No Stats Today But I'm Still OK! :)

I've been slack! Well not slack entirely as I've been on holiday for the past eight weeks but I haven't posted a post since my last post which was posted a while ago! Hence page views are down. Way on down!

So this is just a shortish item to revive this blog from its comatose torpor.

Mental health is the main topic of conversation of REBTOZ with a focus particularly on Rational Emotive Behaviour Education.

REBE attempts to inform educators about counselling therapy theory as it can apply to the teaching context. Why do we act as we do and feel as we do when things happen? It's useful to have a theory to attach our practise to and REBE helps children to understand how their strength of emotion is linked to their own constructed 'thinking rules,' their personal philosophies.

So children are philosophers whether they know it or not and in the main they don't know! How would they if no one has taught them that they are? And where do these habits of thinking come from? Can they be changed if needed? How?

One thing to attend to would be the language we use when feeding back to students behaviour. We can unintentionally reinforce ideas that are unrealistic which can become embedded beliefs if we are not careful. Terms like naughty, good, bad (boy/girl) are unhelpful messages.

It is useful for students at all year levels to be able to differentiate between the the ideas of 'good person' and 'good deed'. Point out that if someone does something useful the action is what we are focusing on. Talk about what this means and that this in no way is an assessment of the person; the who is not the what!

Tell kids they can do good but that does make them good. Tell them they can do bad but that doesn't make them bad. We are human beings not human doings! This essential learning will allow students to assess what they hear as either person specific or behaviour specific. They can decide that if the information they receive is rational (evidence based) or irrational; helpful or unhelpful? E.g you say I am naughty. That means I am a naughty person who always does naughty things. That is not true because I have and do make OK choices. I accept what I did was naughty but that does not make me naughty.

This kind of reflection can be revisited and reinforced on a daily basis in simple ways. Here are some examples:

• Doing and being are different; do you know the difference?
• 'Can't do' now is a temporary condition unless you decide to make it permanent.
• A persons opinion of you is just that; an opinion. It is someones idea about you. You don't have to accept it!
• Remind yourself you are worthwhile no what I or others think of you. We don't give you your worth so we can't take it away from you unless you let us!

These ideas need to be kicked around each day at every opportunity so it is part of the culture of teaching and learning. It is a scientific approach to decision making about what makes a 'self' worthwhile or otherwise. It invites the learner to consider the evidence at hand.

Hope this useful to you!