The Brain Box

The Essential Guide to Success at school or college

David Hodgson

• Publisher: Crown House Publishing
• Year: 2014
• Print ISBN: 9781781351130
• eBook ISBN: 9781781351673
• Topic: Education
• Subtopic: Education General

The Brain Box - a personal journal for each student to be their best at school - boost grades, improve motivation, memory, learning and understanding, exam techniques. It will help teachers prove they apply many Ofsted guidelines, but will also appeal to parents. By using Neuro Linguistic Programming and explaining neuroscience the authors take students on their journey from building their profile to looking at what motivates them, their ambitions, and their future goals. Case studies, anecdotes of 'success'/motivation are littered throughout and questions are posed to get students thinking about their journey.

CHAPTER 1

AT THE START

DEALING WITH ME!

BELIEFS

Beliefs are fascinating. They make us who we are.

Some beliefs are very useful and some are limiting.

Some strong beliefs can be permanent, whilst others are fleeting. We might once have believed in the tooth fairy or Father Christmas. We may believe we’ll never be able to ride a bike. We may believe we love certain people, animals or objects.

But what are your beliefs around learning, school, education and your intelligence?

They will have a MASSIVE impact on your future.

What are you avoiding because you don’t think you can do it?

If you believe, you can achieve, innit!
Dizzee Rascal

David says:

A teacher recently told me the mantra she shares with all of her students:

Be bigger than your problems.

The more I reflected on these five words the better they sounded.

It’s so simple yet very profound. We only ever need to be just a bit bigger than the challenge before us.

When have you been bigger than a problem you faced?

Be bigger than your problems.

What used to make you scared (but doesn’t any more)? What changed?

When we’re young, we’re scared of all sorts of things: the dark, exotic foods, buttons, wasps, Doctor Who and things that live under our bed!

As we get older, we get scared of what might happen.

Most of the things we are afraid of don’t exist or may never happen.

The only thing we should be scared of is not living life to our full potential. Sadly, many people are too afraid to do this. Don’t be one of them!

Tim says:

I was recently forced to attend a roller-disco (it’s a long story). I am over 40; these things should not happen to me. My wife says, ‘Come on! It will be fun. Put the boots on.’ Well, I’m reasonably up for new experiences, so despite my spider-sense telling me this was a very bad idea, I put on the roller-boots. I got to my feet and wobbled forward a few steps.

‘I can’t do this!’ I shouted to my wife, Clare.

‘Yes, you can,’ she said, ‘just glide!’

‘Glide? GLIDE? I’m on wheels!’ I say. ‘I want to go back!’ I add.

‘You can’t,’ Clare says. ‘It’s a one-way system – you have to go all the way round.’

For the next ten minutes (and it seemed like hours), I make my undignified passage around the edge of the room.

It was at this point that my friend, Simon – who had never roller-skated in his life and is also in his forties – speeds up and does what can only be described as a pirouette. On wheels. On flippin’ wheels.

‘I thought you said you’d never skated before!’ I fumed.

‘I haven’t,’ said Simon, looking far too cheerful.

‘Well, how on earth are you doing it?’ I asked, utterly incredulous. ‘How come you aren’t falling over?’

‘I just assumed I could do it,’ Simon explained, with a shrug. ‘I’ve always been good at sport, and most sports come naturally to me.’

He assumed he’d be good.

This made sense. I’d put the boots on and assumed I would not be able to do it.

Dizzee Rascal was right: if you tell yourself you can do something, you stand far more chance ...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title Page
• Dedication
• CONTENTS
• INTRODUCTION
• CHAPTER 1: AT THE START
• CHAPTER 2: LIFE
• CHAPTER 3: AT SCHOOL OR COLLEGE
• CHAPTER 4: AT HOME
• CHAPTER 5: DEALING WITH EXAMS
• CHAPTER 6: DEALING WITH RESULTS
• TEARS, TANTRUMS AND TIREDNESS
• APPENDIX: USEFUL WEBSITES
• ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
• Copyright