I think you do know, and you're just not telling me! But that's cool...

Rescuing horses is a lot of work, and takes a lot of money to support it. It breaks my heart to think of anyone not caring for an animal properly--or a human, for that matter, and I see that fairly often as well!

I don't know what my sister does in regards to her equine training, but she's been working with horses for a lot of years. I suspect that she is quite intuitive about it, and uses a lot of NLP-type things without even knowing it. Then again, Perls said, "I never use hypnosis," but had people talking to empty chairs! That kind of stuff really cracks me up! I wish sometimes that we could just strip away all the labels, and just do what it is we do.

Be well, and at peace,

Phil

Hi Phil

I ask because there have been massive changes in horse handling methods. It's quite different and the label is there to denote that change and describe something different. I had to pretty much relearn everything consciously. It's taken me ten years to 'reprogramme' myself but its been so worth it.

I had an excellent NLP moment in the classroom yesterday.

I was working on a fun music assignment with a group of ten year-olds yesterday afternoon, in which they were to construct words using the letters of the musical alphabet (A-G), and then "write" them on the musical staff. One student was stuck on finding a word, and said to me, "I just can't seem to find one." I walked over to him, stood at his right, and said, "well, isn't it interesting that sometimes those answers can just pop into your head!" On the word "pop," I gently snapped my fingers in his upper right field of vision.

I have never seen a pencil move more quickly! Now, that was very cool!

Phil

Teenagers are to be given group therapy in the classroom in an attempt to ward off bouts of depression.
A £1m government-funded trial taking place in Bath, Bristol, Nottingham and Swindon will provide sessions for around 7,000 adolescents.

BBC NEWS | Health | Teenage pupils get class therapy

Matt, thank you for sharing.

Our work is really important, isn't it? And for me, much of the time the content of what I teach seems so insignificant in comparison to other things.

Phil

Phil Adams


"I wish sometimes that we could just strip away all the labels, and just do what it is we do."

Here Here or is that Hear Hear!!

Thank you, Stephanie. It could be "hear here," or "here, hear," now couldn't it?

Phil

Today I had a really great moment with teaching a class of eight and nine year olds. They were working on note names of a specific set of pitches from part of a song that they had all learned to play on their recorder. As I had the class all in unison tell me the letter names of each note that I had on the board, one student's voice in particular stood out--his answers came out strong, methodical, and he had that certain recognizable look on his face, if you know what I mean! So, I stopped the class, looked at him and said, "I'm wondering if you could share with the class how you did that so well, and so easily. I think some of the other students can learn something from you! How did you do that?" "I don't know," was his first response. "I just did it." "Yes," I said, "but what went on in your mind as you were figuring out those answers?"

"I don't know."
"Ah. But if you did know, what would be your answer right now?"
"Well, I make a picture in my head."
"A picture?"
"yeah, a picture of a recorder in my head, with my fingers playing it. Then I match the fingering to the note I see on the board."
"And you already know the letter names of each fingering?"
"Yup."

I then turned my attention out to the rest of the class. "I hope you all were listening to that excellent strategy! Now, who can tell back to me in your own words what it is that he did?"

Another student repeated back the process, and then the rest of the class finished the activity independently. As I approached her table, one student excitedly told me her own process for remembering the letter names--slightly different from the one we had just done.

Very cool moment for me today!:cool:

Phil

Phil,
good job!

I just had an incredible experience while teaching a music lesson to a class of seven year-olds.

One student can be best described as a student who has multiple issues with behavior and self control. He is on medication, but I have not seen much evidence of those meds doing anything to help him. Today was no exception; in fact at the beginning of the lesson, with the whole class sitting on the carpet, his body was literally wretching in spasms. He said, "It's my tics. I always do that."

"You always do that?"
"Uh huh."
"Funny. You're not doing that right now."
(looks at me puzzled)
I just start telling a song-story with the class. He sits very close to me, and often I look him in the eye, and just pace his breathing/body motions as much as I can, and then slowly shift to a calmer state. By the end of the song, he looks up at me and says, "hey! That song made my tics stop!"

I leaned into his ear...

"That's right. It's magic. And you can use it whenever you like."

"So I can make them stop all day."

"Even longer, maybe!"

"Maybe two days, and then all I have to do is sing it in my head again, and then they'll stop."

(big smile from me)

The rest of the lesson his body was relaxed, and he was calm. Repeatedly during the lesson he looked at me and said, "it's a good day!"
I just smiled back and nodded to him.

Now, that's the kind of stuff I like!

Phil

Hi, everyone. First of all, an update on the boy in the story above: his classroom teacher was amazed with what I did for him, but falsely attributed it to his "new meds." Oh, well. I did point out to her the effects of music on ADD, and she did think that she might purchase a simple walkman for him, so he could listen to music and block everything else out while he worked. I thought that was a splendid idea, as the music, as long as it was not too obtrusive, and had a steady tempo, could probably help out with his tics.

OK, now for the REAL reason for today's post. I need some help. I have a class of nine-year olds, and they have finally gotten to me (which I do not like). The situation is this: pretty much, about 75% of them don't really attend to anything that's going on unless I am directly speaking to them as an individual. If someone in the class, for instance is discovering an answer is not correct through dialogue with me, much of the rest of the class doesn't pay attention to this. In fact, today, I had lots of kids giving incorrect answers to questions that were the VERY SAME INCORRECT ANSWER that had just been given by someone else only a few seconds earlier.

I have done fun games at the beginning of the lesson to get them to pay attention to what they are doing, but now I think it's time for me to do some different things, so I'm looking for your suggestions.

Sock it to me!

Phil

Hi Phil,

Wrt to the seven-year-old with "multiple issues with behavior and self control" mentioned above:

Nice work. But to make it stick, find the person(s) in his immediate family or support group who do the stuff that causes him to "speed up", and get them to slow down too.

Some kids who "present" in the classroom with behavioral problems are simply "reflecting" what happens to them at home.

Eric.

Thank you for those wise words, Eric. That is usually the issue, isn't it?

A big part of what happens with his behavior in the classroom has to do with expectation, quite honestly (IMHO). To put it simply, he has been conditioned now to have ADD and tics. But, for just a little while, I showed him that he didn't have to have them.

The sad part is that parents often feel that we overstep boundaries by addressing the family dynamic, which of course, as you stated, can be the source of the presenting "problem" at school.

Probably the best I can do is anchor the state so that he returns to it every time I teach him (forty minutes once a week), considering that even his classroom teacher has limiting beliefs about this child's ability to change his own behavior. I did begin to get her to change her beliefs about that a little bit, though.

Peace,

Phil

Hi Phil
Wise Eric words of course and I absolutely agree. With regards to your nine year olds. They are not listening when you speak with one of them. so can we conclude that when you are talking to one of them, the rest decide that it is not relevant or addressed to them? Probably. this is quite a normal situation with kids. If when you are talking to one of them you want the rest of them to learn the same message, it is useful to set this up in advance.

So you might like to try innoculation and get them to move away from what they don't want to happen and presupose what the benefits will be when they pay attention to the learnings that are being shared and may relate to all of them.

So how to do this! There are lots of ways and here is just one suggestion. Start with a story - the story installs a strategy that when there is a conversation with one person if you eaves-drop ( cheat) and listen in there may be secret ways to learn new things. - Set it up so that they think they are getting one over you - always good for kids!

When one of the group asks a question that you want them all to 'hear, mark them out non-verbally. Use 'big gestures' to include the rest of the group, eye contact, and anything else you can think of to include the rest of the group in the answer. Use tag questions such as 'isn't that true class' or do you agree? to elicit a response from the group.
Hope this helps
Kate

Kate, you're alive!

And thank you for the wonderful suggestions. Exactly the kind of stuff I was looking for.

Of course, I know how to do this, I just forgot. But not any more!

Thank you again,

Phil

Hi Phil
Yes I am alive and kicking- bit busy to post at the moment running Education Practitioners et al
Of course you know how to do this stuff but sharing suggestions is a good thing!
A bit of encouragement... it only take one teacher one hour a week to give a child what they don't get anywhere else. In fact sometimes it just takes one teacher one minute to change a beleif in a child so remember we can't not make a difference - the only question is in what direction?

It's time to add another entry to what might end up being the world's longest thread!

I just had choir rehearsal with about 55 ten and eleven year-olds. At the end one girl hung around after everyone had left, and had a sad look on her face. She is a self-professed "tomboy," but for whatever reason had chose to dress up today in a skirt and blouse, and actually looked quite nice.

She told me that another girl was teasing her and said to her, "you're a BOY, and BOYS shouldn't be wearing skirts."

I simply brought to her attention (by asking a few questions) that she was more flexible than many kids, choosing to do things that both boys and girls typically did, and that if she were to continue that flexibility in her life, it would undoubtedly make her life much more interesting. I asked her:

"How does it make you feel to know that?"
"Good."
"OK, now I'm wondering if you can for just a minute imagine that other girl saying what she said to you a little while ago, except when she says it, think about that good feeling."
"OK."

All of a sudden a big grin came over her face, and she began to giggle.

"Why are you laughing?"

"You are."

"No, I was just responding to the big smile on your face!"

"I have to go to lunch now."

Off she went, happy as a clam.

That's a great way to end my week.

Peace,

Phil

Hi Phil,

Carry on making a difference to peoples lives!

It's great!

Have a wonderful weekend!

Violeta

Are clams really happy? If they have no capacity for conscious thought, can they really feel emotions?

Tony,

Maybe they can be happy, but not know it?

You know, like the song goes, "If you're happy and you know it, clap your hands!"

I always thought that meant that if you were happy, but didn't know it you were NOT to clap your hands!

Peace Out.

Venus