This week I have completed week 1 of a four week free on-line course for ‘Girls’ Education’ with FutureLearn and The Girls’ Day School Trust. This course is about ‘Teaching strategies that develop confidence, resilience and collaboration’.

Although the course is specifically based around girls I have already found that in week 1 that there are many aspects that would be useful for boys as well.

This week the course covered:

• How collaborative learning can benefit students in the classroom
• How learning can be used as a social activity
• The need for collaboration
• Justifying collaborative learning
• Jigsaw learning
• Criteria for effective collaborative learning
• Developing collaboration across the school environment

There are many participants completing the course from various education departments as well as parents and carers. Many of the participants come from different countries across the globe. All participants are encouraged to comment as we complete the course modules and it is these comments that really add extra substance and food for thought to the course.

I have learnt so much in week 1 that I can use with my coaching students and I am definitely looking forward to week 2.

If you know of anyone that is struggling and would benefit from some collaborative coaching then please contact me.

I have just had the most amazing Birthday with my family and friends!

Last week I had a party to celebrate my 50th Birthday, and seeing many of my family and friends and spending time with everyone is what really made it for me.

Life changes so quickly these days and it is not until we spend time together that we learn the most about our nearest and dearest and what has changed for them. My party really showed me how my group of family and friends is constantly growing and evolving.

Some things that I noticed:

• My nieces and godchildren are growing up into gorgeous and funny people who bring me great joy
• My friends and I still like the things we used to do and still do them today which makes me very happy
• I love the fact that my family is growing and new members are coming to join us
• The smiling and laughter that still comes with getting together with everyone
• The reminiscing over old times
• The love and support never goes away

Reflecting over my party made me realise how lucky I am to be part of this outstanding group of people and my priority from now on is to spend more quality time with all of them.

Sometimes we just take for granted what is under our noses. My intention this year is to reflect and recognise what I have around me and embrace it more in my daily life.  I also received some stunning and beautiful gifts and feel very blessed and I have some wonderful things to look forward to next year as well.

I have decided to keep a gratitude diary over the coming year. At bedtime I will be reflecting over my day and writing 5 things that I am grateful or thankful for that have come from my day. Switching my focus to all the good things in my day is certainly going to have a positive impact on my mindset and approach. It will be interesting to see what difference it makes and I have a feeling it can only be good.

I can honestly say it has been fun to turn fifty and I look forward to seeing what my year brings.

Have a great week.

As mock exam time approaches at school, my requests to coach for anxiety always increase!

Over the years that I have been coaching I have noticed that clients initially talk to me about their anxiety to see how they can remove it from their lives. Working with these people to understand what anxiety is, how it affects them as an individual and building their awareness around it can enable them to make progress.

Many of my clients think that I will be able to make anxiety go away which is not the case. Sometimes just understanding that it is OK to feel anxious can lift a weight off my client’s shoulders. Anxiety is the body’s natural response to a situation that we are fearful of. I coach my clients to understand about their anxiety triggers and symptoms, build their awareness of what happens to their physiology and then put specific individual strategies into place that will move them forward.

If planning, preparation, practice, determination and perseverance are combined with their specific anxiety toolbox techniques then progress starts to happen. It takes a lot of repetition (40-70 times) to change the conscious mind into doing something different and you need to treble those repetitions in order to change the unconscious mind and do it on autopilot.

Most people struggle to maintain new habits because they only ever change the conscious part of their mind. Changing the unconscious mind requires much more work. Lots of practice and repetition will lead to a change in mindset and approach which subsequently allows us to maintain new habits long term. Many clients say to me that they have tried that strategy and it does not work, my question to them is ‘How many times have you practised?’ In most cases they have not practised enough.

If you know of someone who is anxious and would benefit from being coached then please contact me.

Remember – it is OK to feel anxious. It is what you do and the action you take that matters and will keep anxiety levels to a minimum