G4 GUITAR SCHOOL Changes 2010

Happy New Year to everyone. I hope you had a great night and I imagine many of you had gigs.

I just want to give you an update on the changes for 2010. Its a very exciting year as we currently lead the internet as Australia's number one website for guitar students seeking teachers. We now have approx. 100 teachers in our network and expect that to rapidly multiply in 2010.

Changes

I am sad to say that Brendan has now move on to pursue a new opportunity. I feel we were very fortunate to have such a talent while we did. Brendan has built a winning team of teachers so I know his legacy will live on for many years to come.

Emma has now been promoted into the role of G4 GUITAR SCHOOLS Manager. This means Emma will now cover much of Brendan's role so if your first contact should always be Emma. Contact Emma by email: emma@g4guitar.com.au or phone 0405-274456.

I will personally continue to focus on our growing network of teachers around Australia, USA and Canada.

Contract & Pay System

I am not sure how clear everyone is on the terms of your contract with G4 GUITAR and the pay system but for details please visit the G4 TEACHER LINKS .

I will be back in Australia shortly so I hope to meet you all face to face very soon.

Thank you all again and I look forward to a big year ahead.

David Hart

WORKING WITH CHILDREN BACKGROUND CHECK

Hi Guys,

From the 1st of May the Government is introducing a new certificate that is like a license to allow you to work with children. This will cost around $80 and will become compulsory by 2010. You basically have until the end of the year to obtain one.

The certificate is valid for 3 years. Teachers who obtain their certificate before 30th June I will reimburse.

For more information please contact the Commission for Young Children.

http://www.kids.nsw.gov.au/kids/contact.cfm

WORKING WITH YOUNG CHILDREN

Here is this week's result. We grew by 8 students. Well done everyone. We still have 25 weeks to go so plenty of time to show what you can do.

This week I want to mention the first audio I sent regarding working with young children. I hope you took the time to listen. The young boy (Graham) by the way was booked in by Brendan (who was filling in for Zeljko) today.

If you have not yet listen to the audio please make sure you do. You can even listen directly from the following link. WORKING WITH YOUNG CHILDREN. Brendan will be going over it with you soon. Remember as teachers we also need to be students. The best teachers are usually passionate students. I am always learning and reading. My latest book I am reading is 'Educational Psychology' by Anita Woolfolk. Check it out if you can. Great read.

Six ways to win over your students..

How to keep students....

1. Become genuinely interested in them.
2. Smile.
3. Remember that a person's name is to that person the sweetest and most important sound in any language.
4. Be a good listener. (Qualify) Encourage them to talk about themselves.
5. Talk in terms of their interests. Connect with them.
6. Make them feel important (because they are) - and do it sincerely.

How to avoid student dropouts when they say they have no time for guitar.

I just spoke to a parent who said her son will no longer be having lessons. She said he was too busy and had no time to practice. A lame excuse as we all know. I explained to her that having no time should never be the reason for giving up. The only reason to give up guitar is because you don't actually want to play or dislike the guitar for some reason (or you are physically incapable). She said he will come back to guitar later when he has time.

I went on to explain that the time never comes. Guitar is an ongoing continuous commitment. Guitar is about establishing a routine and sticking to it no matter what. Those who stop and start mostly stop. In fact statistically less then 5% of our students who stop will never come back to lessons with G4.

The biggest problem here is this mother rang me when it was too late. They had already made the decision. The trick is to seek prevention rather than cure. Make giving up a big deal. Even a tragedy. Treat giving up as giving up for life! I know I wanted to give up a few times as a teen not because of time but because it was difficult. DON'T LET THEM GIVE UP.

For more advice on how to avoid students dropping out please listen to the following podcast. HOW TO KEEP STUDENTS FOR YEARS.

Teacher Performance

The review system will be introduced to coincide with the new Student Growth system. Please watch the video so you understand how, when and why you will be review and what it means for you.

How children deal with trauma

Even though I hope none of you have family effected by the bushfires I think the following articles is very helpful in understanding how children deal with trauma. You will all experience students at times who have been through some kind of trauma so having knowledge will help you when such a situation arises.


By Dr Janet Hall
Clinical Psychologist:
Author: Fear-free Children, Fight-free Families, How to be Boss of Bedtime.

