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Personal Development should be just that, personal.
Orla Carlin tested herself to find her strengths then incorporated them into her lessons and way of teaching.
Sometimes we have to be honest and admit that generic PD sessions at times, just don’t cut it. Research now indicates there are many benefits of differentiated PD and ultimately if we apply it for learners, why not apply it to staff training too. After embarking on a Positive Psychology Intervention, I was introduced to the VIA character strengths which helped me identify my own strengths. My top three signature strengths were kindness, love of learning and curiosity.
I decided that at this moment of time, kindness resonated the most and so I started to carry out random acts of kindness daily. I noticed how it became infectious, bringing smiles to those around me, which then prompted others to do act kindly also. Recognising that kindness was not just monetary but could be given through the love languages such as time, acts of service or words of affirmation made it feel even more achievable and relatable.
Then came the idea were I decided to weave it into my lesson plans. I asked students to celebrate kindness, we had a kindness challenge, we talked more about empathy and we praised kind acts a lot more in class. Using my character strengths in this way made me feel elated and somewhat accomplished given the stress of teaching during a pandemic. It became apparent that other teachers could develop creative lessons using their key strengths, in order to improve their wellbeing. As a result of this exploration, I feel that middle leaders can differentiate PD sessions to allow teachers more time to focus on their strengths. Strengths based interventions can shift the power dynamics between leadership and teachers, as focusing on the individual will allow teachers to take more control but in a productive and healthy way.
How can leaders do this?
All in all, PD sessions may be helpful at times, but ultimately when they are designed they are not personalised for each individual. Investing time to allow teachers the option to improve or enhance their practice using character strengths has the potential to increase their active participation and engagement with PD sessions. In this way, middle leaders will get to know their teachers that little bit more and essentially allowing teachers to get to know themselves in a way they may not have explored before.
The author
https://www.tes.com/teaching-resources/shop/Teachtastic2020/Sociology
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Robotical makes Marty the Robot - a walking, dancing coding robot that makes programming fun and engaging for learners as young as 5. Our robots come with a full Learning Platform that has complete teaching resources, to make lesson planning a breeze.
https://www.fusionbusiness.org.uk/
As a group, Fusion Education People Solutions provide innovative HR Services and Software (SAM, SAMpeople and FACE-Ed), developed specifically for the sector by education specialists. We are trusted by over 1000 schools and trusts across the UK.
https://nexus-education.com/for-schools/funding/
Are you looking for solutions? Let us help fund them! Nexus Education is a community of over 11,000 schools that come together to share best practise, ideas and CPD via online channels and free to attend events. Nexus also offers funding to all school groups in the UK via nexus-education.com
Our website and ready-to-use resources bring to life the incredible stories of game changers from history – ordinary people who used their character strengths to help them achieve extraordinary things. Our site has been carefully designed to support learning and development on a whole-school basis, across the whole curriculum.
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https://www.communitybrands.com/
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