2023 My Wellbeing Journey - Year 12

MY WELLBEING JOURNEY – YEAR 12 CHALLENGING MY BEST SELF

TO CREATE THE TYPE OF LIFE THAT I WANT FOR MYSELF

To generate the motivation necessary to achieve this, you will need to be self-determined, which is feeling a sense of Autonomy, a sense of Competence and a sense of Connectedness. Reflect on where you think you are at for each of these.

NAME CLASS

AUTONOMY: I feel that I have the freedom and independence to make choices. Usually Sometimes Not Yet In what areas of my life do I want to be able to make my own decisions? Do I have choice to do this now?

COMPETENCE: I feel that I have the capabilities to support my choices. Usually Sometimes Not Yet What skills, strengths and personal attributes will I need to be able to make good choices? Do I have them yet?

CONNECTEDNESS: I feel that I belong to groups and am valued by others. Usually Sometimes Not Yet What type of people will support and enable me to develop these qualities to make good choices? Who are they?

CHARACTER STRENGTHS WEEKS

Acknowledgement: Lyubomirsky, Ben Shahar & Ericcson

There are eight Character Strengths Weeks spread throughout this journal. They provide you and your class with opportunities to practise using your strengths to build your wellbeing. They are also fun to do at home with your family. There are Wellbeing Award Certificates for each of these weeks. The order of these weeks are: Curiosity, Leadership, Gratitude, Teamwork, Love of Learning, Kindness, Perseverance, Zest.

From the website www.learningcurve.com.au download the Strengths Weeks sheets from Individual Resources/Character Strengths Weeks.

“What is necessary to change a person is to change their awareness of themselves.” Abraham Maslow

GOALS, GRIT AND GROWTH MINDSETS

This Lesson: WHY: for you to reflect on how well you are focusing on your goals, using grit and adopting growth mindsets. HOW: reflect on each of the self-regulated learning processes to be self-determined to take responsibility for your own learning and apply yourself to accomplish academic success through personal growth. This process happens in three steps, which are:

» Planning: you set and write down goals, which are your hope anchors to keep you paying attention to what you need to pay attention to.

» Monitoring: you tap into grit, your long-term passion and purpose to deliberately practise, make good choices and maintain your efforts.

» Reflection: you self-assess on how well you accomplished your goals and adopt growth mindsets to learn and try new approaches to grow further. For the above process, self-assess and journal your thoughts. Rate myself on whether I do each of the following using: Usually Sometimes Not Yet

CREATING GOALS

– creating three meaningful goals every Term to anchor my choices, efforts and mindsets so I can thrive and flourish. Usually Sometimes Not Yet Intentional self-expectations:

ANTICIPATING OBSTACLES

– brainstorming possible and probable obstacles and setbacks when working towards accomplishing each of my goals. Usually Sometimes Not Yet Intentional self-expectations:

PLANNING TARGET TIME TASKS

– setting a series of target tasks and time targets to complete to ensure that I move forward to accomplishing my goals. Usually Sometimes Not Yet Intentional self-expectations:

............................................................................................................................................................................................ ............................................................................................................................................................................................

ACTING ON FEEDBACK

– seeking advice from people who have travelled this learning pathway before and acting on it. Usually Sometimes Not Yet Intentional self-expectations:

Acknowledgement: Baumeister, Bandura, Zimmerman & Dweck

“Optimism is the faith that leads to achievement; nothing can be done without hope and confidence.” Helen Keller

GOALS, GRIT AND GROWTH MINDSETS

FAILING WELL – believing that mistakes and then learning how to correct them, are stepping stones towards accomplishing my goals. Usually Sometimes Not Yet Intentional self-expectations:

............................................................................................................................................................................................

DELIBERATELY PRACTISING

– committing to practising what I learn to build my brain’s abilities to deliver on each of my goals. Usually Sometimes Not Yet Intentional self-expectations:

JOURNALING MY ATTEMPTS

– journaling my hits, misses and not attempted every week to keep me selfdetermined, grounded and aware. Usually Sometimes Not Yet Intentional self-expectations:

SHOWING SELF-COMPASSION

– understanding that it all won’t be plain sailing and forgiving myself when I inevitably make mistakes. Usually Sometimes Not Yet Intentional self-expectations:

STANDING ALONE

– having the courage to be assertive when others in my peer group question what I am doing and why. Usually Sometimes Not Yet Intentional self-expectations:

– savouring, praising and thriving on others’ successes and learning how they accomplished them. Usually Sometimes Not Yet Intentional self-expectations: ............................................................................................................................................................................................ ............................................................................................................................................................................................ ............................................................................................................................................................................................

