad student interviews conducted in 2006. It's all about time management and independent study; about how students struggle to come to terms with the expectations of university-level work. It's all about transition, and can teach us a lot about how students feel as they start GCSEs or A levels.

It's particularly good for the pre-Easter period, we think. Seventeen days alone, revising at home are coming up... and we need to be clear and supportive in our messages about how to handle that time!

The paper's full of student voice - you can hear young undergraduates wrestling with the challenges they face in their interview responses - and that's made us think it's a great paper to share with pupils at KS4 and 5. But it's an often dense and detailed read. If you have some time and you want to dive in, the full paper is here:

Jacques van der Meer *, Ellen Jansen and Marjolein Torenbeek Higher Education Development Centre, University of Otago, Dunedin, New Zealand; University of Groningen, Groningen

But we've created a word doc summarising the first section of the paper; the section on time management. We'll do the same with the second part, independent study, in a newsletter to come. (We're also thinking a powerpoint summarising the student voice here could be good; we'll get onto that when we have a minute. For now, here's the word doc:)

‘It’s almost a mindset that teachers need to change’: first-year students’ need to be inducted into time management Jacques van der Meer *, Ellen Jansen and Marjolein Torenbeek Higher Education Development Centre, University of Otago, Dunedin, New Zealand; University of Groningen, Groningen, Th...

Our latest offer(s)...

Don't forget it’s the VESPA Q&A. Ask anything! Wednesday 20th April, 3:45-4:45pm.

You can either:

(i) bring questions with you or

(ii) email them through in advance so we’ve got the best possible answer ready for you.

The address to say hello is [email protected] - if you’d like to come along, drop us a line and we’ll forward you the zoom link.

And we've got a book giveaway this week! Excellent.

If you'd like a well-read copy of Katie Milkman's How to Change (subtitle: The Science of Getting to Where You Want to Be), just hit us up at the usual email address as quick as you can - leave us a school address and we'll post it to you next week. Go!

That's it for now. One more newsletter, next Friday's, then we'll be taking a break before resuming again in the middle of April.

Take care,

Steve and Martin

p.s. some heartening feedback from a recent training session: