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52.30 The 7 Habits of Highly Effective Teenagers Teaching Strategies and Tools to Help Prepare Our Outdoor Education Students in this Uncertain World.

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Presentation on theme: "52.30 The 7 Habits of Highly Effective Teenagers Teaching Strategies and Tools to Help Prepare Our Outdoor Education Students in this Uncertain World."— Presentation transcript:

1 52.30 The 7 Habits of Highly Effective Teenagers Teaching Strategies and Tools to Help Prepare Our Outdoor Education Students in this Uncertain World. To set the scene. Play the video as a prelude to the presentation 5 minutes before the start.

2 Why The 7 Habits In Today’s Uncertain World?
Good morning Ladies Gentleman. For those of you who do not know me, my name is Ian Boyle & this is Tonia Gray & Mark Hassell. Our presentation today is titled “Why the 7 Habits in today’s uncertain world”. Our aim during the session to highlight how we are integrating the 7 habits of highly effective teenager program into outdoor education at Glengarry. It is a project that we have only been running for 6 months and the impact it is having on the boys in our program has been amazing. To begin with I would like to give you a little bit of background as to why we have implemented such a program at Glengarry. I do not want to focus on this area too long but thought it needed to be included today to put things into a context for the main focus ahead, The 7 Habits and Outdoor Education. [next slide]

3 Glengarry: Kangaroo Valley. NSW

4 Reflections Of My School Years
Do you remember what your school days were like? For me school was a horrid place! There are very few happy memories. It was a place where I really struggled! After 17 years teaching at Glengarry I was alarmed at how today’s kids were still struggling with many of the same issues and challenges that I faced, yet their mainstream education was not providing any formal teaching to assist them with strategies to deal with these challenges. In fact, the evidence suggests that things are much worse for many of the teenagers of today whom most of us are working with. [next slide]

5 Resilience In Today’s Youth
There is an ever increasing body of evidence from many disciplines that suggests that today’s young people are less resilient. (Noble, 2007) As a result many of our youth are struggling: Episodes of depression, suicide, self-harm, violence and problematic substance abuse are increasing. Recent research suggests that there is a crisis in our young people that is unprecedented in modern times. Kids are growing up less resilient to the trials of today’s society. Many of our young people are struggling with episodes of: Depression Self-harm Suicide Violence and Substance abuse. [next slide]

6 The Outcome Of Less Resilience
9% of students have had a depressive episode by the end of primary school. 15-20% of students have had depression while at high school. (Relivich & Seligman 2003). 250,000 depression prescriptions were written for students in When included with adult rates, this costs our economy 3.3 billion dollars annually (Beyond Blue, 2005). Alarmingly mental illnesses are becoming more prevalent in your people at younger ages. (Pryor, Carpenter & Townsend, 2005) Accompanying this our suicide rates are some of the highest in the world. The outcome of less resilience is alarming: Popular journals and newspapers are full of stories highlighting the crisis caused by the increasing incidents of mental illness. The statistics here give a small snap shot: 9% of primary school students have had a depressive episode by the end of primary school. 15-20% of high school students have had depression while at school. (Relivich & Seligman 2003). 250,000 depression prescriptions were written for school age students in When included with adult rates, this costs our economy 3.3 billion dollars annually (Beyond Blue, 2005). Alarmingly mental illnesses are becoming more prevalent at younger ages. (Pryer, Carpenter, Townsend, 2005) [next slide]

7 Depression and Teen Suicide.
For young people under 24 years, suicide is the leading cause of death by injury, ahead of car accidents and homicides. In the past 30 years, the suicide rate for males aged between 15 and 24 years has tripled. Over the last 10 years, youth suicide has increased by 35%. As a community and a society, we must all act to save our children from a health problem that is very preventable. This issue was highlighted earlier this year with the tragic suicide of Stephanie and Jodie. They could be two students on any one of our outdoor education programs. Other statistics highlight the result of decreased resilience… Suicide is the leading cause of death or injury for young people under 24 years of age. In the past 30 years suicide rates have tripled for males between 15 and 24 years of age. Since 1997 suicide has increased by 35%. As a community and a society, we must all act to save our children from a health problem that is very preventable. [Next Slide] Stephanie Gestier and Jodie Gater, both 16, entered into a suicide pact in 2007 in Melbourne. (health.ninemsn.com.au, 2007)

8 What Has Happened To The Resilience Of Our Young People?
Research has identified 4 key reasons for this loss of youth resilience. Lack of connectedness to positive institutions. An Increase in blame culture. Back Firing Of Self-esteem. Not taking time to enjoy each day. So what are the reasons for this lack of resilience? Lack of connectedness to positive institutions. Being connected in a positive way with: Schools, Peers, Teachers, Family, Community or a sporting group, an outside individual can help support our youth. 2. An Increase in blame culture. There is a tendency for young people to blame others for their circumstance. My teacher won’t listen to me, My Peer group is to blame etc. Back Firing Of Self-esteem There is a misconception in today’s youth that they should always be happy. This may have resulted from false praise. Great job! When it was not a great job. Not taking time to enjoy each day. Today’s society is so busy. We don’t often take time out to enjoy the world and what it has to offer. Time to sharpen the saw and keep us healthy. (Noble, 2003) What role does Outdoor Education play in finding a solution?

9 What The Latest Research Is Saying!
Through our collective experience we have been witness to this shift in boys resilience, and have been searching for ways to help strengthen their ability to be prepared for the challenges that they have to face in the future. We would like to highlight several pieces of literature that have helped shape our current thinking on outdoor programming. My current thinking on teaching practice has been dramatically shaped over the past few years by what for me has been life changing ideas and concepts. I had been searching for something more that just an experience in the outdoors for our young people. Several articles, pieces of research and books have reshaped my vision for outdoor education’s potential. I think it is really important for us as an industry to know about these!

