The language used stimulated curiosity and made the learning experience more inclusive. The one student that I particularly focused upon responded beyond expectation, gaining 10/10 in a vocabulary test (the target had been 8). The pleasure gained from his success fuelled his motivation and his participation in whole class discussion increased enormously.
Moving from a child who ‘does not write’ to a creative writing enthusiast
This is an extract from an extremely thorough piece of research by Jacinta.
Jacinta Fennessy is a teacher in Austria
Research plan
As the Learning Support teacher, I was assigned a Grade 5 student. K, aged 11, is Austrian, his mother tongue is German and he was learning through the medium of English. He had been at this school for one academic year and he had attended international schools in other countries before the family returned to Austria in June 2009.
K had a very good vocabulary in English and he was able to articulate his ideas orally with fluency. He read fluently at grade level. However, K did not write. He used all sorts of excuses to avoid writing, e.g. the teacher wants him to write only in sentences, the teacher will only accept cursive-style writing, the teacher will only accept written work in pen, problems with his pen/pencil and, especially, he can’t remember the ideas – this immediately after expressing them orally.
K’s mum was becoming extremely frustrated with him because, despite all his parents’ efforts, K would simply not complete homework assignments, ever!
I met with K three times a week, each time for 30 minutes. Over the first couple of weeks I established that K could actually write, with intensive sentence-by-sentence support, having reassured him that any style of writing, or indeed a mixed style of writing, was acceptable, using any type of writing tool. It was slow, intensive, laborious and emotionally draining - for both of us!
Here is an example of dialogue to initiate some writing from K prior to considering NLP intervention:
Jacinta: ‘What did you do at the weekend?’
K: ‘Well, actually, nothing really.’
J: ‘So, you stayed in bed all weekend?’
K: ‘Well no, I did get up.’
J: ‘Great. Write that down.’
K: ‘Well, actually, I don’t remember what I did.’
J: ‘Remember Friday after school - did you have an after-school activity? Did you go straight home?’
K: ‘I went to M’s house. Well, actually it’s an apartment’ [several sentences about going to M’s house] J: ‘That’s interesting. Write that down.’
K: [taking his pencil in his hand and aiming at the page] ‘But…. the problem is… I can’t actually remember what I said first’ etc. I wanted K to write his ideas without the endless procrastination, to feel good about writing, and to begin to trust that the ideas he expressed orally were valuable and acceptable and perfectly valid for his written assignments. It was evident that this was critical for K’s wellbeing, for his self-esteem and for his confidence. I felt that, despite all our efforts to get K to write, something was interfering with this and that making him feel good about writing was the key to unlocking his block.
Action
November 10th, my notes: He looks zoned out, pale and is always yawning – even at the beginning of the day. How to make him feel good about writing?
elements of nlp used
• States, kinaesthetic anchoring, verbal pacing and leading using truisms and conjunctions, future pacing
• Milton Model: Embedded commands, analogue marking
• Presuppositions: Subordinate clauses of time, commentary words, change of time verbs , adverbs, awareness, tag questions
Session 1
states
As we walked to my classroom one day, K said, ‘I don’t know why, but I feel my teacher really hates me.’ [She’d just told him off because he had forgotten to hand in his homework again]. By using the Meta Model questions to establish what exactly he meant by that, it became clear that he really felt that his teacher and his parents were very unhappy with him when he didn’t write up his assignments. Further, when we addressed his claims that he couldn’t remember what he wanted to write, we reached the stage, again through Meta Model questions, that he had no difficulty remembering events, information and appointments, but that he didn’t feel good about writing. His stated goal, therefore, was to write up his work at school and his homework at home in the time given. To be able to do this he felt he needed to feel good about writing. This would look like this: K sitting at his desk/table, writing. He would feel happy, proud and relieved. Writing his ideas would definitely make his parents happy and his teacher would be relieved. The shouting would stop at home. He wouldn’t have to stay in during recess to do the writing.
anchoring
I asked K to think about a time when he felt very happy, proud and relieved at having done something challenging. He smiled and said, ‘that’s easy’, then described his first time diving from a rock into the sea. Noted - eye accessing cues:
Down left when describing the feeling
Up left when describing what he did and what the scene looked like
Middle left when he talked about the sounds he heard
He described the event and the feelings of this, the happiest moment in his life.
I asked K what would happen if he could have that same feeling when he started to write his ideas in class and when he did his homework. He looked incredulous and shook his head. ‘Imagine’ ,
I said, ‘having that same feeling when you write. Would that be amazing, or what?’ He nodded and replied, ‘that would be amazing’ . I asked what he had to do to get the feeling and he immediately said he could get the feeling by thinking about it. I told him to think about the experience again and make the picture brighter. He said, ‘it’s very bright already. The sun is shining off the sea, the sky is blue.’ I told him to hear the sounds and he described the sound of the waves against the rocks and the clapping of the people watching who were waiting to dive. I told him to make that clapping into a tumultuous applause.
