|
The aim at Master Coaching is to help students achieve their maximum potential in their schooling. However, while this is a stated aim we are realistic enough to appreciate the many factors involved in pursuing this goal - some of the factors are beyond our control and fall within the sphere of the family and the child's own personal ambitions.
Some of the more important guide posts to success are:
1. SELF IMAGE Any child will only achieve the result that he or she realistically expects.
Parents should take advantage of every opportunity to raise a child's level of expectation. Genuine praise and encouragement given by a parent often works miracles, while sarcasm and/or negative comments might destroy a child's confidence and ruin many hours of study and application.
Master Coaching is always mindful of the importance of self image and actively promotes confidence and self-esteem at coaching. Back to Top
Children should aim for excellence in everything they do and be continually moving towards the achievement of this goal. In pursuit of this ultimate goal many other attainable goals can be set and reached in the process. (e.g., achieving the top half of the class, or "being promoted to the class above", etc). Back to Top
3. HOMEWORK Homework is an important part of learning - often ideas and concepts explained at school or at coaching are only fully mastered and understood by children after private revision in their own homes.
Recall of work done previously is central to true learning. Every child should do some homework each week night.
All students enrolled at Master Coaching are given homework each week to reinforce the coaching lesson. In Mathematics the homework takes the form of revision assignments which are marked. Back to Top
4. STUDY HABITS, ROUTINES & SETTING It is important that children develop a good work, study and recreational routine which allows them to make the best use of the available time.
Often much valuable study time is lost because students have not organised their study notes or their study habits.
Neatness and correct setting out are especially important in mathematics (and very important in every other subject as well). A child's workbook is a study book and should be developed as such.
Each child who sits down to study should have a book that they are studying from and blank paper to write on as they study. Reading is not effective study; the only case where mere reading can be appropriate is the initial study of an English novel, poem or play.
Television, radio or loud music are unwelcome distracters when studying. (Soft background music may actually help if it doesn't intrude into the conscious state). Television or loud music can reduce study time to less than 20% efficiency.
The Guide Posts discussed above are the main criteria of successful schooling. However, each child is different and quite often an individual problem requires a unique and personal solution. If you, as a parent, or child, think individual counselling or advice will help, talk to us about it. Back to Top
Our unique learning system allows your child to develop an understanding of the importance of their ATTITUDE, their ACTION and ALPHA learning. Please avail yourself of the opportunity to see the posters displayed in our office and your child's workbook. Back to Top
AAA - Attitude / Alpha / Action
In our constant search for the best practice and after receiving feedback from over forty Master Coaching Centres around Australia, we have introduced the Triple A Learning System. The system has been responsible for helping thousands of students achieve their true potentials at school and in life.
Attitude A positive mental attitude (PMA) towards an activity is essential for someone to attempt and then accomplish it. "What the mind can conceive, the person can achieve." Our `thought for the week' and ongoing motivational program help all students to remain positive through the ups and downs of any school year. Students are motivated to learn by the need to feel increasingly competent. Learning needs to be made explicit so students can see the purpose of it and how it fits into their developing range of competencies. Students will then take responsibility for their own learning, provided they have a positive attitude toward the activity and toward themselves as a learner. Students who avoid learning either see the task as "too hard" for them, or do not have the positive attitude required to go outside their comfort zone, a risk involved in all learning. Likewise, students need to be motivated to practise skills they already have, which they say are “too easy” until they attain mastery. Back to Top
The Alpha Brain State (related to the electrical activity in the brain) is ideal for relaxing, goal-setting, learning, studying, memorising information and recalling it in exams, getting ready to sleep and playing sports like golf. In Alpha, both sides of your brain work together. You are calm, relaxed but alert (not sleepy) and largely unaware of your surroundings. You are able to focus your concentration on one thing.
To get alpha, sit comfortably in a chair with your feet flat on the floor and your hands resting on your thighs. Turn on some relaxing music (about 60 to 70 beats per minute), take some slow deep breaths and try to imagine a peaceful place. This will slow down your heartbeat and the electrical activity in your brain.
