I used Milton patterns to put the children into a relaxing, creative state, using phrases like, ‘the new form will make it easier, the music will help you, no lines makes it easier to write’ .
After the instruction, which was short and simple, the children chose the sheet they wanted and started writing. The mind map was done on the same sheet and some children used their Thinking Book.
I introduced a Thinking Book after the Teaching Excellence course. I thought the name was well-founded and it is a nested loop they can use for a very long period. I talked about it with a colleague and she is using one too. It’s great - they use it to think, to make notes, and they make pictures in it so they remember more. They love the book. I have written their names on the front of the book in gold; the magic is working!
Impact
The children loved the new form. They really liked the fact that there were no lines on the sheet, so they didn’t feel restricted or limited. Because there were more shapes, they could write a beginning sentence and then if they chose go to the end and back to the middle part without worrying; the shapes placed the story and kept them focused. All the children wrote a story. After 10 minutes I stopped them and asked them to read the stories of the other children in the group, helping each other and asking for help if they wanted or needed it. 3 minutes later everybody returned to the project, finished their task and then asked me if they could read them to the children of Group 4. We did and we loved the stories. Now there was another advantage: Group 4 did not need any instruction, they had seen it with Group 5 and they understood how it worked, so that afternoon Group 4 did a similar project, writing an answer to a letter (a textbook assignment). I have translated a few of Group 5’s wonderful stories below:
I am the sun
I am nice and warm
And I shine
I am up in the sky
Everybody likes me
I am yellow
I am happy
I shine high
And then it was this way far
I am a human being again
It was excellent to be in the sky
Me and the sun lived happy and long
Will you tell granny I said high
I am a sun
And I shine beautiful
And when it rains
I’ll become a rainbow
One day something happened
A cloud appeared
And I saw it It was the lightning
And I went away
I was sad
And the lightning disappeared
And I was happy once again
I am a storm
I can be very dangerous
Accidents can happen
Sometimes big clouds appear
But it is possible that other things will happen as well
Many times lightning comes frequently
It is very dangerous for animals too
There I go...
Flowing and flowing
Further and further
I am the sun
I would love to be the sun
I would live many adventures
And I want to shine like a super happy human being
No cloud can hold me back and everybody shall think I am good
I shall be famous
Everybody shall lay down in my sunlight
Thus shall it feel to be the sun
To see the land
This is how I feel and have a happy life, me being the sun
I shall look upon every person as if he is a god
Whether it is summer or spring, I will shine all day
All the children read their stories, either from my “confident spot” in the classroom or from my “reading chair”.
These two chairs are anchors in my classroom. I told the children that the chair on the right is my reading chair, and when you sit on it, reading out loud is so much easier. The “confident spot” is in the middle, right in front of the digital board. When I want some extra confidence, I will stand on that spot. I trained and practised it with the children and the spot is doing its job very well!
After the assignment we evaluated the task. The children’s comments included, ‘the shapes are fun to write in’, ‘it was easy’, they were proud and asked me if we could do this more.
I was amazed at the results. The story of the storm was made by a boy who normally didn’t finish this kind of project. He would normally say; ‘this is too difficult, I don’t know any words, I’m no good in story writing’. This time, he just started and completed the job and was so proud! In the afternoon, he took his mother into the classroom so she could read his story.
This eBook is licensed to Dominic Luzi, [email protected] on 10/18/2018
chapter 20
Primary and Elementary School,
5-11-year-olds
Creating positive learning states and overcoming challenges
This chapter provides case studies of teachers working one-to-one and with their groups to create readiness to learn and happy learners. Milton Language patterns with a hearing impaired learner
Sue Fraser works with hearing impaired children at Durham Gilesgate Primary School, Durham
Research Plan
The aim of my project was to determine whether I could impact on the level of engagement and attention of the children in my group by altering my language patterns to include those of the Milton Model. Initially, I aimed to concentrate on our language patterns at the opening of each lesson and also at the point of introducing the children’s independent work. The timescale set for this project was less than 3 weeks in the classroom. Would there be a discernable difference within such a short time frame?
