June 24th, 2005
Author: Mr Gee & Geoff Parker
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Achievement:

Pimlico students want to achieve, have a strong vocabulary of achievement, and look up to successful recording artists, sports people, celebrities as role models. But often they lack the attention to everyday detail like the hard work involved in finishing tasks, remembering equipment, being organised, that might turn their dreams into realisable ambitions! The story of The Hare and The Tortoise is being used as a good starting point for a discussion of how to steadily persevere to succeed instead of carelessly rushing in to burn out and fail.


Anger:

Many Pimlico students have an anger management problem. They often get themselves into a situation they canšt handle, and anger is their only solution. They have probably been told this over and over again! A new approach is to try to look at anger as a positive emotion which can change your life, as long as it is expressed constructively and used to motivate for positive change rather than fester into a grievance. The Poison Tree by William Blake is a good starting point to exemplify this.

Anger & achievement sometimes go together. Successful people are often motivated by conscious, focused directed anger towards injustice, e.g. Malcolm X, Martin Luther King and Nelson Mandela.


Identity:

Pimlico School is a multi cultural school and students are proud of who they are. This session will help students to understand who they are,who they want to be, and the power of language in becoming who you want to be. Half-Caste by John Agard is a good way to explore these themes.
Points to carry forward to next session: Understanding your own identity helps you to respect the identity of others. Anger can be a positive force for change and achievement.

Respect:

Respect is one of the most popular words in the school. Pimlico students often feel they are not respected or, under the surface, have low self esteem. Students crave the respect of their peers but often feel held back as individuals by the need to conform. This links with The Hare & The Tortoise; those with the flashy, boastful exterior often lack true self respect. How do you search deep into yourself through poetry to find out who you truly are rather than what others want you to be?

Respect & identity go together; to find out who you truly are, you often have to stop needing the approval of others and find your own self-approval.

It should be an exciting project, and hopefully, we will be able to inspire some of the students to focus more seriously on their goals and ambitions so that we can all learn from each other.