He nodded and smiled. I told him to now get the feeling of pride, relief and happiness as strong as you can, and continued:
‘You are sitting here with me and learning about focusing on writing assignments. You are curious and interested in how to focus so as to do your best and write your great ideas. While you are listening, you are aware of how fantastic it is that you have interesting ideas, and as you think about writing you get the feeling of happiness, pride and relief that you got when you first dived off the rock into the sea, and you realise how easily and confidently you can write your ideas. Luckily, with your great intelligence, you will quickly realise how easily you can focus and how much fun it is to write your ideas.’
End of session 1 (30 minutes)
Session 2
I decided to anchor the feeling to the writing tool (pen or pencil). I revisited the memory of the experience that provided the feeling to be anchored, got him to get the feeling and describe it. I asked him to make the picture brighter, hear the sounds more loudly (the clapping, the people still waiting to dive). I told him to make that into a huge applause and add triumphant music. I continued: ‘Now make that feeling more intense, stronger … an amazing feeling of relief, pride and happiness. There is a lovely feeling of excitement as you think about how good you will feel using your skills and intelligence as you focus and do the best you can do, enjoying yourself and having a fantastic time, didn’t you? Now pick up the pencil - when you feel the pencil in your hand at the start of a writing task, at school or at home, you will get this same feeling of pride, relief and happiness and you will begin to focus on the task and start writing your great and interesting ideas.’
breaking the state :
‘What lesson have you got after this?’ / Music / A little interaction about the instrument he is learning…
‘Now pick up the pencil to write. Got the feeling?’
Smi
ling and nodding. Involved in the writing task (comprehension exercise from his class)
Noted:
Smiling – great memory for detailed answer to question number 3 on the writing task.
Writing – needed to be reminded of the feeling.
Asked for clarification re whether he should write in sentences or bullet points.
Needed clarification re meaning of ‘extract’. Noticed struggle so I intervened by commenting on the amount of writing he had done and reminding him of the ‘feeling’. He consciously revisited the feeling.
Did it!
Session 3
My target today was to give K the opportunity to write something of his own choice, set off the anchor and see what happened.
We had a discussion about why he was yawning today. He and his parents and brother stayed up late watching Universum, an environmental programme in German about birds of paradise. He told me a bit about the programme.
Then I gave a similar talk as I had done during last session, ending with: ‘…you will now focus on the task and start writing your fantastic and interesting ideas about the Universum programme you watched last night’ .
Noted:
8:52 began to write
K asked one question about the word for programme
9:00 (5 lines written)
K asked how to spell New Guinea
9:05 (10 lines written in a focused way)
9:10 (15 lines written)
K tells me about “an emerald green bird puffing up its chest”. I tell him this is a beautiful description.
9:15 I tell him it is time to finish, that the session is coming to an end. He tells me he has to finish the sentence first.
No prompts from me!
No avoidance from K!
K told me he wanted to show the piece of writing to his class teacher. She smiled broadly and told him excitedly that this piece of writing was amazing and that she was proud of him. She looked towards me in disbelief.
Session 4
This session was focused on preparing K for the homework assignment for the coming week. After reviewing the assignment and dealing with any problem areas in terms of what he needed to do or the terminology used in Maths and Unit of Inquiry, I decided to check with K about the effect his work completion during the last session had on his teacher.
‘Can you remember what Ms. J looked like?’ ‘Yes, she was smiling; she got a bit pink and glowy’. ‘What did she say?’ He recalled that also.
When asked how he thought she had felt, he said she probably felt very happy and relieved. He said she probably felt proud of him and thought he was intelligent and able to write.
Effort at Future Pacing:
Me: ‘She likes what you did. When you write your ideas, she is happy and proud of you. She looked radiant and beautiful when she saw what you had done. As you continue to write your ideas, she will be happy and proud of you and you will be happy, proud and relieved every time you hold your pencil/ pen in your hand to write your amazing ideas. You will be using your wonderful intelligence, writing your great ideas and doing your very best, won’t you? Who else will feel happy and excited and proud of you when you do your best and write your ideas?’
K: ‘My Mum and Dad.’
J: ‘So when you hold your pen/pencil in your hand and begin to write your homework, you will use your wonderful intelligence to write your ideas confidently, you will focus on the task, you will feel comfortable, proud, relieved and happy to have these interesting ideas, to be able to write your ideas so well, and you will feel an extra glow of happiness because your Mum and Dad are feeling so proud of you and are so happy for you and for the way you focus and the great work you are doing, won’t you.’
Discussion about when he is going to do the homework.
