Teaching Resourcefully - NLP in the classroom-

RTNews 117- Labels and teachers...

2011-05-18T18:43:00.001-07:00

RT® News

A magazine on Neuro Linguistic Programming in Education
No 117 May 15 2011

Hello teachers,

Welcome to our latest issue of RT News. We are just back from a few days in Ushuaia, Tierra Del Fuego, Argentina, where we were very proud to have been part of the 25th birthday celebrations of the IPI (Instituto Provincial de Idiomas). We gave three workshops in their
programme of teacher training, which was part of a week-long series of events and celebrations. It was a very rewarding experience to see how keen the teachers and teachers college students are in Ushuaia and Rio Grande and to have a chance to work with you all. Congratulations to everyone there for the excellent work and many, many thanks for the

impeccable hospitality. A special hug to Adriana, Nildy, Silvita, Martha, Susana and Ivanna for their attention and warm welcome.

Although we started our 2011 courses last month there is still time to join the groups. We are offering the NLP Practitioner course in English. Module 2 will be held next Saturday, May 21. The NLP course in Spanish will next meet in Saturday June 4. For details of the courses and how to enrol, please contact us at either lauraszmuch@gmail.com or jamiearg@gmail.com We are also starting the Master Practitioner in NLP for Education in June for those who have completed or nearly completed the Practitioner level training and would like to expand their skills and knowledge of NLP. It will be held in Spanish.

Hoping you all have a very enjoyable and enriching month,

Laura and Jamie

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

1. Labels, positive reinforcement and teachers

2. NLP Practitioner courses

3. Calendar of activities for 2011

4. Workshops and coaching

5. Subscribing/Unsubscribing to our e-zines in English and Spanish and an invitation to visit

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

1. Labels, positive reinforcement and teachers

There is a children’s saying that goes “Sticks and stones will break my bones but names will never hurt me”. This was taught by parents to children apparently in the hope of giving them a sort of protection against the taunts and cruel comments of bullies and other children. Some youngsters probably did benefit from repeating this phrase but others surely lacked the “teflon coating” or the “elephant hide” and were affected all the same. However much the jibe or criticism was flung in the heat of the moment and probably exaggerated for effect and however little it really applied to the receiver, chances are that that person did suffer something. After all, as we know in NLP, the words themselves are only a small part of the message and the tone and body language with which they are conveyed also contribute massively to the message. And still, there is no denying that words and the interpretation we put on them are also very potent.

Words and the thoughts themselves carry weight. They are not merely innocent combinations of letters and sounds and meaning. With words we not only describe but also create our world. Therefore, when someone is repeatedly told (or tells themselves) how beautiful they are, they will get to believe it. Someone who is labelled as useless will also be affected by this message and his or her behaviour will reflect this sooner or later. If I tell myself I am a loser, I attract “losses” and even if these would not be regarded by others as defeats or negative moments, I will probably find a way to interpret them as such or at least find the part in them that can be considered as “failure”. Obviously, there is a whole psychological history behind the way we choose to view ourselves and our performance in the world, which may benefit from reflection and internal work, if we find that we are not content with our lot in life.

Our role as teachers presents us with many situations in which we can reinforce the positive or negative images that a student has of him or herself. Indeed, it is arguable that as educators, one of our most important functions is to encourage our students to find the tools and beliefs with which they can learn and grow. It is a useful practice to find something positive in all of our students as learners and to promote and encourage this. But do we always do so? How frequently do we retire to the classroom after a challenging class and say things like: “Those slowcoaches in X grade never get a thing I teach!” or “What a knucklehead that Johnny is!” or a lot worse. Obviously, we would never dream of saying it to the students’ faces, but isn’t it true that we are probably thinking these things in our internal dialogue as we patiently work through the lesson with them. Our “hidden” thought is probably not so hidden after all and our intention and judgement will subconsciously find a way through. At a very deep level, the students in question will perceive that they lack our complete support.

Sometimes the message is not so hidden. There are people who use irony or other forms of humour to mask a criticism or a jibe and while everyone may be laughing, part of that person will have received the meaning of the subtext.

This is not to deny that some students have many more challenges to learn than others. Of course we will have groups that delight us with their ability to pick things up quickly and make fast improvement. But to be fair to all our students it is very functional to look for what we can praise in a student and reinforce what they show that helps them to learn. Focusing on the positive will also help us to feel less frustrated when progress seems slow and will allow us to notice the features of the learner that are overlooking.

How much nicer it is to be working with students who may seem like “diamonds in the rough” waiting to acquire their own polish and shine than “lead weights, empty vessels or a bunch of blobs”.

When our intention is to raise, encourage or elevate the other, consciously or unconsciously, the other will respond positively and in that way we all benefit.

© Resourceful Teaching 2011

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

2. NLP Practitioner courses

Practitioner Certificate in NLP for Education

The second module of the Practitioner Certificate course will be held on May 21. The course consists of 16 modules to be held on Saturdays on a monthly basis in 2010 and 2011. This first level of training involves between 130 and 150 hours of direct training in the form of practical activities and guided practice. It gives students acquaintance with the methodology and many of the techniques comprising NLP and leads to an internationally recognised certificate as Practitioner of NLP in Education.

The Practitioner certificate with Resourceful Teaching offers you the chance to get an NLP certification and practise your English at the same time!

For a course syllabus and further details see our website: www.resourcefulteaching.com.ar or send a mail to jamiearg@gmail.com or lauraszmuch@gmail.com

Venue: Versailles, Ciudad Autónoma de Buenos Aires

Time: One Saturday per month 9.00 – 17.00

Investment: 310 pesos per module

The course includes written material and a full bibliography and morning and afternoon refreshments. As much as we encourage reading, the real value of NLP is the putting it into practice and our students have constant opportunities to employ what they learn in their daily work and lives.

To enroll, please contact us for an enrolment form.

NB: This course is also being offered in Spanish (Módulo 2 – junio 4).

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

3. Calendar of Activities 2011

We are publishing below a list of the main events for Resourceful Teaching for the next few months. As each date gets closer we will give you more information and we will of course be updating the calendar with new dates as they arise.
May 21 2011 Practitioner Certificate in NLP applied to Education Module 2, Buenos Aires, Argentina

June 4 2011 Curso en PNL Módulo 2, Buenos Aires, Argentina

June 2011 Master Practitioner in NLP applied to Education starts, Buenos Aires, Argentina

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

4. Workshops and Coaching

If you would like a workshop or training in your city or town, please contact us soon as we have only a few dates available on weekends each year.

We can offer you workshops as listed in the website www.resourcefulteaching.com.ar or design something especially for your needs. In English and in Spanish. Please contact jamie@resourcefulteaching.com.ar or lauraszmuch@gmail.com if you are interested.

Laura is also available for Coaching. If you wish to advance in your career or personal life and wish to design a plan of action to do so, why not have a coaching conversation with her. Contact: lauraszmuch@gmail.com

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

5. Subscribing/Unsubscribing to our e-zines in English and Spanish and an invitation to visit

To subscribe simply send a mail to: rtnews@resourcefulteaching.com.ar with your name and city stating 'subscribe' in the subject box. To unsubscribe, follow the same procedure but write the word 'unsubscribe'. We only send this e-magazine to those who have expressed the desire to subscribe by the above means.

To subscribe to the Spanish sister e-zine, send a mail to Laura at en.contacto.pnl@gmail.com
NB En contacto has different articles from those which appear in RT News and they are about NLP and other associated areas.

Visit our blog teaching resourcefully – nlp in the classroom

http://teaching-resourcefully.blogspot.com/

NLP Practitioner Course, starting in April

2011-03-28T07:14:00.000-07:00

Learn skills and techniques to help you to …

… Be more effective in the classroom!

…Understand your learners more completely

… Set and achieve goals

… Better manage the constant changes school life brings us

… Communicate with others with elegance and effectiveness

… Discover more talents

… Live the life you want to lead

All this and very much more can be experienced on the

Practitioner Certificate in NLP for Education

Our next Practitioner Certificate course starts on April 16, 2011 and consists of 16 modules to be held on Saturdays on a monthly basis in 2011 and 2012. This first level of training involves between 130 and 150 hours of direct training in the form of practical activities and guided practice. It gives students acquaintance with the methodology and many of the techniques comprising NLP and leads to an internationally recognised certificate as Practitioner of NLP in Education.

The Practitioner certificate with Resourceful Teaching offers you the chance to get an NLP certification and practise your English at the same time!

For a course syllabus and further details see our website: www.resourcefulteaching.com.ar or send a mail to jamie@resourcefulteaching.com.ar or lauraszmuchcapacitaciones@gmail.com

Venue: Versailles, Ciudad Autónoma de Buenos Aires

Time: One Saturday per month 9.00 – 17.00

Start Date: Saturday April 16

The course includes written material and a full bibliography and morning and afternoon refreshments. As much as we encourage reading, the real value of NLP is the putting it into practice

RTNews 115

2011-03-10T17:33:00.000-08:00

RT® News

A magazine on Neuro Linguistic Programming in Education
No 115 March 10 2011

Hello teachers,

We trust the new academic year is going well with exciting new classes and good prospects for an enjoyable productive term.

As we always say, this is also the time to choose something to study ourselves during the year. As models for our students, one of the best ways of encouraging life-long learning is for us as teachers to be seen to be learning as well. As you no doubt notice from our comments here and online, we are no exception and both of us always take up new courses of study each year to widen our skills and knowledge.

We would like to offer our congratulations to the following students who recently successfully completed their evaluations for the Practitioner and Master Practitioner courses.
New Practitioners are: Mariana Ini, Romina Lipari and Maria Cecilia Carattoli
Master Practitioner: Irene Pataccini
Well done and a big hug to you all!

See you soon,
Laura and Jamie
________________________________________
1. The resources are within you
2. NLP Practitioner course starts April
3. Calendar of activities for 2011
4. Workshops and coaching
5. Subscribing/Unsubscribing to our e-zines in English and Spanish and an invitation to visit
________________________________________
1. The resources are within you

When we set up Resourceful Teaching in 1998, we chose the name to transmit the idea that teachers have a huge pool of resources to call on when teaching.

