Workshop 4 - Positive Connections with Learning

Motivation beyond curriculum and tell-offs.

Especially for students with learning difficulties, emotional issues, impulsive problems & challenging behaviours

A half day or full day presentation suitable for ALL educators

The question each of us will be judged on is ..."how well did we really deal with these young people?" After all, we are the first generation of educators in a position to truly understand learning difficulties, disorders, syndromes, deficits and delays.

A 'Positive Connections with Learning' handout from the Third International SPELD Conference, held in Adelaide April 2007 can be viewed here.

A 'Positive Connections with Learning' handout from the SPELD Conference to be held in New Zealand June 2007 can be viewed here.

I'm always amazed by the ingenuity of my resourceful colleagues to maintain the buoyancy and engagement of students with diverse abilities. This admiration inspired my educator resource book, 'Cognitive Behavioural Training: A How-to Guide for Successful Behaviour' and is the basis of this presentation. The practices that I have written about are for all students, and especially for those who 'do it tough': those who don't get around to tasks, think they can't, lose concentration or display emotionally charged behaviours.

Effective communication and relationship building
Stretching the motivation, participation and inclusion of students starts with the principles of effective communication. Effective communication is more than offering a bag of empirically tested and disinfected educational tricks or relying on tell-offs, demerits, detentions, exclusions and suspensions. Without developing quality relationships ideas to persuade students to do what we see are best become little more than a collection of short-term props resulting in hollow, temporary wins.

Teacher weariness and 'demandingness'
Yet, to continue to motivate and inspire, teachers also need opportunities to gather their own inspiration.
How do you gather yours? Find out, try the reflective checklist.
It helps to know, because once energised we place ourselves in a prime position to reflect on why we teach, what it is we have to offer and how we might make the most of student engagement.
Let's explore the impact of teacher weariness and 'demandingness' on our relationships with students.

Simple strategies to stretch the perseverance & motivation of all students
How-to explicitly underpin the development of the 'success attributes' in students:

Self-awareness
Emotional integrity
Perseverance
Goal setting
Auditory cueing - teacher tips
Visual cuing - teacher tips
Ideas to manage time, planning and organisation
Hints to help student to self-monitor
Instant mood lifts

THE BEST resource to promote POSITIVE CONNECTIONS WITH LEARNING for our students is YOU
It's the creation of optimistic teacher attitudes that makes the greatest difference to students. This is what will support the emergence of their internal 'success attributes', and the approach is far more crucial for students who do not have deep, internal resources. Both anecdotal and research based evidence show that it is our knowledge, spirit, and our day-to-day effort that shapes what children learn, how they learn, how they relate to others and how they see themselves. It is us who can make a world of difference. So keep on trusting your instincts as you participate with a student who shows just the slightest glimmer of wanting to design a better future. Start with small steps. And behold the amazing ripple effect from our collective understandings and energies.