The calm atmosphere of our Learning Centre and the organisation of our coaching sessions in the small group format is designed to make it easy for students to spend maximum time in the Alpha State. They can reproduce this at home, at school and in exams. Back to Top
Action The activities students complete each week at coaching and the assignments are planned to develop mastery of material that gets increasingly difficult. The in-built assessment and revision make our programs different from school and other forms of tuition.
All our teachers have been selected for their positive personalities, teaching expertise and passion for helping students. They have also been trained in the Triple A Learning System. None of them has ever seen anything as good as our system in any school. Back to Top
Sweat Beats Talent
At school, all our teachers have seen examples of sweat beating talent numerous times, when students with high IQs fail to get good marks - or students thought of as "average", excel in their results. Patience, practice and perseverance are solid, basic tenets of Master Coaching. It is not enough for students to "know" or "understand" what to do: they must practise learned skills until they master them. Only then can they readily recall them when needed, such as in their school classrooms, in exams, under pressure, etc. Back to Top
Think about it. Do you know how to run? Do you understand how to win a race? I do... put one foot in front of the other in the first instance - and do it faster than anyone else in the second! So why can't I beat Cathy Freeman? Because / have not been coached to improve my techniques AND I have not put in the required practice. This is why we train all our teachers in our unique Master Coaching techniques so they can better coach our students, and we ensure students practise those techniques until they master them.
That's why we're called MASTER Coaching! Back to Top
Sweat beats Talent By John Clare
Categorising children as innately talented is discriminatory, the authors of the study say, "preventing people from pursuing a goal because of the unjustified conviction of teachers or parents that certain children would not benefit from the opportunities given to those who are deemed to be talented".
By the same token, a false belief that one did not possess the necessary talent could affect a person negatively.
However they concede it would be wrong to assume that any diligent child could excel at anything, especially in the absence of expert teaching, encouragement, and unusual motivation.
The theory has implications for teachers and parents, not least because children who are not thought to be gifted are being denied the encouragement they need to succeed. The researchers questioned the "belief that to reach high levels of ability a person must possess an innate potential called talent". Studies of accomplished artists and mathematicians, top tennis players and swimmers reported few early signs of promise prior to parental encouragement.
No case was found of anyone reaching the highest levels of achievement without devoting thousands of hours to serious training.
Even those who were believed to be exceptionally talented, whether in music, mathematics, chess or sports, required lengthy periods of instruction and practice.
"The early biographies of prominent composers have revealed that they all received intensive and regular supervised practice sessions over a period of several years," the study says. "The emergence of unusual skills typically followed rather than preceded a period during which unusual opportunities were provided, often combined with strong expectations that a child would do well.
"The persistent myth that some people reach high levels of performance without devoting hours to practices owes much to the fact that practising activities are usually outside the casual observer's view".
Even people who were not thought to have special talent could, after training, reach levels previously considered attainable only by gifted individuals. The study also suggests that the standard required to be considered "talented" has changed over time.
Opponents of the Howe theory say practice and other factors are no doubt important contributors to outstanding performance, but not enough to explain great creative works.
The Telegraph, London. Printed in the Sydney Morning Herald Monday, September 21, 1998 Back to Top |
Pre-schoolers can learn the skills of phonemic awareness (sounds) and visual discrimination (letters and sight words) in preparation for their first year at school. Parents are very involved in this enjoyable 20 week program and with their children attend a forty five minute session one morning each week, starting in Term 3. Children are first assessed to make sure there are no physical barriers to learning. Back to Top
Students who are not good readers need to learn how to decode unknown short words and longer words with ease, confidence and speed. As their speed increases they can visualise what they are reading and so comprehend it.
Our Reading Freedom program is a systematic and carefully structured phonics program. Reading coaching takes place with a small group of children who follow the program through together.
There is an hour session each week, and four short practice sessions at home during the week. Some children will have a 1/2 hour 1 on 1 session.
Parents are welcome to attend the coaching when they can, to develop the knowledge and skills with their child. We have reading programs for all ages right through to adult. Back to Top
Students from Years K to 6 love this program which builds confidence and skills in all number operations, space and measurement and develops strategies for solving both routine and complicated word problems.
