St Catherine's School, Toorak Years 5-8 Parent Seminar Tuesday 8 September, 7.00pm-8.00pm

1. Tuesday 8 September, 2015

2. Digital Natives or
Digital Orphans?
Head of Educational Resources & Information Centre
Ms Kathryn White

3. Broad
Contentious
Situational
Difficult

4. …
In 2001, Marc Prensky introduced the concept
of the ‘Digital Native’ to describe generations
who have grown up surrounded by technology.
He said:
(Prensky, 2001)

5. …
–
–
(Prensky, 2001)

6. …
Even though we:
• Speak in English
• Read in English
• Learn English at school
We still struggle with…
– the rules that make it work
– how to put it together
– how to make meaning

7. …
Many of us still subscribe to the digital
native metaphor because it’s easy and it
protects us.
It allows us to put technology in the ‘too
hard’ basket and seemingly absolves us of
responsibility.

8. …
Parents are stepping back because they feel intimidated,
fearful and confused by technology, leaving their children to
fend for themselves.

9. • Dealing with technology issues is
extremely difficult
• Your daughter will often avoid
you on issues of technology
• You will never come close to
keeping up with changes in
technology
• We’re asking our girls to self regulate
when they’re often not capable of
doing so
• Technology is addictive
• The girls are in a highly reactive stage
of development – and technology
provides a perfect platform for
instantaneous public reactions

10. PRIVACY RELATIONSHIPS PERSONAL BRANDING
• Understanding privacy
settings can be easily
taught!
• Understanding what to
divulge and to whom is
not.
• Difficult to do in an age
where everyone in the
media is ‘out there’.
• The concept of ‘friends’
has changed with the
birth of social media
• Many students are
unaware of the concept
of ‘tiered’ relationships
• How do we deal with
problematic
relationships?
• How do I want to be
perceived? Why is this
important?
• Attention seeking
behaviour
• Value beyond ‘likes’,
friend counts, views
• Forced positivity

12. Steve Furtick
Providing the right context is essential.

13. Set firm but fair
technology
ground rules at
home.
Don’t know?
Google it.
Just type it in.
Someone will already
have done the search
before you!
Encourage tech free time,
without labelling it as such.
Think activities that require us
to ‘live in the moment’ –
experiential (live performance)
or physical (bike riding)
activities, or reading.

14. …
• Tweens and teens place a high priority on
things being fair
• By behaving in a certain way, you normalise it.
You might not realise you’re doing it!
• Be honest

15. …

16. Living with the
Adolescent Brain
Dean of Year 9
Ms Fiona Ganino-Day

17. A person is a person because of people –
Zulu proverb

18. OMG The Adolescent Brain…LOL

19. Adult Brain VS Teenage Brain
Our Frontal Lobe
• Judgement
• Decision making
• Reasoning
• Problem solving
• Impulse control
• Emotions and emotion control
Teenage Frontal Lobe
• Underdeveloped as the brain matures
back to front
• Last the part of the brain to mature
(at about 24 years of age; males and
females differ)
• This occurs during a time they are
trying to form their own identity

20. Adult Brain VS Teenage Brain
• During a calm moment a
teenager can rationalise just as
well as an adult.
• During a stressful moment a
teenager uses their amygdala (a
mature part of their brain)
• The amygdala is responsible for
emotional and impulsive
responses.

21. Understanding risk taking behaviours
• We must note that teenagers are NOT stupid,
they do have control over their brain. In most
instances teenagers know when they are
engaging in risk taking behaviour (drinking etc).
• However they believe that the benefits of those
behaviours outweigh any potential harm.
• Often they are participating in risk taking
behaviours because
- they do not know how to deal with peer
exclusion
- they want to establish themselves as individuals
- they want to show independence from their
parents
- they want to win the respect of their peers

22. The stressful situation and the amygdala
• The teenager will respond
to a message or behaviour
inappropriately – an
amygdala response
The teenager will avoid the
stressful situation and this
may mean people or school-
common thinking errors may
occur such as catastrophizing,
fortune telling, magnification,
all or nothing.
The teenager will freeze
as they do not have any
coping strategies. So they
shut down and won’t
talk.

23. So what does that mean for parents?
• Understanding the teenage
brain helps us to understand
their behaviours and
responses.
• It helps us to understand why
they participate in risk taking
behaviours
• With that knowledge we need
to teach adolescents coping
strategies

24. Some tips:
Obviously we want to protect our teenagers from risk-taking and the
consequences of bad choices but making excuses or covering for them
means we are stunting their growth and preventing them from building
resilience.
• Let them take calculated risks, talk it over with them, let them do it.
• Choose positive risk taking options (sports, cinemas independently,
zip lining etc)
• Reward smart risk taking, where they show wisdom
• Encourage many social relationships but provide rules for interactions
(this can limit risky behaviour)

25. Some tips:
• Listen – sometimes they just
want you to listen. Not pass
judgement, make decisions
for them or get angry for
them and take action. They
just want a sounding board
to ‘dump’ their emotions
onto.
Give them Armour/Language:
• teach them some lines they
could use to remove themselves
from different situations. Short
statements (not interested in
that… I would rather…..I have to
be home in 5 minutes… I have to
go and see a teacher….I cannot
be bothered with that….)
• Ask them to anticipate the sort
of responses they will get so they
can consider a follow up line
• Stop and think about behaviours
before responding (sleep on it -
healing).