He decides he will ask his mum if the time he has chosen is convenient for her to be available to support him if he needs it. I suggest that he takes control. Choose when, where and set the time. Then take his pencil in his hand and get the feeling and begin to write his homework. I ask him if this is something he is able to do now. He says, ‘I can take control.’ We discuss the procedure if he gets stuck on an item – move on to the next item. Get everything done that he can do by himself first. Then go back and ask for help from his mum or dad. If they are not sure, then wait until he can get help from his teacher.
Impact
K loves to talk. He is also very analytical and has a talent for detail. He is open and pretty honest with me because I have worked closely with him for a few weeks and I have acted on all the information he has provided so as to remove unnecessary demands.
Asking questions to establish his goals would seem pretty similar to the types of dialogue we had during the preceding weeks. Asking him to remember a time when he had been extremely happy etc. would have been new to him, but his response was immediate and his choice was unique. His description of the event and his feelings were detailed and seemed true to his experience. Associating the feeling from this with writing seemed like it might be a step too far, but, amazingly, K was curious enough to go along with the request.
During Session 2, when we had time to test the anchor, I noted that initially K was smiling, focused well and was writing easily. As he became challenged by the need for clarification, he began to get fidgety, but he responded immediately when reminded to ‘feel the pencil and get the feeling’ . He asked for clarification and was back on track. Next time he needed clarification, he just asked and continued. Towards the end of the session, he seemed to struggle. Again, with a reminder he was back on track and finished the task. This was the first time that K had written an assignment without intensive prompting.
Outcome in the longer term
K has experienced success by changing the feeling he has when he writes. He has felt better about himself, he has written his ideas in a focused way and he has received some amazingly positive feedback, which was spontaneous and honest. This has happened because he has gone from endless procrastination and writing only when prompted, coaxed and threatened, to producing a page of writing without the need for continuous intervention.
He has accepted responsibility in a positive way and actively planned for the next opportunity to set off his anchored feelings. This needs to be generalised to his homework assignments at home and to his work in the grade level classroom. That will be the focus of our sessions in the immediate future. His grade level teacher has said, ‘Now I believe we are going to crack this!’
It’s good to talk in Science teaching
NLP achieved more than expected for Joanna and Helen and they applied every bit of their short training to great effect.
Joanna Dobson and Helen Fuhr teach at St Benet Biscop High School in Bedlington, Northumberland
Research plan
The main aims of this project were to improve pupil behaviour and achievement by using specific NLP language and communication strategies, and to give pupils strategies for voicing their ideas and build confidence in their own ability, allowing them to take more responsibility for their own learning.
Assessment of the success of the strategy is based on subjective assessments of students’ behaviour and achievements and objective tests in results gained in mock GCSE tests or levels achieved in coursework and project work. A longer-term aim will be to assess the improvements in behaviour and attainment of all students in classes where NLP strategies have been implemented. The project is also designed to improve attitude and motivation for pupils in relation to their personal learning, research skills and standard of homework.
Action
As this was a joint project, we decided to choose a student we both teach. We chose the focus student because she was already on report and was seen to be having difficulties in other subject areas. We produced an NLP lesson assessment sheet where we could record information about the student’s focus and concentration, work rate, communication with staff and pupils and her tendency to distract others. We also gave the s
tudent an overall mark for her compliancy in lessons; 4 being fully compliant and 1 being refusal to follow directions. We focused on the use of the use of language in lessons. Commonly used phrases such as ‘why…’ questions were changed to more positive phrases such as, ‘can you explain how you came to that conclusion?’ and ‘what is it that you don’t understand?’ Language was used regularly to elicit more thoughtful responses from students, for example, ‘I like that answer, can you tell me more about your thoughts on this?’ ‘You have made an excellent start on this task, what do you think you could do to improve this piece of work?’ To make the research more valid we decided to monitor four other students in the same classroom using the same assessment criteria. We have observed positive effects in a number of other students and examples have also been included below.
Impact
The impact of NLP strategies has been far more wide reaching than we had anticipated. A Year 10 (age 14-15) class which we focused on initially was a Foundation Science group with abilities ranging from C to F grades. Confidence and motivation were key areas to target throughout the student group. Since the NLP input, our focus student has met all the objectives set out in the project. Her work rate and concentration have been consistently excellent and the level of work she has produced both in lessons and at home has been of a consistently high standard. She has contributed well in lessons and has maintained her focus during tasks.
The effect on three of the additional four students studied in this class has been rather more dramatic:
Student 1 is an extremely quiet student with very little confidence in his ability. He very rarely contributed voluntarily to class discussions or offered answers to questions without prompting. With regular encouragement and use of NLP language he has shown a great improvement in his contributions in class, demonstrating a significant level of understanding. With more difficult topics, he was encouraged to explain his ideas to the class and was able to confidently describe a biological principle to the whole class using a diagram on the board and the correct scientific language.
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