I am thinking that this is my last blog on Paget and Partners site as a professional group as taken by work and created a massive site on my work and it is due to be launched in two weeks time. In pulling all me work over 35 years together I am staggered to what as being achieved. The site will contain well over 2000 pages when fully complete and contain 100s of products.

It as being quite an experience bringing together a life’s s work I must admit it has been a wonderful experience for example there are over 17 completed books which as never been published and many I had forgotten that I had written
Many years ago I brought neuroscience to the game of golf and my book can now be seen on www. Golfinfocus.com have a look if you play golf, I have helped many of the games best to achieve higher performances

Although I am 74 I still work the same hours at my desk at 4.00am and I am still working at 10.00pm, the conclusion I draw is that life balance and passion do not always fit well together

The area of my past that as given me the greatest satisfaction has been the work in raising the grades of over one million students who were failing at school of which I know of over a 100 who now have their PhDs

Coming back to schools what has been in my focus is the reality of the statement “that every child matters ” for I do not think that they do, nor will they until we get a paradigm shift in education, for the current approach is nothing more than a bureaucratic conveyor belt where we place children on it at say 5 years old and they get off it when they are 16 years old, on that journey between 50 to 60% get any real benefit from the rest dislike or hate the journey and this just cannot be right and many of them see the journey as one of endurance or a living hell which they must go through, if we were in their position we would miss-behave if had to endure everyday in a boring hell.

Looking at the reasons for this is that, it is believed that ICT and technology is the answer in itself. It is a tremendous help in education but sadly its effect on the process of learning is marginal. Our children live in an age where access to knowledge is virtually unlimited but few children are shown how to access it effectively, in the non school area they access knowledge at lightening fast speed from facebook, internet , and mobile phones than they ever achieve at school

So to keep this blog positive what has to be done to make school the best party in town for all the students , a place where they enjoy learning

To achieve this I know that our approach to teaching must change and embrace the needs of the student and the skills they will need in their future lives. Currently our approach belongs to decades past of knowledge transfer

Before and during the primary phase of education we must determine the learning style of children, working with the experts on this crucial issue the parents for they saw how they learnt from birth. That should be documented and be the key document which the child take to their next phase of their education their secondary school

With this knowledge secondary teachers should cater for this style by adapting their delivery to achieve the maximum of knowledge transfer for the learners style

About learning styles in my opinion there are only two , either there left hemisphere leads and they are categorised as ASL (auditory sequential learners ) or the lead with their right hemisphere and are categorised as VSL visual sequential learners . From my research is about 60% ASL and 40% VSL
Teaching ASL we are brilliant at, we have perfected our approach over centuries of education, sadly the same cannot be said for VSL in fact we are hopeless at it
Hence due to this we fail 40% of our students ,little wonder we have behavioral issues and keeping a n entire of a class on task is virtually impossible .
Yet to change our approach is not difficult and every teacher can be taught how to run a class where the students are in a focused flow state , in this state behavioral issues are non existent . Recently we organised a seminar to show teacher how to this surprisingly no one was interested why, because we are still in the ASL teaching mode

I firmly believe that there are very few of children/students should leave school without a C grade in 5 subjects , this opinion is based on my work with over one million VSL students since 1995. In other words the English Baccalaureate should be expected qualification for all students , why because in their changing world they will need the knowledge when you consider that the most sought after jobs this year did not exist in 2004

Children must be taught content in all subjects for it is essential for their future, my point is how it is delivered to ensure that all the students obtain the knowledge being transferred . Let me give you an example, in English the first task is to get student s to enjoy the process of writing currently we place greater emphasis on grammar and spelling that on the getting students to enjoy writing first, then it is easy to get the spelling and grammar right

In mathematics which is a national concern both at primary as well as secondary we fail to see the importance of fast mental manipulation and memory which is rarely if ever taught . For example it is easy to get to teach year 5 students how to multiply two digit numbers in their heads . One teacher said why should we teach this when they can use a calculator , one the brain is faster and two students are not be taught mental and memory manipulation. Recently a group of 30 year 5 and 6 were calculating faster in their heads than a group of teachers with calculators. This another area where neuroscience can help primary schools

One of the most fundamental skills I am sure that you will agree is the ability to read and comprehend affectively. We achieve this task at the infant stage then we leave the process to the students natural development . The ASL develops to well and reaches up to 250 words per minute and a comprehension of 40 to 60 % on the other hand the VSL struggles to achieve 150 words per minute and comprehension at 20 to 40% so in non school time does little reading to improve themselves .
Yet the irony of this situation is that VSL can be taught to read a 650 word per minute at comprehension levels exceeding 70%+ and I have volumes of evidence to prove this point