Action
The project was implemented by planning the opening of lessons in detail. This included the manner of delivery (awareness of personal state) and the use of embedded commands and suggestions, quotes and positive language. The introduction of the children’s individual work was also planned in the same way. Initially these two points in each lesson were the focus, however I soon found that the patterns were becoming more natural and I could incorporate them quite readily in to the rest of the lesson. (The more I practised, the more automatic it became and the more impact I could see!) The impact of the change of language patterns was observed on day one. An 8-year-old hearing-impaired boy in my group is very nervous and a worrier. I had previously constantly told him, ‘Don’t worry, this isn’t hard and if you get stuck, I am here to help you’ . In the light of what I learned about the way language can lead the brain I realised that I had been inadvertently telling this little boy to worry because the work was going to be so hard he would need help. So, of course, he did! As soon as I stopped using that language his panic vanished and his behaviour changed. All I needed to do was say, ‘I know you will easily do a great piece of work because you have loved this story and you have got lots of lovely ideas, I am sure you will enjoy writing about them’ .
Impact
The child immediately produced his first ever piece of totally independent writing. There was no panic, no delaying tactics and no pleas for help – a total transformation. I have continued to find that the atmosphere in lessons has been more relaxed and more positive. The children seem to engage in the lesson and maintain concentration for longer. They are definitely happier to have a go at tasks independently. I have developed skills that have enabled me to analyse my own state and use of language patterns, and to work on changing these to help achieve desired outcomes in pupils’ learning. This will be an ongoing process, but in a very short time I have observed very positive changes.
Creating happiness and harmony for a child with multiple challenges
Catherine Bennison works at Walworth School, Newton Aycliffe, County Durham - a special school for 4-11-year-olds
Research Plan
The 8-year-old pupil on whom I focused presents with multiple challenges including communication difficulties, being verbally and physica
lly abusive, extremely low self-esteem, self-harm, absenteeism, recent deterioration in all of the above. The school was wondering what to try next. I planned to utilise state management (my own, that of my support assistant, and the pupil’s), and Milton Model language patterns to improve the behaviour of this young boy (A). Because of a number of circumstances I only had one week in which to create any change, and this makes the results all the more remarkable. A presents with a complex set of needs, including:
Severe speech problems which make him very difficult to understand, so he shouts to compensate
Communication difficulties causing A to often say the opposite of what he actually means, but he has no problems with receptive language
Being verbally and physically abusive towards adults - swearing, kicking, spitting, hitting almost daily
Extremely low self-esteem, referring to himself as ‘thick’ and ‘stupid’
Trying to self-harm
Until 18 months ago he received 2:1 tuition and has only been in fulltime education for a short while, even though he is in Year 4 [ages 8-9]
His situation had recently deteriorated for reasons outside school control leading to his violent incidents becoming more serious and a number of fixed-term exclusions
He will seize any opportunity to absent himself from school
He always tries to disrupt at some point of the day
He tries to avoid completing independent tasks Because of his behaviours resulting from those needs, other children in our class had become very resentful of him and often expressed the wish that he wasn’t in our class. Recently, his mother had told us that she felt she was at the ‘end of the road’ with him.
Action
Given this very complex situation I agreed the following with my support assistant:
That we used to have very positive attitude in class and we needed to get back to that
It was very important that the staff team should be happy and smiling with relaxed body language, at the beginning of the day. We would use the smiling and body language as an anchor throughout the day
We had stopped playing music as part of the beginning of the day routine and we both felt it was important to start again - another part of the anchoring process: music, nice activity, smiling adults positive atmosphere
That we were using too many negatives like ‘don’t’, so we decided to use Milton Model language patterns to presuppose success and be less confrontational
That we needed to use rewards more than negative consequences, e.g. instead of, ‘if you don’t finish your work you will miss your choicetime’ , we could say, ‘I know you are going to be able to finish this and then you can have a great time at choice time playing with the cars’ .
We decided to pilot an NLP-based approach for one week and then evaluate its success with regard to A. Our success criteria would be that A would get fewer MIRs (referrals for seriously unacceptable behaviour), complete his independent tasks, and there would be fewer incidents of class disruption.
Research Diary
monday
A good start to the day - A welcomed into the classroom.
The first challenge came when he refused to read. Used Milton presuppositions to defuse the situation and it worked! ‘I know you can read really well and you will be able to read this book quickly then we will be able to go and change it and you will be able to choose another book’ .
The rest of class applauded when he finished reading - a major breakthrough; they would have jeered before. Their behaviour mirrored our adult behaviour.
A was challenging again at lunchtime. The Milton Model worked again:
‘I know you wanted to go to computers but you will have a really good
time in the quad and this afternoon we will make time in class for you to use the computer.’
