elements of nlp
Initially I had planned to use animated storytelling / metaphor along with voice control and nested loops. However, during the session I also found myself using submodalities and anchoring as a means to build atmosphere and confidence in the learners, and also meta programs and some Milton language patterns.
Action
I planned a lesson in which we would explore the ‘experience’ of a job / HE interview, and the means by which we create first impressions.
I opened the session by ‘acting’ the story of one of my most ‘nervous’ experiences – my driving test! I expressed the build up to the event, from my driving lessons right up to the morning of my test… and I stopped there (opening the first loop). I did this through using character voices (driving instructor, test instructor, and a younger version of myself!). Some poetic licence was given and I somewhat exaggerated some of the experience for greater effect, though essentially the story was true. I used facial expressions and changed voice tonality as well as moving about the front of the room (sitting on chairs, changing directions etc.) to in order to fully act out the story.
Next we had a discussion about what creates a first impression, and how they could prepare themselves for interview. I began this by using spatial anchoring, facial expressions, body language, voice control and Milton patterns to inoculate against common fears and arguments (i.e. ‘what you wear doesn’t matter’, ‘I’ll stuff up because I’m too nervous’, ‘I’m not good at interviews’ etc.), and install more positive beliefs. For example, ‘some people think that they can’t be successful at interview because they find that they get nervous, however… what they don’t realise is that they can learn to remain calm at interview, and that a little nervousness in fact shows the interviewer that you care’ .
I also expressed the importance of preparing through practising mock interviews. I appealed to both ‘towards’ and ‘away from’ meta programs by expressing what impact it would have to practise, and what wouldn’t happen as a result of practice. I used spatial anchoring when referring to this, placing the desired actions in one area in which I would use facial expressions and happy voice tones to suggest success.
Next I gave them some very simple tips on rapport building and body language, which I demonstrated with a volunteer through role-play. Following this, I instructed them the get into groups of three and gave them a set of interview questions and observation sheets, and placed each of them in a specific role (naming the three learners ‘Fantastic’, ‘ Amazing ‘ and ‘Brilliant’ rather than 1, 2, 3) in order to allocate roles. I then simply observed the activity, and then afterward requested that each observer feedback the points to the rest of the class, and I added points of my own, ensuring that everything was made ‘positive’.
After rotating this activity so that everyone had taken part in all three roles, I sat them down for a plenary, and had them recap the main points and learnings. Following this, I returned to the story of my driving test and again acted it out. Of course, I passed first time ;-) And the moral was that (a) practice is important, (b) there are ways to control/ harness nerves, (c) it’s common to be successful, despite being nervous (nerves are ok).
I had planned to end the session there, only I found that I had time to spare, and so off the hoof, I gave them the option of trying out an anchor they could use to access a resourceful state before an interview. (They know a little about this area of NLP as I’ve spoken to them about it previously). They were really keen to do it (not one of them asked if they could just go to lunch early!). They chose the ‘states’ (self-confidence, calmness, happiness) and I had them stand in a circle. I used voice control to make them calm, and embedded commands to put them in the right state to begin with. I had them recall their own memories of the states they wanted and simply built them up through asking them to spin the feelings, make the images bigger and brighter, turn up to volume on the sounds, breathe in the scents etc. When they were at the peak, I had them step into their ‘space’. We ended the session with this.
Impact
The animated storytelling had a surprising impact on the learners – they were keen to listen, and were leaning in to watch and hear my experience. They asked questions afterwards, showing curiosity, and were fully engaged. They were also frustrated when I would not tell them what happened in the actual test and insisted I’d leave that part until the end of the lesson. Following the story the learners were energetic though also frustrated, but this soon passed and they got on with the discussions and activities I prompted with energy.
In the second portion (discussing interview nerves and practice), learners were nodding along in agreement with me. And following this, they were keen to practise the interviews through role play. Previously the suggestion of role play would have invited moans and groans, but I was pleasantly surprised to find that they were all very keen and got straight to it! The energy in the room was lovely. The students were fully engaged in the role play and I was surprised to find that they were all happy and pleased to take part. The feedback session which followed showed that the learners had all gained a great deal from the activities. At the end of the lesson they even requested more of “this type of thing”.
When I closed the loop on the driving test story, they appeared happy to hear that I had passed, and again were full of questions, giving me the opportunity to further express the learning points. It was clear from their body language and eye contact that they found it interesting and engaging.