The next factor I must address is how we teach or the lack of it is the emotional skills which is a vital part of the learning process, this is where the education system must involve proactively the parents for school cannot teach these skills on their own , why because our emotions run 24/7 and cannot be left at the school gate like all the other subjects and children are only at school for 13.6% of their time in any one year. Therefore it is essential that schools engage parents in their teaching not in advisory role but in a total involvement in the programme. The key emotional skills is vital to maximize performance as I am sure you would all agree that attitude and Motivation are key in this process and again they can be taught
Our emotions are the drivers to our success as individuals. Now at long last there is a school which are taking my approach throughout their school to the benefit of staff, students and parents

In conclusion, many years ago I wrote a book called the Journey of Life if you want a copy of it before it is published it is fully laid out as an ebook just send me an email and I will send you a copy not free but almost, the same apples to the Code of Successful Students this is a Power Point programme and if you want to see it before purchase go on to Skype (drroy73) and I will show you and I would love to meet you

Regards Roy
Dr Roy Paget

Why didn’t all students get 5A to C

Why do so many students fail to read write and calculate when they leave primary school well enough to guide them through the rest of their life

Some would argue that it is down to inherited intelligence, some would blame it on parent’s inability to support their children

I contend that the chief factor is the way students learn, for at GCSE level I do not think that intelligence at this level plays a significant part.

Neuroscience as helped us to understand how our brain learns with MRI and other techniques they enable us to peer inside and get a glimpse of what is happening when the brain is learning.

Despite past theories regarding intelligence and multiple intelligences I believe did not consider or to recognise the most crucial aspects of how our brain learns that of hemispheric differences and role of emotions in the process of learning.

The key factor remains that our learning paradigm used by schools is focused on teaching just one hemisphere the left, therefore all students whose learning process is controlled by the right will do less well at school, this group is estimated to be around the 54% mark.

 Let me explain what I mean by comparing the left brain led students with the right brain student

AUDITORY-SEQUENTIAL                                                VISUAL-SPATIAL

Thinks primarily in words -                                          Thinks primarily in pictures

Has auditory strengths-                                                 Has visual strengths

Relates well to time -                                                      Relates well to space

Is a step-by-step learner                                               Is a whole-part learner

Learns by trial and error                                               -Learns concepts all at once

Is an analytical thinker-                                                 Is a good synthesizer

Attends well to details-                                                Sees the big picture; may miss details

Follows oral directions well-                                       Reads maps well

Does well at arithmetic-                                               Is better at math reasoning than computation

Learns phonics easily                                                   -Learns whole words easily

Can sound out spelling words                                   -Must visualize words to spell them

Can write quickly and neatly                                       -Prefers keyboarding to writing

Is well-organized -                                                         Creates unique methods of organization

Can show steps of work easily-                                  Arrives at correct solutions intuitively

Excels at rote memorization                                       -Learns best by seeing relationships

Has good auditory short-term memory                    -Has good long-term visual memory

May need some repetition to reinforce learning     -Learns concepts permanently; hates repetition

Learns well from instruction                                    -Develops own methods of problem solving

Learns in spite of emotional reactions-                     Is very sensitive to teachers’ attitudes

Is comfortable with one right answer                         -Generates unusual solutions to problems

Develops fairly evenly-                                                Develops quite asynchronously

Usually maintains high grades -                                 May have very uneven grades

A mere glance a the two columns immediately tell you which are disadvantaged by the school paradigm yet strategies to teach visual learners in the same classroom takes little investment by the school with the result that behavioral issues would be dramatically reduced  and grades would increase. However to achieve this the current school paradigm has to totally though through and remodeled  

 My Guidelines for Teaching Visual-Spatial Learners (VSLs)

1.      Present ideas visually on whiteboard" A picture is worth a thousand words which is very true especially for the VSL

2.      Teach the student to visualize spelling words, math problems, etc. An effective method of teaching spelling is to write the word in large, colored print and present it to the student at arm's length, slightly above eye level. Have them close their eyes, visualize the word, and then create a silly picture of the word in their mind. Then have them spell it backwards (by doing this they are using visualization), then forwards, then write it once. 

3.      Use inductive techniques as often as possible. This works on the visual-spatial learner's pattern-finding strength. 

4.      Teach the student to translate what they see and read into images, and record those images using mind-mapping techniques, or pictorial notes. In other words let them become master doodlers

5.      Incorporate spatial exercises, visual imagery, reading material that is rich in fantasy, and visualization exercises into the curriculum. Spatial conceptualization has the ability to go beyond linear thinking because it deals more readily with complexities and the interrelations of systems. 

