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Suzy Can! A Have a Go Spaghettio! Success Story

Ms Smithers is a Rational Emotive Behaviour Educator. She teaches to the Have a Go Spaghettio! pedagogy based on Albert Ellis’ Rational Emotive Behaviour Therapy. She teaches her junior primary students that they are constructivists, they make or build the beliefs that inform how they perceive events in their lives. Epictetus said: "It is not the things that disturb us, but our interpretation of their significance."  This in turn connects to the persons behavioural and emotional responses to those events i.e., thinking, feeling and behaving are all connected. Ms Smithers knows that if her students understand this, they can learn to regulate how they feel and behave by monitoring how they think about themselves, others and life in general. "As we think so are we." Suzy is one of her students and she believes she can do stuff, and through persistence she can achieve her goals and if she doesn’t, she strives to work out how to solve problems. She doesn’t believe in fai...

Mr. Chin Doesn't Give In! (as much as he used to!)

Let me introduce you to Mr. Chin. He is married to Mrs. Chin. They live in a lovely cottage in a little village called ChiniChinChin. They are the Chins from ChiniChinChin! But they have a problem. When jobs get tricky, Mr. Chin gives in!           Mr. Chin would start jobs around the cottage, and he would get tired and not finish them.   He would say ‘I give up’ and he would have a rest and fall asleep in his favourite chair. Snooze, snooze, snore, and snooze! He dug half a hole in the garden and built half a shed. He mowed half the lawn. He washed half the dog. And shaved half of his beard! He did look funny! Mrs. Chin said, ‘Have you finished your jobs Mr. Chin?’ But Mr. Chin was fast asleep. Guess where he was? Yes, he was sleeping in his favourite chair . He was snooze, snooze, snoozing in his favourite chair, again!! Snooze, snooze, snore, and snooze! Mr. Chin went to the doctor and said, ‘I give in when I have t...

Have a Go Spaghettio! A closer look at D of The ABC of REBT

  Ms Smithers is determined to teach her young constructivist learners that habits of thinking can be healthy and helpful or unhealthy and unhelpful. She want’s to focus on the D part of the ABC DE of REBT counselling paradigm that she is learning about. This is the part where we ask the question How do you know? And what have you left out? What do we mean when we say, ‘My friend is mean!’ How do you know? And what have you missed out. Ms Smithers has compiled a list of expressions, utterances made by children in her class. Here are some: He’s dumb! I can’t do this! No one likes me. These are discussed and referred to often as Ms Smithers wants to promote a discourse that points to examining what we mean, explaining how we justify our meanings and exploring how what’s left out can challenge what we mean and form new and more accurate meanings. That’s the Have a Go Spaghettio! Way! Ms Smithers says, “When children present with behaviours and emotions that suggest t...

Have a Go Spaghettio! and the 'Verbal Pollution Free Zone’ of General Semantics

This is the script of the video. Ms Smithers is a Have a Go Spaghettio – ist! She is well versed in the basic principles of REBT and GS theories. She knows the language of feedback can be helpful, meaning she is making sure it is effort focussed and never person specific. She tells her students that making a mistake does not make us a mistake. She refers to the Have a Go Spaghettio! visual at the start of each day and sings the Have a Go song with the children. They anticipate having a successful day, and they will work through the inevitable challenges that crop up now and then. Ms Smithers greets her children as they arrive at school. She has done her homework, and her goal is to apply Rational Emotive Behaviour Therapy and General Semantics principles in daily teaching practice. Another principle uppermost in her mind is to promote classroom discourse based on questioning, enquiry, problem solving and self – monitoring; referring to the classroom Emotional Thermometer and the Ca...

Have a go Spaghettio! and The ABC D&E of REBT – part 2

Have a Go Spaghettio! introduces the REBT theory of psychotherapy to the early childhood young constructivist. General Semantics also comes into play which says that the map is not the territory, the word is not the thing or person. Have a Go Spaghettio! teaches how to think in self-helpful, Brain Friend/Success Helper thinking ways via the ABC of REBT and General Semantics theory. Ms Smithers is a Rational Emotive Behaviour Educator. She has learned about the ABC of REBT, and she wants her young constructivist learners to know all about it. In the first presentation we considered the ABC of REBT, and how it informs the Have a Go Spaghettio! pedagogy. The idea is to take REBT from the rooms of the therapist specialist to the excitement and energy of the early childhood school and classroom settings. Albert Ellis said the future of psychotherapy was in the classroom and here we are! Good on you Ms Smithers!   Ms. Smithers Slide 2 introduces to additional components of the AB...

Summary of Have a Go Spaghettio!

Have a Go Spaghettio is a teaching program designed for early childhood education. Its primary purpose is to help teachers instruct students about the connection between thinking, feeling, and doing using Rational Emotive Behaviour Therapy (REBT) principles. The program focuses on building resilience in young students and is based on the ABC Theory of Emotional Disturbance, which explains how emotions and behaviors are influenced by the way we think about events. By teaching students to recognize and challenge their thoughts, Have a Go Spaghettio aims to promote emotional well-being, confidence, and positive behavior. Some key aspects of the program include: - *Resilience Building*: Encouraging students to take on challenges and develop coping skills - *REBT Principles*: Teaching students to identify and dispute irrational thoughts and behaviors - *Think-Feel-Do Connection*: Helping students understand the relationship between their thoughts, emotions, and actions - *Visual...

Have a Go Spaghettio! The ABC of REBT – part 1

Have a Go Spaghettio! is a pedagogy for teachers to teach their students about the think-feel-do connection using Rational Emotive Behaviour Therapy (REBT) principles in daily early childhood teaching practice. REBT provides the ABC Theory of Emotional (and behavioural) Disturbance counselling and teaching paradigm which considers how emotional and behavioural upset is linked to the event or happening (A) but is also influenced by the thinking (B) about the event or happening. The six-colour coded Have a Go Spaghettio! visual teaching and learning graphic is underpinned by REBT and General Semantics theories. The word is not the person! Slide 2 Teachers teach their students about the ABC’s, words and meanings, sentences and reading and writing. I can recall being told that ‘you go to school to learn your ABC’s.’ There’s another type of ABC that we can teach our young constructivist learners, the ABC Theory of Emotional Disturbance. Ms Smithers has completed the Have a Go ...

Have a Go Spaghettio! and Our 'Upsetness'

The goal of REBT, Rational Emotive Behaviour Therapy, is to help the person identify the beliefs they have constructed and how they are connected to the way they feel and behave in response to adverse happenings. The emphasis is on the views one holds, personal philosophies that underpin and drive how we feel and behave, as it is they, not solely the adverse event, that ‘makes’ them as upset as they become. In essence we upset ourselves, and Albert Ellis calls this self-disturbance, we are causing what he calls our own ‘upsetness.’ This presentation is titled ‘our – upsetness’ as Ellis’ invites us all to learn to be less ‘self-disturbable.’ In the school context we call this endeavour Rational Emotive Behaviour Education. Dr. Albert Ellis The Have a Go Spaghettio! Success Helper approach to social, emotional, and behavioural wellbeing provides a pedagogy for teachers to use in the early childhood context. It is underpinned by Rational Emotive Behaviour Therapy and General Semantics t...