Some people might respond to this, “But I work in a poor school with few books and no access to technology!” Nonetheless, we would reply that they have an almost infinite supply of resources. Other teachers may make a mental inventory of the teaching tools their school can provide them: libraries, computers, CD and MP3 players, video and DVD players, video cameras, toys, cardboard, paper and art supplies, internet connections, teachers’ books, interactive whiteboards, spaces for special purposes, etc, etc. Just fitting the use of these into the class timetable must be a job in itself!

Our intention, when we set up RT (Resourceful Teaching) was not only to draw attention to the idea that we do have many physical resources at hand, but also and perhaps even more importantly, to focus on the INTERNAL RESOURCES that teachers and students bring into the classroom that can be harnessed for teaching and learning. Which means that whatever the state of our schools, wherever we give classes, obstacles can be overcome with our ability to use our minds to solve the problem and that the actual act of learning and teaching can be enhanced by knowing our brains and how to use them effectively. Some people have said that NLP, which forms the basis of our work at RT, is like incorporating an owner’s manual to the mind, with the proviso that each mind is unique and different. To learn about our mind and how to manage it better is a relatively simple process of observation, openness and the willingness to try new things that can produce enormous rewards in the very short term, both in our teaching and in our daily lives.

It can often happen that we have what seems to be a perfect lesson planned on paper but when we get into the classroom things do not follow that plan and the lesson does not live up to expectations. This is completely understandable because we are none of us robots with automatic responses. Each day, each of us in class are different people and the dynamic interaction of these “different” people means that no two lessons, no two days are going to be the same, despite any general similarity in behaviour patterns. And that is just talking about what we see on the surface. What about what is going on inside us? Each day I am different in terms of my feelings, the activity of my brain, the chemicals that flow through my bloodstream. One day I may be restless and find it hard to concentrate, another day excited and focused and a third day, tired and irritable.

So, as a teacher, what can we do with this? Well, if we know where to look, the information is all there. We can see very quickly, when students need a change of activity, when “the penny is dropping” and learning is taking place, when more help is needed, when it is enough on a given subject for today…. Strangely, we often ignore this and plough on with our plan, even though we have “lost” the class, because keeping to the timetable is more important or because we have not been consciously taught to give more importance to what is going on inside us or inside the students.

And knowing about the internal states is not just a question of honing our performance or being better able to detect changes in the students. It is also necessary to better understand the student of today – a person who is usually surrounded by electronic gadgets and stimuli, whose attention span is shorter than in the past, who responds quicker to visual input, whose mind is bombarded with information.

It is ironic that as we advance technologically as a society, and even in terms of knowing the electrical and chemical operations of the brain, we actually end up knowing less about ourselves than we think we do.

What do we really want? What do we think about a particular issue? Why do we sometimes seem to be contradictory? What do we believe in because we have never stopped to think about it and our opinion is in fact it is something someone else has said to us and not our own idea? Why do I feel what I feel and not what my mind tells me I should feel? Why do some things affect me more than others? Why do some things attract me more than others?

These questions are not meant for deep psychological analysis but rather are simple day-to-day questions to help us know ourselves better. There are neither right nor wrong answers. But by knowing myself more closely I can be aware of where I stand and what sort of message I am sending out to the world.

In our courses for the Practitioner certificate applied to Education, we study from a very practical standpoint: the power of non verbal language, the different ways we access and process the outside world, how we store and retrieve memories and learned and acquired information, what our verbal language is really saying, how we fix emotions to experience and to our memories, how to discover what we really want in life, myriad ways of solving conflicts that are both with others and within ourselves, ways to adopt new functional behaviour, and how to read all of this in others (to the extent that we can) and many more rich tools and skills.

If ever there was a “technology” that has the flexibility and applicability for the 21st century, it is NLP (Neuro Linguistic Programming). With it, we can act in any context and in any situation and be clearer about the behaviour and motivation of the other. NLP is based on the principle of “description” rather than “prescription”. There is no “correct form” to use, no dogma to follow, no theory to apply. We take each instance as unique, we develop our powers to observe, we act, we notice the reactions, we adjust our response and we refine our communication. From NLP we learn “HOW” to do things to get the results we desire. And we learn to value and respect ourselves and the other in each and every communication. We believe that these are the types of capabilities that will stand us in good stead in the classroom of today and tomorrow.

We would love you to join us on one of our trainings this year and discover ways to become even more centred and resourceful teachers.

© Resourceful Teaching 2011
________________________________________
2. NLP Practitioner course starts April

Practitioner Certificate in NLP for Education

Our next Practitioner Certificate course starts on April 16 and consists of 16 modules to be held on Saturdays on a monthly basis in 2010 and 2011. This first level of training involves between 130 and 150 hours of direct training in the form of practical activities and guided practice. It gives students acquaintance with the methodology and many of the techniques comprising NLP and leads to an internationally recognised certificate as Practitioner of NLP in Education.
The Practitioner certificate with Resourceful Teaching offers you the chance to get an NLP certification and practise your English at the same time!

For a course syllabus and further details see our website: www.resourcefulteaching.com.ar or send a mail to jamiearg@gmail.com or lauraszmuch@gmail.com

Venue: Versailles, Ciudad Autónoma de Buenos Aires
Time: One Saturday per month 9.00 – 17.00
Start Date: Saturday April 16
Investment: 310 pesos per module

The course includes written material and a full bibliography and morning and afternoon refreshments. As much as we encourage reading, the real value of NLP is the putting it into practice and our students have constant opportunities to employ what they learn in their daily work and lives.

To enroll, please contact us for an enrolment form. Your place is guaranteed upon payment of the first module.

Laura Szmuch and Jamie Duncan

NB: This course is also being offered in Spanish.

________________________________________
3. Calendar of Activities 2011

We are publishing below a list of the main events for Resourceful Teaching for the next few months. As each date gets closer we will give you more information and we will of course be updating the calendar with new dates as they arise.
April 16 2011 Practitioner Certificate in NLP applied to Education starts, Buenos Aires, Argentina
April 30 2011 Curso en PNL, Buenos Aires, Argentina
May 14 2011 Master Practitioner in NLP applied to Education starts, Buenos Aires, Argentina

________________________________________
4. Workshops and Coaching

If you would like a workshop or training in your city or town, please contact us soon as we have only a few dates available on weekends each year.
We can offer you workshops as listed in the website www.resourcefulteaching.com.ar or design something especially for your needs. In English and in Spanish. Please contact jamie@resourcefulteaching.com.ar or lauraszmuch@gmail.com if you are interested.

Laura is also available for Coaching. If you wish to advance in your career or personal life and wish to design a plan of action to do so, why not have a coaching conversation with her. Contact: lauraszmuch@gmail.com

________________________________________
5. Subscribing/Unsubscribing to our e-zines in English and Spanish and an invitation to visit

To subscribe simply send a mail to: rtnews@resourcefulteaching.com.ar with your name and city stating 'subscribe' in the subject box. To unsubscribe, follow the same procedure but write the word 'unsubscribe'. We only send this e-magazine to those who have expressed the desire to subscribe by the above means.

To subscribe to the Spanish sister e-zine, send a mail to Laura at en.contacto.pnl@gmail.com
NB En contacto has different articles from those which appear in RT News and they are about NLP and other associated areas.

Visit our blog teaching resourcefully – nlp in the classroom
http://teaching-resourcefully.blogspot.com/

RT® Resourceful Teaching is a registered trademark.

RTNews 114

2010-12-29T11:51:00.000-08:00

RT® News

A magazine on Neuro Linguistic Programming in Education
No 114 December 29 2010

Hello teachers,

2010 is now all but over and we look forward to the New Year. As we always say, the summer holidays are an important space for us teachers to recharge our batteries, relax and pamper ourselves. This is even more essential in these days of change when we need all our energy and skills to face the challenges of the classroom and enjoy the journeys of learning and discovery that our students and we ourselves are embarked on.

As a resolution for the New Year we want to project postive thoughts and outcomes. By being proactive in the way we view life and situations in our schools, homes and other places we inhabit, we can have a tremendous influence. Instead of buying someone else’s view of things, it is very functional to CHOOSE how we view each situation and to KNOW that this choice also extends to how we react to any given situation.

We will be considering various functional ways of interpreting our work and the way we interact with others during the next few months.

If you would like to JOIN us for our February trainings, be sure to check RT Week 2011 in part two below. We have some great new workshops, which will give you ideas and inspiration for the new academic year.

We would also like to THANK everyone who has given their support to us this year, whether it be by attending our courses, or participating in our online spaces such as our Facebook page, or in our blogs.

Finally we take this opportunity to wish you, our readers,

A VERY HAPPY, HEALTHY AND SUCCESSFUL

NEW YEAR!!!

Until next time,

Laura and Jamie

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

1. A Focus on Solutions

One of the first things we learn with NLP (Neuro Linguistic Programming) is that each of us perceives the world in different ways. A different way or different ways? Different ways. Each of us has more than one way to perceive the world. An obvious example is when we view the world as a parent, a teacher or as someone’s child. We can take these three positions at the same time but each one is subtly different and will influence what we notice and give importance to.

In NLP talk, these are called “Frames”. It is as if we change the picture when we put a different frame around the basic painting. These frames mean that certain things get more emphasis, some features are given a special highlight and other things fall outside the frame. You already know that we use our sensory channels to give and receive information in the world. Some people use their visual channel most, other prefer their auditory channel and others their kinaesthetic channel. This is an example of a frame. If I am very visual I tend to give priority to what I see whereas what people say or what I feel may get less attention.

Other examples of the same sort of limit we put on our processing of the world include: our use of mainly positive or negative language (imperatives, affirmatives, positive modals vs don’t, can’t, mustn’t, negative terms), the types of values and beliefs we follow in life (eg, abundance vs. scarcity), the metaphors we use (life is a struggle vs. life is a fairground), the stories we have constructed about the world and the role we play in them.