26. Decision-making for the Adolescents is difficult.
• SLEEP!
• Primary School Children 10 – 12 hours per day
• Secondary School Children 8 – 10 hours per day

27. Sleep Deprivation
• Behavioural changes
• Cognitive impairments
• Memory impairments
• Emotional – irritable, angry,
depressed etc
• Lack of concentration
• Suppressed immune system –
vulnerable to disease
• Poor time management
• Mental health issues

28. Why are teenagers sleep deprived?
• Different Sleep/Wake Cycle –
-cortisol in our body keeps us alert
-melatonin hormones makes us sleepy
• An adult’s cortisol levels will start to decrease and melatonin levels
increase around 9 - 10pm.
• An adolescent’s melatonin release can be delayed up to 2 hours, so at 11 -
12 pm (delayed sleep phase) they will start to feel sleepy.
• As a result they will wake up later or are tired from an early start because
they have not had a enough sleep.
• This also explains why teenagers are not wanting to go to bed at a
reasonable time and would rather be on technology – they are bored.

29. Why are teenagers sleep deprived?
• Technology in the bedroom – smart phones, laptops, tablets, television all
emit a blue light that prevents melatonin from being released, hence
teenagers are not sleepy. Blue light keeps you alert – so use them during
the day.
• The brain is very active when using technology it is not winding down
• Technology invites all your life to come into the bedroom and so an
association can be formed, however the bedroom is only for sleeping.
• Caffeine too close to bedtime – includes some teas.
• Working late
• Stressed
• Sleep is a low priority for teenagers

30. Children/Adolescent Sleep Tips
• Dark room (includes low wattage light in the bed side lamp)
• Routine – same bedtime and wake up time with a little sleep in on the weekend
(1 hour max) otherwise the body clock cycle is disrupted
• Exercise during the day
• Turn the light on in the morning to activate cortisol and return 5 minutes later
• Open the blinds – natural light is the best for waking up
• NO technology in the bedroom and ideally switch off 2 hours before (tricky)…not
even aeroplane mode! They need will power not to look at it…..
• New alarm clock
• An Ipod (that does not have wifi capabilities) if they really want music to relax
• If they have not fallen asleep after 20 minutes - Read or mindfulness

31. The Power of Being in
the Now
Dean of Year 8
Ms Elizabeth Ryan

32. Mindfulness &
Meditation
Embracing the Power of Now with our Girls

33. Statistically
Speaking
27% of 18-25 year
olds face a mental
health issue each
year
75% of mental
health problems
emerge before the
age of 25

34. Why do we believe in
Mindfulness?
Dr Craig Hassed, Senior Lecturer of General Practice – Monash
University
UK test in 2015 found that it worked as well as anti-depressants
One method amongst many
Proactive rather than reactive
Inoculation against daily stressors

35. Student Responses

38. Why is it so important to “accept
this moment fully?”
Human intelligence – past and future
Words and thoughts: “Language is so essential to
our concept of intelligence, that its possession is
virtually equated with being human.” (Dr. Phillip
Lieberman)
Fight or flight…
Focusing on problems in your mind can leave you
tired, stressed, overwhelmed

39. Guess what?
Feelings and thoughts are not facts…
…they are created by words in your mind!
E.g. “I’m tired…” “this sucks…” “why am I so lonely…?” = WORDS not REALITY
Through mindfulness and meditation, you can start to observe these
thoughts for what they are – just thoughts – and focus your attention
elsewhere…

40. Unpluggin’
Question:
Why do you
unplug?

42. Marshmallow
Meditation
Looks like…?
Feels like…?
Tastes like...?

43. Chocolate
Meditation
Looks like…?
Feels like…?
Tastes like...?

44. Let’s take a moment…
Sit comfortably
Close your eyes
Take five full, deep breaths
Still your mind for two whole minutes
What thoughts came to your mind?
Hands up if multiple thoughts come into your mind? (More than one?)
Hands up if your thoughts were based in the past? (Today, yesterday, last week, last month?)
Hands up if your thoughts were based in the future? (Tomorrow, next week, next month?)

45. The challenge is not to remove all thoughts,
but to observe them calmly
You can achieve this through:
A full body scan
Five deep breaths at any time
Pausing to reflect on your thoughts when you feel angry,
nervous, fidgety, tired, upset, lonely, unwell, uncomfortable
We need to treat ourselves and our thoughts as kindly as we
would treat a friend…