Acknowledgement: Baumeister, Bandura, Zimmerman & Dweck

“Forget all the reasons why it won’t work and believe the one reason why it will.” Abdelnour

YOUR LIFE ROLES

This Lesson: WHY: for you to think about what your different life roles involve. HOW: reflect on what you need to do to be self-determined to fulfill each role well. As a young adult, there are an increasing number of different roles that you are expected to be actively involved in. These include as a family member, as a senior student, as a community member and as a person developing a career for yourself.

OPTIMISTIC OUTLOOKS

Understanding and consciously using my strengths every day.

Understanding my interests and personal values in life.

ME: WHO I AM NOW

Understanding how to connect with myself and others.

Understanding how my best self can overcome challenges.

My self-expectation is: ......................................................

SOCIAL-EMOTIONAL SKILLS

Understanding how to self-regulate my emotions and impulses.

Understanding and showing that other people matter.

ME: WHO I WILL BECOME

Understanding how to live an ethical and optimistic life.

Understanding how to build social-connectedness with others.

My self-expectation is: ......................................................

ME: MY SELF-IMPROVEMENT PLAN

EDUCATION SKILLS

Understanding how to grow my brain’s abilities.

Understanding how to think and change my thinking.

ME: AS A STUDENT

Understanding how to develop essential learning skills.

My self-expectation is:

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

CHALLENGING VISIONS

Understanding myself to identify possible careers.

Understanding my best self, goals and self-expectations.

ME: INSPIRING MYSELF

Understanding how to welcome challenges to grow myself.

My self-expectation is:

“Never be limited by other people’s limited imaginations.” Mae Jemison

Understanding the type of life that I want to live.

SENSE OF PURPOSE

This Lesson: WHY: for you to discover a purpose to strive for, which gives you meaning and drive in what you do. HOW: answer the questions in the lesson and reflect on things that mean a lot to you which give you a sense of purpose in your life. Japanese people call their reason for waking up every day their ikigai. Not having a purpose in your life can lead to a lack of motivation to do what you need to do.

What is something that means a lot to you which gives you a sense of purpose in your life and why? .............................................................................................................................................................................................

What you are good at

Passion Profession

What you love IKIGAI

Mission Vocation

What the world needs

Look at the diagram. What is your ikigai, your reason for waking up every morning? .............................................................................................................................................................................................

What jobs interest you

What do you love?

What does the world need?

What are you good at? .............................................................................................................................................................................................

What jobs interest you? .............................................................................................................................................................................................

What are little things you do which make a positive impact on others’ lives? And what would happen if you stopped doing them? .............................................................................................................................................................................................

Who is someone you admire who has a strong sense of purpose to help other people?

“Until you make the unconscious conscious, it will direct your life and you will call it fate.” Carl Jung

Acknowledgement: Frankl & Nakanishi

POSITIVE EMOTIONS + GRATITUDE

Gratitude

WHY: by appreciating and being grateful for the uplifting good things which are happening around you and to you, no matter how small, you will self-generate positive emotions to feel optimistic.

HOW: unfortunately, news services broadcast about 75% bad news to cater for our human evolutionary negativity bias. By being aware of this, you can use your strengths to show gratitude moment by moment every day. The Gratitude Week is a fantastic way for your whole school to unite together in being grateful for what you all have, and for each other.

Acknowledgement: Emmons, McQuaid & Kern

DO: what are two little things that happen every day that you should be grateful for? What if they didn’t happen?

Who are people that show that they are grateful to have you in their lives?

What goals, grit and growth mindset process can help you with Gratitude? (pages 6&7)

“Enjoy the little things, for one day you may look back and realise they were the big things.” Robert Brault

WELLBEING@SCHOOL

You can learn a lot about yourself when things don’t go your way. Resilience is how well you respond to these situations. When is a time that you were proud of how you responded well with resilience, and what did you learn about yourself?

