Aspirations Feeling good about thinking big!
Mentor’s Guide
Aspirations
Thank you for offering your invaluable help to the students on today‟s programme. The aspirations programme aims to help students build their confidence in relation to their own capabilities and future plans. Often, particularly at a young age, it can be difficult to think about making the most of future opportunities. Planning the future is a challenge because the future can seem a very long way away. Today is an opportunity for the students to consider four key elements that will help them in planning and achieving their aspirational dreams:
Thinking big Getting going …. and keeping going! Planning Self-belief
Every student will be introduced to each of these areas, with your support, through interactive and experiential learning zones. Your support will help the students to plan effectively for the challenges and choices ahead of them.
Using this Mentor’s Guide This guide is designed to support you in mentoring the students through their day. During the day you will be working with different groups, each made up of approximately 10 students. During this time we will help them to understand how to create aspirational goals, how to get going and keep going, how to plan for success and how to maintain self belief. Each group of students will have approximately 20 minutes in each area so, needless to say, it will be fast and furious! The four learning zones will each present the students with a challenge. To introduce the challenge to the students, simply read out the challenge description on the left hand page under each zone. The right hand page is there to help you with ideas that will support the students through their challenges. You will never be “on your own!” MoCo support staff will be on hand at all times to help facilitate the challenges and school staff will be on hand should there be any behavioural issues. Have a great day!
Learning Zone: Think Big! Introduction: “This zone is all about creating a BIG future. In order to help you do this you will each be given:
A large green balloon Marker pens A bull dog clip Access to an air pump
“Working in pairs you will be asked to create your BIG futures on the BIG balloons. Once you get your balloons, you will need to write the following words: ‘People’, ‘Education’, ‘Fun’ and ‘Experience’ “Pump up your balloons until they are the size of a small melon and then seal them with the bulldog clip. You then have five minutes to add more detail to each of these areas, thinking about where you would like to be in one year‟s time. “Blow up the balloon again to the size of a basket ball. Reseal the balloon and spend five minutes adding more detail about where you would like to be in two year‟s time. “Finally, blow up the balloon until it is fully inflated and repeat the exercise, thinking about five year‟s time”
Learning Zone: Think Big! Supporting Information: Aspirational thinking is often difficult because we can feel overwhelmed by trying to „think big‟. This exercise breaks the thought process down into chunks in two ways. Firstly we give the students four specific topics to think about, and then we gradually increase the time span. By working in pairs (or threes if you have an odd number) they can help each other to come up with ideas. As a mentor you can also support this thought process by asking the students lots of open questions if they get stuck. Open questions will tend to start with: Who, what, when, where, why, how or which? Eg
Which subjects might you be studying? What might you be doing for a hobby? Who would you like to be with you? When would you like to have done xxx by? Where would you like to do that ideally? How would you like to feel? Why have you written xxx specifically?
Learning Zone: Get Going! …. and keep going Introduction: “This zone is all about motivation. Motivation is simply movement – DOING SOMETHING! Often in life, if we perceive something to be difficult we are put off having a go. “In this challenge you will be given one plate and one stick. Your goal is to get the plate to spin on the stick as fast as it can and then to keep the plate spinning, no matter what other tasks you are asked to complete. “During this challenge it is very likely that you will drop your plate. If so you simply need to pick it up and start it spinning again. “There are no limits as to how many times you are allowed to restart. You may, if you wish, work together, or you may work on your own. The only stipulation is that you all have plates spinning.”
Learning Zone: Get Going! …. and keep going Supporting Information: This activity is all about rising to a challenge and doing something positive. The metaphor we are building here is that sometimes we will all “drop the plate” and having the ability to keep going is a positive life skill. Notice, and point out, that it is possible to laugh when we „drop our plates‟ and just carry on. Some people will get frustrated with the activity, but keeping trying in the face of frustration is another opportunity to praise. Once individuals begin to get the hang of it, increase the challenge by getting them to:
Spin the plate faster Spin it in the other direction Change hands Give them a second plate Swap with somebody else Close their eyes Hold the stick with both hands Etc
Learning Zone: Plan! Introduction: “You will be split into four groups. Each group will be provided with a Big Trak programmable vehicle and allocated a corner square on the foam mat. “Your challenge, as a team, is to programme the vehicle so that it will move completely across the mat without hitting the obstacles or any other Big Trak vehicles. “There will be three other Big Trak vehicles travelling across the mat at the same time. Your vehicle must not come into contact with any other vehicle. “You will be given ten minutes to plan your first journey, before being instructed to try your plan. “Once you have completed your first run you will be given a further five minutes to adjust your original plan, based upon your observations during the first run”.
Learning Zone: Plan! Supporting Information: This activity illustrates the importance of planning. There are two key parts to this exercise: Planning within the group Planning between groups The students will be put into a situation in which they need to think ahead, communicate effectively, listen to other people‟s ideas and finally reach an agreement. Once they have completed the first run they will have the opportunity to review the activity objectively. As a mentor your input may well focus around discussing: “What went well?” rather than “who was right?” and “What could change?” rather than “who was wrong?”
Look out for opportunities to praise clear thought and objective thinking.
Learning Zone: Believe! Introduction: “This challenge gives you the opportunity to achieve the seemingly impossible. “On each of these tables you will see various items: on one table you will see some eggs, on another you will see some dominoes, and on the third, you will see some loose nails and some nails partly hammered into pieces of wood “You must work out how to: Balance 11 loose nails onto one upright nail Balance 13 dominoes onto one domino that is standing on its end Solve the conundrum of the MoCo Paper “You have approximately five minutes to solve as many of these puzzles as you can. When you have achieved it, get my attention so that I can witness it for you. “After five minutes or so, we will give you a hint or two, to see if it makes a difference.”
Learning Zone: Believe! Supporting Information: This zone is about building confidence. Each student will finish the activity having completed at least one challenge that seemed impossible to begin with. After the initial five minutes of trying to achieve the goals, we will show the students a short video that gives them the solutions to each challenge. Once they have seen the solutions they will be asked to try again. As soon as a student completes any of the seemingly impossible challenges, you will issue them with a certificate, upon which they will write their names and you will sign it as a witness. The object of the exercise is to form an „anchorâ€&#x;; a time to which the students can recall achieving the impossible. This can be a powerful message to look back on in times of future uncertainty.
Finally. Thank you for your involvement and support during the day. Having a mentor with „life experienceâ€&#x; is a great benefit to the students when putting this theory into practice. During the day you have encouraged the students to think positively about their future. You have helped them to consider the options available to them and to understand that it is their choices and their attitude that will play a large part in their future success. Without your time, today would not have been possible.
Thank you.
About MoCo Development
MoCo offers a wide range of „communication skills‟, „team building‟ and „personal effectiveness‟ programs. To find out more about MoCo Development Ltd visit: www.go-moco.co.uk
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