in High Performance Learning
High Performance Learning Skills, Attributes and Attitudes: Top tips for parents
Each week we put the spotlight on a skill, attitude or attribute and suggest ways that families can help children to develop it.
Week one: Collaboration
What do we mean by collaboration?
- Seeking out what people think about your work
- presenting your own views clearly and concisely
- listening to the view of others
- having the willingness and ability to work in teams
- having the ability to assume a variety of different roles (not wanting to be in charge all the time)
- having the ability to evaluate your own ideas and contributions
How to encourage collaboration at home
- comment constructively on what your child is doing
- encourage your child to comment constructively on what you're doing
- listen to the news or a programme together and ask your child what they thought of what they heard and saw
- work together as a team - tackle a jigsaw and discuss as a family how best to approach it and who does what (someone looks for the edges and someone else does the sky)
Week two: Intellectual Confidence
What do we mean by Intellectual Confidence?
- The ability to come to a conclusion about evidence yourself and then feel confident enough about it to defend your view.
Conversation starters to build Intellectual Confidence at home
- What do you think?
- Why do you think that?
Week three: Practice
What do we mean by practice?
- Training and preparing through repetition of the same processes in order to become more proficient at them.
- Focussing on what you are learning so that you can refine and improve what you are doing.
How to encourage practice at home?
- Set daily, manageable practice goals focussing on the stuff your children find challenging.
- Avoid bribing your child to practise e.g. with cash, sweets etc. They need to learn persistence and determination.
Week four: Fluent thinking
What do we mean by fluent thinking?
- The ability to generate lots of ideas - your best idea might not be your first
Conversation starters to build fluent thinking
- How can you........?
- Can you think of any other ways........?
- What else?
- How else?
Week five: Open-minded
What do we mean by open-minded?
- Taking an objective view of different ideas and beliefs.
- Being receptive to novel ideas/beliefs based on others’ arguments.
- Changing ideas in light of compelling evidence.
How to encourage open-mindedness?
- Be a role model yourself.
- Encourage your child to make a case for something they hate.
- Watch Question Time to see different points of view debated.
Week six: Meta-cognition
What is meta-cognition?
Being aware of an idea or skill, probably learned in a different context, that can be applied to tackle something new.
Suggested conversation starters to build meta-cognition
- How could you approach this?
- How have you approached this sort of thing in the past?
Week seven: Generalisation
What is generalisation?
- Seeing how what is happening in a particular instance could be applied to other situations (this makes learning quicker and more manageable
Conversation starters to build generalisation
- Remember when.........?
- How is this similar to.........?
- Why do you think that could work this time?
Week 8: Concern for Society ( a good one for Christmas)
What is concern for society?
- Understanding the contribution that you can make to benefit those less fortunate
- Recognising differences as well as similarities between people and groups of people
- Being aware of your own cultural heritage and sensitive to that of others
- Having a moral compass - a sense of right and wrong
How to encourage concern for society
- Demonstrating care and compassion at home - if your family members care for and are concerned about one another, compassion usually translates to wider society
- Develop greater awareness of loneliness by having a no-talking day
- Donate to your local food bank or give unneeded possessions to charity
- Talk about how immigration over the centuries has brought benefit to many different countries
Week 9: Precision
What is precision?
- Working effectively within the rules of an area of activity or knowledge
- For example, using subject-specific terminology accurately
Conversation starters to encourage precision
- Are you sure that's right? (delivered in a conversational way)
- How are you thinking like a......mathematician, historian etc?
Week 10: Perseverance
What is meant by perseverance?
- Keeping going and not giving up when the going gets tough....or dull
- Not being satisfied until you have achieved the high quality outcome that was needed
- Working diligently and systematically
How to encourage perseverance
- Encourage a sense of pride in your child for what they do, so that they are motivated to persevere
- Model perseverance yourself - don't give up at the first hurdle
- Give guidance on how to persevere e.g. organising work into bite-sized goals
- Congratulate your child when they moved forward on something that is hard for them
- Don't do everything for your child
Week 11: Imagination
What do we mean by imagination?
- Taking prior knowledge and applying it to solve problems while thinking beyond the obvious
Conversation starters to build imagination
- How would you weigh a giraffe? (or a house, or a star)
Week 12: Self-regulation
What is self-regulation?
- Setting your own goals, planning how to achieve them and working out strategies to reach them
- Monitoring your own progress and correcting yourself where necessary
- Self-regulation is the key to maximising the effectiveness of all the other ACPs
Conversation starters to promote self-regulation
- How can you tell whether you are on the right track?
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