ATTITUDE OF LIFE

Attitude of Resourcefulness: being prepared to leave your known safety of what you normally do, to explore the unknown to grow yourself personally and academically. Being excited when you investigate what you don’t know. When is a time that you felt proud that you had this attitude?

Acknowledgement: Rievich & Shatte

Acknowledgement: Claxton

Fabulous First 5 Minutes: what is something that you often take for granted that you should be grateful for?

Challenging You: what is a challenge that you are determined to overcome this week?

MY GOAL THIS WEEK

MY GOAL NEXT

Negativity Bias

WHY: by understanding that your natural evolutionary negativity bias is to look for threats to your wellbeing, you will be more aware to also look for what is positive too. HOW: be optimistic and hopeful to actively contest this bias by writing down your goals, practising your coping strategies in advance to be prepared, sharing your concerns with your Champions, and using your strengths to enjoy your senior schooling journey. Having self-doubts and concerns in senior schooling is normal, but the reality is that most of them never happen.

Acknowledgement: Baumeister, Brown & Hanson

DO: when is a time that you noticed yourself focusing on what was wrong with something, and ignoring what was positive about it? .................................................................................................................................................................................

What are two self-doubts you have that you can share with your Champions to feel more optimistic? 1 2

What resilience skill can help you with Negativity Bias? (pages 10&11)

“If you think you can you are right, if you think you can’t you are right.” Henry Ford

MINDFUL MAZE

The quality of your relationships with teachers is the greatest predictor of your academic success. What are two ways that you could enhance your relationship with your teachers?

Acknowledgement: Achor & Ben Shahar

Fabulous First 5 Minutes: what is a skill that you have enjoyed improving by studying?

Challenging You: what is a challenge that you are determined to overcome this week?

FOCUSING ON STRENGTHS: is a mindful habit which empowers you to deliberately look for opportunities to use your strengths, which are your personal best ways to do what you need to do. When have you been proud of how you paused to give yourself self-awareness time, to consider which of your strengths would be set to use?

Acknowledgement: Fredrickson & Gable

WEEKLY HEALTH FOCUS

Colour the sections to reflect how well you went.

Exercise daily

BARELY LITTLE BIT ENOUGH MOSTLY HEAPS

Sleep well

BARELY LITTLE BIT OK MOSTLY HEAPS

Drink water

BARELY LITTLE BIT ENOUGH MOSTLY HEAPS Eat

healthy

positive

academic advance bias champions concerns

doubts enhance ignore improving natural

negativity normal optimistic quality reality

relationships studying success teachers threats

Humour

WHY: by self-generating positive emotions through humour, you will broaden and build your engagement and attention with what you are doing to challenge your best self.

HOW: watching a funny movie, telling jokes, being lighthearted, having fun and laughing with others brightens the darkest day, because feel-good brain chemicals flow through you. When feeling flat, while you probably don’t feel like it, use your strengths to make yourself generate positive emotions with family and friends through humour to lift your spirits. Choose fun and laughter every day to challenge your best self.

Acknowledgement: McQuaid & Kern

DO: when is a time that your spirits were lifted because you made the effort to have fun and laugh with family and friends? .................................................................................................................................................................................

What are two of the main benefits you experience from enjoying humour? 1 2

What goals, grit and growth mindset process can help you with Humour? (pages 6&7)

”A day without laughter is a day wasted.” Charlie Chaplin

ZEST WEEK

This week, enjoy making a positive difference to other peoples’ lives by creating activities using the strength ZEST, to grow relationships with your family, friends and school community. Zest Week worksheet and Zest Wellbeing Award are in Individual Resources on www.learningcurve.com.au

RESPECTFUL ME: I SHARE

Keystone habits in your relationships are the ones which enable many of the other little kind, caring and respectful things that you do. What are your main two keystone habits when creating and maintaining healthy relationships?

Acknowledgement: Seligman & Peterson

Acknowledgement: 11-12 Building Resilience, Graduate School of Education, University of Melbourne

Fabulous First 5 Minutes: when is a time that you have used humour to brighten up a friend who felt down?

