STRENGTH

This Lesson: WHY: for you to understand the different roles that you are expected to fill as you are becoming your best self. HOW: for each of your different roles as a family member, a student and a community member, practise using your strengths to develop your positive outlooks, education and social-emotional skills.

ME: MY SELF-IMPROVEMENT PLAN

What is a strength that I am happy with how I am developing it in myself?

POSITIVE OUTLOOKS ME:

WHO I AM NOW

Understanding and using my signature strengths. Understanding my interests and personal values in life. Understanding how to connect with myself and others.

What am I doing well in developing my positive outlooks?

Understanding how to manage hardship and bounce back from it.

EDUCATION SKILLS ME:

AS A STUDENT

Understanding how to grow my brain’s abilities. Understanding how to think and change my thinking.

Understanding how to develop essential learning skills.

Understanding how to cope with the ups and downs of school.

What am I doing well in developing my positive education skills?

SOCIAL-EMOTIONAL SKILLS ME:

WHO I WILL BECOME

Understanding and being in charge of my emotions. Understanding how other people matter.

What am I doing well in developing my social-emotional skills?

Understanding how to make a positive difference for others. Understanding how to build rich relationships with others.

Acknowledgement: Tal Ben Shahar

This Lesson: WHY: for you to set three goals this Term, one for improving your learning and thinking skills in class, one for building your respectful relationships, and one for what you want to achieve for yourself. HOW: for each of your goals, think about what you need to learn, who can help you and what strengths you will use. All growth comes from pausing to slow down your thinking, being curious to take notice to be more aware of what’s happening and paying attention to what you need to pay attention to.

TERM TWO LEARNING GOALS

Goal One: About improving my learning and thinking skills. I will ................................................................................

Who can help me to learn what I need to learn?

....................................................................................... Circle where I am now on achieving this goal: 1 2 3 4 5 By the end of Term circle where I can reach: 1 2 3 4 5

Goal Two: About building my respectful friendships. I will ................................................................................

Who can help me to learn what I need to learn?

....................................................................................... Circle where I am now on achieving this goal: 1 2 3 4 5 By the end of Term circle where I can reach: 1 2 3 4 5

Goal Three: About what I want to achieve for myself. I will ................................................................................

Who can help me to learn what I need to learn?

....................................................................................... Circle where I am now on achieving this goal: 1 2 3 4 5 By the end of Term circle where I can reach: 1 2 3 4 5

PROGRESS TOWARDS LEARNING GOALS

Goal One: What did I learn about this goal that I am grateful for?

....................................................................................... Towards achieving this goal I felt I reached: 1 2 3 4 5

Goal Two: What did I learn about this goal that I am grateful for?

....................................................................................... Towards achieving this goal I felt I reached: 1 2 3 4 5

Goal Three: What did I learn about this goal that I am grateful for?

....................................................................................... Towards achieving this goal I felt I reached: 1 2 3 4 5

SIGN OFF! ME: MY PARENT/GUARDIAN: MY HOME ROOM/FORM TEACHER: DATE: / / DATE: / / DATE: / /

Acknowledgement: Seligman & Peterson

HEALTH + STRENGTHS Stress and Energy

WHY: by understanding that bad stress, called distress, is often caused by not handling the present moment, you will be more likely to seek help from your Champions of Trust. HOW: your Champions will share coping strategies to stop distress draining your emotional energy and turn it into positive stress, called eustress. Feelings of being psyched up to tackle challenges fill you with optimism and hope which assists you to be resilient to respond well to and face the present moment.

Acknowledgement: McQuaid & Kern DO: what are your warning signs that distress is creeping up on you? Draw them on an outline of your body.

................................................................................................................................................................................. When is a time that your Champions have helped you to experience the uplifting feelings from eustress?

................................................................................................................................................................................. Which Belonging in Teams ‘C’ can help you with Stress and Energy? (pages 116&117)

“Give your stress wings and let it fly away.” Terri Guillemets

21ST CENTURY LIFE SKILLS

INITIATIVE: being self-directed to think and act in areas out of your comfort zone to find creative solutions to complex problems and welcome new adventures. When is a time that you were proud of how you used this skill? Choose one of these resources to explore selfcalming and mindfulness activities.

Acknowledgement: Wagner & QCCA

MINDFULNESS TIME

www.learningcurve.com.au

www.smilingmind.com.au

www.headspace.org.au

Fabulous First 5 Minutes: when is a time that you have shown self-discipline to follow through on something?

Thriving & Striving: what are you really looking forward to learning and doing this week?

SEEING THROUGH ADVERTISING: is raising your self-awareness to see the bias, half-truths and tactics used in advertising to lure you to connect with their shallow messages. What is something that you can do to develop this insightful Keystone Habit in yourself?

Acknowledgement: ACARA 9-10 HPE

WHAT HAPPENED THIS WEEK? Exercise daily

Colour the sections to reflect how well you went.

