ESIP - How Year Eight Started in October

Session Eight - Saturday 11th May 2013

Today was Efficiency and Effectiveness Day with Year 8 exploring Crafty Listening and Year 9 tackling the Biology of Human Machines.

Crafty Listening began with a maths question that most of us get wrong followed by a conundrum – “if you overtake the last person in a race, what position would you be in?”

The girls broke into three groups and learned about System 1 and System 2 thinking and how we become emotionally attached to our instant responses to questions. We discovered genuine curiosity involves both the will and the skill to ask questions to understand more deeply. System 1 and System 2 showed up as we considered the Drama Triangle and the roles of victim, rescuer and persecutor and how often we slip into these at school and home. Victims slip into helpless “I can’t” mode and rescuers do their thinking for them.

We learned about the three choices we make every waking moment – what to focus our attention on, what meaning to give this and the action we choose to take. We discovered our personal MAPS of reality – the meanings, assumptions, patterns and sensations of how we create reality and practiced a handful of exercises which were designed to show how easily we make assumptions (and how not to).

“I have learnt how to think more logically, ask more questions and ask for more of a detailed answer. I have set myself a challenge of being more curious and asking deeper questions.”

We talked about logical levels and how to make change even though change is often accompanied by fear. We practiced mindful walking and learned to ‘notice’ things and ‘be more aware’. We found out what happens when there is no next step…

“My challenge is to think about change and think before I speak, think more in a system two way and to think about the impact my decisions have on the people around me.”

Finally, we learned about the four levels of competence from unconscious incompetence (not knowing you don’t know what you’re doing) through to unconscious competence (the skill becomes second nature) and how people give up when frustrated because of our addiction to the ‘call to comfort’.

“We can plan forever but never know the consequence of any action until we take it.”

Year 9 had a much more hands on session on the Biology of Human Machines. In a very student led session they were tasked with creating a movie and presentation on the ideal human athlete hurdler. 

“My challenge is to eat more healthily and exercise more.”

Involving research on diet, exercise and body proportions, expertise with making a scale model of card and split pins through to testing over a model hurdle and creating the frames to produce the movie, the girls worked independently and creatively. The final presentations varied from an interview role play to a mathematical evidence based approach to a soundtrack backed movie. 

ESIP is drawing to a close this year but Year 9 will be back next week and we are looking forward to the End of Year Showcase on 22nd June.

Melanie - What ESIP Has Done For Me (May 2013)

Session Seven - Saturday 27th April 2013

Today was Deep Thinking Day and Year 8 and Year 9 approached the topic rather differently.

Year 8’s session was focused on philosophy and critical thinking involving a debate about belief. 

Year 9 planned the route to their big audacious goals and opening their pathways up to feedback.

In Philosophy and Critical Thinking we considered some big issues – “Is there a God?”, “Can you prove it?”, “Are some people born evil?”, “Is God responsible for things happening in the world?” We tackled the nature/nurture argument and took a psychological approach including some A level standard material. We considered cases such as the Derby fire (Mick Philpott), the Liverpool murder of a homeless man by a group of teenagers and revisited the London riots.

We presented some ideas and the girls sparked off the thinking. They thought hard and wouldn’t just accept what we threw at them. Despite being uncomfortable with some of the topics they responded well, pushing the boundaries and squeezing their comfort zones becoming more resilient in the process. They were not afraid to challenge the teachers on key provocative points. The session really challenged their perspectives of what they were allowed to think and can think.

Year 9 started off with an excellent vision board exercise led by Andrea Watts of UnglueYou. The girls created their A3 boards of words and pictures from a wide selection of magazines. The girls were able to give very good explanations and show deep thinking for what they had created. The purpose of the vision board exercise was to open up their thinking and help either refine or develop their big audacious goal in a more creative, less language-centred way. The vision board exercise was excellent in bringing out feelings and encouraging a deeper perspective of the choices they are making and will make in life. 

After break Year 9 moved on to the 21 steps, tackling the idea of ‘reverse engineering’ their big audacious goal. After some initial ‘Where Am I Now?’ thinking, the girls used a 21 step template poster and played around with post it notes, thinking through the steps and connections between their current state and what they would need to reach their big audacious goal. The girls showed some excellent examples of analysis, evaluation and synthesis, really unpicking ideas and steps and thinking very deeply how they could achieve something and what was required right now. They each followed up with a succinct 6 point presentation of the steps to a large group with every girl giving a presentation.

Overall a great day, learning through experience across a wide range of activities, confronting fears and growing stronger in ability, belief and character.

See the photo gallery

ESIP in our own words (Maisha, March 2013)