Becoming aware of the frames that we or others use is just the same as noticing the news about our favourite film star, or in the case of language teachers, always perceiving the grammar mistake. It is something that we have programmed ourselves to become aware of. Before we were teachers or before our star became famous we never thought about these issues but as our interest grew our brain began to act like a sensor and started to “flash or beep” each time it came across something related to them.

Once we start to identify the frames others use we can acknowledge them and thereby start to enter into rapport with that person and to understand what is happening to him or her. We can also identify our own favourite frames, keep those that are useful to us and change those that no longer serve us. And we can help others to notice that there we can always choose different options in the way we view the world.

A useful practice is to notice what sort of frames work for other people in different contexts and if we like them, we can borrow them. In some societies, a focus on solutions takes a higher priority than in others and it is this approach that we would like to comment on today. A focus on solutions means that whenever we are confronted by a problem or something that does not entirely work or fit, we automatically programme ourselves to find a solution so that both we and others can resolve the problem happily and to our mutual satisfaction wherever possible.

A solutions focus means that we are proactive and rather than waiting for someone to come along and find an answer, we start to work out that answer for ourselves.

When we think about applying a solutions frame to our work in education, this has several implications. It means that we orientate ourselves to finding what will serve or work to overcome a problem. It does not mean that we focus on what doesn’t work but rather try to use models of what does work and apply them to our new situation. If our students are restless and need a stretch, why not give them some Brain Gym or a stretching session or a run outside even if it is not traditionally accepted in the school. If it helps them to concentrate and learn, then surely that is what teaching is about? Many people become stuck in a sort of blame game or a finding fault cycle when things go wrong and they heap example of failure upon example of failure, shortcoming upon shortcoming and reason upon reason. This is all very well as perhaps the problem does have causes that do not originate with us. But the point is that while we sit and gripe the problem remains…. unsolved.

Often times we wait for the authorities, for the famous “they” to come to the rescue and solve the mess “they’ve got us in”. And sometimes we end up waiting a long time. It is far more rewarding to say, “This is the way things are, this is what we want …let’s find a way of bridging that gap”. We often see that teachers in poor schools or rural schools are tremendously resourceful in finding ways to give their students the best lessons possible even though they have very few tools and elements at their disposal. They are almost obliged to work with a solutions frame. If there is no power, how can we do an activity that requires light or electricity? If we have no books or paper, what can we use instead? In more established schools that sort of flexibility may not exist as we take for granted so much more. By training ourselves to find solutions, we start to think outside the box and enhance our creativity leading to answers that perhaps nobody considered or imagined. (This topic features in the last of the RT Week workshops “Outside the Box” on Thursday 10 February at 14.00 in which we look at applying this to the classroom). Developing this skill also means we get to become a good model for our students who learn that they too can solve problems effectively.

A solutions focus is more than just having a plan B or being good at improvising.

It involves:

a) Knowing where we are at the present

b) Knowing where we want to go or what we want to achieve

c) Ascertaining what tools and resources we have to help us

d) Being open and creative so as to generate a variety of feasible alternatives

e) Letting our creative mind flow uninterrupted

f) Knowing who will be affected by our actions

g) Keeping in mind the greater good

h) Making sure that everyone wins and that nobody loses

i) Being able to work out how to put our dream ideas into practice

j) Doing it

k) Being able to assess how our solution worked

l) Trustiing ourselves, others and the universe!

Most of this is a question of practice and being prepared to have a try and see how things work out. Nothing ventured, nothing gained.

With the comments on many aspects of education becoming increasingly frustrated and pessimistic these days, surely it is time to apply a solutions focus even more to help make the transition from a conventional means of educating students to one that really serves each and every one of them.

© Resourceful Teaching 2010
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

4. Calendar of Activities 2011
We are publishing below a list of the main events for Resourceful Teaching for the next few months. As each date gets closer we will give you more information and we will of course be updating the calendar with new dates as they arise.
Feb 7-10 2011 RT Week 2011, Buenos Aires, Argentina

Feb 7-12 2011 Curso en PNL, Buenos Aires, Argentina

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

5. Workshops and Coaching

If you would like a workshop or training in your city or town, please contact us soon as we have only a few dates available on weekends each year.

We can offer you workshops as listed in the website www.resourcefulteaching.com.ar or design something especially for your needs. In English and in Spanish. Please contact jamie@resourcefulteaching.com.ar or lauraszmuch@gmail.com if you are interested.

Laura is also available for Coaching. If you wish to advance in your career or personal life and wish to design a plan of action to do so, why not have a coaching conversation with her. Contact: lauraszmuch@gmail.com

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

6. Subscribing/Unsubscribing to our e-zines in English and Spanish and an invitation to visit

To subscribe simply send a mail to: rtnews@resourcefulteaching.com.ar with your name and city stating 'subscribe' in the subject box. To unsubscribe, follow the same procedure but write the word 'unsubscribe'. We only send this e-magazine to those who have expressed the desire to subscribe by the above means.

To subscribe to the Spanish sister e-zine, leave your details on www.encontactopnl.ning.com
NB En contacto has different articles from those which appear in RT News and they are about NLP and other associated areas.

Visit our blog teaching resourcefully – nlp in the classroom

http://teaching-resourcefully.blogspot.com/

RT® Resourceful Teaching is a registered trademark.

Resourceful Teaching Week 2011

2010-11-15T04:37:00.000-08:00

RT WEEK 2011
February 07 – 10

Resourceful Teaching workshops for teachers
Pioneers in training with NLP in Education
For those who want much more than new teaching techniques...

Giving you ideas and a space to reflect, develop, grow and thrive in the classroom!

Workshop programme

Workshop details

Monday 8 Feb am Teaching the students of today
The profile of students today, particularly teenagers and children has changed considerably from those of a few years back. What are their common characteristics and how do these affect their learning? What do we teachers need to bear in mind to help facilitate successful study
Monday 8 Feb pm Memory and learning
Learning depends mostly on a well trained memory.
How do you help your students encode, store, and later retrieve what you have taught them?
Drawing from the latest investigations in the fields of Neuroscience and Cognitive Psychology, in this workshop we will work with some very effective techniques to enhance your students’ learning processes.

Tuesday 9 Feb am Learning English with GANAS
NLP techniques to help your students come to class with GANAS, learn English, and enjoy the process.
In this workshop we will address some of the biggest challenges teachers face on a daily basis: how to reach all students, respect their learning styles, make learning memorable and set stimulating goals. There will be some theoretical input plus activities and reflection.

Tuesday 9 Feb pm Irony or Coincidence?
In this session we will explore the fascinating world of synonyms, words that look alike or words that are often confused. Discover the subtleties of meaning and usage in these vocabulary items.

Wednesday 10 Feb am A Passionfruit Smoothie
This practical workshop blends a variety of language activities and exercises with students’ own interests and passions to create new ways of learning and practising language. Fun and ideas for students to express their individuality and yet still be part of the group.

Wednesday 10 Feb pm Creative Writing for YOU
Is your own writing limited to the marking of students’ compositions?
Or maybe the projects for your academic training?
When was the last time you really enjoyed writing creatively for yourself, in English?
In this workshop you will have the chance to flow as a writer and you will learn wonderful techniques to help your students in their own creative writing.

Thursday 11 Feb am Is it all about LOVE after all?? Or isn’t it?
Why are you a teacher? What made you choose to pursue this profession? What makes you stay? Where do you derive satisfaction from? What are your rewards?
These questions and many more will be a part of this reflection session, in which we will try to determine how your motivation to teach can be developed, nurtured and, above all, cherished and treasured.
Thursday 11 Feb pm Outside the box!
How can we help stimulate students to reflect and develop their imagination? To stretch their thinking?
In this session, we take different activities, texts and tools to practise cognitive skills and develop the student’s potential for creativity and insight.

Each workshop lasts three hours. AM: 9.00 - 12.00 PM: 14.00 - 17.00.
Venue: Gallardo 719, Versailles, Capital Federal.

Please enrol by by e-mail: rtcourses@resourcefulteaching.com.ar
jamiearg@gmail.com or lauraszmuch@gmail.com
or by phoning (005411) 4641-9068

There are limited vacancies per workshop. Enrolment is only guaranteed by payment of fee.

Special Discounts:
Five people enrolling together are eligible for a discount of 10% on the whole week
Students currently enrolled in Teacher Training College $30 per workshop

Note: Fees are not refundable but can be transferred to another course or to another student where applicable.

RTNews 112

2010-06-21T18:32:00.000-07:00

RT® News

A magazine on Neuro Linguistic Programming in Education
No 112 June 20 2010

Hello teachers,

We hope that you are enjoying the World Cup in whatever place you are reading this. Such a global event is inescapable as even if we are not great soccer fans, we surely have some students who are and bring the topic into our classrooms. It is also a great opportunity to learn and teach something about the different countries participating and the host country, in particular. So often Africa with all the nations there that have English as an official language is forgotten when it comes to our general knowledge and all-round education.

In this month’s number, we continue with the theme of changes in the education system looking at the question of grades, marks and, to a lesser extent, exams. The prevailing education systems seem to revolve around marks and this can prove to be both productive and counter-productive in the process of learning. At times, the importance of grades can almost seem overwhelming and keeping a perspective on the issue can be a challenge.

The last chance to join our Practitioner’s Certificate course in English for this year iis this month. Our next meeting is on Saturday 26 June. Details below.

All the best for the month,

Laura and Jamie

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

1. The tyranny of marks?
2. Practitioner Course 2010

3. Calendar of activities for 2010

4. Workshops and coaching

5. Subscribing/Unsubscribing to our e-zines in English and Spanish and an invitation to visit

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

1. The tyranny of marks?

It’s that time again where I (Jamie) teach. The first term marks are due to come out and most teachers have been dedicating at least one long Sunday afternoon, calculator in hand, to the deadly serious job of working out averages and totalling scores. You can guarantee that any slip in the adding up and the borderliners, the failures and any other student keen on statistics will hunt it out in their determination to raise their grade even if it is just .5 %

With the marks out of the way, then it is time for the teacher to decide what comments to write. “Good work” or “Could do better” are not enough these days. One has to be comprehensively detailed and all within a Twitter-like 140 character limit! So, we squeeze in something nice, a plain truth, something to work at and a comment on the ability to mix with peers and hope it all hangs together in an intelligible way. In the end, despite our efforts we know that we could put anything as what really matters, what is brandished and argued over by students and parents alike – is the mark.