10 Environments and skills to help students cope and be more resilient.
Environments That Promote Well-Being & Resilience Personal & Emotional Skills & Attitudes that promote Well-Being & Resilience School Connectedness Positive thinking skills & attitudes Peer Connectedness Resourcefulness & adapting skills Teacher Connectedness Social Skills Positive Family-School Links Emotional Literacy Skills Family Connectedness Healthy Self Esteem: Sense of Personal competence. A Caring adult outside the family Community Connectedness Spiritual Involvement McGrath & Noble 2003 with their award winning work on promoting well being and resilience have identified key areas that can help individuals be more resilient. They divide their solutions to greater resilience into 2 areas: Environments that promote well being and resilience Personal & emotional skills that promote well being & resilience. The environments list is fairly self explanatory. Outdoor Ed programs have a role here and can be an environment where schools get together, to promote peer & teacher connectedness. It is often a place where rapport with a caring adult outside the family begins! What is even more noteworthy here is how well the list of key skills relates to what we do as outdoor educators. We do these things in one way or another, we just have to fine tune the delivery and facilitate our message in a more structured and prescriptive way. McGrath & Noble (2003). Bounce Back: A classroom resiliency program.

11 Another important article for me in my search for new ideas came from this article by Berman and Davis-Berman! The article titled “Positive Psychology and Outdoor Education” articulated many of my minds rumblings and set me off and a new quest for more knowledge! A paragraph in this article opened my eyes to a whole new world of potential. I would like to read this to you!

12 Positive Psychology Outdoor Education
Recent developments in the field of psychology, however, have begun to suggest the adoption of a new paradigm referred to as positive psychology. Positive psychology has as its goal the fostering of excellence through the understanding and enhancement of factors leading to growth. Some of these factors include positive emotions, positive individual traits, and pro-social attitudes. Rather than focus on deficits, positive psychology examines these positive traits and attributes, with an eye toward strengthening them or facilitating their development in clients. These traits are critically important, as they can lead to the development of stable personality and physical states like resiliency, optimism, and even better, physical health over time. Instead of focusing on decreasing negative symptoms in therapy, a positive psychology approach would focus more on enhancing client strengths. Outdoor Education Outdoor Education As I read this piece on positive psychology I wonder whether the same could be said for outdoor education. [press so positive psychology changes to outdoor education]. with this introducation, I felt the need to delve further into this new area of positive psychology. What was it all about? [next slide] Outdoor Education

13 Positive Psychology A Potential Model To Incorporate Into Outdoor Education
“Raising children I realized, is vastly more than fixing what is wrong with them. It is about identifying and nurturing their strongest qualities, what they own and are best at, and helping them find niches in which they can best live out these strengths”. (Seligman, 2000) Many of you by now may have heard of Martin Seligman. He got elected as the head of the US Psychological Association, and at his induction speech got up in front of his peers and said… I think we have got it all wrong… Our focus has been on repairing the worst things in life rather than the building of positive qualities that lead to contentment and happiness! Wow! What a statement… This set off a revolution in the world of psychology and mental health care. I think innately we have had half a foot in the realms of positive psychology, trying to guide our participants to skills that can enhance their lives. But often this has been hit and miss; participants may learn something positive if the activity & interactions all line up to produce a learning moment! Or like the field of psychology we have focused on participants problems rather than strengths. Seligman’s website is worthy of a visit and later in my presentation I will highlight how we are using some of his profiling inventories in our outdoor programming. Dr Martin Seligman

14 Promoting Buffers Against Mental Illness
We have discovered that there is a set of human strengths that are the most likely buffers against mental illness: courage, optimism, interpersonal skill, work ethic, hope, honesty and perseverance. Much of the task of prevention will be to create a science of human strength whose mission will be to foster these virtues in young people. (Seligman, 1998). The positive psychology movement has been focused on research and interventions that promote buffers to mental illness. The list of traits highlighted here as been buffers are all skills that can be taught and learnt, and the outdoors has a real role here. [Next Slide]

15 Geelong Grammar School is so enthused about the efficacy of Positive Psychology that they are investing 16 million Dollars into a new Wellness Centre to promote the “Buffers to resilience”, and bringing out Dr Seligman to implement the new wellness program within the school! While most of us do not have these kind of facilities we all do have the ability to teach these same skills in what is probably an even more powerful wellness centre. The OUTDOORS!

16 HEALTH PROMOTION IN OUTDOOR EDUCATION
suggest that school and community outdoor education programs can work towards the enhancement of the health and wellbeing of individuals, families, communities; thereby working to prevent the onset or establishment of ill health or ineffective life practices. In 2005 Anita, Catharyn and Mardie did a nice piece of writing with the key thesis that …. school and community outdoor education programs can work towards the enhancement of the health and wellbeing of individuals, families, communities; thereby working to prevent the onset or establishment of ill health or ineffective life practices. They are suggesting that through careful programming, staff training and a change in the way we are facilitating programs, outdoor educators can move into the realms of health promotion! Not only does this have some major marketing advantages for us in the field, it can go along way in building and enhancing the resilience of our young people. [next slide] HEALTH PROMOTION IN OUTDOOR EDUCATION

17 Outdoor Education & Sport Psychology
My Doctoral research with elite sporting teams which utilised the outdoors to teach positive psychological skills to athletes provided rich evidence that the outdoors can be a powerful place to teach and learn about ourselves and the positive mental skills to excel in the sporting arena. If athletes could learn positive psychological skills to enhance the direction of their sporting lives through specifically crafted outdoor educational experiences, why couldn’t everyday teenagers learn skills to be more resilient in life? [Next Slide] NSW Netball Team Undergoing Outdoor Training In Preparation For Their National Championships

