Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious in bite-size chunks

Question: 'How do you eat a whole elephant?'

(Answer below.)

Yet again, I was called on to lead a school assembly at short notice this week. Something about others being absent and me available, I think.

We are continuing our theme of 'Going for Goals' and I really wanted to impress upon the children the importance of tackling goals in the right way: try and achieve a mammoth task all at once and you're soon likely to drop out and give up.

Most of the children know the song 'Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious' from the Mary Poppins musical but not all of them find the word easy to say, let alone sing. So I chose a child - a willing volunteer who admitted that she didn't find the word easy to pronounce. And, yes, on first attempt, it was clear that that was indeed the case.

But what if you break the word up - like so:

SUPERCALI

FRAGILISTIC

EXPIALI

DOCIOUS.

The slightly nervous child agreed to try the smaller 'words' in turn - and succeeded quite handsomely.

On hiding the bottom word, 'docious', she repeated the task - successfully once again.

Having eventually hidden all four parts of the word in question, she then attempted the entire word, putting all four parts together. It isn't difficult to see that this approach enabled her to achieve what she previously found difficult.

On asking the children what they thought enabled her success, they volunteered the following:

- breaking the task into smaller parts

- practise

- trying

and one that I hadn't expected:

- encouragement.

Just how many people either give up on their goals through lack of will - or don't even make a stab at making their achievement of them a reality? A goal is nothing without a strike of some description: but I don't think there should be a limit to the number of strikes allowed. I mean, it's not as if every golfer gets a hole-in-one, is it?

In school, I've talked about 'steps to success': the small steps you make in lessons to achieve the learning. Follow them carefully, and you're almost guaranteed success.

I recall a camping trip once with a bunch of 9- and 10-year-olds.

We had the opportunity to use a rope swing but the children found it very difficult to swing successfully from the starting block to the landing pad. So we introduced and discussed relevant 'steps to success' in order to achieve a successful swing and landing. They went something like this:

a) hold the rope tightly at a position above your head

b) lean back

c) jump forward and pull your feet up

d) let your feet down as soon as you reach the landing pad

e) jump onto the landing pad and let go of the rope before you start to swing back again.

Without exception, every child achieved success on the rope swing when they followed these steps - and I managed to improve my own performance as well. Within that experience, they all knew the small steps they had to take, they practised, they persevered and, joy of joy, they encouraged each other and celebrated each other's achievements.

I've got the 'superfragilisticexpialidocious' word stuck up in my classroom now: I hope it inspires the kids and me to take on more and not to underestimate our abilities or potential.

You can only change the world one step at a time....

If you have anything to add to this discussion, please leave a comment.

Phil

(and the answer to the elephant question? 'Elephant burgers.')

Yes We Can

On Monday, at very short notice, I was asked to deliver the Monday-morning assembly to 180 Year Five and Year Six children (aged between nine and eleven).

As our current theme is 'Going for Goals', I recalled an assembly I had delivered at a previous school some time ago - involving video extracts from Barack Obama's 2008 'Yes We Can' speech and Bob the Builder singing, 'Can We Fix It?' The internet, being the tool it is, allowed me to find the videos again but, on this occasion, I also found a mash-up 'Yes We Can' video someone had made featuring both Bob and Barack. So that was the start of my assembly: Bob singing 'Can we fix it?' and Barack responding: 'Yes we can'.

The children obviously loved this but there had to be a point and this is where I introduced 'three words, three goals, three steps'.

The THREE WORDS were, you guessed it: 'Yes we can'. There really is no point in setting goals if you do not believe you can achieve them. You have to really want something AND really believe you can have it. Otherwise, disappointment and dejection set in and goal-setting becomes superficial at best - or a non-starter at worst.

The THREE GOALS - I shared mine:
Goal 1: I'm going to become fitter and healthier (that's measurable because I can see myself in the mirror) by swimming every Wednesday evening and alternating my drinks: coffee and water.
Goal 2: I'm going to plan weekly weekend activities with my kids (that's measurable because we have a family calendar - and two kids who hold me to my word).
Goal 3: I'm going to try and meet up with one of my friends every week (that's measurable because I have a diary - and friends).

Goals are more likely to be achievable if there is a rationale behind them. I hope the rationale behind mine is obvious. I asked the children in the assembly why they thought I set these goals. A child offered: 'So you can be happy when you die.' Fair enough - I couldn't better that...

I only set three goals because I really don't believe I can manage more than three at the moment. Many more and some would have dropped off by now and it's only the middle of January.

And finally, THREE STEPS: these are probably the most important of the sets of three.
Step 1: Tell someone your goals. And keep telling them. They will then hold you accountable.
Step 2: Write them down. Mine are written everywhere, including here, and, because they're written down, they're now written in my mind.
Step 3: Do something about it. A great idea is nothing without a great start. I now start each day with a mug of hot water instead of coffee and I alternate throughout the day. It's easy. And I swim on Wednesdays. Because I want to. I also talk to my kids about what we're going to do at the weekend: they have a say in it. Last weekend, however, we didn't do what we had planned because other events took over: stuff like that happens but it doesn't have to change your determination to achieve your goals. And I get in touch with friends and arrange meeting dates. Last week, I met up with a colleague and friend from a previous school - it was a life-affirming event.

At the close of the assembly, I encouraged the children to think about something they really wanted to achieve this year: goals have to start with motivation or you'll never get off the starting blocks.

And we finished by watching Bob and Barack again...


What success have you had with your goals?


How do you make your goals achievable?


Feel free to leave a comment - thanks for dropping by.


Phil