The energy and effort that goes into this whole marks business! Students start restlessly lobbying for their grades weeks ahead and repeat like broken records, “Have you worked out the marks yet, teacher?” Those expecting bad news try anything from doing completely unsolicited and irrelevant homework to bringing in a cake for the teacher or launching their charms of seduction on you. “But I’m always in a good mood in your class!” “If I promise to smile at you in English, will you raise my mark?”

Language and humanities teachers have an especially hard time. Maths and science teachers can usually reach a numerical total easily enough from correctly performed calculations or the inclusion or not of key information and this can be easily justified. Things are either right or wrong. But in the other subjects, so much is a matter of interpretation and how you choose to answer and there may well be no one right answer. Creating a good impression and backing up your answer with appropriate content and language is often the criteria for a top mark but getting everything possible to receive that top mark can be a challenge even for good students. This gives the grades an added air of subjectivity which doesn’t always lend itself to easy explanations to parents or students.

On the day marks are given out, stealthily hidden mobile phones are activated and grades are texted home in seconds. Within minutes, parents have clogged the school switchboard or beaten a path to the principal's office demanding to know why Juancito only got a 4 in Physical Education if he can breathe and stand up. No wonder the principal chose today to be away at a conference or insisted on previewing all the marks beforehand and on teachers raising the marks of those students whose parents came into the 'hard to handle' category!

All this energy and effort! Wouldn't it just be easier to channel it into schoolwork? It is tempting to say that students and parents alike are missing the point. They may nod in agreement when you say that the child's learning and overall progress in the process of acquiring the skill or knowledge is important or when you state that all a mark proves is that a student could satisfactorily perform the task required by a particular exam. But the marks given for a pass or fail in the subject seem to count for everything. We can spend months avoiding grades as much as possible, focusing our assessment on effort and participation, spotlighting the different intelligences students bring to a task and insisting to anyone who will listen that each individual's learning will go at a different pace. But sometimes the system in which we work gives relatively little weight to such matters to processes of internal assessment and to tools like portfolios to measure performance. How frustrating it can be in those cases when the term’s work all gets back to the one or two marks!

But maybe it is we educationalists who are missing the point. If all the energy is being put into lobbying for better grades it must be for a good reason.

Despite what we think as teachers in day to day contact with our students’ learning, we are just one source of opinion out there. Much of modern western society today seems to have an ambivalent attitude to formal education. While it is still regarded as essential for the transmission of knowledge and the educating of future citizens, it is also seen as a means to an end. That end is the piece of paper that acts as a calling card into the employment market. In short, the most valuable thing from education can turn out to be the certificate or exam result at the end and not all the other elements of learning that take place while we are at school. Consequently, for some students the years spent at school (particularly the last ones in secondary) may seem more like a nuisance which has to be borne in order to get the reward for lasting it out. The quicker and more easily it can be done the better. Armed with their school leaving certificate, first degree or whatever, students go out into the "real world", where important things happen like getting a pay packet and maybe a name in an influential field of work.

Of course this simplistic viewpoint does not represent that of many but it does seem to reflect the essence of motivation for a significant number. The measuring stick they use is the exam certificate or the grade. This is understandable when we see the same mechanism in action in much of the television we have these days. There is a plethora of shows judging people's talents at dancing, singing, cooking, designing etc, in a numerical way where often it is not who you are or how good you are at the talent but how well you play the game and accumulate points (or phone votes) that determines your survival. If you want to migrate to another country you frequently have to gather together 'points' which correspond to age, qualifications, language ability and various other features that in the past would never have been converted into a number. So, it is understandable that the game of life can seem to some like a question of chasing marks. In all this, the experience of learning, the intricacies and subtleties of the process and the creativity can get lost. After all, it's the winning that counts, not the taking part. Or as my dog might say, it is getting the bone that counts not how you contrive to get it.

This view may seem cynical and disappointing to us that believe that education is very much more than a piece of paper and who want to help our students develop their full potential as human beings. Fortunately, there are many people clamouring for other viewpoints these days and for a change in the way the functions of education are regarded. One of these is Sir Ken Robinson, an expert in creativity and education, whose very entertaining lectures in the TED series are highly recommended as giving food for thought as to where education should go now. http://www.ted.com/talks/sir_ken_robinson_bring_on_the_revolution.html His belief is that today's schools have failed many students by precisely not providing them with tools for life, nor for developing their individual potential. This attitude presupposes that this is what education and schooling are all about, whereas there are other veins of thought which suggest that schools are more like babysitting establishments which teach students enough of the basics to get by but not too much so as to threaten the status quo. And, of course, to keep young people off the streets.

Then there are others who assert that students want to learn and grow but that the methods used and information involved in present-day schools are largely out-of-date.

Many societies seem to be lacking any sort of far-reaching debate on education and what its purposes are. As a result, we have the frequent comments that the education system is stuck in the past, in a state of crisis or whatever other negative description you care to find. It doesn’t seem to be giving societies what they want. Or is it that as a society, we haven't actually stopped to ask ourselves what we really want. So, if we don't know what we want, then people tend to stick with the traditional marks and exams that have served us so well for so long. The conveyor-belt education system of the last 200 years modeled on the factory assembly line has been very easy to set up and maintain and let's face it, it has managed to get most societies from a stage where much of the population was illiterate to one in which literacy and numeracy skills are taught to everyone (or almost everyone).

Changing to a much more individual - based system where the holistic development of a person has the space and time to grow and ‘be nurtured’ implies more resources, lower teacher-student ratios and a much less predictable means of judging progress. Some students may learn what they study in a twelve year schooling cycle in two years and others may take twenty-four years or never learn it. Is that all right? Would this be acceptable in a future society to have these personalised and wildly varied learning programmes?

Before we even get to answer that question though it might be useful to ponder on what we want adults in the future to know and be able to do. Such conjecture is going to be approximate as we don't even know what society will be like in 30, 50 or 100 years time. But that shouldn't stop us from trying to do the task. Part of our skills for the future will be innovative and involve creative thinking just as Ken Robinson advocates. We also have to be prepared for a world in which the old professional categories may well mutate into different fusions. A doctor, lawyer or engineer may well become that and something else at the same time. Other careers will emerge or disappear and it would seem to be true that this uncertainty and flexibility contrast with much of the hard-set nature of our schooling. This is not to say that we no longer need to teach basic skills, but simply that our purposes for doing so are changing.

Perhaps, the tyranny of marks is slowly coming to an end. Almost certainly many people will want to keep a firm grasp on an education system based on traditional methods of testing and examination but it may prove harder and harder to sustain that support when we realise that our students need something more than the paper to thrive beyond school. What can we do as teachers inside a system in which marks still prevail in importance?

We can make sure that we establish an individual relationship with each student, that they are not merely a number to us, that we notice and comment on details of their progress and that we encourage their awareness of their own learning and development. We can highlight for them all the different skills that are useful in operating successfully in life and not just those pertaining to academic prowess. Although we may be obliged and indeed wish to continue giving students marks it is worth we can also consistently give them or at least comments and feedback for skills not so commonly rewarded like creativity, imagination, sensitivity, ingenuity. Above all, we can be models for the fact that while grades or marks are important, there is so much else to value people for and so much else to learn that cannot be summed up neatly in a number and so be it!

© Resourceful Teaching 2010

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

2. Practitioner Course 2010

The third module of our new Practitioner certificate course will be held on Saturday June 26. The course runs this year and next and involves between 130 and 150 hours of direct training in the form of practical activities and guided practice spread over 16 modules. It gives students acquaintance with the methodology and many of the techniques comprising NLP and leads to an internationally recognised certificate as Practitioner of NLP in Education.

It is still possible to join the course in this module and we have a couple of places available.

For a course syllabus and further details see our website: www.resourcefulteaching.com.ar or send a mail to jamie@resourcefulteaching.com.ar or lauraszmuch@gmail.com

Venue: Versailles, Ciudad Autónoma de Buenos Aires

Time: One Saturday per month 9.00 – 17.00

Next Module: Saturday June 26

Investment: 260 pesos per module

The course includes written material and a full bibliography and morning and afternoon refreshments. As much as we encourage reading, the real value of NLP is the putting it into practice and our students have constant opportunities to employ what they learn in their daily work and lives.

To enroll, please contact us for an enrolment form. Your place is guaranteed upon payment of the first module.

The Practitioner certificate with Resourceful Teaching offers you the chance to get an NLP certification and practise your English at the same time!

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

3. Calendar of Activities 2010

We are publishing below a list of the main events for Resourceful Teaching for the next few months. As each date gets closer we will give you more information and we will of course be updating the calendar with new dates as they arise.
June 26 2010 Third module Practitioner course in English

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

4. Workshops and Coaching

If you would like a workshop or training in your city or town, please contact us soon as we have only a few dates available on weekends each year.

We can offer you workshops as listed in the website www.resourcefulteaching.com.ar or design something especially for your needs. In English and in Spanish. Please contact jamie@resourcefulteaching.com.ar or lauraszmuch@gmail.com if you are interested.

Laura is also available for Coaching. If you wish to advance in your career or personal life and wish to design a plan of action to do so, why not have a coaching conversation with her. Contact: lauraszmuch@gmail.com

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

5. Subscribing/Unsubscribing to our e-zines in English and Spanish and an invitation to visit

To subscribe simply send a mail to: rtnews@resourcefulteaching.com.ar with your name and city stating 'subscribe' in the subject box. To unsubscribe, follow the same procedure but write the word 'unsubscribe'. We only send this e-magazine to those who have expressed the desire to subscribe by the above means.

To subscribe to the Spanish sister e-zine, send a mail to Laura at en.contacto.pnl@gmail.com
NB En contacto has different articles from those which appear in RT News and they are about NLP and other associated areas.

Visit our blog teaching resourcefully – nlp in the classroom

http://teaching-resourcefully.blogspot.com/

RT® Resourceful Teaching is a registered trademark.