18 Positive Prevention Strategies Requires A New Direction In Programming & Facilitation
Outdoor Education TO CHANGE ANTICIPATED OUTCOMES PROGRAM TYPE Feelings New skills, energy, enjoyment, fun Recreational Thinking New knowledge, attitude, awareness Educational Behaviour New ways to act & increase function Developmental Misbehaviour New ways to cope & decrease dysfunction Therapeutic This programming shift requires us to be more prescriptive in our program development. Generally speaking outdoor education can be seen being facilitated within the recreational or educational realms. (see table above) Developmental Programming: is aimed at improving functional behaviours and training people to behave in new and different ways. Developmental programs change the way people behave, by showing them successful ways to interact on their own or with others. These new behaviours are transferred to other life situations. Matching program type with change requirements. (Priest, 1996, p.23) 15 minutes to here

19 Profoundly Life Changing Read!
While looking for solutions to managing my own life balance I came across the 7 Habits of Highly effective people, which was a powerful read for my own personal development. This then led me to Sean Covey’s book written for teenagers. The 7 Habits of Highly Effective Teenagers… I was in awe at the content. ONLY if I had this book when I was at school. It soon became clear to me that the content of this book was the content that the teenagers on my programs need to address many of the issues that we looked at earlier around the crisis in resilience. [next slide]

20 The content of the 7 Habits book provides a teen oriented framework to deliver developmental change to our teenagers. At Glengarry we have taken this program on as part of the students regular school classes. We then align their class lessons with what we are doing in the outdoors and dormitory/pastoral care area of the program. The 7 habits are……. Tools that address many of the areas in life that current educational practice does not cover. It provides tools where students can gain mastery over challenges they are facing in life. What follows is a brief overview of the 7 Habits and how we are implementing these positive psychology ideas into the outdoor program!

21 The 7 Habits Overview The First 3 Habits: 1: Be Proactive; 2: Begin With The End In Mind; 3: Put First Things First are all skills that are considered foundational in anyone’s life. Learning and developing these habits is about self-awareness and self-mastery; winning the private battles within yourself. These first 3 habits are like the tree roots of a tree, without solid grounding the rest of your life will not be supported; you will not develop into a fully mature tree! Habit 4 Think win win, Habit 5 Seek first to understand and then be understood, and Habit 6 synergise are skills that help us get on in the world of relationships with others. This involves mastery of ourselves in the public domain. A public victory. The final habit 7, Sharpening the saw, is about renewing ourselves and keeping our life in balance.

22 Habit 1 Be Proactive Overview
3 min Is all about taking control of your life! It means that you choose to act deliberately and take responsibility for your actions and your life’s direction. A proactive person: Can choose their attitude to life Is responsible for their own happiness. Controls the things in their life that they can control, and forgets about the uncontrollable. Overcomes setbacks through proactive thinking & action. Strives to be a change agent through proactive actions. Makes life happen to them rather than being a passenger. Makes smarter decisions. Pushes pause before acting! Is all about taking control of your life! It means that you choose to act deliberately and take responsibility for your actions and your life’s direction. A proactive person: Can choose their attitude to life Is responsible for their own happiness. Controls the things in their life that they can control, and forgets about the uncontrollable. Overcomes setbacks through proactive thinking & action. Strives to be a change agent through proactive actions. Makes life happen to them rather than being a passenger. Makes smarter decisions. Pushes pause before acting!

23 Self-Awareness: Am I a Positive or Negative Thinker?
Monitoring self-talk on a tough expedition. Every hour or during stops, or at places dictated by the terrain that could provide “a teachable moment” have students complete a self-check for a few minutes evaluating the following: Self-talk Talk with others Body language Enthusiasm levels at different spots during the trip. At a scheduled stop have students document their thoughts in a rite-in-the-rain journal. Evaluate this around the fire at night. This leads to a tutorial on positive – negative self-talk. What do I see when I look inside myself? Do I like what I see? All Change has to begin from within! [Being proactive is about choosing an attitude for life, students need to gain an awareness of their paradigm, the way they see the world or what colour glasses they see the world through]. This activity takes place during an early hike Students are asked to monitor their Self-talk, Talk with others, Body language, Enthusiasm levels at different spots during the trip. The goal is to establish whether they are a positive or negative thinker, and to ascertain how they see the world in order to develop a self-awareness of their life. With this self-awareness of where they are at students are able to change. 35 second video

24 Positive or Negative Tracker
What Kind Of Tracker are you? This activity links to the monitoring of self-talk during an expedition. Around the fire students complete the tracker questionnaire and calculate the kind of “Tracker” they are. Facilitation can involve partner sharing of results. Then a discussion on how we can be more positive in our daily lives. 1:05 min video After students spend day 1 monitoring their self talk and attitude they end up at the fire that night to complete the “positive tracker negative tracker exercise. [Click to start video] [Click to bring up questionnaire] Students complete the survey and calculate the “Tracker” score. This gives them on a continuum an idea where they are at with their self-talk. The fire discussion can then be facilitated around how we move our scores to the right or be more positive in our lives. Interview with Tom comes on at the end of the fire scene to show how leaders can follow this discussion up around camp. Tracker Video

25 Make Your Own Weather! We have the ability to see sunshine even when we are surrounded by storms! Its all about attitude! After being tuned into their self-awareness students are asked to be proactive when times are tough by making their own weather. Metaphorically even when life is stormy and things are a little down, through the application of positive thinking, positive self-talk we can look for the good in things! When out hiking in poor weather utilise any negative comments about the conditions as teachable moments. If it is safe to do so, show how students turn harshness into fun. Rain dance, mud roll. Share a story of how [Ian] is trying to teach his own kids this principle by running around in the rain during a down pour!