Challenging You: what is a challenge that you are determined to overcome this week?

MY GOAL THIS WEEK

MY GOAL NEXT WEEK

STRENGTHS 360

This Lesson: WHY: for you to become more aware of opportunities to use your strengths by noticing when friends use particular strengths and when they notice you using certain strengths. HOW: quite often in senior schooling it is easy to feel self-conscious of how others see you and how they feel you see them. Ask two friends to notice which character strengths that you tend to use most and you do likewise for them. Then ask them to give examples of what you did to make them think this and you do so for them also.

FRIENDS’ NAMES STRENGTHS THEY NOTICED YOU USING AND WHAT YOU DID

FRIENDS’ NAMES STRENGTHS YOU NOTICED THEM USING AND WHAT THEY DID

Acknowledgement: Clifton, Seligman & Peterson

“Success is achieved by developing our strengths, not by eliminating our weaknesses.” Marilyn vos Savant

CIRCLE OF CHAMPIONS

This Lesson: WHY: for you to identify and ask four trusted adults to be in your Circle of Champions to support you in your senior years. HOW: choose adults who you know will always be there for you, believe in you, will never give up on you, and provide you with honest and wise feedback; sometimes that you may not want to hear.

CHAMPION ONE

Strive to challenge your best self, side-by-side with your Circle of Champions.

Don’t hesitate to ask your Champions when the intensity of your problems starts to build.

Name:

CHAMPION FOUR

PICTURE OF YOU OR DRAW YOURSELF

CHAMPION TWO

Name:

Name:

Name:

CHAMPION THREE

You may think some issues will shock them; nothing will! Share your concerns immediately.

Asking for help from your Champions is one of the most effective coping strategies available to you.

Name:

Acknowledgement: Rita Pierson, Seligman & Fredrickson

“When people talk, listen completely. Most people never listen.” Ernest Hemingway

MASTERY – FOCUS, FEEDBACK, FIX IT

This Lesson: WHY: for you to become a more effective learner by practising thinking in certain ways before, during and after class. HOW: to improve how you learn, improve how you think. A powerful Habit of Mind is Meta-cognition - thinking about your thinking. It makes a lot of sense to use it for your classes.

FOCUS –

is paying attention to what you need to pay attention to and dismissing distracting thoughts from your mind. To stretch your brain, deliberately leave your comfort zone to tackle and practise more challenging tasks.

What are you doing to apply these strategies?

FEEDBACK –

is asking teachers for feedback about extending your efforts for growth, accepting that you should only succeed in about 70% of what you are practising, and that academic growth comes from learning new things.

What are you doing to apply these strategies?

FIX IT –

is deliberately practising more logical and intelligent approaches that you have learnt from your teacher’s feedback to fix your mistakes. Knowing what you did wrong isn’t enough, you have to “do” to fix mistakes.

What are you doing to apply these strategies?

Acknowledgement: Ericsson, Coyle & Tversky

“I attribute my success to this; I never gave or took an excuse.” Florence Nightingale

CORNELL NOTES

This Lesson: WHY: for you to learn about and to use a very effective way to take notes in class that uses both sides of your brain. HOW: rule up your pages before classes like the page below. Familiarise yourself with what you need to write in each section, particularly the section where you create your own questions to answer later at home.

CUES & QUESTIONS

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DURING CLASS

~ How does it connect to what you already know?

~ What questions do you have?

~ Draw diagrams & idea maps

SOON AFTER CLASS

~ Review note-taking column and write down main points

• concepts

• facts

• vocabulary used and meaning

AFTER CLASS

~ Not looking at your notes, attempt to answer your questions.

NOTES Main ideas and concepts

~ Don’t copy everything your teacher says, rather use your own words to rephrase it.

~ Don’t use sentences.

~ Use your own abbreviations and symbols.

~ Leave a line between ideas.

~ Examples, quotes and details.

SUMMARY

~ At home, summarise your notes for five minutes in each subject. Spend ten minutes weekly revising them.

~ Main points, concepts and facts.

~ Use points, not sentences. < .................................................... ................................................... > 5cm

“Understanding advances by steps, not leaps.” Lord Macaulay

Acknowledgement: Pauk