Teaching Excellence

by Richard Bandler

When you are ready, in your own time…

  Step into your circle. Enter into, associate with and re-live your experience...

  Learning… easily excellent... As your experience reaches its peak, step out of

  your circle, shaking off the experience of learning easily, leaving it in your

  Learning excellence circle.

  The second step was testing the state of excellence. When all the students had stepped out of their circles, they were asked to step back into the circle to test if they accessed the state. The students were given time to build and strengthen their circles. They were told that they could add resources to this state of learning excellence through remembering a time when they had the resource that they wanted to add (or alternatively, imagining the resource or remembering a person who had the resource) and using the same process, add the resource to their state of learning excellence. The third step in the initial exercise involved anchoring the state. The students were asked to select a point on their upper body which they could easily and unobtrusively touch, such as an ear lobe or a knuckle. They were asked to create their state of excellence and step into the state and allow it to intensify. When they sensed that the experience was just about to peak in intensity, they were asked step out of the circle and pick it up and place it on the point of their body they had chosen. They were led through this process several times and then they were asked to fire off the anchor by touching the point they had chosen to see if the state came back.

  building a state for an effective observer

  The class continued with another learning exercise related to their understanding of leadership and leaders. The students were guided, using Milton language, to imagine a time when they excelled at observing something. After this imaginative exercise, they were invited to share what they thought was important in an effective observer. This step was taken to widen the students’ perceptions of what might contribute to an effective observer state. While they were in this state, the students were asked to answer the questions on the Leadership Motivation Assessment.

  low performance state

  Midway through the unit, the States and Motivation for Leadership exercise was repeated. This time, however, the state created was one of low performance. The students were first led in an imaginative exercise of remembering a time when they had experienced a low or poor performance. This was followed by a general sharing of characteristics that might be found in such a state. Next the students were led through a process of building a poor performance state. This state was not reinforced as they sat down in order not to intentionally anchor the state to the chairs. Once the students accessed the poor performance state, they completed the Leadership Motivation Assessment a second time. Once the questionnaire was completed, the students were led through breaking the state, including tipping the chairs, grounding their experience and re-entering the class in a peak performance state.

  high performance state

  The third time the States and Motivation for Leadership exercise was used was towards the end of the unit. The same procedure to build a state was used except for one difference. During the intensive component of the unit, the students were given 2 class tests. Each test was comprised of video clips about which the students were asked questions which linked their observations to theory. Some modelling of showing a video clip and analysing it had occurred prior to the first quiz, so that the concept was not entirely new. The first test was given on a day when the States and Motivation for Leadership exercise was not done. Prior to the test, the students were not primed to get into a high performance state. The second class test occurred directly after the students were asked to create a state of high performance excellence. Instead of breaking the state, it was suggested that the students increase their high performance state for the test. The test followed a similar pattern to the earlier test with video clips and questions. After the test, the students were asked to break their state, go outside to the green, ground their experience and re-enter the class refreshed and ready to carry on with work.

  evaluation and feedback

  At the end of the unit, the States and Motivation for Leadership exercise was evaluated as part of a Feedback and Recommendations questionnaire given to the students in class prior to a general review of the unit. The questions asked were: • What did you observe from doing this exercise? • What are you taking away from this exercise? • On a scale of 1 to 7, where 1 is ‘Not Confident’, 4 is ‘Neutral’ and 7 is ‘Extremely Confident’, how confident are you in your ability to now change your state to suit the situation? • Would you recommend this exercise to future classes? This feedback was anonymous so that students had the freedom to provide negative feedback. For each student, the answers to the Leadership Motivation Assessment for the three states were recorded and analysed both individually and for the class as a whole.

  Impact

  In Figure 1: Average Class Motivation to Lead, all the answers for each student questionnaire were summed and an average calculated. As it can be seen, there was an overall decrease in the motivation to lead when the students answered the questions in a state of low performance. There was an increase in motivation to lead when the students answered the questionnaire in a state of high performance. Because the sample number was low (24), the results were not tested for significance. Therefore, the results only indicate a trend for this particular population of students.

  The observer state was used as a baseline benchmark against which the low and high performance states could be mapped. When the average answers to each question were graphed, the scores for a low motivation state were less than the average for the observer state (Figure 2: Breakdown by Question of the Average Class Motivation to Lead).

  The averages for the questions in the high performance state were higher than the observer state.

  Note from the authors:

  Nancy’s very thorough project runs to 40 pages, so only a sample is reproduced here. For a copy of the full report contact Meta on the details at the back of the book.

  The use of NLP in an Academic Coaching and Mentoring role

  This case study highlights how practising NLP is so valuable in gaining skills.

  Name withheld

  Project plan

  My intention was to study the use of NLP as an aid in my role as an academic mentor and coach to Sixth Form (age 16-18) students.