26 Press Pause: Between stimulus and response we have a split second where we can pause and learn to be proactive with our decisions! Think Before Speaking or Acting: Monitor your dialogue with others. Is it how you would want to be treated. Am I about to do something that I will regret, or is negative? Press pause in dangerous situations when a hazard is reached and you feel uneasy about a situation [Orange or Red Light Traffic Light Situation] Transfer: Press pause back in life after your expedition, when real life threatening decisions have to be made. [Here take this pill it will make you feel great]. Between stimulus and response we have a split second where we can pause and learn to be proactive with our decisions! Being proactive teaches students to pause and think about what they are about to do prior to acting in an inappropriate way. Pushing the pause butting is a great tool that students can relate to. When hiking with them and you see something unfolding, you just have to, “push pause”. Students immediately connect with this sign! They need to stop and think about their actions. Share Tim’s story about “pushing pause”. [See video].

27 3 Blessings! 3 Things I Am Thankful For Today!
Around the fire at the conclusion of each day, participants are given time to reflect on their day, focusing on the good things that happened to them! Things they are thankful for. EG: 3 things I am proud of … 3 things I did well today…. This activity, on it’s own, has been show by Martin Seligman to significantly reduce depression in clinically depressed individuals if done on a daily basis. Habit 1 asks us to choose a positive attitude towards our life journey. Many of us however focus on the negatives around us and forget about the positives. Martin Seligman has shown in his research that the simple act of identifying and being thankful for 3 special things in your day, [and doing it each day] has dramatically reduced the severity of depression in those who practice this simple act. This is a great way to finish around the fire each day while on camp.

28 Discuss how generation y students can log onto their computers before a hike and take this survey.
They gain a print out of their key strengths. [see next slide].

29 They then bring this print out on hike and can share their strengths in a pairs sharing exercise.
Partners can then share this with the rest of the group by introducing their partner and their strengths in a Whip around by the fire while on hike.

30 Habit 2: Begin With The End In Mind Overview
Deals with developing a clear picture of who you want to be and what you want to accomplish in your life. What are your values? What is your mission? What are your goals? How to set them Systems to support your goals Identifying your talents and developing them through out your life. Making your life extraordinary! Where do we want to go in life? We better draw a map to get there”. Habit 2 Begin With The End In Mind Deals with developing a clear picture of who you want to be and what you want to accomplish in your life. It teaches that the paths you choose today can shape you forever. Many teenagers never stop to think where they are headed in life. And many adults for that matter. Let’s conduct a quick survey: How many people have a personal mission statement? How many have a plan including goals to guide them over the next 1 or 5 year period? Begin With The End In Mind helps teens reflect on who they are, what challenges lay ahead, and where they want to get to in life! There are several powerful activities that can be incorporated into an outdoor experience that gets teens thinking about their future direction…….[lead into next few activity slides].

31 This hyperlink will take one to the 7 Habits for teens website.
Students can log on prior to a hike and complete the great discovery activity. This is done as part of Habit 2’s preparation to write a mission statement. The activity highlights values, strengths, influences and then s students a printout that they can use to help design and write their own personal mission statement. Mission Builder Site

32 Paint Your Own Masterpiece
Also prior to the Mission Building mini solo hike. Students are stimulated into thinking about their life and the future by viewing the masterpiece video. Clicking the camera on bottom right will start the video. We will only watch the first minute of it!

33 Paint your own masterpiece.
Give students an A3 piece of paper, charcoals, pencils etc. Have them go off on a mini solo with the following task… Imagine your life as a painting and that whatever you could dream and paint for you life could come true. Well go out and paint it. When you come back, you can begin living it!

34 Mission Statements: Single Sentence
Student have now completed the Great discover activity, seen the Masterpiece video, and painted their own masterpiece. They now have to put this mission to words. Using the resources and painting as stimulus, have students develop their own mission statement. Clicking on the square will open up a student example at the conference. Mission Example

35 Setting Goals Count The Cost Put It To Pen Just Do It
Steps That I Need To Take To Help Me Live My Life’s Mission Count The Cost Put It To Pen Just Do It Use Momentous Moments Rope Up Models for goal setting are often complex and use terminology that goes over the head of many teenagers. The 7 Habits Model is tailored for teens and has some features that a metaphoric with the outdoors! EG: Step 5 Rope Up! This activity follows their Masterpiece, and Great Discovery Journey by highlighting that goals a small steps that guide us on our life’s journey.

36 Taking an A4 sheet out like this is a great activity that can be done in the outdoors when the right time and place is found to stimulate thinking. Student can then go home armed with new goal setting skills that they can implement in any part of their life. Goal example

37 Step 5: Roping Up Climbers rely on each other for safety, motivation & support. The rope bonds them and keeps them together in their common quest! They are also there to support you if & when you fall! When you set goals, “rope up” with someone else with a similar vision or motivation for life. In real life if you rope up with someone or a group; your energies and enthusiasm will drive each other to success. You will also have people to support you through the hard times along your journey to success, which are naturally part of life! Use this slide to highlight the steps of goal setting and their links to the outdoors. Reading the slide highlights the metaphor between goal setting and climbing as a team.

38 Climbing Wall Traverse: A Metaphor For Attitude & Persistence In Life
Goal Setting: Use Bouldering or an activity like the Wild Woosey to introduce goal setting and the concept of persistence to reach your goals. Attempt a traverse across the wall. Identify your weakness and strengths. Improve your weaknesses and call on your strengths to better your-self. Now they can transfer this new skill to setting goals for others areas of their lives. Link this activity to a concluding session where they can set some tangible goals that they can pursue after the program. This slide highlights how we can use a simple intro to climbing activity as an intro to goal setting as well. Students are tasked with trying to traverse from one end of the wall to the next. This is the first time they have been on the wall. Most fall off after a few metres. I ask them to mark the spot that they fell. Now they have to reflect on why they fell. Having my 7 year old then demonstrate that it can be done has them in awe. He tells them how he was too the same as them. He used to fall off. But he practices most days and works on improving his weaknesses. Through this process one can improve their life and get closer to their goals. We must learn to persevere and persist when things are hard or challenging. Click to video snip of traversing.

