Creating a positive work environment
During one of the weeks before the next class do something—or a few things—to create a more positive work environment. For example, stick quotes on the wall, put up
pictures of people you love and/or of a work of art that inspires you. Describe(briefly) the things that you did(feel free to include a photo) and what effect this
had.
2. Getting an A
Last weekyou read the article ‘Giving an A’(Zander and Zander, 2000) and we considered this in our weekly class. The group has decided to trial this in Assessment 1.
If you decide that you would like to be ‘given an A’ for Assessment 1 in this unit,in this response paper you need to write me a letter, dated December 2014, which
begins with the words…. “Dear Helen, I got my A because…..”. In this letter you are to tell the story of what will have happened to you by December that is in line
with this extraordinary grade. In your letter place yourself in the future looking back over this semester and report on the insights you acquired and the milestones
you achieved during the semester as if they have already happened. Write your letter in the past tense. What changes have happened to you as a person?
The conditions for receiving an A grade in Assessment 1 are that you must:
• Write Helen your letter from the future, just like in the article, demonstrating careful thought and consideration of yourself and your envisioning.
• The Response Paper submissions follow instructions to elaborate and reflect on our topics – with appropriate academic standard writing, length criteria
followed and submitted on time (10am on the day before the specified class).
3. Character Strengths
After identifying your Signature Strengths (your top five from the survey you completed last week), pick one that you feel qualifies as the ‘real’ you and exercise
this strength over 4-6 days. Consciously use this strength every day and in new ways. There are lots of suggestions for exercising your strengths – see the
authentichappiness and viastrengths websites for a start. Also see here for an extensive listing: http://www.viacharacter.org/resources/ways-to-use-via-character-
strengths/After you have ‘exercised’ this strength, write a short reflection, describing your approach and the effects of exercising your strength.
4. Pearls
Identify one ‘pearl’ from the reading for this week i.e. an interesting idea, useful tool, insightful comment/quote, or similar. Write a couple of sentences about this
‘pearl’ explaining why it resonated with you.
Essential readings (follow the links to obtain the readings):
1. Emmons, R. A., & McCullough, M. E. (2003). Counting blessings versus burdens: An experimental investigation of gratitude and subjective well-being in daily
life. Journal of Personality & Social Psychology, 88, 377-389.[http://www.chucklin.org/wp-content/uploads/2010/02/Emmons_McCullough_2003_JPSP.pdf]
2. Park, N. (2004). Character Strengths and Positive Youth Development?. Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, 591, Positive
Development: Realizing the Potential of Youth, 40-54.[ http://0-eds.a.ebscohost.com.library.vu.edu.au/eds/detail/detail?vid=1&sid=dce55bc9-d060-4ad7-a5ed-
b57577897965%40sessionmgr4002&hid=4108&bdata=JnNpdGU9ZWRzLWxpdmU%3d#db=edsjsr&AN=edsjsr.4127634 ]
3. Noble, T., & McGrath, H. (2008). The positive educational practices framework: A tool for facilitating the work of educational psychologists in promoting pupil
wellbeing. Educational and child psychology, 25(2), 119-134. [http://scholar.google.com.au/scholar?as_q=&num=10&btnG=Search+Scholar&as_epq=The+positive+educational
+practices+framework+%3A+a+tool+for+facilitating+the+work+of+educational+psychologists+in+promoting+pupil
+wellbeing&as_oq=&as_eq=&as_occt=any&as_sauthors=&as_publication=&as_ylo=&as_yhi=&as_sdt=1.&as_sdtp=on&as_sdtf=&as_sdts=48&hl=en ]
4. Herrman, H. Stewart, D. E., Diaz-Granados, N., Berger, E. L., Jackson, B. & Yuen, T. (2011). What Is Resilience? Canadian Journal of Psychiatry, 56(5), 258-
265. [http://0-eds.a.ebscohost.com.library.vu.edu.au/eds/detail/detail?vid=4&sid=feb6a9b6-60da-4f0e-ade6-cdabb6d9ffec
%40sessionmgr4002&hid=4108&bdata=JnNpdGU9ZWRzLWxpdmU%3d#db=edselc&AN=edselc.2-52.0-79958755712]
You might also find interesting:
• Another study on using strengths in a primary school study: Madden, W., Green, S. and Grant, A. M. (2011) A pilot study evaluating strengths-based coaching for
primary school students: Enhancing engagement and hope.?International Coaching Psychology Review 6(1).[http://0-
eds.a.ebscohost.com.library.vu.edu.au/eds/detail/detail?vid=5&sid=dce55bc9-d060-4ad7-a5ed-b57577897965%40sessionmgr4002&hid=4108&bdata=JnNpdGU9ZWRzLWxpdmU
%3d#db=s3h&AN=59578546 ]
• Danner, Deborah D.; Snowdon, David A.; Friesen, Wallace V. (2001). Positive emotions in early life and longevity: Findings from the nun study. Journal of
Personality and Social Psychology, Vol 80(5), 804-813.[http://0-eds.a.ebscohost.com.library.vu.edu.au/eds/detail/detail?vid=7&sid=dce55bc9-d060-4ad7-a5ed-
b57577897965%40sessionmgr4002&hid=4108&bdata=JnNpdGU9ZWRzLWxpdmU%3d#db=bth&AN=4451057 ]
• Reivich, K .andShatte, A. (2003) The Resilience Factor: 7 keys to Finding Your Inner Strength and Overcoming Life’s hurdles. Broadway books: New York–
toborrow from the library
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