In this edition…
- If you are an educator, you HAVE TO READ THIS, (An offer of Coach training at cost price) June 2010
- FREE Educator’s Training Workshop: Conflict Resolution (over 80 teachers confirmed!) May 4th and 6th 2010
- Is it time for the Siblings with Success workshop? Turning their Rivalry into your success? If we get a gorup together, we will run it.
- Article: Self Esteem in your children. You sure?
- Parent Sharing: Mom, I’m bored!
- Skill sharing: The difference between Praise and Acknowledgement.
Coach Training for Teachers and Educators. No joke about the price.
A four day workshop costing R8 500 is now on offer to teachers and educators at R750 - R950 .
SynEDgy™ and SynEDgy™ Schooling have joined up with the international coaching organisation, Consciousness Coaching®, to bring their powerful Coach Training to all educators at cost price. Yes, that’s 10% of the market value.
In fact, each and every educator out there is already a life coach, but not necessarily a very effective one. Each and every person who interacts with a child has the opportunity to make a difference to that child, whether you intend to or not, whether you are skilled at it, or not.
So now we open up the possibility for you to align your best intentions for children with skills and techniques that will enable you as a teacher or educator to maximise their reaching their potential.
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Article: Self Esteem… You sure you want it?
It was time to begin. Rows of parents and teachers with eager faces were facing the front room anticipating the sharing of some knowledge that would support them in dealing with their children. This was a workshop on the ‘Nurturing of Self-Esteem’ and these people were committed to finding out more about how to do that so they could support their children’s development.
“Are you really sure you want your child to have a high self-esteem?” I asked the parents. Many heads nodded with a decisive certainty that either comes from deep wisdom or from a ‘good intention that hasn’t yet been well thought out’. So I continued, “What would change and be the result if your children did have a high self-esteem?”
The responses varied: “They would pick up their clothes and be more proactive”, “They would listen to what I say”, “They would do their homework without me nagging them”, “They wouldn’t fight with their siblings”, “They would be more confident and happy.”
Yet the challenge, and often hidden component, of self-esteem, is not so much about the individual and how they value themselves, but when they have to place that value in relation to other people or other things. In other words, when they start saying this to you, “No, I don’t want to! Now what…your child values their own thoughts…
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After the article on Self Esteem (the one on the left) was published, I got an e-mail from a really disgruntled gentleman. He didn’t actually come across as a gentleman as he was so scathing and undermining. I remember his words, “To think that a person like this is a principal of a school...our children have no hope!” I was devastated. I felt so offended.
I didn’t feel like writing again, the risk too great. But the whole thing about self esteem is to get up again, and say, “Ok, some people may not like or understand what is meant. And at the same time, I value it.”
So this re-publishing of the article is dedicated to him, a proof that there is merit in this apparent madness.
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| upcoming workshops |
parent sharing |
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FREE Cape Town Teacher Training Workshop. For any Educator: School teachers, Assistants, Au Pairs etc (4th or 6th May, Fish Hoek Library) |
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Being a powerful and effective teacher has very little to do with your qualifications and academic experience. You either transform and develop a child’s life through your interactions with them, or you perhaps hamper and shut them down due to no other reason than our teacher training did not equip us with appropriate skills. We were taught how to teach a child to read, to write to do maths. But we were not taught the most valuable skills in communication that get our classes to cooperate with us, how to problem solve, how to set respectful, boundaries or how to nurture self esteem. Being a conscious educator implies you think careful about what you do, what you say, and who you are as a model to your children. The SynEDgy™ Conscious Educator’s Group is an opportunity for all educators and assistants to be supported in those things we all should know, but were never taught. We meet once a term, and it’s FREE!.
Term Two’s theme is “Resolving Conflict between Children. (see link below to download FREE skill)”
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Sibling Rivalry into Success Workshop |
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The Siblings with Success workshop is a powerful process to become skilled in dealing with the challenges of having more than one child. In fact, even having one child with friends over for a play date feels like the same thing. How do you get them to stop fighting over toys? Whose turn is it now? And the constant comparing of which one is better than the other?
So if you think it’s time to do this workshop, then let me know and I will get it onto the calendar.
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A skill in more detail: Difference between Praise and Acknowledgement
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The differences between traditional praise and Acknowledgment are subtle:
Traditional praise is a reward for a completed achievement.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT is a recognition of effort.
Traditional praise tells children they've satisfied the demands of others.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT helps children evaluate their own performances.
Traditional praise connects children's work with their personal worth, inviting fear of failure ACKNOWLEDGEMENT focuses on the strengths of the work, helping children feel confident in and able to assess their own strengths.
Traditional praise, however warm, places a value judgement on the child as a person. It is patronising, implying that I have the right to judge you.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT shows acceptance and respect, and is a message between equals.
Traditional praise can be withheld as a punishment, or cheapened by overuse. ACKNOWLEDGEMENT can be given freely, because everyone deserves it.
Traditional praise is often generalised.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT is specific to the action or behaviour.
Traditional praise depends on external evaluation
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT helps the child to set his own goals.
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| Mom, I’m bored! |
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Click here for February’s set of stories from the last workshop series.
My seven year old daughter frequently complains that she is bored (several times a week). Sometimes she does this while she is busy with an activity or even playing with a friend. I was becoming frustrated and would therefore ignore her comments.
After the workshops, I realised that I was not acknowledging her feelings because I did not understand them. I began to assume that she, in fact, was not bored. I decided to approach the next situation differently.
“I’m so bored”. I did not have too long to wait it seemed. “With a sigh like that you sound very bored. What can I do to help you?” I asked.
She went on to explain that she did not expect me to do anything, she was genuinely bored and knew that she could be doing any number of activities at that time. She said, “I just want you to know that I am bored.” She never said she was bored again that week.
A further sharing from a parent about the last Self Esteem course.
I think that what I noticed the most was how little I actually had to do to improve the atmosphere in our family household. Little words said here, a different sentence there and suddenly we were all connecting like we had never before. If I hadn’t heard the other parents also sharing similar experiences I would not have believed it possible.
So come join us on the next series and make a difference!
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| parenting quote |
Don't worry that children never listen to you; worry that they are always watching you.
~Robert Fulghum |
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| parenting coaching |
We are experiencing more and more Parents asking for individual support in resolving certain challenges with their children. Even if it's just for a one hour session it seems to just shift what was getting stuck. Why not find out how you can be supported?
more info
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| workshops |
Other schools also ask Robin to run workshops for their Parent group and if you feel this may be an option for you, please contact us. He also works with both Educational and Corporate Teams in facilitating their Team Communication skills. He is currently working with schools in both Cape Town and Johannesburg. Contact him to design a programme for you and your team!
contact robin
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| Robin is the Founder of the SynEDgy Schooling Approach and the current Synergy School Principal. He is a qualified Life Coach, has degrees in languages, psychology and Pre-Primary Education. He is also a national and international conference speaker and his articles have been published both locally and nationally in diverse magazines. He has appeared on E-TV discussing the skills for developing Emotional Intelligence in children and been interviewed on numerous National Radio Stations. |
| The goal of the newsletter is to make a difference in your life and not clutter your in-box. This should be something you feel you want to keep so you can review it later. If you feel it does clutter your inbox, go to the bottom of the e-mail and click on the unsubscribe link. At the same time, anyone can subscribe to this newsletter. So forward it on to your friends or suggest they go to www.robinbooth.co.za and enter their e-mail address.
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