39 Letter Writing To Yourself
During solo which takes place near the end of their time at Glengarry, students write a letter to themselves… What were the 3 most significant events you had at Glengarry? What were the 3 most significant lessons you can take away with you after Glengarry? What way have you changed the most during your time at Glengarry? Which one of the 7 habits had the most impact on your life? How will you continue using this after GG? Imagine you could see into the future 12 months. What will you be like? What goals will you be chasing? What will your attitude be like? How will you have used the learning you had at GG? What would your perfect world look like? Letter Writing To Yourself Boys are asked to Begin with the end in mind by writing a letter to themselves on solo. They are trying to forecast their future in their letter by taking with them key learning, and attempting to predict well they will be at in 12 months time. This letter is collected and sent to them in 12 months time. This letter is collected & sent 12 months later!

40 Habit 3: Put First Things First Overview
7 min Identifying the important things in your life. The BIG ROCKS. Prioritising your life and managing your time. Recognising your time /organisational style. Don’t let fear control your life and make your decisions. Comfort zones – Courage Zones. Overcoming the hard moments in life. Standing up to negative peer pressure. Habit 3 Putting First Things First gives one strength to say “Yes” to your most important things and “NO” to less important things in your life! When I first introduce this topic to my students I take a quick survey. Okay, who begins their week with these kinds of feelings…. There does not seem enough time in my week to get everything I want to do in my life done! I have so much to juggle, I have a test on Thursday an assignment due on Friday, my mates want me to go to the movies on Thursday night after rugby training. Phew, I just don’t know how I will fit it all in! Things then just become too much and you cram everything in at the last minute and none of what you did was of the quality you are truly capable of! 75% of my students would put their hands up feeling at the start of their week that their life is out of control. This fills them with stress and many of them give up hope to some degree. Schools are not teaching these fundamental skills; that is how to prioritise our BIG ROCKS. Don’t let fear control your life and make your decisions.

41 Teaching Teens To Prioritise Their Time
Many of you will know that teens are classic procrastinators, time wasters, and poor planners. Often they have never been shown how to organise themselves effectively! There is a great activity that can be used to highlight how we use our time. You need a large jar, a selection of “BIG ROCKS” and a large amount of “SMALL ROCKS”. The big rocks represent the important priorities in your life. [and can have words written on them to highlight current priorities]. The small rocks represent time wasters, procrastinators and other things that takes us away from the important things in our life. If the big rocks are put into the jar first, then followed up by the small rocks most things will fit into our week. If they don’t all fit it doesn’t matter as all our important things got done. If you however fill the jar with little rocks first, not all the big rocks will fit; and thus we do not complete some of the important things in our life. This activity works great on hike where a selection of river rocks and river gravel can be used to address morning tardiness around the campsite when a scheduled leaving time is passed due to participant slackness!

42 Teaching Teens To Prioritise Their Time: A Campsite Example!
Dress in my hike gear Empty Out The Tent Pack My Pack Leave On Time & Learn Life Planning Skills at the same time! The example of a hike group not taking their responsibility for time efficient departure can have safety consequences as well as the reinforcement that tardiness is okay. They are also a great and real life teachable moment. The night before bed when everyone is sitting around the fire lead the participants through the planning sheets. Have participants identify the different “Roles” they have to take on in the morning along with the “Big Rock” or priority that accompanies each of these roles. We have a set leaving time that is non-negotiable. Now we have to program all that has to be done between wake up and departure.

43 Identify the key roles in your life
Identify the key roles in your life. What “Big Rock” issue do you need to achieve this week under this role heading. EG: Role: Student Big Rock: History Test Wed Big Rock: Maths: 13.2 –14.9 Fri Big Rock: Science assn due Wed Role: Athlete Big Rock: Training Tues, Thur Big Rock: Weights Mon Wed Fri Big Rock: Game Saturday Role: Son Big Rock: Family Dinner Sun PM Big Rock: Do chores help mum. Big Rock: Role: Friend Big Rock: Movie Sat PM mates Big Rock: DofE planning for silver Role: Boy Friend of Jess Big Rock: Phone her after h/work Big Rock: Beach day Sun PM Big Rock: Movie Sat night. This slide shows the transfer of learning from the outdoors [previous slide] to normal life. The skill of identifying roles and big rocks and programming these into our life is a critical life skill.

44 Courage Zone As well as prioritising the Big Rocks in our lives, Habit 3 also teaches us about putting us first ahead of our fears! Putting first things first will often cause you to stretch outside your comfort zone. As well as prioritising the Big Rocks in our lives, Habit 3 also teaches us about putting us first ahead of our fears! Walking away from life’s challenges when we are fearful of the outcome can greatly reduce our potential! Sometimes we have to learn to venture into our courage zone.

45 The Fear Factor: Are your fears controlling your destiny?
It could be argued that fear is one of the worst emotions that people can possess because of its ability to hold us back in life. Fear can paralyse us, limiting our achievements and reducing enjoyment in our lives. Outdoor Education has the ability to help students recognise that fear is normal and part of life. We can then give participants opportunities to face these fears, learning skills to push on into their courage zone! Many of the mental health issues we looked at earlier are a result of teens not knowing how to persist and persevere when times get tough and uncomfortable. 5 minutes Many people let fear control their life, or reduce their opportunities. Fear can paralyse us in a variety of situations. Outdoor Education has a role in teaching students that fear is normal and okay. What is important is that fear does not control our lives. We can teach skills to overcome these feelings through activities that promoter persistence and perseverance. Lets hear Neil speak. Click me to hear about the courage zone!

