Dr Roffey believes it’s high time that teachers stop managing student behavior with a behaviorist model based on sanctions and rewards that has proven ineffective in practice. In its place, she recommends that teachers adopt a relationship-based approach to behavior management. She encourages teachers to be enthusiastic about their teaching, to stay calm and quiet …
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AllAppreciative InquiryBusinessGratitudeParenting & SchoolsSavoring / In-the-MomentStrengths
Well-being Fractals
“If you could do only one thing for the rest of your life, what would it be?” This question, posed by Greg McKeown stopped me in my tracks. Applying it specifically to work, I wondered what one thing I could happily do for the rest of my life. The answer, strangely enough, arrived in my …
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Most experienced teachers have struggled to like a student at some point. Not a big deal? Wrong. Student-teacher relationships are among the most important predictors of engagement and achievement at school. Teachers get little training or support with building supportive relationships with students.
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Celebrating Strengths in Schools is a program that introduces positive psychology to schools by weaving concepts into the existing curriculum rather than by introducing them in special units. Jenny Fox Eades has been running this program for over 5 years in the UK and Australia. Jenny has found that storytelling, festival-type celebrations, and character …
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What do you use your strengths in service of? Linking strengths to purpose may help you refine and clarify your own sense of purpose in life. It may also expand your sense of what your strengths can be used for. It may also increase the priority you place on strengths development and strength-related goals, and …
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AllAppreciative InquiryHome and FamilyRelationships_1 Positive Experiences_3 Positive Organizations
Making Time For Family
It’s summer here in New Zealand and we’re still in holiday mode so I asked my ten year old what she thought I should write about. “Family”, she said, and offered some advice on what to include. We all know family plays an important role in the successful development of children into contributing adult members …
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Goodwill to All – If You Can Manage It The Christmas carols tell me that “’tis the season to be jolly” and wish peace to all mankind, but around me I see overwhelm, envy, and resentment as people stress to find the perfect gift, cook the perfect dinner, and create the perfect happy family holiday. …
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There’s a difference between short-term and long-term happiness. Newly published research shows that when you are working out in aerobics class or doing your taxes, you may not enjoy the moment, but you will on average feel happier and more competent when it’s finished. The good news, though, is that you will be happy BOTH …
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AllCommunicationParenting & SchoolsRelationshipsThree Branches
Positive Relationships – Pillar or Foundation of the House of Well-being?
Relationships are central to well-being and deeply entwined with the other pillars of positive psychology. Should positive relationships be described as the very foundation of a science of flourishing, rather than a pillar?
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Perhaps the 25th strength for each country should be the local or culturally-bound strength which has facilitated the culture’s success. Local strengths are not irrelevant just because they are not universal. One size doesn’t fit all – even with the VIA.
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AllGoalsHome and FamilyMotivationRelationshipsSports
Will Learning the Skills of Well-being Help Us Grow Up?
Carl, 14, can text with his cellphone in his pocket and keep up with friends on Facebook. However, he won’t look adults in the eye even though he insists he’s ‘a man’. … As children have become healthier and our society has become more complex, the age of puberty has fallen while the age of …
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AllGoalsHealthHome and FamilyMindfulnessMotivationPositive FeelingsResilience_1 Positive Experiences
Climbing Different Paths to Resilience
Sweaty and uncomfortable I trudged on up the side of the mountain, calves like blocks of molten lead, lungs gasping for oxygen with each ragged breath. No, I wasn’t on the South Col of Everest. Just 20 minutes walk from the carpark on the Remarkables Mountains in New Zealand found me dispirited and not at …
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When pinned against the wall, could our strengths fire up in ways we may not want? What is the strengths-trap or “flipped” version of a strength? For the strength curiosity, having none of this strength is disinterest, having the opposite is boredom, and having an exaggerated amount of curiosity can be nosiness.
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Further evidence about health and illness is changing. Strengths and their dark side, mindfulness and pain, our bodies and our world. The old dichotomies are blurring. The line between the body and mind is increasingly shown to be of our making and not a reflection of how we function.
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Denise Quinlan is a graduate of the University of Pennsylvania’s Masters in Applied Positive Psychology. She is a trainer with the University of Pennsylvania’s Penn Resiliency Program and Strath Haven Positive Psychology Curriculum and is currently a PhD student focusing on strengths and subjective well-being. Denise is an experienced facilitator and programme designer with over …