Teach First conference - my third year running working with these inspired and passionate young teachers - this year we explored Careers Coaching tools and Creative Classroom skills - the handout from the latter will be on our new website when it launches at the end of the month.
We have a location for the conference - Pimlico Academy! This stunning new school is right in the centre of London and funded by an innovative charity: http://www.pimlicoacademy.org/. We really look forward to working with Colin and the team to deliver the very best Soul of Education Learning Festival we possibly can for our participants.
Spent the afternoon on Friday ( after moving house!) at Hillside Special School in Portslade, The students and i were devising a stall for the Christmas Fete - complete with costumes, homemade products and of course, a till! I go back next week to develop their thinking and practice keeping shop!!
On Thursday I spent the afternoon working with a group of alternative education providers from Sussex Downs College. We explored helping the youth to teach one another through peer to peer learning, explored coaching and active listening and much more. Top tips on interactive learning:
1. Students teaching Students - my friend Dan Marmar introduced me to this - train the students in how to put together a lesson plan based on their passions and interest and then have them deliver that to their peers. In the States, this method has resulted in whole school improvements in performance and participation.
2. Use art, writing, song, collage and personal story to bring lessons to life.
3. Listen 70% of the time talk 30% of the time and encourage the young people to tell you what they most want to learn.
Saturday, 20 November 2010
another busy week!
Goodness gracious - i have been slack in writing to you all! Apologies!
Here are the highlights:
The Good Deals conference:http://www.socialenterpriselive.com/section/news/money/20101116/good-deals-10-club-together-get-investment-say-experts
A conference to discuss investment in social enterprise. I said there was a "language barrier" between the investors and the entrepreneurs. We need to find ways to meet and understand, one another's value system and ways of communicating. Look, social enterprises ARE less likely to be highly profitable than hedge funds. Both are done for different reasons, in different ways. We are primarily motivated by instigating a social change and social impact, the hedge funders and investors are interested in tactical bets on the market to facilitate the highest return possible. Different sphere, different aims, different words.
Wednesday I ran a Find Your Purpose workshop at Sussex University as part of their Global Entrepreneurship Week. As a female social entrepreneur I feel passionately that it is possible to combine people, purpose, planet and profit. The workshop generated a lot of interesting career possibilities for the participants - many that they hadn't of. Perhaps they will invite me back to run a workshop on how to get your idea from concept to business plan? If you are at Sussex, I am running two workshops this Wednesday via CDEC: http://www.sussex.ac.uk/careers/newsandevents/events, these are free to Sussex students! One is on Presentation Skills and the other Innovation Tools.If you'd like me to run a workshop at your careers service, do let me know.
Stay in touch - need to know you are out there!
Here are the highlights:
The Good Deals conference:http://www.socialenterpriselive.com/section/news/money/20101116/good-deals-10-club-together-get-investment-say-experts
A conference to discuss investment in social enterprise. I said there was a "language barrier" between the investors and the entrepreneurs. We need to find ways to meet and understand, one another's value system and ways of communicating. Look, social enterprises ARE less likely to be highly profitable than hedge funds. Both are done for different reasons, in different ways. We are primarily motivated by instigating a social change and social impact, the hedge funders and investors are interested in tactical bets on the market to facilitate the highest return possible. Different sphere, different aims, different words.
Wednesday I ran a Find Your Purpose workshop at Sussex University as part of their Global Entrepreneurship Week. As a female social entrepreneur I feel passionately that it is possible to combine people, purpose, planet and profit. The workshop generated a lot of interesting career possibilities for the participants - many that they hadn't of. Perhaps they will invite me back to run a workshop on how to get your idea from concept to business plan? If you are at Sussex, I am running two workshops this Wednesday via CDEC: http://www.sussex.ac.uk/careers/newsandevents/events, these are free to Sussex students! One is on Presentation Skills and the other Innovation Tools.If you'd like me to run a workshop at your careers service, do let me know.
Stay in touch - need to know you are out there!
Saturday, 6 November 2010
Coaching for Counsellors
Today I delivered my first course on coaching skills for counsellors. It was a really interesting opportunity to compare notes. There is a lot of synergy between coaching and some counselling approaches, particularly integrative and CBT (Cognitive Behavioural Therapy).
Being excellent listeners, the group were already ahead of the game. We explored the GROW model, where you look at goals, the current reality of the situation, options and opportunities and your will to make the change you want happen. We also practiced using the Worst Case Scenario, a tool to explore how our fears can stop us from taking action, positive or negative.
Adding coaching to counselling can seem quite contraversial - coaching is a very active and empowering tool, whilst counselling offers more opportunity for reflection. Coaching is pro-active and structured, whereas counselling is more experiential and travels in the direction of the mind and thoughts of the client, regardless of any "focus" for the conversation.
It seemed that the counsellors who use their skills in a broader framework, such as supporting foster carers or working with young people's mental health, would find it easier to integrate the tools than those who have a one to one practice based on a particular approach.
Everyone has gone away for a month now to practice their new found skills in their respective environments - I will update once we have had our second session in December.
For more information about coaching skills for teachers, managers and counsellors, please get in touch or visit our new website, due to be launched in the next few weeks!
Being excellent listeners, the group were already ahead of the game. We explored the GROW model, where you look at goals, the current reality of the situation, options and opportunities and your will to make the change you want happen. We also practiced using the Worst Case Scenario, a tool to explore how our fears can stop us from taking action, positive or negative.
Adding coaching to counselling can seem quite contraversial - coaching is a very active and empowering tool, whilst counselling offers more opportunity for reflection. Coaching is pro-active and structured, whereas counselling is more experiential and travels in the direction of the mind and thoughts of the client, regardless of any "focus" for the conversation.
It seemed that the counsellors who use their skills in a broader framework, such as supporting foster carers or working with young people's mental health, would find it easier to integrate the tools than those who have a one to one practice based on a particular approach.
Everyone has gone away for a month now to practice their new found skills in their respective environments - I will update once we have had our second session in December.
For more information about coaching skills for teachers, managers and counsellors, please get in touch or visit our new website, due to be launched in the next few weeks!
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