The main aim of the coaching sessions is to develop number sense.
Lots of work is done on the basic facts of addition, subtraction, multiplication and division in order to equip students with a natural feel for numbers and how they relate to one another. This is essential for success at high school. Back to Top
Yr 3/4 Extension is also available. In Mathematics they develop and maintain speed and accuracy in difficult work. The program covers all number operations, fractions, decimals and percentages, space and measurement and develops strategies for solving both routine and complicated word problems.
In English they cover the full range of activities of the regular program but are extended beyond this with written expression as well. They also develop their ability to solve challenging problems involving such skills as logical thinking, finding patterns and using analogies. Some time each week is devoted to preparation for the selective high schools entrance examination. This involves practice in answering the style of questions used in that exam and the review of any knowledge and skills required. Back to Top
Students with good phonic skills can join this program from Year 2. It covers reading comprehension and written expression of a number of text types such as narratives, information reports and poetry. Creative writing from these groups is displayed on our noticeboard from time to time or included in our newsletter. Students also study grammar, punctuation and spelling, and develop their vocabulary and general knowledge. Back to Top
Students of all levels of ability benefit from this program which helps them progress as well as they can through high school. The program … covers all operations, fractions, decimals and percentages, geometry, algebra and equations, as well as strategies for solving both routine and complicated word problems. A main aim of the coaching sessions is to develop number sense. Students who do well in higher levels of mathematics have a well-developed number sense, and can easily see the relationships between numbers. Students who become dependent on calculators for arithmetic tend to lose their numeracy skills. At Master Coaching students do not use calculators until Year 9. In Year 10, time is spent preparing for the School Certificate exam, including the non-calculator section. Back to Top
Learning how to plan and write texts is a major component of this program. Students find this very useful across a range of subjects. The program covers reading comprehension and written expression of a wide range of text types such as discussion, exposition, information reports, media texts and poetry. Students revise grammar, punctuation and spelling and develop their vocabulary and general knowledge. In Years 9 and 10 there is a strong focus on preparation for the School Certificate examination. Back to Top
These programs in all HSC courses
are designed to maximise marks for our students in their exams. We
do this by clearing up any misunderstandings that
These programs in the Standard and Advanced HSC courses are designed to maximise marks for our students in their exams and assessment tasks. The requirements of senior English today are a lot different than parents will remember from their own school days. Students develop knowledge and understanding of the contexts, purpose, audience, forms and features of texts and language.
Their writing skills are developed to respond to a range of texts in essay form which again is useful across a range of subjects.
Ongoing examinations practice is provided. Back to Top
PHYSICS ▪ CHEMISTRY ▪ BIOLOGY ▪ ECONOMICS ▪ BUSINESS STUDIES ▪
These HSC coaching programs ideally begin in Term 4 each year for students going into Year 12.
Courses start at the beginning of Term 1 for students entering Year11.
These courses have also changed a lot in the past few years, so a grounding in exam technique is incorporated along the way. Students are able to clear up any misunderstandings that they have with the current school topics, and learn the most effective ways of setting out solutions and short answers.
The revision program covers all the topics regularly and there is exam practice. Students can begin coaching at any time during their course. Back to Top
We also coach basic reading skills for adults. |
Are
some students just more talented than others or is genius nine parts
hard work? A team of British researchers has questioned how much
natural ability counts towards success. After examining performances
in the arts and sport, Professor Michael Howe and colleagues at
Exeter University concluded that excellence is determined by
opportunities, encouragement, training, motivation, self-confidence
and - most of all - practice.
Students
of above average ability in Years 5 and 6 enjoy the challenge of
this program, which extends beyond the primary curriculum in
Mathematics and English. 
students have with
their current school topics, showing the most effective way of
setting out solutions and organising revision that covers all the
topics regularly. Ongoing exam practice is provided. The easiest
course now available, General Mathematics, is in fact not easy. Only
1 % of students in NSW scored above 90% in the 2002 HSC Course.