Children are able to cope better with a traumatic event if parents, friends, family, teachers and other adults support and help them with their experiences.

Help should start as soon as possible after the event.

It's important to remember that some children may never show distress because they squash it inside, but it may begin to ooze out in uncharacteristic changes in behaviour after several weeks or even months. Other children may not show a change in behavior, but may still need your help.

Children may exhibit these behaviors after a disaster:

1. Be upset over the loss of a favorite toy, blanket, teddy bear or other things that adults might consider insignificant, but which are important to the child.

2. Change from being quiet, obedient and caring to loud, noisy and aggressive or may change from being outgoing to shy and afraid.

3. Develop nighttime fears. They may be afraid to sleep alone at night with the light off, to sleep in their own room, or have nightmares or bad dreams.

4. Be afraid the event will reoccur.

5. Become easily upset, crying and whining.

6. Lose trust in adults. After all, their adults were not able to control the disaster.

7. Revert to younger behavior such as bed wetting and thumb sucking.

8. Not want parents out of their sight and refuse to go to school or childcare.

9. Feel guilty that they caused the disaster because of something they had said or done.

10. Become afraid of wind, rain or sudden loud noises.

11. Have symptoms of illness, such as headaches, vomiting or fever.

12.Worry about where they and their family will live.

Things Parents or Other Caring Adults Can Do

1. Talk with the children about how they are feeling and listen without judgment. Let them know they can have their own feelings, which might be different than others. It's OK.

2. Let the children take their time to figure things out and to have their feelings. Don't rush them or pretend that they don't think or feel as they do.

3. Help them learn to use words that express their feelings, such as happy, sad, angry, mad and scared. Just be sure the words fit their feelings - not yours.

4. Assure fearful children that you will be there to take care of them.
Reassure them many times.

5. Stay together as a family as much as possible.

6. Go back as soon as possible to former routines or develop new ones.
Maintain a regular schedule for the children.

7. Reassure the children that the disaster was not their fault in any way.

8. Let them have some control, such as choosing what outfit to wear or what meal to have for dinner.

9. Help your children know that others love them and care about them by visiting, talking on the phone or writing to family members, friends and neighbours.

10. Encourage the children to give or send pictures they have drawn or things they have written to family and friends.

11. Re-establish contact with extended family members.

12. Help your children learn to trust adults again by keeping promises and including children in planning routines and outings.

13. Help your children regain faith in the future by helping them develop plans for activities that will take place later - next week, next month.

14. Children cope better when they are healthy, so be sure your children get needed health care as soon as possible.

15. Make sure the children are getting balanced meals and eating enough food and getting enough rest.

16. Remember to take care of yourself so you can take care of your children.

17. Spend extra time with your children at bedtime. Read stories, rub their backs, listen to music, talk quietly about the day.

18. lf you will be away for a time, tell them where you are going and make sure you return when you promised or call at the time you say you will.

19. Allow special privileges such as leaving the light on when they sleep for a period of time after the disaster.

20. Limit their exposure to additional trauma, including news reports.

21. Children should not be expected to be brave or tough, or to "not cry.

22. Don't be afraid to "spoil" children in this period after a disaster.

23. Don't give children more information than they can handle about the disaster.

24. Don't minimize the event.

25. Find ways to emphasize to the children that you love them.

26. Allow the children to grieve losses.

27. Develop positive rituals and "anniversary" activities to commemorate the event. Help children understand that these events may bring tears, but they are also a time to celebrate survival and the ability to get back to a normal life.

Activities for Children

1. Encourage the children to draw or paint pictures of how they feel about their experiences. Hang these at the child's level to be seen easily.

2. Write a story of the frightening event.

You might start with: Once upon a time there was a terrible ___________ and it scared us all_________. This is what happened: ____________

Be sure to end with, "And now we are safe."

3. Playing with playdough or clay is good for children to release tension and make symbolic creations.

4. Music is fun and valuable for children. Creating music with instruments or rhythm toys helps relieve stress and tension.

5. Provide the children with clothes, shoes, hats, etc. so they can play "dress up" and can pretend to be adults in charge of recovering from the disaster and "being in charge."

6. Make puppets with the children and put on a puppet show for family and friends, or help children put on a skit about what they experienced.

7. Read stories about disasters to and with children making sure to talk about how people coped and recovered.