  The question was how NLP could be used to address issues that were hampering the students’ ability to reach their academic targets.

  Three students presented with academic issues where I felt NLP might be helpful. The plan of action was to address these issues purely with NLP, rather than the traditional system of coaching/mentoring, which I would previously have used.

  Student A presented with problems with underperforming in recent examinations. This was believed to be a hard-working student who it was felt may have been inefficient in his revision techniques.

  Student B presented with stress-related symptoms. Student B was again believed to be a hard-working student who was thought to be putting himself under undue academic pressure and thus causing physical symptoms.

  Student C presented with confidence issues in his academic work. This student was again believed to be an able and hard-working student who lacked confidence in his own abilities.

  Action

  student a :

  I used a deep learning strategy we had been taught on the NLP Practitioner course to teach the student a new method of revision. We used 10 words, turned them into visual images and anchored them to 10 different parts of the body. The student found that he could easily remember these terms and he was going to use this principle to anchor revision topics in different areas of his bedroom.

  I also used the TOTE model to investigate the student’s revision technique. I used elicitation questions to analyse the steps that he used in his revision for his summer examinations. We found that his revision technique consisted of first making revision notes and then making
mind maps based on these. He would then complete practice papers based on these topics.

  I was surprised that as we worked through these questions the student was automatically evaluating the effectiveness of his own system. He felt that he should have incorporated more breaks into his revision schedule, as his temptation had been to stick at a topic until he had finished it. He also felt that his revision would have been more productive if he had asked someone to test him at the end of each topic, as he had done in previous exam periods. He concluded that he had not always focused on areas of weakness in his practice papers and that in future he needed to make a list of questions or topics that had caused him difficulty. He also felt that he needed to ensure that he always followed up on asking for help on these topics as he had not always done this.

  Although I am writing this several weeks after this session took place, I can still remember the ‘road to Damascus’ moment that this student seemed to experience when I asked the elicitation questions. Looking back at our course manual now, I see that I should have been looking for visual cues in the student’s responses and I cannot remember doing this. However, he seemed to think that his responses were valuable and asked if I would write them up for him as he wanted to use them to prompt him in his revision for his next exam.

  Student B had been seeing a psychologist to treat his stress during the summer holidays and asked if there were any NLP techniques that might help him. I used a Swish pattern to replace his tense and anxious state with a more positive one. This seemed to work well and the student reported that he had been using this technique between sessions and felt that it had helped him.

  I have also used the Meta Model to drill down and find out what is causing his fear of failing. This has proved a challenge as I do not feel that I have yet got to the root of the problem. He has never failed any examinations before and questioning reveals that the pressure is self-imposed. The one positive outcome of the Meta Model is that we found an exception to the panic attacks this student experiences around exams. The exception proved to be when he used sport as an outlet for his stress. I suspect that the lack of progress in this particular area is due to my own lack of expertise. The limited experience I have had in using the Meta Model has made me realise that although I thought I was a good listener, I don’t really listen to what people are actually saying. Moreover, the process of listening intently while thinking about what they are saying, is very much a work in progress. At the moment I still often reflect after a session on what the student has said and then revisit that the next time I see them. I have also realised the value of ‘Columbo-style’ of questioning (like the detective from the 1970s TV series who would ‘innocently’ question suspects in a non-threatening way) as it is too easy for me to sound like an inquisitor.

  student b :

  The timeline technique proved to be particularly effective with Student B. This student had a major academic deadline 3 weeks away and he had a huge amount of work to complete in this time. I thought it was interesting that when asked where he saw this deadline on his timeline, he showed that it was right in front of his face. When I got him to map out his timeline for these 3 weeks and anchor deadlines, he said that he was surprised that the deadline was further away than he had thought. Breaking down the work into sections and anchoring these on his timeline seemed to be very effective in showing him that the deadline was achievable.

  This student plays sport at a very high level and has another source of anxiety in the shape of an on-going sports injury which he is afraid may prevent him from becoming a professional sportsman. This week I have begun using the Meta Model to try to help the student find his own solutions to the problem he is most fearful of.

  I feel that we have made some small progress here, as the student was able to identify that sports coaching may be an alternative option to playing sport professionally, and he is going to find out if he can work towards achieving some coaching qualifications through his sponsors whilst he is in rehabilitation with his injury. Coaching techniques also helped him find a possible solution to the problem of him not being able to attend swimming sessions which would have been an outlet for relieving some of his stress.

  student c :

  Student C is in an exceptionally vulnerable student experiencing a lack of confidence in his ability in one of his examination subjects. We found that this lack of confidence was affecting his lack of focus and approach to this subject. We have done some work on creating a positive and confident state which this student is going to use going into this lesson. Using the Meta Model, I was able to challenge his belief that the other students were cleverer than him. This technique seemed to be more successful than with Student B, as Student C commented that he realised that there was no foundation for his beliefs. I also used reframing to attempt to show that not understanding an explanation didn’t automatically mean that he was less able than the other students.

