Headlines by Rachel McGowan School Dates …

1 Name & Tutor Group: Issue 44 Headlines by Rachel McGowan 13 November 2015 Working together to promote & celebrate achievement School Dates Reminder Date Information Thursday 19th November Non-Student Day Staff only Friday 20th November Non-Student Day Staff only Monday 30th November Year 11 Mocks begin Thursday 17th December Year 11 Mocks end Thursday 17th December Christmas Musical Medley Friday 18th December Non-Uniform day & School finishes for Holidays at Monday 4th January Students return to School Wednesday 13th January Year 9

2 Parents Evening Whilst it would be wrong to say that everything we learn comes through studying it would be hard to come to the view that studying was unimportant in learning. However, in my view it is a key area of learning where we all need to make more progress if we are to become as successful as we can be. So what stands in the way of us being more effective at studying? One of the things I hear most frequently from our girls concerns their motivation to study. I still hear far too often students say (often when being questioned about poor performance) that they are not interested in the topic or subject that we need them to study.

3 Why is this an unsuccessful and thus unacceptable approach? I truly believe that there is no area of the curriculum that is uninteresting. I feel like this because I have developed an attitude to the world around me that leaves me curious about the things I don t fully understand. Thus, if asked to study them, I am well placed to find the motivation to begin this process. For all of you, a shift in mind-set when confronted with a topic or subject that you don t immediately find interesting can only help develop the motivation to study.

4 Rather than quickly deciding that something is boring everyone needs to ask themselves, what can I find interesting about this? By taking the active decision to find your point of interest, you ll all find a step up in your desire to know and understand more about any topic we cover in our different subjects. More motivated people are more successful ones; they also tend to be happier at School too, so this looks like a win, win strategy. Once we get that initial motivation to study, what then prevents us studying as deeply as we need to if we are to be successful?

5 Especially in the case of Independent Study at home or outside lessons, but also in respect of some study in class, students will too frequently tell me that they get distracted . I have a problem with this phrase. The passivity that underlines it seems to suggest that there is nothing the student can do about Study 2 Headlines by Rachel McGowan cont d their own ability to focus. Indeed, I ve had many conversations where they have told me that they don t find it easy to concentrate . Clearly we know that for a small number of students they do face genuine special educational needs that make concentration problematic.

6 For most students, conversations I have about poor concentration often reach an interesting point when we start discussing computer games, TV, music or sport. I find in almost every case that learners who get distracted when asked to study (often something they have not found sufficient motivation to study) find little problem in concentrating for hours on end when engaging in something they want to do. As you find the motivation to study and confront the problem of how to keep your minds focused on the topic they are studying, it will help once again to change mind-set.

7 If you do become distracted (as we all do) rather than using a passive phrase that suggests there is nothing you can do about this, try to think why am I allowing myself to be distracted? By making your lack of focus a choice, it becomes a choice you can change. If you can t get your mind back to studying simply because you re not interested in the topic, remember where you find the motivation to keep going when you can t reach the next level in a computer game, or where you need more practice to master an instrument you re learning or a sport at which you re trying to be better.

8 By reminding yourself that you can focus, you ll give yourself a much better chance of tuning yourself back in to your studies than you ever will by simply using the excuse that you get distracted . It is a certainty that this year, this term, this week, maybe even today you ll find things that you are studying bewilderingly difficult. Don t see this as a reason to doubt your capacity to learn and as a result undermine your motivation. Why is learning so important to me now? Well not just because I m interested in things. At my age you start to think about the things that can happen to you as you get old.

9 As I watch my grandmother struggle with Alzheimer s disease, one of the most unpleasant illnesses you can get in old age, I ve discovered that keeping your brain active, trying to learn new things as you age, is one way in which you can reduce the chance of getting this awful illness. So for me, my final motivation to struggle and overcome new things concerns my desire to stave off an illness from which I may be, genetically, more likely to suffer. Whilst I would not expect any of you to find your motivation from such a source, you could think about the costs you might bear if you don t push through the barriers that can make studying so difficult how about thinking about all those exams you ll find so much easier because you know more and understand more about the topics than those who have studied less purposefully than you.

10 Could that give you that extra push? Sadly very little that is worth having in life comes to us easily many of you will recall my marshmallow assembly. All of us face struggles as we try to understand more about the world around us. By adopting the right mind-set, taking responsibility, believing in ourselves and showing the same determination we show when we are truly having fun, all of us can be better at studying and as a result more successful and happy in our School lives and our lives beyond Plashet. However successfully you ve developed your study habits so far, let s all aim to be even more studious this year and reap the rewards that being better learners will bring to us all.