6.      Avoid constant, repetition, and rote memorization; use more abstract conceptual approaches and more difficult problems. 

7.      Teach to the student's strengths. Help the student learn to use these strengths to compensate for weaknesses. Visualization and imagination are the visual-spatial learner's most powerful tools and should be used frequently. 

8.      Allow the student to use a computer for assignments,

9.      Concentrate on content of written work than to format. VSL often suffer from deficits in in spelling, punctuation, paragraphing, etc. 

10.  Allow the student to construct, draw or otherwise create visual representations of a concept as a substitute for some written assignments, again mind mapping is an excellent way of achieving this  

11.  Expose VSLs to role models of successful adults who learn in a similar manner. Many of the most celebrated scientists were visual-spatial learners. Biographical sketches of famous visual-spatial learners can be found by browsing on the net

12.  Be emotionally supportive of the student. Visual-spatial learners are keenly aware of their teachers' reactions to them due the fact that they are more emotionally volatile, and often their success in overcoming their difficulties appears directly related to the empathy of their teacher

Still those are my ideas, however if we address their needs they will rewards us by their higher grades

With the cooperation of the staff it takes about 30 minutes to find out which students are visual learners and I will also demonstrate how to teach the group known as extreme VSL in three topics from three subjects (science Mathematics and English) and after school over a 2 hour period train interested staff how to teach VSL

Dr Roy Paget

http://dr-roy.info

roy@pagetandpartners.co.uk

Why do we need The Parents’ Academy?

• The Education system in the UK fails nearly half of our students.

• Nearly all schools fail to recognise that, at some level, all parents want their children to do their best, but don’t know where to start to help.

• Regardless of their own school experiences, parents, properly directed, can make a significant contribution to their child’s learning success, attitude and behaviour.

• Many parents find the education system difficult to understand and therefore fail to obtain the best deal for their children.

• Many children fail in the system because neither the school nor the parents really understand how the child learns and therefore how best to teach them.

• Parents have huge challenges today in motivating their children, keeping them focussed, and helping them to do the best they can at all ability levels.

• Where children fail at school, it can often be because their own learning styles do not match up with the way the school teaches them. Small changes in style can produce large changes in motivation and achievement.

• There are no formal qualifications for being a parent. We all do as many wrong things as right ones. But there are basic, simple things we can do for our children at all ages that can maximise their chances of doing their best. These simple things can be taught quickly and do not rely on any previous expertise or knowledge.

What is The Parents’ Academy?

• The Parents’ Academy, established by Dr Roy Paget, a Neuro Scientist and learning expert and parent and Roland Roberts an experienced Governor in primary and secondary schools and a parent of two children, has been launched to support parents to help them to help their children.

• The Parents’ Academy offers parents simple to understand, easy to implement methods and tips to help create a good learning environment, understand the way that their child learns, and, using this knowledge, help their child to learn to the best of their abilities.

• The Academy can assist parents by showing how, in ten minutes or so a day, that they can help their children retain much more of what they learn at school without spending hours revising every night.

• The Academy helps parents to support their children with revision planning and how to revise.

• Additional support is available to those who want to take it further with additional on line content, additional training and literature.

• It also supports them in their relationships with schools, making clear the way schools work and helping them to help their children by knowing what to ask at parents’ evenings or when they are worried and want to ask questions.

The Parents’ Academy is timely:

A great deal of time is taken by Government and media on the ‘business’ of Education.

Whether it be arguments about finance, new buildings, staffing, targets, SATs, GCSE and A level successes and the inevitable league tables, or the pluses and minuses of Academies, it’s often all about the education system itself and not about the learners and the learning that goes on inside it.

But if education isn’t centred on learning, on how each child learns and on making sure that all children are taught in accordance with their learning style, then we will do very little else but continue to fail nearly half of all school leavers.

It can’t be right that children leave primary education in 2011 unable to read to a minimum standard when they have no learning difficulties. How can a child hope to keep up at high school when they have already failed at primary?

The perpetual circle of failure is fuelled by a misconception that attitudes, behaviour and learning are primarily motivated from the parent’s perspective, by the school, and from the school’s perspective by the interest (or lack of interest) in the child that the parents have. 

It’s not about one or the other of the elements – it’s actually about both.

A full partnership between parents and the school.

Not the half hearted partnerships that have been tried before, where the parents are invited into the school when the child has a specific issue, or to attend an event or to monitor homework, but a real partnership, where the school and the parents are intimately involved with the child’s learning. Where the parents understand what kind of learner their child is, where they understand how to best help them to get the most from school.