46 Click Picture To Go To Story
Using books for metaphoric reflection and discussion is a tool I find very effective around the campfire. I pull a story book out of my pack and have story time with my year 9 boys. At first they look at me as if to say, “you have got to be kidding” but as things unfold they are totally taken in. Once the story is read a discussion is had regarding the connection between the story and their lives at present. Click Picture To Go To Story

47 Comfort Zone Courage Zone
Having a corroboree around the campfire where each person has to dance. Group members may feel inhibited and fearful of what others will think of them. Through facilitation provide tools to get into the courage zone Centering, positive self talk, visualisation, confidence. Another way to teach about moving from one’s comfort zone to courage zone is to ask boys to dance. This can be done in several ways. Get boys in a circle and if you can have someone play the didgeridoo and/or clapping sticks. Students have to perform a dance that expresses their day, their present feelings, their…….. Whatever question you may like to pose relevant to the boys situation. Body language changes, tension builds, boys comment negatively; “you have got to be kidding”……..] This leads to the opportunity to teach some positive psychology skills in coping with life pressure.

48 What could I do to feel the fear and enter my courage zone anyway?
Performance Plan: Come up with a performance plan (game plan) where your performance has been written down and rehearsed many times before you have to do it right! Imagery: See your fear & how you might react and see yourself rehearsing a more positive outcome. Positive Self Talk: Monitor the dialogue in your mind. Monitor the volume of your negative voice. If you hear yourself saying you CAN’T DO IT. Turn down the volume on this negative tone, and turn up the positive voice. Centering: Deep breaths with an accompanying release of tension. Can be accompanied by positive self-talk or cue words. 5 min This slide highlights 5 potential aids that people can use to overcome their fear factor and perform to their best. Have a performance plan. Visualise what you want to do to overcome your fear. See yourself having success. Write a script or a plan that you can read and practice, then just do it! Centering: You have all seen the basketball player at the free throw line. Nervous, the crowd booing, but he pauses, breaths deep, closes his eyes and visualises his technique, relaxes then goes for it. We can do the same any time we are feeling fearful. Cue words. Develop a phrase or cue word to say to yourself that has an accompanying action. EG: Okay, just RELAX. BELIEVE. YOU CAN DO IT! Self Talk: Monitor the dialogue we have going on in our head. If the negative voice is turned up psyching us out, switch it down, and pump up the positive volume. Imagery. See yourself in this tough situation that is fearful. Now see yourself beat your fears. Now just go out and copy this image. Note: All these can be used in combination. They are also skills we can use in sport when we are fearful. Cue Words: Have a phrase that cues you into the things you need to attentive to; Relax, lift, you can do it! Believe in yourself!

49 4 min Habit 4: Think Win-Win Thinking a Win-Win philosophy for life is the foundation for getting along well with others. It not only means you both get something out of what you’re doing, it means you try to plan ways for both of you to win. Win-Win is not an accident it is a deliberate way of thinking! Thinking a Win-Win philosophy for life is the foundation for getting along well with others. It not only means you both get something out of what you’re doing, it means you try to plan ways for both of you to win. Win-Win is not an accident it is a deliberate way of thinking!

50 Thumb Wrestling! Working with the person next to you, you have 1 minute to thumb wrestle with them. In that 1 minute you have to see how many times you can pin the other person’s thumb down for the count of 3. How many of you were engaged in a competitive mindset when you started the activity? Did anyone simply communicate with each other and work together to get as many touches as possible? We all too often go into an activity with this win lose mindset, when Win Win can help achieve much more. 2 Minutes Introduce this activity to highlight the concept of winwin Debrief the activity using the above questions. This debrief is designed to highlight the difference between win-lose and win-win thinking.

51 Relationship Bank Account
RBA Deposits RBA Withdrawals Keep promises. Break promises. Do small acts Keep to yourself. of kindness. Be loyal. Gossip and break confidences. Listen. Don’t listen. Say you’re sorry. Be arrogant. Set clear expectations. Set false expectations. 5 Minutes Think Win-Win is about building up the relationships with others. We can strengthen our relationships by keeping our interactions in the deposit column. If we make too many withdrawals in our relationships with others, we may soon find ourselves with NO FRIENDS! The outdoors provides many opportunities to gain deposits into your accounts. [next slide]

52 Small Acts Of Kindness RBA Deposits RBA Withdrawals
Do small acts Keep to yourself. of kindness. Leaders should always be on the lookout to facilitate small acts of kindness! It fosters win-win positive feelings within the group and individuals. This video highlights a common hike issue. Who is going to clean up and take the rubbish after meal time. Can anyone do a small act of kindness? Tom talks about Charlie’s small act of kindness. Leaders should be on the look out for facilitating these kinds of kind acts.

53 Saying Sorry: Can quickly restore an overdrawn relationship account
A great activity for sitting around the fire near the end of a trip, or with groups that you know have had some conflict. As a group, there have been times when we have made withdrawals from our relationship bank accounts, this has been at the expense of others feelings. Look around this circle. Who have you done something to that requires an apology? Take 2 minutes to look around the circle and reflect on your past actions. Now we are going to take turns to go around and say sorry to the person that you have wronged. Saying sorry can be a great investment in our RBA. Many people find it so hard to say I’m sorry. While students at Glengarry live together 24/7 we see them move through the classic stages of group development. Forming, storming, norming and performing. There are often lots of apologies needed after the storming phase. Sitting around the campfire offers a great ambience to say, “I am Sorry”.

54 Habit 5: Seek First to Understand, then to be understood.
5 min Habit 5 is about being good communicators. It teaches about listening first, then talking second. It is about seeing things from another's point of view before sharing your own. For young men giving them opportunities to talk about their lives, fears, challenges is a real positive! Feeling secure socially is a buffer to depression and an area that we in outdoor education can foster! Habit 5 is about being good communicators. It teaches about listening first, then talking second. It is about seeing things from another's point of view before sharing your own. For young men giving them opportunities to talk about their lives, fears, challenges is a real positive! Feeling secure socially is a buffer to depression and an area that we in outdoor education can promote & foster!

55 Group Campout Students are grouped into camp groups of 4 students.
Groups are made to separate friends and cliques. They spend the weekend camping together on campus with roving staff supervision. Sending students out on their own in groups of 4 with boys they are not normally mates with offers some interesting dynamics. They have to learn to walk a mile in someone else’s shoes. Click to next slide.