BARELY LITTLE BIT ENOUGH MOSTLY HEAPS

Sleep well

BARELY LITTLE BIT OK MOSTLY HEAPS

Drink water

BARELY LITTLE BIT ENOUGH MOSTLY HEAPS

Eat healthy

BARELY LITTLE BIT HALF HALF MOSTLY HEAPS

Feel positive

BARELY LITTLE BIT OK MOSTLY HEAPS

paulo coelho

POSITIVE EMOTIONS + GRATITUDE Hope and Optimism

WHY: by setting three goals every Term to strive for, you will look to the future with hope and optimism, which is an essential resilience skill. HOW: for each goal write down possible challenges, what you need to learn to overcome them, and who can support you to do this. Following this process empowers you to be hopeful for your future and creates a pathway to achieve your goals. Accept that goal setting will deliver the outcomes that you want for yourself.

Acknowledgement: Boniwell, Diener & Snyder DO: when is a time that you set a goal, felt empowered, anticipated challenges and created a pathway to achieve it?

................................................................................................................................................................................. Why do you think that setting goals is a proven way to create hope and optimism in you?

................................................................................................................................................................................. Which Character Strength can help you with Hope and Optimism? (pages 6&7)

“It takes as much energy to wish as it does to plan.” Eleanor Roosevelt

WELLBEING@SCHOOL

When someone’s emotional intensity is not recognised by people around them, often there can be unwanted and unhelpful consequences. What are two warning signals that you notice when someone’s emotional intensity is up?

1. ............................................................................

2. ...........................................................................

LEARNING BOOSTER

Deliberately practising what you can already do only improves your reliability, not your ability. Growth comes from trying more difficult things that you haven’t done yet, making mistakes and then fixing them. What are two more difficult things that you can practise?

1. ............................................................................

2. ...........................................................................

Acknowledgement: ACARA 9-10 HPE Acknowledgement: Ericcson & Anderson

Fabulous First 5 Minutes: when is a time that you persisted to keep pushing and not give up?

Thriving & Striving: what are you really looking forward to learning and doing this week?

Exercise daily

Colour the sections to reflect how well you went.

BARELY LITTLE BIT ENOUGH MOSTLY HEAPS

Sleep well

BARELY LITTLE BIT OK MOSTLY HEAPS

Drink water

BARELY LITTLE BIT ENOUGH MOSTLY HEAPS

Eat healthy

BARELY LITTLE BIT HALF HALF MOSTLY HEAPS

Feel positive

BARELY LITTLE BIT OK MOSTLY HEAPS

MY GOAL NEXT WEEK

What do I want to achieve this week?

What do I want to achieve next week?

WHAT ARE YOU GRATEFUL FOR? COLOURING IN

This Lesson: WHY: for you to put into practice the Habits of Mind for real-life situations. HOW: look at the real-life situations on the next page and choose which Habits would be the best ways to think for each of them. The 16 Habits shown here are more intelligent ways to look at situations.

Persisting

Overcoming obstacles and sticking to a task until it is completed. When something doesn’t work, trying other ways.

Listening with Understanding and Empathy

Understanding and accepting others’ feelings and reading their body language messages.

Managing Impulsivity

Considering and understanding ideas before speaking, acting or judging.

Thinking Flexibly

Changing the way you think when you receive new information and contesting negative mind chatter.

Thinking about Thinking

Knowing what to do when you don’t know what to do. Being aware of how you are thinking.

Questioning and Posing Problems

Asking questions to fill in your knowledge gaps. Recognising the reasons why questions are asked.

Gathering Data Through All Senses

Understanding a situation through all of your senses and colours, sounds, tastes, and textures.

Creating, Imagining, Innovating

Looking at situations from different angles and stretching your mind to imagine “what could be?”

Striving for Accuracy

Taking pride in lifting the quality of what you do through practice. Not accepting near enough is good enough.

Communicating with Clarity and Precision

Explaining, comparing and giving evidence with accurate and clear language.

Applying Past Knowledge to New Situations

Applying and adapting your experience to new situations and problems.

Thinking Interdependently

Sharing learning energy with others in groups to combine their thinking power to achieve much more.

Responding with Wonderment and Awe

Showing that you are excited, curious and passionate when exploring new things.

Taking Responsible Risks

Leaving your comfort zone to welcome challenges, explore the unknown and being prepared to make mistakes.

Remaining Open to Continuous Learning

Searching for better ways to learn and seeing challenges as opportunities to grow further.

Finding Humour

Laughing and having fun learning with others to release feel-good brain chemicals to broaden and build your focus.

Acknowledgement: Kallick & Costa

Like your Character Strengths, knowing about and talking about Habits of Mind is not using them. Use this opportunity to make Habits of Mind work for you to become a more effective and intelligent thinker.

REAL-LIFE SITUATIONS HABIT/S OF MIND

You are interested in trying a new activity, but need to know more about it before you do.

Your family is having the inside of your house painted and you are allowed to choose the colours for your bedroom.

It is your birthday, and you are given a choice by your family and friends where you want to go for a meal.

You have felt pretty flat lately and want to start to look on the light and bright side of life again.

One of your friends told you she is selfharming and made you promise not to tell.

You are polishing up your skills and understandings for an assessment task.

You go to see your favourite band for the first time at a live event.

You are running late for training and ignore the notes your family has left you about cleaning up your room.

Your friend is struggling and upset because of family problems.

You are under the pump trying to finish an assignment on time, but you seem to be always getting stuck on little issues.

Your normal way to practise is making no difference to how you are performing.

You are having a few peer group problems with your friends.

You went on a fantastic school camp and your family want to know nearly everything about it.

Acknowledgement: Kallick & Costa