One of my key ways of communicating with students was through simple stories - it was also my way of often communicating with staff. Naïvely in my early days I always wanted to include too many ideas in a story and I think that lost people. In the end I settled on one key point with maybe a subsidiary point but really no more. If people loose track, their minds wander and they will never get the key point in any case.

A favourite of mine was the glass half full. It was not original though I tried to make my stories such. It is a simple story or saying that is used by many and indeed introduced to me when I was a kid by my grandfather. The story is very graphic but effective - a glass, some water in the glass and a line to show half way. The question to students is how to describe the level of the water. Of course the answer is that it is half full rather than half empty, though either way the water level is the same. It is best to view life as a half full glass rather than a half empty glass and indeed to view people in the same way. Encourage students and staff to look for what is good about life and what is good about people. Indeed look at what is good about yourself and in all three situations celebrate the result. At an assembly this can be presented effectively by using a real but large glass and a jug of water - works much better than a slide on a wall.

Why do I mention this? I do because it is the most common assembly story quoted back to me by old students noting that the story had been of value to them through their lives. I was thinking on this the other night as the sun crept behind the hills and came to the conclusion that they liked the story because, being positive people, it appealed to them and had meaning for them. Sure the students to whom it didn’t appeal may have been those who preferred the negative, but I feel that young people are by and large positive and respond willingly to the positive.

Over the years the half full glass was painted in various forms on relevant walls as an ongoing reminder to all of the importance of the positive.

Chris Tudor

AISNT Historian & Principal Liaison