Professor William Danon, founder of the Center for the Study of Human Development
Connecting the Dots was founded by Claire Thorogood, whose experience in education spans years of service as a Chair of Governors of a highly successful girl’s high school, academic study in organisational psychology, and professional development focused on human behaviour and well-being.
Having worked closely with senior leaders in secondary education, Claire understands the pressures students face both within, and beyond, education and whilst excellent academics are a powerful springboard, it is also the case that those who succeed—personally and professionally—are often those individuals who know themselves well, understand what motivates and engages them, and can flex their behaviour to meet different challenges. This is why Connecting the Dots learning begins with the tools that build self-knowledge.
Connecting the Dots learning delivers the practical and engaging tools and reflection necessary to build self-efficacy and self-leadership and a deeper sense of purpose. With this understanding and the right skills, young people can, with confidence and insight, navigate complexity and thrive.
We use a range of interactive and engaging exercises and tools with groups of up to 30 students to introduce, develop and to consolidate their learning around self-knowledge, understanding others, selfefficacy and ultimately, self-leadership.
Each of our learning pillars – Identity, Insight and Impact – has been intentionally designed to combine individual, paired, small-group and full-group reflection and participation in a range of tasks and exercises. We engage students via academic concepts and theories, highly visual models and images as well as kinasthetic learning exercises. For example, when exploring Identity and Self-Knowledge, we will explore the Lumina Spark personality aspects and qualities through physical activity and participation.
We use tools such as Slido to create and facilitate an inclusive learning environment – allowing for contributions to questions, discussions and polls to be anonymous.
We also encourage students to use the (free) Padlet app and to save their reflections, exercises and goalsetting plans in creative and personal forms online. These are living records of who they are, their plans and goals and the tools and exercises that will help them to face challenges. We encourage them to revisit them, to monitor and evaluate their progress, to update the actions they can take towards their goals.