RTNews 111

2010-05-10T09:08:00.001-07:00

RT® News

A magazine on Neuro Linguistic Programming in Education

No 111 May 10 2010

Hello Everyone,

There seems to be a great deal of discussion and research around at the moment on the topic of making changes to education. Maybe this has always been the case, but it seems that many people are seeking solutions to the problems and challenges that educating in today’s schools are bringing. A recent visitor to Buenos Aires was distinguished Chilean doctor and researcher Claudio Naranjo, who gave a free lecture at the University of Buenos Aires. He has focused his efforts in recent years on Education with the aim of finding ways to help it to serve the needs of human beings more than it currently does. The subject of his very interesting talk was the benefits of meditation in Education.

We remind you that there is still time to join our Practitioner Certificate course in English. See information at point 3. below.

Have a great week,

Laura and Jamie

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

1. It’s my party and I’ll cry if I want to! Influencing change.

2. Dr Claudio Naranjo

3. Practitioner Course 2010

4. Calendar of activities for 2010

5. Workshops and coaching

6. Subscribing/Unsubscribing to our e-zines in English and Spanish and an invitation to visit

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

1. It’s my party and I’ll cry if I want to! Influencing change.

In the 1960’s, a singer called Lesley Gore had a pop hit about how she felt when she saw her boyfriend coming into her party on the arm of another girl. It was her party and she’d cry if she wanted to. No amount of persuasion form her girlfriends would convince her otherwise.

And so it is with the world. As much as we might insist that someone ‘cheers up’, ‘looks on the bright side’, ‘makes an effort’, or ‘forgives and forgets’, if that person does not wish to do so, we can try until we are blue in the face but they probably won’t budge. Even if they do yield to our pressure, the smile they put on or the sorry they say is likely to be merely a token. And this is a perfectly valid choice. Likewise, if someone doesn’t want to resolve a conflict they won’t. (And that is a subject for a whole discussion in itself!)

In NLP, we have the presupposition that ‘Each person is unique’ and with this goes the freedom to choose uniquely, to act or not to act, to follow someone’s advice or to do the opposite. So, if Lesley wants to cry, let her cry. If she wants to ignore her boyfriend, she can. If she wants to slap his face she can do that too. If we try to oblige her to do what we think she should do, we may well find her meeting this with resistance and any effort by us to change her mind may be wasted energy.

And yet, this is a drama that is constantly played out every day all over the world. Trying to make others do what we want them to. Either we achieve our desire or the others dig their heels in and refuse to accede to our demand. In both cases resentment often builds up. This is the consequence of our use or abuse of power.

As NLP writer and trainer Michael Grinder has taught us over the last twenty years, we have another option if we really want to see people change their behaviour. We can use ‘influence’. To distinguish influence from power it is important to see it as coming from another angle and with another purpose. Influence is not obligation but rather showing that alternative behaviours are possible. The integrity of the person influencing is shown in the fact that she represents or models the desirable behaviour but does not oblige the other to adopt the same behaviour. Simply by acting the way she does, the other starts to realize the merit in the action. For example, someone who is speaking very loudly and aggressively can be influenced into a change of delivery by being in a place where people speak to him in quite, soothing and measured terms. It is a means of communication that they can see as being effective, at least in that context. Sometimes, this can be a revelation to someone who lives in a context where shouting and aggression are the currency of human communication. It is always useful to remind people that there are other ways of doing things.

Influence rather than power respects the other by offering choice, not by imposing. To seek to Influence implies modelling useful actions and then letting these actions speak for themselves. We say ‘imitation’ is the sincerest form of flattery’ and in this case it can be true. Influence, when it is used ethically, allows people the space to be themselves. It may not always solve the immediate problem and sometimes we need to employ other tools and set certain limits, but it is an elegant and desirable way to encouraging changes in the behaviour of others. Grinder reminds us that influence is a choice of management and that it is not the same as being accommodating, hoping the students will follow our lead and then eventually exploding because they fail to pick up the hint! On the other hand, an inappropriate or overuse of power can have unsatisfactory effects as well and many of us can testify to examples where the old style of ruling a classroom by means of power no longer has the same useful results.

Further reading: Grinder, Michael, A Healthy Classroom, Michael Grinder, 2000

Website link: http://www.michaelgrinder.com/

© Resourceful Teaching 2010

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

2. Dr Claudio Naranjo

Background Claudio Narano is a Chilean who started his professional life as a doctor, specialising in medical anthropology and psychology. His interest in the whole person soon led him to the United States to Harvard and to Berkeley Universities and what has been a lifetime exploring different ways to help his fellow human beings. He became a close friend of Carlos Castaneda and one of the three successors of Fritz Perls in the field of Gestalt Therapy. He has been instrumental in introducing many different schools of learning and healing from the East into the US via his non-profit institute SAT. Among these are the Enneagram which he studied with spiritual teacher Oscar Ichazo. The Enneagram, which is a model of personality types, is derived from ancient Sufi wisdom.

Since the 1980’s, he has been involved in different projects emanating from his SAT institute. One of these is SAT in Education which now operates in several countries and aims at bringing about a change in education. The SAT programmes are based on Gestalt therapy, the Enneagram, meditation and music and have now been accredited as a means of teacher training in Catalonia and in Italy.

Dr Naranjo visited Buenos Aires in April to give a talk entitled “Meditation and its influence in the field of science and education”. The two-hour seminar was a chance to be in the presence of a wise and learned teacher who admits that his interest in education came later in life but that now he is convinced that unless we make changes in the way we educate young people, our global society is going to continue in its current unhealthy and aggressive state. During his talk, Dr Naranjo referred to a wide variety of issues affecting modern life linking them in different ways with tremendous erudition and insight.

Summary of talk

Dr Naranjo began by painting a fairly grim picture of the state of education in the world today saying that most education systems were only useful for passing exams and for learning how to sell oneself in the job market, etc. This had created a world where the ‘survival of the fittest’ ruled supreme. What we needed was a more benevolent and wise society where there was room for love, solidarity and compassion. This would allow us to recognise our natural or animal side and help us to integrate this back into who we are. He feels that the skills of integration, synthesis and harmony are lacking in today’s society and preventing us from being more complete individuals.

Naranjo went on to say that meditation could be the element that education needs to help people connect with their spiritual side. As meditation does not imply the favouring of any one religion, it could therefore be introduced into different systems and not be seen as contradictory to prevailing religious teaching.

The benefits of meditation

a) tranquility – the ability to stop and be at peace.

It is much in need in the Western world today which has becoming a place where we feel to feel alive corresponds to a sense of feeling ‘agitated’. We forget to simply ‘be present’. This is a precondition to communicating with ourselves and discovering the answers to the question, “Who am I?” If we cannot be in touch with ourselves how can we establish a connection with another?

b) letting the mind flow – accepting life as it comes without wanting to control everything.

The quality of letting life flow through us is something we have as children but lose as adults. With it often goes the capacity for instant happiness, something especially lacking in the objectives of education. Modern technology is also distancing us from natural pleasures and affection. Naranjo suggests that we should take a leaf out of Dionysus’s book and give into spontaneity and joy in nature. One reason for this is our general need to develop our intuition and ability to follow hunches which it is often the deciding factor in achieving success.

c) attention – to the here and now, to the outer and inner.

On this point, Naranjo emphasized our lack of attention to what is going on inside us and what we really feel. As a result of these repressed feelings, there is much need for psychotherapy in the world. The repression of feelings has led to more criminal activity and phenomena like pornography. Our tendency is also not to stop and think about our feelings now but to fill the present with the past and the future. Being able to focus one’s attention inside is a fundamental part of the journey to self-knowledge.

d) contact with the divine – to what we value

Meditation is a means of having contact to what is sacred for us, to what is holy, to our creative imagination and to a greater force. Primitive societies understand the need to recognize this but again our secular societies have tended to repress this or channel it through religious codes. So how can we get in touch with our metaphysical and evolutionary self? Naranjo suggests it may be through music, which is intimately devotional. Great music is useful to get to the love of ‘God’, to access higher emotions and to reach a more transcendental emotional level than we do on a day-to-day basis. In the talk Naranjo played some intense Oriental devotional music and invited us to empathise and connect with it.

e) detachment - an element of wisdom

For him, wisdom is being able to see life from a certain distance, which is what meditation promotes. It helps us to develop an attitude of ‘nothing in excess’.

f) love – the attitude we most need

Dr Naranjo concluded his talk by discussing what science had to learn from meditation. He said that he felt that science had not made us any happier and that in many cases we had simply replaced the dogma of religion with the dogma of science, however useful science had been for mankind. What we needed now was to explore the intuition and the non-rational side of our lives, the side that corresponded to the subconscious and thereby we could reclaim words like love and spirit into our existence and start moving towards a happier, more generous and better world.

© Resourceful Teaching 2010

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

3. Practitioner Course 2010

The second module of our new Practitioner certificate course will be held on Saturday May 22. The course runs this year and next and involves between 130 and 150 hours of direct training in the form of practical activities and guided practice spread over 16 modules. It gives students acquaintance with the methodology and many of the techniques comprising NLP and leads to an internationally recognised certificate as Practitioner of NLP in Education.

It is still possible to join the course in this second module and we have a couple of places available.

For a course syllabus and further details see our website: www.resourcefulteaching.com.ar or send a mail to jamie@resourcefulteaching.com.ar or lauraszmuch@gmail.com

Venue: Versailles, Ciudad Autónoma de Buenos Aires

Time: One Saturday per month 9.00 – 17.00

Next Module: Saturday May 22

Investment: 260 pesos per module

The course includes written material and a full bibliography and morning and afternoon refreshments. As much as we encourage reading, the real value of NLP is the putting it into practice and our students have constant opportunities to employ what they learn in their daily work and lives.

To enroll, please contact us for an enrolment form. Your place is guaranteed upon payment of the first module.

The Practitioner certificate with Resourceful Teaching offers you the chance to get an NLP certification and practise your English at the same time!