  Impact

  At the time of writing, we have only been back in school for a short time but already I feel that the techniques I have learned are beginning to make a difference. It is a daunting process and I have quickly realised that it will take considerable practice to become more proficient in the use of these techniques. The one-to-one sessions with students have required the application of these techniques in unfamiliar situations and each student has had different issues. However, it is an exciting and sometimes powerful feeling to have a toolkit which could possibly change students’ lives.

  This eBook is licensed to Dominic Luzi, dluzi@managementalchemy.com on 10/18/2018

  chapter 23

  Education Management

  Headteachers, middle managers and curriculum leaders can all contribute to the dissemination of NLP good practice in their schools. Here are some examples of managers who have taken up the gauntlet and spread the word.

  Using the Meta Model to challenge self-limiting

  beliefs in school

  Michelle explains how she is changing the attitudes and behaviour of all her staff to provide a consistent NLP-based approach in her school.

  Michelle Sheehy is the Headteacher at Millfield Primary School, Walsall, West Midlands

  Project plan The main reason I chose to do the NLP Practitioner training was to find a means of motivating the children in my school, promoting their self-worth and challenging their self-limiting beliefs. I am fortunate to have a committed and innovative staff open to new ideas. I knew that if I were to present an alternative means of addressing the difficulties we faced, they would immediately be on board.

  Since becoming Headteacher 4 years ago, the background of the children has always been a barrier that I am keen to remove. The school is on a white council estate with high unemployment. Education is not valued by many of the parents and aspirations are extremely low. Many of the children in school have parents who are addicted to drugs or alcohol. Just before I attended the first 4 days of my NLP Practitioner training, there was a lunchtime incident with one of these children, who we will call ‘Sam’. Sam has two younger brothers and two younger half-sisters. His mother’s partner, who is not his father, is an extremely aggressive and violent person. His mother is also violent. They are both addicts and both the younger boys have spent time sleeping in my office because their mother had been having a “rave” (their word) the previous night.

  Sam, being the eldest boy and seeing the vulnerable position his mother is in, is extremely protective towards her and, due to numerous referrals we have made to social services, is suspicious of authority and always guarded when speaking to adults. He is very intelligent and sensitive and likes to be the class clown. However, he has very low self-esteem and if another child appears to be more popular than him, or if he perceives others appearing to laugh at him or criticise him, he reacts aggressively. On this occasion he had lashed out at another child and shouted at the dinner ladies when they tried to sort out the situation. I brought him into my office and asked him why he had behaved in that way. He was cle
arly upset and told me that everybody hated him. In true headteacher fashion (although I am now ashamed to admit it) I told him he was being ridiculous and that nobody hated him. I then used our usual sanction – putting him on “amber” which meant he lost some privileges. I thought I had dealt with the problem.

  Action

  After the first 4 days NLP Practitioner training, when I was introduced to the Meta Model, I realised immediately that I had compounded his problems and had basically made him feel even more worthless than before. I therefore asked him to come back for a chat and I used the Meta Model questions to enable him to be more specific about his perceptions and to challenge his beliefs. This was extremely successful. I also used some NLP coaching techniques to enable him to come up with his own solution to his lunchtime behaviour. This involved removing himself from the situation and speaking to a designated member of staff.

  I therefore needed to ensure that the teaching staff were trained appropriately so that they would handle him and others in the same way. My ultimate aim is to have NLP techniques embedded in school so that they become second nature. My first staff training session was on the Meta Model. I began by explaining briefly what NLP was and discussing the assumptions underpinning it. We then discussed deletion, distortion and generalisation and immediately members of staff recognised these types of behaviour in the children they taught. We went through different types of questions they could choose to challenge these beliefs and the session was lively and very well-received. Each teacher left with the list of questions and agreed to try to use the Meta Model in their everyday management of learning and behaviour.

  Meanwhile, Sam was behaving very well at lunchtimes and encouraging his brothers to do the same. This had been the case from the beginning of June until the end of the school year and for the first weeks of the autumn term. I was therefore disappointed when the Head Lunchtime Supervisor brought him to me for “rudeness”. Apparently, Sam had sought her out and told her that one of her lunchtime supervisors had “anger problems”, that shouting and aggressive behaviour was inappropriate and would not solve anything. He suggested that she should spend some time talking to me! Although I then spent some time with Sam explaining why he should not talk to an adult in this way, I was secretly pleased about his new-found strategies for dealing with stress. When I related this anecdote to my Deputy, apart from finding it amusing, he felt that there was a lesson to be learned here and that there was no point in the teaching staff using some NLP methods effectively if their work was being undone at lunchtime. I then decided to do some training with teaching assistants and dinner ladies so that there was a consistency of approach.