Overall, a good day with A on full points; the first time since before Easter.
Tuesday
Taxi driver informed school that A had problems at home.
I feared for the worst but remained positive and managed my state.
Lots of smiles when he arrived in class, even though he immediately switched the lights off and hid behind the door. Chatted to him about football, and he got his colours out and sat at his table and completed his picture.
Refused to participate in whole class activity during Literacy but he was again talked round by reminding him of the fun he would have at choice time and after a few moments he rejoined the activity.
On full points again at the end of the day.
wednesday
Classroom observation visit from A’s Educational Psychologist during the Literacy lesson. I managed my state really well. Lots of smiles and enthusiasm, even though I was feeling quite anxious and imagining a worst-case scenario. I engaged in lots of positive interaction with A, reminding him how well he did in yesterday’s Literacy lesson, how much fun we were going to have at Forest School, and how many points he had this week already.
The Educational Psychologist was very impressed with A, saying that it was the longest she had seen him participate. She commented positively on how well he was able to recall yesterday’s learning, and the fact that he was able take turns when answering questions.
A absented himself later in a tag rugby session that none of the class team were involved in, but was able to talk to me about his behaviour (usually puts he hands over his ears and shouts ‘blah! blah!’ ). My use of the word ‘talk’ is important in this context because he normally shouts.
Mixed behaviour at Forest School.(1) The Forest School Leader was not familiar with the use of the language patterns. A absented himself at the end of day as he was going to his taxi.
thursday
Small problem in Numeracy; not buying in to whole class activity as usual. But unusually, very short lived, approximately 3 minutes, then back on track after I used the Milton language patterns again to great effect: ‘Remember how proud you were on Tuesday when you got full points in Numeracy. I know you can do it again. You are doing so well and you have already given me some really good answers and I know you are going to really enjoy lunchtime when you go to computer group.’
Unfortunately absented on return to class after lunch.
friday
A difficult day for A because it was unstructured (whole school involved in activities around football World Cup day). Did voluntarily come and sit next to me in class during first lesson while colouring a picture but found outside difficult. Lots of 1:1 support needed, but didn’t absent himself or become abusive.
Didn’t look as happy. Unstructured situations are going to need more thinking about.
Impact
A finished the week with a Gold Award for the first time this year!
His peers were much more tolerant and supportive of him; a massive change from before half term.
He was able to complete all independent tasks for the first time in weeks, and took a pride in his achievements.
His general demeanour improved - not as noisy, more prepared to listen, less frustrated with himself
Managing my own state worked really well because by the end of the week I felt much less stressed and much calmer.
Everyone in class benefited, e.g., ASD children had a much calmer, less anxious week (much less screaming)
Showed us that more work needs to be done. Even though he had a better week he still managed to absent on several occasions and this needs to be addressed.
Also showed the importance of a whole school approach - when other staff became involved (tag rugby and Forest School) A’s behaviour deteriorated because they were not using the same methods.
This variation in A’s behaviour illustrates the effectiveness of the NLP-based approach in that, when it was used by the staff, his behaviour was so much better and he looked much happier. An unexpected though very welcome by-product was that the whole class was more supportive and forgiving, and happier.
References
1. Forest S
chool offers learners regular opportunities to achieve and develop confidence and self-esteem through hands-on learning experiences in a woodland or natural environment with trees.
Working with a child displaying severe anxiety
Helen Watson, teacher of children with Specific Learning Difficulties
Research plan
I was already using Milton Model to good effect to help with confidence. I had been aware for some time that there were children coming to me who had anxiety issues that I might be able to deal with even more effectively.
Until now I had helped to remove this anxiety by equipping them with more effective strategies (e.g. NLP spelling strategy) and using Milton Model language to encourage success and build confidence. This had been working well, but I see many children who have severe anxiety around school and around tests and I felt there was more I could do.
The question I wanted to ask was: How effective is the Meta Model in uncovering the exact nature of the anxiety and then how can I use other NLP techniques to effectively remove this anxiety?
My main aim for my own professional development was to see how I could use more NLP, firstly to make what I already did more effective and consistent, and secondly to help with a wider range of problems. My main aim for the pupil was that they could confidently overcome their anxiety and achieve their potential.
I decided to focus on one child (G) whose mother had asked me to help her with “low confidence “ and “panics” and the fact she was “too scared” to do the AR Test (an online reading test used by her school).
Teaching Excellence Page 29