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

4. Calendar of Activities 2010

We are publishing below a list of the main events for Resourceful Teaching for the next few months. As each date gets closer we will give you more information and we will of course be updating the calendar with new dates as they arise.

May 22 2010 Second module Practitioner course in English

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

5. Workshops and Coaching

If you would like a workshop or training in your city or town, please contact us soon as we have only a few dates available on weekends each year.

We can offer you workshops as listed in the website www.resourcefulteaching.com.ar or design something especially for your needs. In English and in Spanish. Please contact jamie@resourcefulteaching.com.ar or lauraszmuch@gmail.com if you are interested.

Laura is also available for Coaching. If you wish to advance in your career or personal life and wish to design a plan of action to do so, why not have a coaching conversation with her. Contact: lauraszmuch@gmail.com
www.lauraszmuch.com.ar, www.encontactopnl.ning.com

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

6. Subscribing/Unsubscribing to our e-zines in English and Spanish and an invitation to visit

To subscribe simply send a mail to: rtnews@resourcefulteaching.com.ar with your name and city stating 'subscribe' in the subject box. To unsubscribe, follow the same procedure but write the word 'unsubscribe'. We only send this e-magazine to those who have expressed the desire to subscribe by the above means.

To subscribe to the Spanish sister e-zine, send a mail to Laura at en.contacto.pnl@gmail.com

NB En contacto has different articles from those which appear in RT News and they are about NLP and other associated areas.

Visit our blog teaching resourcefully – nlp in the classroom

http://teaching-resourcefully.blogspot.com/

RT® Resourceful Teaching is a registered trademark.

RTNews 110

2010-04-22T06:35:00.000-07:00

RT® News

A magazine on Neuro Linguistic Programming in Education
No 110 April 20 2010

Hello Everyone,

April is a busy month for us all as we are back fully in the swing of things. Once we find our rhythm, we can begin to reflect more on what is happening in our classes and conduct the sort of classroom research, however informal that it may be, which keeps us developing and growing as teachers. To complement this we may choose to pick up other courses related to education or not, courses which help us understand our work, courses for relaxation, for fun or simply to satisfy our curiosity. As teachers, being a model of life-long learning is so important as we have a huge impact on our students and unconsciously our model as teachers and as citizens lasts in their minds for a long time. If we show no interest in continuing to learn, what message are we giving our children and young people?

Laura is running Viviendo en Gratitud, a second ‘season’ of the highly moving Proyecto Gratitud and you can visit the webpage and sign up for this free online community experience at http://viviendoengratitud.ning.com

Our new Practitioner courses have begun or are out to begin. You can still join up or recommend them to someone (we have a version in Spanish). See item 2 below.

More information is available about the course in Spanish at http://encontactopnl.ning.com

Keep smiling and healthy,

Laura and Jamie

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

1. Denial – when you ignore the other in order to be right

2. Practitioner Course 2010 – versions in English and in Spanish

3. Calendar of activities for 2010

4. Workshops and coaching

5. Subscribing/Unsubscribing to our e-zines in English and Spanish and an invitation to visit

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

1. Denial – when you ignore the other in order to be right

Some weeks it seems that all roads lead to Rome. Or at least the signposts we see all seem to point in that direction.

This has been my (Jamie’s) week for exploring and evidencing denial.

I guess it all started with that terrible plane crash in Russia that killed the Polish President and so many other dignitaries. From what we know about the weather conditions, the option of flying off to another airport was denied sufficient consideration.

At school, a student reacted to my giving her a failing mark on an essay (after her rewrite did not correct the original mistakes and added a slew of extra ones) by refusing to speak to me for the rest of the week. “I’ll pretend it never happened. I’ll pretend the teacher is not in the classroom.”

At university, a student gave a fascinating talk on Armenia which included details of the genocide at the hands of the Turks in 1915. Just the week before I had been talking to an American living in Istanbul who referred to the continuing denial by Turks of their role in this tragedy or in the more recent genocide of Kurds in neighbouring Iraq in the 1980’s which affected parts of Turkey too as Kurds fled into the country. While they were supported by the sizeable Kurdish minorities living in the country they were also subject to severe persecution by some sectors of the Turkish population

Finally, the rubbish collectors in my neighbourhood denied the existence of rubbish in my street for several days. After 5 days I rang the local council to report the fact. Result: everyone else in the street gets their rubbish collected but me! Next evening I stand outside when the rubbish man comes past and ignores my neatly tied bags. I point them out and he takes two of the five bags and walks off.

“What about the rest?” He continues walking to the corner.

“Stop, I’m talking to you!”

“I didn’t hear you.”

“What about the other bags?”

“I haven’t got any more hands,” he replied stomping off.

Now, it may be true that the rubbish company is denying him the help he needs as they no longer bring the truck down my street, nor have at least two collectors picking up the rubbish, so this guy reacts by removing only some of the garbage in the street, dumping it on the corner and moving on to the next block. The Council agree with me that the service is not what it should be but it remains to be seen how the company react to the complaint and whether I will be targeted for daring to make a complaint.

All of this got me thinking about denial. About how denial emerges when we become too attached to being right. To thinking that our point of view is the only valid one.

Of course, there are times when denial is used as a convenient excuse. “Where’s your homework?”

“I never knew there was homework.”

“Everyone else copied it from the board and has handed it in and you were in class that day. What happened to you?”

In this type of situation, the person may be denying a fact publicly but is probably aware that an ‘alternative truth’ shared by everyone else exists.

What is perhaps of more concern is when denial occurs because:

a) it is used to avoid being accountable for something, or,

b) the person really cannot see beyond their own interpretation of reality (their own map as we say in NLP)

The first situation is typical of those being too attached to being right. In our fear of admitting a mistake we may end up attacking the other or his/her viewpoint.

“You must have been dreaming.”

“Who are you to tell me what to do?”

“It’s not like that at all.”

And this is the most insidious feature of denial, that of not acknowledging the legitimate other, someone who has an equal right to their perspective and opinion. We think we are the only holders of the truth and so we deny the existence of the other. Another tactic is to cast the other in the role of ‘them’, the other, the enemy, the opposition. “If you’re with me, you can’t believe what ‘they’ say.”

This binary approach ignores the fact that there is no ultimate difference between ‘us’ and ‘them’. It is all ‘we’. We are part of the same world and the same energy. We all have a right to be here and share in the universe. It could be us in the position of the ‘other’ person’ and in fact it is ‘us’ in a way. When we deny another his or her voice, we are in fact denying the voice of a part of ourselves.

One of the skills I am teaching my students is that of seeing the world from different perspectives. I am nudging them into widening their view of the world. In the activities I choose, they learn how to step into the shoes of the other, of seeing what it is like to contemplate the world from someone else’s position and of standing in the position of a neutral observer. They learn to widen their look so they can see things from above and below, from the front, the back and the sides, from the past, the present and the future. This helps them to incorporate the idea that we all have a valid point of view which sometimes we can’t see if we stay rooted to our own place. Using tools like Robert Dilts perceptual positions, students learn that others have equally valid points of view and that acknowledging this is not a sign of weakness on our part, in fact it is quite the reverse. If we are flexible enough to accept the perspective of another in our universe, it enriches us.

And in the end we don’t need denial at all. We accept the differences and the varied interpretations of ‘reality’ and focus on what is the most functional way of handling a situation to meet all our needs. When we deny something, we often expend a tremendous amount of energy sustaining this ‘truth’ which could be used for other purposes. Denial may work for some people in the short term very effectively but what happens in the long run? At the very least, it can be tiring to keep up the pretence about something.

So, let’s listen to the other as we would ourselves and respect the fact that that person will never see things exactly the same way as we do. And let’s remember that we don’t always have to be right. That no one is right and everyone is right at the same time! It all depends on our unique maps of the world.

© Resourceful Teaching 2010

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

2. Practitioner Course 2010 – versions in English and in Spanish

We have just had the first module of our new Practitioner certificate course, which runs this year and next. This first level of training involves between 130 and 150 hours of direct training in the form of practical activities and guided practice spread over 16 modules. It gives students acquaintance with the methodology and many of the techniques comprising NLP and leads to an internationally recognised certificate as Practitioner of NLP in Education.

The Practitioner certificate with Resourceful Teaching offers you the chance to get an NLP certification and practise your English at the same time!

It is still possible to join the course in the second module and we have a couple of places available.

For a course syllabus and further details see our website: www.resourcefulteaching.com.ar or send a mail to jamie@resourcefulteaching.com.ar or lauraszmuch@gmail.com

Venue: Versailles, Ciudad Autónoma de Buenos Aires

Time: One Saturday per month 9.00 – 17.00

Next Module: Saturday May 22

Investment: 260 pesos per module

The course includes written material and a full bibliography and morning and afternoon refreshments. As much as we encourage reading, the real value of NLP is the putting it into practice and our students have constant opportunities to employ what they learn in their daily work and lives.

To enroll, please contact us for an enrolment form. Your place is guaranteed upon payment of the first module.

In Spanish

This course will also be offered in Spanish on Friday evenings twice monthly from April 23. If you are interested, contact Laura at lauraszmuch@gmail.com for more details.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

3. Calendar of Activities 2010

We are publishing below a list of the main events for Resourceful Teaching for the next few months. As each date gets closer we will give you more information and we will of course be updating the calendar with new dates as they arise.
Friday April 23 2010 New Practitioner course in Spanish begins

May 22 2010 Second module Practitioner course in English

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

4. Workshops and Coaching

If you would like a workshop or training in your city or town, please contact us soon as we have only a few dates available on weekends each year.

We can offer you workshops as listed in the website www.resourcefulteaching.com.ar or design something especially for your needs. In English and in Spanish. Please contact jamie@resourcefulteaching.com.ar or lauraszmuch@gmail.com if you are interested.

Laura is also available for Coaching. If you wish to advance in your career or personal life and wish to design a plan of action to do so, why not have a coaching conversation with her. Contact: lauraszmuch@gmail.com

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

5. Subscribing/Unsubscribing to our e-zines in English and Spanish and an invitation to visit

To subscribe simply send a mail to: rtnews@resourcefulteaching.com.ar with your name and city stating 'subscribe' in the subject box. To unsubscribe, follow the same procedure but write the word 'unsubscribe'. We only send this e-magazine to those who have expressed the desire to subscribe by the above means.