56 Walk a Mile In Someone Else’s Shoes
After getting organised at camp have students head off in pairs for half an hour of Duo Time. Make groups up with people they do not know too well! Their task is to conduct an interview as if they were a reporter for the local newspaper. The article they are writing will be read around the fire that night! [Partner sharing around the fire that evening]. During the weekend student must pair up with someone they do not know very well. They have to pretend they are going to write a newspaper article about the other person. They use the sheet to guide their interviewing process [click the slide]

57 Walk A Mile In Their Shoes
Students interview a partner asking the above questions. They write answers in their rite in the rain journal and then at the end of the hike they report what they found to either The whole group during a post activity debrief. Or in small groups to keep the process briefer.

58 A Night Under The Stars Allow students to sleep under the stars. Allocate a theme for them to discuss as they are going off to sleep! Opportunities for boys to talk to each other, is a resilience builder! Getting teenage boys to talk about relevant life issues is a challenge. I have found that providing the right environment is critical. A night out under the stars is one possibility. Lets click on the moon to listen to the dialogue of the boys. Note how they rate such a simple activity so highly Note their language around how special it is to be with mate and talk. They do not normally get that kind of opportunity.

59 Name Game Partner Retell. [Pair people up & complete the following:
Tell us how you came to get your name or nick name. 1 goal you have in the future. 1 person you have in your life that is special and that you can talk to them about anything. What makes this person special and approachable? Name one skill you possess that helps you cope with the low points in your life. How do you use it? Noble, (2007) This is another great partner activity from Toni Nobles Resilience workbook called “Bounceback”. It is done as a partner activity. Students ask each other the above questions. Notice how it is probing to find out things that teenage boys do not normally talk about.

60 The Responsibility Pie Chart
When a pair of students are struggling in a disagreement and it can’t be decided who is at fault. Pull out your pie chart! Student draw a circle on a piece of paper and they allocate responsibility for their current situation. Me, others, bad luck! (Noble, 2007) When there is conflict on hike and students are blaming each other, the responsibility pie chart can be a great activity to show how students can understand others points of view I keep a simple circle on an A4 sheet in my pack. When there is conflict and responsibility for the problem cannot be solved this activity may help. Students have to attribute a portion of the circle to who was responsible for the current issue. How much was due to me, others or bad luck. A discussion can then be facilitate around the chart and solutions to the problem.

61 Something In My Life I Need Help With…..
Often we do not know how to ask for help, this is especially the case for young men. This important life skill can be practiced around the campfire. I need help with…. The facilitator gives an example from their life to the group to get started. Break off into smaller groups of 2 or 4 and share the issues they are having problems with. Come back to the circle. A partner shares the issue with the group. The group listens and then tries to give solutions and support to the person. In keeping with the theme of building resilience and asking for help when needed this activity asks participants to think of an issue in their life that is causing them problems or worry. It can be facilitated either by partner sharing or by sharing straight to the group as a whole. [This has to be facilitated carefully so people are protected. Issues that go beyond our expertise should be passed on to other professionals.] The group then can offer possible solutions to the problem.

62 Habit 6: Synergise Overview
3 min Habit 6: Synergise Overview Habit 6 is about valuing and celebrating differences. It’s about knowing that two or more people can work together to create better solutions than any one of them could alone. Flow activities to promote synergy. Habit 6 is about valuing and celebrating differences. It’s about knowing that two or more people can work together to create better solutions than any one of them could alone. Creating opportunities for synergy is something that we already do very well in outdoor education. I believe it is important however to select the right kind of activities in order to gain optimal learning experience. Ideally, creating activities that lead to “FLOW” can have a great benefit by completely engaging the participants in the activity. [next slide]

63 Synergy In Action Working individually, take 1 minute to try and write down the names of as many body parts as you can think of that have only 3 letters in their name. There are 10 of them. No slang or rude words! Now, pair up, share your list with your partner, and take another 1 minute to see if you can come up with any additional names. Did any pair get all 10 body parts? If not, join up with 2 more people, can you get all 10. Lets check your list against mine! This is a great activity to highlight synergy in action. It can be done anywhere. It is great for around the fire.

64 10 Body Parts With 3 Letters In Their Name
Toe Lip Gum Rib Arm Leg Eye Ear Hip Jaw Gum This is the answer to the 10 body parts.

65 Entrance to B 31 Argyle Cave
One activity that we find enormously powerful is caving.

66 The Squeeze Boys explore the entrance way to a horizontal cave system with passages going off in all directions. All but one is a dead end. The through passage is totally intimidating. Many boys think it would be impossible to fit through. Your foot cannot fit through standing on end. For me I have to breathe out, wiggle through a few cm and after a minute your chest pops out into more space. It is totally psychological! Once they get down the cave and are ready to come back…..

67 Getting to Synergy Action Plan
Define the Problem or Opportunity Their Way (Seek first to understand the ideas of others.) My Way (Seek to be understood by sharing your ideas.) Students had struggled to get down into the cave with lights on. When you tell them that you are taking their lights off them at the bottom of the cave; major worry and doubt spreads across the group. We facilitate a synergy action plan where students are guided through a process to find their own solution to getting out of the cave. The process is amazing to watch and full of emotion and real life problems of coping with the unknown. The beauty of this activity is that they cannot get out of the cave unless they all work together! Brainstorm (Create new opinions and ideas.) High Way (Find the best solution.)