Creating the calm, confident, happy state was perhaps the most successful part of the session. They all had their eyes closed and I noticed the atmosphere in the room change, the smiles creep up into their faces, their posture change, skin tone change. It was exhilarating even for me, as I watched the state of the whole room change – breathtaking. Afterwards, when I asked them to open their eyes again, they were all smiling, and thanked me as they quietly picked up their things and left the class. I was quite simply ‘buzzing’ at the success of the session. I have continued to use these techniques in my lessons, and find them very successful. I’ve not since explicitly used submodalities and anchoring (only covertly) as it hasn’t been appropriate to do so again, but other subtle means of doing so have proved useful in a number of sessions. It’s been difficult to explain what I have been doing in this report, as so many aspects of NLP come in to my everyday teaching now. It’s had a great impact on my enjoyment and at work, and the enjoyment of the learners I have the pleasure to teach.
Memory Pegs strategy
Here is an extract from Marian’s report highlighting the results of her Memory strategy project.
Marian Bradley was a Practitioner in NLP when she completed this project. She went on to complete her Master Practitioner and Teaching Excellence the following year.
Research plan
The Learning Mentor Programme in Omagh, Northern Ireland, was developed in response to the consistent underachievement of children from the ONRAs (Omagh Neighbourhood Renewal Areas). Approximately 67% of Year 12 (age 15-16) students attending Omagh Secondary schools achieve 5 A*-C grades in GCSEs including English and Maths. Only 23% of ONRA students achieve 5 A*-C grades in GCSEs including English and Maths, highlighting the disparity between ONRA children and the general population.
My job as a mentor is to work with children from the ONRAs, helping them to build confidence and self-esteem and develop skills and coping mechanisms so that they are in a better position to achieve their potential. The students are selected for mentoring for a variety of reasons, including academic under-achievement, negative behavioural referrals and poor attendance at school. At the time of writing, there are 35 students on the mentoring programme.
The group for this research comprised 10 students who had all been recently selected for mentoring and were presenting with the most difficulties. The young people were mentored individually during May and June 2013 and were invited to take part in the research at the first group meeting in S
eptember 2013.
Action
A significant number of the students are referred to me because they have poor coping mechanisms and a limited or distorted view of emotional intelligence. Their model of the world may include the notions that ‘all the teachers hate me’, ‘I’m stupid’ and/or ‘everything always goes wrong for me’ . The Meta Model was great for challenging these negative beliefs in a gentle way and helping the young people to become aware of their own mental maps and where these maps were distorted. Practising using the Meta Model and becoming familiar with the use of the responses of ‘how?’/ ‘who says?/ ‘everyone?’ when challenging a negative belief produced very powerful results.
During NLP Module 2, I was fortunate in that I was used to demonstrate the Memory Peg system. As a result of this and the positive glow I felt when I remembered the 10 random objects ‘pegged’ onto my body, I decided that this might be useful for my young people.
The Memory Peg system was explained to the young people as a ‘Gift’ that they nurtured, developed and presented to themselves; a gift that they would have for the rest of their lives, a gift that they could carry with them and use again and again. The fantastic thing about this gift was the more they used this gift the better and more powerful it became.
The research started during the second week of September with a plan to have it finished by the Hallowe’en break at the end of October.
The children were interested in this ‘gift’ and agreed to take part in
the research.
Scheduled Timetable
week beginning
9th Sept - introduce research, ‘Memory Peg GIFT’
16th Sept - learn 10 pegs
23rd Sept - pin 10 pieces of information from agreed subject/s on to pegs
30th Sept - pin 10 more pieces of information from agreed subject/son to pegs
7th Oct - pin 10 more pieces of information from agreed subject/s on to pegs
14th Oct - pin 10 more pieces of information from agreed subject/son to pegs
21st Oct - record 40 pieces of information plus 10 pegs, giving a total of 50
The timetable did not go according to plan because individuals in the control group were not always available and with no uniformity of school holidays the young people did not get the opportunity to gather the 40 pieces of information. The young people I work with have a poor record of attendance and as a result were not always available to meet. The actual recording of the memory pegs was completed during the week beginning 11th November 2013 and the evaluations were recorded during week beginning 18th November 2013. This extension I felt was necessary as the exercise was designed to help each child realise what an amazing brain they had and to rush the ending and the gathering of the results would, I felt, have defeated this purpose.
Impact
The Memory Peg Gift generated a huge amount of interest with the mentees and this resulted in students asking to be included. One 12-year-old student who is outside the group remit asked to join the group, and while his scores are not included, he did learn the system. This student has difficulty sitting in class and tends to walk out of lessons after about 10 minutes, so you can imagine the effect he had on staff when he asked to stay in an English lesson because he didn’t have the 10 memory pegs to tell Marian!
The students whom I spent more time with and had built a relationship with prior to the test scored greater results. The research, which aimed to help the young people with issues of self-esteem and self-worth, has been successful. 90% of the control group gave very positive feedback and have successfully used the Memory Peg Gift for class tests and GCSE exams. One student out of 10 recorded that he did not like the Memory Peg Gift, but he has since informed me that he has used it to remember information for an exam.