To subscribe to the Spanish sister e-zine, send a mail to Laura at en.contacto.pnl@gmail.com
NB En contacto has different articles from those which appear in RT News and they are about NLP and other associated areas.

Visit our blog teaching resourcefully – nlp in the classroom

http://teaching-resourcefully.blogspot.com/

RT® Resourceful Teaching is a registered trademark.

New Issue of RT News!

2010-04-03T16:55:00.000-07:00

RT® News

A magazine on Neuro Linguistic Programming in Education

No 109 April 3 2010

Hello Everyone,

We hope you are enjoying the Easter break whether you stayed at home or had the opportunity to travel.

Our academic year is now in full swing in this part of the world and this brings us the delights and challenges of our work on a day-to-day basis. In our people-based profession we are in a perfect position to observe, experiment, innovate and adapt as we discover ways to help our students or solve the situations that inevitably arise in our work. In our increasingly interconnected world, there are answers to whatever issue we have both out there and within ourselves. It is up to us to activate that knowledge or seek out the information that will get us the answer that can work for us.

A reminder that we begin our Practitioner course for 2010-2011 this month. This course leads to the Practitioner Certificate in NLP for Education. The course in English starts on April 10 and is held once monthly on Saturdays. Please see below for more details. We will also be running a version of the course in Spanish on Fridays, twice monthly in the evenings beginning on April 23. If you are interested please let us know at lauraszmuch@gmail.com

Thank you for reading and sharing,

Laura and Jamie

1. Teaching, Learning and Gardening

2. Classroom Contracts - a further reflection

3. Practitioner Course 2010

4. Calendar of activities for 2010

5. Workshops and coaching

6. Subscribing/Unsubscribing to our e-zines in English and Spanish and an invitation to visit

1. Teaching, Learning and Gardening

The word “to garden” is not very helpfully defined in many dictionaries. They tend to stick to broad descriptions like “to work in a garden” or to “look after” a garden, which don’t perhaps add that much. We do get “To weed and plant” in one dictionary which narrows things down more. An older work (pre corpus) suggests, “to cultivate or lay out a garden”.

What motivated this search was the curiosity of seeing how close the act of gardening is to that of teaching and learning. When the German Friedrich Fröbel coined ‘kindergarten’ for the pre-school place of learning, he obviously made the connection between the nurturing of plants and that of children, such that he wanted a place close to nature where children could develop through play and interaction. These days we have different metaphoric representations to describe schools, many of which are very distant from nature, so let’s see what the gardener can bring to our thinking about schools.

In a garden, we can sow seeds, plant plants or just let things sprout by themselves. The first two methods are clearly better if you want some order and not a jungle. The third method may see some hardy species thrive but it is also likely to result in a survival of the fittest as a certain few plants dominate the land and air space.

We can choose to grow plants from seed. This requires some foresight and care if we want the seeds to germinate. Too much or too little water, insufficient sun and heat, a frost or some other extreme weather and your seeds don’t even get past first base.

Once germinated, the young seedlings face more challenges. There are the same issues related to climate and weather, of the need to be protected from these excesses but also to have nourishment and encouragement to grow. Now, insects and other garden creatures may be attracted by the young shoots and need to be kept at bay. Sometimes, there are fundamental problems like insufficient space to grow, roots that are too shallow or too many seedlings together.

The sensitive and experienced gardener anticipates all this and ensures that the young plants get the help, the fertilizer, the weeding and so forth that will assist their growth.

As the plant reaches adulthood it may flower or bear fruit. Other actors enter the scene like bees to pollinate the flowers or other insects that keep predators away. Worms help maintain a healthy soil too and the gardener oversees all of this. The plant may have been transplanted to a bigger space or nearer to more compatible plants. Fertilizer, mulch or compost may be given, the plant may be sprayed or pruned when necessary. But mostly, the plant is left to get on with growing which is not just a passive action. Each plant will adapt to its habitat, try to best ensure its survival and well-being, reach for the sunlight (or occasionally the shade) and play its role in the habitat. Garlic, for example, repels certain insects. The gardener accompanies this process with the change of the seasons. Sometimes his/her job is to turn the soil, rake away leaves, prepare ground for new sowing and so forth. Sometimes it is to wait and be observant.

Similarities can be found in the teacher’s work. Many of the duties and descriptions mentioned do remind us of teaching in kindergarten or primary school and many remain relevant throughout the entire education process. Sometimes, with a new course we have the task of helping the seeds to germinate; the skills and abilities that the student must develop. The job of tending and caring for the class is constant just as a garden is never static. It is a task that does get easier with experience and yet is also unpredictable, so we cannot remain complacent that we know all there is to know. No two years and no two groups are alike. New things emerge like a strange blight on the leaves or a sudden swarm of insects and the gardener has to find out how to handle these, asking other gardeners, consulting on internet or visiting the local nursery. A tree falls down leaving a space for a new project like a rockery or a fern walk. How do you transform the space? We go to get some advice on what to do. Then technology brings us new tools, new plants (hybrids), alternative methods and we decide to try these. And some years we have the joy of bumper crops or glorious blooms that gladden our hearts, just as the survival of a weak plant and transformation of it into a healthy adult can do.

That is why people garden. It keeps us in pace with nature, it keeps us alive and feeling vital. It is also one of the reasons why we teach as well. To feel we are playing a part in the nurturing of something magical, to watch the blooming of students under our care, to help a person become a fulfilled human being. Let’s keep ourselves up-to-date, in touch with what is new and what is going on with our profession and constantly reflecting on what we do so that in each of our gardens we can take the right decisions to help our students blossom. And let’s give thanks that we are members of one of the most satisfying and noble professions.

2. Classroom Contracts – a further reflection

Our article on classroom contracts produced some interesting comments from various readers, including those who enthusiastically implement such a system to those who find alternative ways to manage their classroom.

We agree that some limits have to be set by the school or the teacher. What is happening now however is, that in some schools, these limits are not being supported by many of ‘the players’, namely the students, their parents and even sometimes other staff. This reflects a general approach in many societies that such rules or codes of conduct are not necessarily to apply to everyone and that exceptions can and should be made. The result is often a conflict or misunderstanding as to the rights and responsibilities of those involved and a sense that individual priorities are overrunning the greater good of the school or the class.

While there are undoubtedly some fixed elements that cannot be negotiated like basic school rules or national laws, the idea of classroom contracts is to allow for some agreement by all parties on those areas which do leave scope for flexibility. This permits the students, for example, to feel that they have some participation in the decisions made in the class and it acknowledges the existence of the psychological contracts we mentioned last time, that are present whether we like it or not. One of the challenges these days is that on the one hand the power of one party to impose rules is lessened, while at the same time we cannot assume that the others will act according to ‘adult’ reasoning or fair play. In some cases, the value of education itself is now viewed differently by those involved and unless this is discussed openly, the clash of beliefs, values and behaviour can easily arise.

As one of our correspondents put it, it all boils down to a question of common sense and to treating and valuing our students as individuals and if we are guided by these factors we are surely on the right track.

3. Practitioner Course 2010

Learn skills and techniques to help you to …

… Be more effective in the classroom!

…Understand your learners more completely

… Set and achieve goals

… Better manage the constant changes school life brings us

… Communicate with others with elegance and effectiveness

… Discover more talents

… Live the life you want to lead

All this and very much more can be experienced on the

Practitioner Certificate in NLP for Education

Our next Practitioner Certificate course starts on April 10 and consists of 16 modules to be held on Saturdays on a monthly basis in 2010 and 2011. This first level of training involves between 130 and 150 hours of direct training in the form of practical activities and guided practice. It gives students acquaintance with the methodology and many of the techniques comprising NLP and leads to an internationally recognised certificate as Practitioner of NLP in Education.

The Practitioner certificate with Resourceful Teaching offers you the chance to get an NLP certification and practise your English at the same time!

For a course syllabus and further details see our website: www.resourcefulteaching.com.ar or send a mail to jamie@resourcefulteaching.com.ar or lauraszmuch@gmail.com

Venue: Versailles, Ciudad Autónoma de Buenos Aires

Time: One Saturday per month 9.00 – 17.00

Start Date: Saturday April 10

Investment: 260 pesos per module

The course includes written material and a full bibliography and morning and afternoon refreshments. As much as we encourage reading, the real value of NLP is the putting it into practice and our students have constant opportunities to employ what they learn in their daily work and lives.

To enroll, please contact us for an enrolment form. Your place is guaranteed upon payment of the first module.

Laura Szmuch and Jamie Duncan

NB: This course will also be offered in Spanish on Friday evenings from April 23. If you are interested, contact Laura at lauraszmuch@gmail.com for more details.

4. Calendar of Activities 2010

We are publishing below a list of the main events for Resourceful Teaching for the next few months. As each date gets closer we will give you more information and we will of course be updating the calendar with new dates as they arise.

April 10 2010 New Practitioner course in English begins

April 23 2010 New Practitioner course in Spanish begins

May 8 Laura in Formosa

5. Workshops and Coaching

If you would like a workshop or training in your city or town, please contact us soon as we have only a few dates available on weekends each year.

We can offer you workshops as listed in the website www.resourcefulteaching.com.ar or design something especially for your needs. In English and in Spanish. Please contact jamie@resourcefulteaching.com.ar or lauraszmuch@gmail.com if you are interested.

Laura is also available for Coaching. If you wish to advance in your career or personal life and wish to design a plan of action to do so, why not have a coaching conversation with her. Contact: lauraszmuch@gmail.com

6. Subscribing/Unsubscribing to our e-zines in English and Spanish and an invitation to visit

To subscribe simply send a mail to: rtnews@resourcefulteaching.com.ar with your name and city stating 'subscribe' in the subject box. To unsubscribe, follow the same procedure but write the word 'unsubscribe'. We only send this e-magazine to those who have expressed the desire to subscribe by the above means.