68 Synergising With My Peers: Focussing on things within our control.
Synergy In The Cave Let us hear what one of the boys has to say about the experience! Click the movie once the slide fades out. Lights Out & Work To Get Out Of The Cave

69 Rogaining To Synergy Students Navigate along 4 WD trails where they have hiked before. Each group has a radio. The physical & psychological stresses are super challenging. The only way to succeed is to work together in SYNERGY! This slide highlights 24 hour rogainning as another flow activity that fosters synergy in teams. The video shows boys discussing times during the 24 hour event where synergy worked and other times where working on their own led to them getting lost. 24hr Debrief

70 Habit 7: Sharpen The Saw: Renewing Ourselves. It is “Me” Time
7:30 I am sure all of us at one time or another have the feeling that our life is out of control. We feel: Out of balance Stressed out Empty on the inside Habit 7 is designed to reacquaint us with the concept of renewing our lives. Why is it called “Sharpen The Saw”? In the teens text book the story is told of a fellow out hiking in the bush when he comes across an old digger using a hand saw to cut a big tree. He says “Hi, what are you up to” to the old digger? “I’m sawing down this tree” come the curt reply “How long have been at it?” “4 Hours so far but the progress is really slow” he said with sweat dripping from his brow. “Your saw appears a little dull, why don’t you sharpen it?” he said. “I can’t and do that mate, I am too busy sawing to stop and sharpen my saw!” If only the old digger had stopped for a few moments his time sawing would have been much more efficient.

71 Four Dimensions of Sharpening The Saw
Body Brain Often in our own lives and those of young teenagers, we have not learnt the lesson of balance. Some are great athletes but neglect their mind. Some are mental giants bench pressing hundreds of kilos with the weight of knowledge they are gaining but a physically weak and unhealthy. Many of us because we are so busy neglect our heart and the building and maintenance of relationships in our lives. While many forget about their Soul. Heart Soul

72 Why is Balance so Important?
To perform at your peak you need to strive for a balance in all four dimensions. Balance is important because what we do in one dimension will affect the other dimensions. When we look at the statistics from the beginning of this session many of our teens lives are out of balance. The outdoors can be a real healing place, restoring balance and perspective to our clients. This however can be enhanced through planning and facilitation of activities that target “Balance” specifically. To perform at your peak you need to strive for a balance in all four dimensions. Balance is important because what we do in one dimension will affect the other dimensions. When we look at the statistics from the beginning of this session many of our teens lives are out of balance. The outdoors can be a real healing place, restoring balance and perspective to our clients. This however can be enhanced through planning and facilitation of activities that target “Balance” specifically.

73 Developing The Physical
Many of today’s teens are out of balance with their physical self. They are overweight, lack discipline to regularly exercise. Students can run or ride 3 X per week. 15 km run or a 25km ride Pre-post fitness tests reveal significant improvements in fitness Sport can produce flow and a new found enthusiasm and passion for life. FIND A STRENGTH AND ENSURE YOU UTILISE THIS IN LIFE! The video behind the runners shows how an activity like mountain biking can provide flow like experiences that totally engage teenagers.

74 Taking Time To Stop Inspirational Places For Inspirational Reflection
When in the outdoors we don’t often take time to… Stop and enjoy the calmness and rejuvenating qualities of the outdoors, especially at great view points or beautiful inspirational places. Students can be just left to relax, or in addition have tasks given to them to promote thinking and reflection. Behind the scene is a video of reflecting by the river.

75 Mental Preparation For Sport or Life
Meditation Mental Preparation For Sport or Life Visualisation Meditation and relation I use the outdoors and beautiful spots to teach meditation, progressive muscle relaxation, visualisation. Students for the first time can learn the power of the wilderness or outdoors as a healing place.

76 Developing The Mind Through The Outdoors
Prior to an expedition classroom teachers delegate students some research time where they go away and research different way to light a fire. This can be streamlined by the teacher already having completed a webquest where website are book marked in advance! Designate students to a particular fire lighting method, they then are provided with the tools needed to go off and practice the skill. [If necessary tutorials in fire lighting can be held before the trip]. Once out on hike conduct a session on fire lighting where the group gets to demonstrate their fire lighting method! Starting a fire without matches requires planning, preparation, persistence, & perseverance!

77 What Possibilities Do The 7 Habits Open Up For The Outdoor Education Industry?
2 Min Improved synergy with clients/schools. Become a 7 habits course provider / or develop your own positive psychology, resilience curriculum and offer this course to your clients. [See resources references] Introduce the 7 Habits to your client group. Then the full course is taken up by teaching staff back at the school once students return. Great follow up! This and the next few slides are the big summary slides highlighting the benefits and pros and cons of pursuing the 7 habits positive psychology style of outdoor education program.

78 Health Promotion Marketing
How do we stand out in the crowd? Value added programming. Marketing our industry as a health and wellbeing ally of individuals, families, communities could open up a whole new world of clientele. Another possibility: Creating partnerships with school counselors to develop programs and activities that promote resilience and positive psychology using the outdoors as the deliver mode.

79 What Do We Have To Do As An Industry To Move More Into The Developmental Mode Of Program Delivery?
We need to further develop positive solution focused Outdoor Education programs. This requires our programming to be more prescriptive. Teens need guidance and mentoring in building resilience. This learning cannot be left to chance. Often the mountains do not speak for themselves. It takes much more effort in programming and the training of staff to facilitate developmental programs; however the potential benefits are worth it! We need to further develop positive solution focused Outdoor Education programs that enhance the personal tool boxes of our teenagers so that they are more resilient to the ills of modern society. This requires our programming to be more prescriptive utilising the isomorphism between the outdoors & the challenges our teens are facing. LEARNING CANNOT JUST BE LEFT TO CHANCE. This takes much more effort in programming and the training of staff but the potential benefits are worth it! Outdoor Education can have a major role in health promotion & the prevention of ill health.

80 Putting Names To Resilience Solutions
This slide highlights one of the major benefits to the 7 habits program. It provides solutions to teen issues and gives names to them. There are very few teacher student interactions that I have where the 7 habits are not a part of the discussion.

81 The End m.hassell@tsc.nsw.edu.au tonia_gray@uow.edu.au
Please do not hesitate to contact us for further assistance or information.


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