The versatility of the Memory Peg Gift meant that it was easy to tailor it to meet the needs of individuals. Presupposing success in learning enhanced the delivery of the Memory Peg Gift research. Anchoring positive states in the mentees has become a very important element in my mentoring because the highest percentage of my work is one-toone, where students have a time set aside where they can talk to me without interruptions. NLP has given me the tools to have a greater understanding of what I am doing, learn new skills and hone the skills I already have.
selection of students’ evaluations :
‘I really enjoyed the Memory Peg Gift because it was a bit of achallenge but I feel it has benefited me quite a bit and will be a great learning tool coming up to revision time for my exams. The pictures chosen were very well selected and easy to pin things onto for subjects such as Religion and English. I found it a great success for myself. I don’t have a great memory but found it really easy memorising them due to the pictures chosen. I’ll definitely use this technique in the upcoming exams for GCSE I’ll have this year and next.’
‘I now know that I have a great memory. I am going to use this to study for my exams.’
‘I scored 40 out of 40 plus the 10 Memory Peg Gifts.’
‘I remembered the lists but I thought it was difficult to use.’
States for Learning Excellence, Observation and Leadership for undergraduates
Here is an abridged version of Nancy’s thorough research project.
Nancy Ault teaches in an Australian university
Research plan
Since 2003, students on the Developing Community Leadership course have been introduced to the idea that their beliefs about learning and about themselves as learners will impact on their behaviour and their learning outcomes. Thus, at the beginning of each intensive unit, students learn to create and anchor a state of learning excellence.
The aim of this research project was to enable students to make a connection between their personal state and their performance. In order to achieve, students needed to be able to:
Become aware of their personal internal states; that is, their own internal representations and the submodalities
Create a desired state
Anchor and fire this state
In addition, an exercise was required to allow the students to evaluate and measure their performance in different states. In this way, they would be able to test the relationship (or not) between their states and their performance. More specifically, the focus of the project was upon the relationship between the students’ states and their perception of their leadership capabilities.
Action
Elements of NLP
Building, anchoring and accessing a state were used in the project. Attention was paid to the language patterns used in guiding the students. For example, using Milton language, the students were asked to ‘imagine a time when everything flowed and learning was easily excellent’ . Artfully vague Milton language was used so that students could create their own states from their personal maps of the world. For students who might not be able to imagine such a time, they were also asked to imagine what this might be like or think of a person who they thought demonstrated this state of learning excellence. To help the students access this time and state, all the senses were used, ie., what did you… see/hear/sense/smell/and taste (different submodalities suggested for each representation). Once this state was created and easily accessed, the students were guided in anchoring the state on some accessible part of their bodies.
In addition to elements of NLP, a questionnaire on leadership motivation - the Leadership Motivation Assessment - was used as a measurement assessment. Three times during the intensive unit the students were asked to create particular states in which they answered the questionnaire. Two class tests were given during the period in which the States and Motivation for Leadership exercise was conducted. Responses to the overall exercise were collected in a Feedback and Recommendations questionnaire at the end of the intensive part of the unit.
To begin this project, it was necessary to establish a benchmark state and performance against which future states and performances could be measured. In the first workshop, after an exercise us
ed to introduce students to each other prior to establishing the benchmark, the students were taught to create a state of learning excellence, anchor this state and then access it. The purpose of the exercise in building and assessing states was explained to the students. The first state created was one where learning was easily excellent. The purpose of creating this state was to enable the students to be able to access a state of learning excellence throughout the intensive unit. In an outdoor area close to the classroom, the following steps were taken: First, the students were led through building a ‘Learning excellence state’ using a script such as the following:
building a state of learning excellence
In your imagination draw a circle on the grass in front of you... Now imagine a time with learning flowed easily... A time when learning was easy. Excellent easy... Like a sponge soaking up water... Sense this time… See how ever you see learning easily excellent
Notice the Images…
Close, far, still, moving, bright, dark, framed, an open vista, however you see learning easily...
Hear how you hear learning easily excellent
Notice the Sounds… Loud, soft, high, low, long, clipped, your own voice, another’s, however you hear learning easily...
Feel however you feel learning easily excellent Notice the sensations…
Strong, weak, hot, cold, moist, dry, heavy, light, however you feel learning easily...
Smell how ever you smell learning easily excellent
Smells… Sweet, pungent, flowery, earthy, bland, spicy, however you smell learning easily...
Taste how ever you taste learning easily excellent Tastes… Salty, bitter, smooth, sour, sweet, how ever you taste learning easily...Sensing inwardly outwardly learning easily
Excellent...
Easily...
Teaching Excellence Page 33