The Friday Mindset - Issue #47

April 01, 2022

Hello again friends! The sun has been out and the world is starting to look a different place. Gone are the days of showing up at work in the dark and leaving in the dark... at least until next November. We're feeling upbeat.

The students, though? If yours are anything like ours, there's a good deal of stress, anxiety and a feeling of impending crisis, so over the next few weeks we'll be turning our minds to managing these moments of panic.

Hopefully you enjoyed the 'tackling procrastination' stuff from last week - we've seen a lot of clicked links and downloaded files so hopefully that's a yes. This week, we're jumping into stress-management and helping others.

Enjoy!

Something to try...

We were struck by this article - well actually it was a quote from the article; this one: "Hope is not just a feeling. It is a verb. It is action."

The piece is written by R.O. Kwon, author of The Incendiaries. In it, she talks us through a moment of great stress and anxiety - and how that led her to take a simple action: she said 'yes' to help out a friend who asked her to come volunteering with him. And it totally changed her mood and mindset.

We know that 'getting out of your own head' helps immensely with stress and pressure but the kids really need to hear this in the coming weeks. We think this article will be a good one to explore with students at years 11, 12 and 13 immediately after Easter. Read it together, and make some commitments.

Who could we help? Who needs us? Is there something we can do here in school/college? Can we help each other?

The full article is below.

But we're all crazy-busy so if you'd like an edited version that fits onto two sides of A4 and can be easily photocopied and shared during a tutorial, we've got you covered. You'll find it at the bottom too.

Something we've been reading...

This week’s paper... is last week's paper again. A kind of part two.

Quick reminder: we're looking at 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.

This week's summary is about independent learning. The full paper is here... but we've slimmed down the independent learning section and turned it into a word doc for you. It's fascinating - lots of student voice, so lots of young voices expressing concerns about what independent learning actually is. Really helpful, we think, for Year 13. Down at the bottom you'll find a link.

Our latest offers...

Don't want to spam you endlessly but 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.

OK that's it for now. Easter is here! Have a wonderful break folks, and we'll see you on April 22nd. Enjoy some sunshine!

All the best,

Steve and Martin

This week's links:

How author R.O. Kwon turned her dejection over an unsettling newsfeed into action.

Two pages, easily photocopiable

The second half of an academic paper (see last week for part 1)