Parent’s need to understand a number of important issues like:

• How to create a workspace at home for their child that supports their learning.

• How to make learning the centre of the household, so that, no matter where their child is on the achievement spectrum, that the family can do its part in ensuring that they understand what’s going on and support their child to learn to the best of their abilities.

• Parents can make a huge difference to how their child progresses at school, and it doesn’t matter how they did at school themselves.

• How to ask the right questions and get the right support for your child.

• How to motivate negotiate and reward to get your child working effectively.

• How to revise.

• How parents can do all of this regardless of their own past experiences and attainment at school.

This partnership helps the parent understand how well the child is doing, how the school has set the child’s targets going forward and what the parents have to do to play their part in making their child achieve those targets.

Parents focussed in the right way can make a huge difference to a child’s progress. A recent study by Bristol university suggested that the difference could be up to 2 grades per subject.

The Parents’ Academy is there to instruct and support parents, helping them to, in turn, support and encourage their children to be the best that they can be.

The Parents Academy can help your school to release Parent Power to lift your Grades we will run courses for your Parents and offer them 24/7 support 

If you want to know the details of our courses and support to parents 

Please contact me on roy@pagetandpartners.co.uk 

Why are we so cruel to students?

When are we going to equip them for their future and allow them to get access to more knowledge and raise their grades? Yes we are very efficient at educating them through professional teaching but their knowledge absorption is so very poor and has consequence teacher have to work far harder to achieve the standards required. Our understanding of the process of learning is inadequate and through our ignorance we are been cruel

Let me explain by an actual example

Take 40 A Level students their average reading speed was just 145 words per minute their comprehension on a single read was 40% therefore their knowledge absorption rate was 57 when to achieve a good A Level it needs to be well over 250

After just 3 hours of re-training their basic learning process this went up to 350 both students and teachers were amazed and one previously sceptical teacher remarked she had seen a miracle

The measurement used was (speed of Input X retention and understanding)  experienced students using  this method can get up to 800

All who witnessed this event  recognised that this absorption factor had not changed since year 6 at Primary school and some of the teachers were now in their 40s

Dual Hemispheric learning applies to all students from year 6 at primary school to adult .

I need your help to get has many young people and adults to break free of their mental prison, I want to train teachers and educators in this method so that they can give release as many students from this prison.

Please contact me if you can help, if you are sceptical please contact me over Skype and let me train you, currently I am helping students in Saudi Arabia Canada and America using Skype .

Why not give students the chance to improve their grades by accessing and understanding more knowledge by using their brains more efficiently and give teachers more satisfaction from their work by seeing their students improve their grades. Also it will have an effect on behaviour as students will become engaged by greater confidence in their own ability to learn 

Dual Hemispheric Learning help students to get A* from a B and it is particularly useful in lifting struggling students into confidence 

Dual Hemispheric Learning uses both hemispheres to learn in a focused way and we have tested to make sure we are right through MRI experiments, it brings learning to a totally new and exciting dimension

My contact details

Dr Roy Paget

roy@pagetandpartners.co.uk

Websites

www.pagetandpartners.co.uk

http://drroy.info

My Skype Address is drroy73 

This Blog finds me in a reflective mood , many of my young friends will soon know the results of all their hard work, school are waiting to see if grades have improved
However in my reflections I see that there is a case of imprisonment again with students generally getting 30% below what they should achieve, why because the gap between the current methods of education and the process of learning. School rarely adapt fast to new approaches and the great strides in understanding how the brain learns
That Emotional Intelligence is still finding itself tucked away into a PSHE curriculum and not integrated into mainline teaching
Yet who would doubt that
Attitude
Self awareness and Self Belief
Listening skills
Making Choices and decision making skills
Self Motivation
The empathic skills
And so many more are not important in the achievement of academic skills

In the core skills of learning which every school would place highly on their list of basic requirements including

Reading
Numeracy
Writing
Thinking skills including Creativity

Our approach to these core skills are still leaving 1000s of students an incompetence that is hard to believe, students are still prisoners of the education system which is two decades behind and yet these core learning skills are so easy to teach and use

To prove my point I will over skype train any student between 10 and 75 how to dramatically improve their learning rate in just four one hour sessions changing struggling to average, average to excellent, and excellent to gifted and for double the time I can turn average to excellent. Why am I so confident because since 1994 I have raised the grades of over one million students who were struggling with education and that is all the time I gave them

If you want to take me up on my challenge send me an email to roy@pagetandpartners.co.uk and I will send you my skype address so that we can meet