To subscribe to the Spanish sister e-zine, send a mail to Laura at en.contacto.pnl@gmail.com

NB En contacto has different articles from those which appear in RT News and they are about NLP and other associated areas.

Visit our blog teaching resourcefully – nlp in the classroom

http://teaching-resourcefully.blogspot.com/

Teaching today: what else do we need to work in the classrooms of 2010?

2010-03-17T10:11:00.000-07:00

A common perception these days is that the world is changing. FAST.

Students are not the same as they used to be, the technological advances in the last decade have altered the way we relate to the world and what we give priority to. It has led to the evolution of people who process information more visually, who are accustomed to doing several things at the same time, who are connected in some way constantly to others via cellphones, Blackberrys, Facebook, Twitter and other sites and devices. If you add to that the concerns common in today’s society with regard to the environment, law and order, inflation and the future, you have a potent mixture of sensations and emotions residing in all of us.

This has an effect on the classroom. In major urban centres, the relaxed pace of life for learning and growing is no longer evident as people rush from one activity or commitment to another. Many students are mentally elsewhere in class time as they deal with matters happening in the rest of the world while they are also ‘present’ in our lessons.

How do we cope with this as teachers? Are we able to maintain our balance in this whirlwind? Undeniably, our role as teachers is undergoing subtle and not so subtle adjustments as the years pass. In many cases, the previous role of the teacher has expanded to include that of a type of social worker, a psychologist, a babysitter and so on. This is not so say that teachers have not always had extra duties beyond actually teaching but as other support systems no longer perform the way they used to, teachers find that there are more demands on them from students or that in order to help the students make the most of a class, they have to deal with other issues first. Even if we have the assistance of other people like principals, coordinators or educational psychologists, the fact of being their teacher and having an ongoing relationship with the students means we are part of their lives and a natural person to resort to for support and assistance.

The big question is: where do we train up for this? In general, the vast majority of our teacher training in teachers’ colleges is based around matters such as methodology, content and theory with the practical focus on how to deliver a lesson. Often a lesson that is idealistic in relation to most common classroom realities. This is not to deny the importance of theory and studying the subject matter to give us the necessary base for our work. But does it answer the many questions we have arising from non-academic issues in the classroom?

Who teaches us:
How to deal with a child in tears,
How to handle an interview with a distraught or difficult parent,
How to manage vast swings in energy and moods in the students,
How to motivate students who come to class with many demotivating influences from the outside world,
How to resolve quickly and elegantly conflicts or disputes that may or may not have something to do with the classroom,
How to work in contexts where communication between the different participants may be blocked or strained,
How to support students who are confused and scared by the news and events around them,
How to find the right way to get through to the ‘unreachable’ student,
How to help students take on responsibility for themselves and their own learning,
How to keep ourselves sane, happy and healthy,
How to continue to grow and develop as teachers and people when we have a full workload, hours of commuting and a salary that barely stretches to the end of the month,
How to maintain balance and to stay on an even keel?

Can we get these answers from books? Maybe. Sometimes. Particularly books that help us with relating to others and to ourselves. The point is that reading books is fine but what we need in the classroom is to put the reading into practice so as to be able to respond in a way that helps and that takes us and everyone else forward.

This is why at Resourceful Teaching we teach Neuro Linguistic Programming (NLP).

NLP is a body of practical techniques that we can apply in the moment, whether it be in class, in the school grounds, in the staffroom, in a meeting or in any life context. The skills NLP can offer us are skills we need in real situations and which should be on hand as challenging situations tend to arise unexpectedly and cannot always be planned for. Our specialty is the application of these highly useful NLP tools to the world of education and to all teaching contexts.

We strongly believe that teachers today need these extra resources to be able to do their jobs effectively and to protect their wellbeing. On our Practitioner courses, teachers learn to develop their observation and communication skills, even if they are already skilled communicators. Our training helps teachers reach another level, where they can detect subtle information from the other people or the context that will help respond appropriately. Teachers learn to fine tune their work with objectives, not for lesson plans but to know what they want in any given situation. It is this uncertainty and confusion that often causes the sensations of frustration and being blocked in today’s world. Teachers learn how to manage their own internal states so that they are in the best condition to work efficiently with others. And they learn very much more about themselves, about people, communication, what motivates people and how to achieve what they want in a way that respects others and the environment around them.
In the Practitioner Certificate as applied to Education we do provide and discuss the theory behind what we do and provide material and bibliographies for further reading. Our emphasis however is in putting this into practice and helping you acquire the skills you need to deal with what matters to you in your lives and working contexts in today’s world. Therefore we give you many opportunities to practise in class and in the interval between classes so that these new talents become something automatic and effortless for you. We also provide constant support and communication for those who need it as you explore, discover, experiment and learn.

So, if you are looking for that something extra that will help you handle the challenges of teaching in 2010, if you know that there must be something more to reaching all our students but are not sure what it is, if you believe that the many things you learnt at teachers college go a long way but not all the way, chances are you will find what you need on the Resourceful Teaching Practitioner Certificate as applied to Education.

The course starts on Saturday April 10 and consists of 16 modules to be held on Saturdays on a monthly basis in 2010 and 2011. This level of training involves between 130 and 150 hours of direct training in the form of practical activities and guided practice. It gives students acquaintance with the methodology and many of the techniques comprising NLP and leads to an internationally recognised certificate as Practitioner of NLP in Education.
The Practitioner certificate with Resourceful Teaching offers you the chance to get an NLP certification and practise your English at the same time!

For a course syllabus and further details see our website: http://www.resourcefulteaching.com.ar/ or send a mail to jamie@resourcefulteaching.com.ar or lauraszmuch@gmail.com

Venue: Versailles, Ciudad Autónoma de Buenos Aires
Time: One Saturday per month 9.00 – 17.00
Start Date: Saturday April 10

We teachers are arguably the most important professionals accompanying the growth of a person to become a complete and fulfilled individual. Let’s acknowledge our key role in the education of people and ensure that we have the best preparation possible for this glorious task. In the process, we too become a great model for learning and learn how to ensure our own fulfillment.

New NLP course starting soon!

2010-03-15T08:07:00.000-07:00

Resourceful Teaching courses: The Difference that Makes the Difference...

Celebrating Learning since 1998!!!

This first level of training involves between 130 and 150 hours of direct training in the form of practical activities and guided practice. It gives students acquaintance with the methodology and many of the techniques comprising NLP and leads to an internationally recognised certificate as Practitioner of NLP in Education.

The Practitioner certificate with Resourceful Teaching offers you the chance to get an NLP certification and practise your English at the same time!

For a course syllabus and further details see our website: http://www.resourcefulteaching.com.ar/ or send a mail to jamie@resourcefulteaching.com.ar or lauraszmuch@gmail.com

Venue: Versailles, Ciudad Autónoma de Buenos Aires
Time: One Saturday per month 9.00 – 17.00
Start Date: Saturday April 10

The course includes written material and a full bibliography and morning and afternoon refreshments. As much as we encourage reading, the real value of NLP is the putting it into practice and our students have constant opportunities to employ what they learn in their daily work and lives.

To enroll, please contact us for an enrolment form. Your place is guaranteed upon payment of the first module.

Laura Szmuch and Jamie Duncan

NB: This course is also being offered in Spanish.

Fechas Practitioner en Español 2010

Modulo 1: 23 de abril y 14 de mayo

Modulo 2: 4 de junio y 25 de junio

Modulo 3: 2 de julio y 30 de julio

Modulo 4: 6 de agosto y 20 de agosto

Modulo 5: 3 de septiembre y 17 de septiembre

Modulo 6: 1 de octubre y 15 de octubre

Modulo 7: 29 de octubre y 12 de noviembre

Modulo 8: 26 de noviembre y 10 de diciembre

El resto del curso se dictará durante 2011

Curso PNL orientado a crecimiento personal y educación

Contacto: jamie@resourcefulteaching.com.ar o cursospnl.laura@gmail.com

Classroom Contracts

2010-03-05T14:50:00.001-08:00

1. Classroom Contracts

At this time of the year, it is common for teachers to establish classroom contracts or agreements with students whereby issues such as behaviour, tidiness, work ethics and other relevant points are discussed and set out in a series of rules or guidelines for both the students and teachers. Some people call it a code of conduct, others refer to it as a charter. In all cases, it seems that the purpose is to clarify to all concerned certain issues involving the class. These are very useful tools to help the parties define where they stand in the classroom and what they need and want from the other parties. It also allows the teacher or school to highlight limits that they wish to establish or follow.

In most of everyday life and in many classrooms this practice does not happen and much is left unstated and sometimes unclear.

Therefore, we assume
– that the other knows what we mean by the word ‘study’
– that the other knows why they are there
– that the other knows what it is to ‘treat our fellows with respect’
– that how we teachers reach our marks is obvious
– that the student knows what they have to do to pass the course
– and so on …

The reality is that most of this information is not available to the other so s/he fills in what is missing with a version from his/her own mind. This is the realm of what NLP father John Grinder refers to as ‘psychological contracts’. In his work with Carmen Bostic St Clair, he has studied the fact that most of our dealings with people are made up of mismatching internal concepts in the minds of each person who is a part of the agreement or communication. Usually one person expects the other to perform in a certain way and when that person doesn’t, they become disappointed and frustrated because it does not match their inner scenario. When you consider that each person involved in the situation will have a different inner scenario, the scope for misunderstanding is immense and the less that we define in that situation, the more chances for difference arise.

Even when we do think we are specifying, it can be far from clear and obvious. If the rule says that students have to be present at 75% of classes, what does that really mean? The student may think that means being physically in the room at some time during the lesson or when the roll call is taken. The teacher may interpret ‘present’ as embracing something more than this, like being physically present for the whole hour, with all the necessary books and materials and taking an active part in proceedings with the knowledge acquired from having prepared for the class by doing the homework!
‘Neat work’ may simply mean legible for one teacher while for another it may mean being presented in a certain way on a particular sized paper, typewritten in a certain sized font, etc.

And then we have the ‘psychological contracts’ imposed on us by others. In company classes, the company manager and the coordinator of the English courses will each have a set of expectations about the lessons that may be quite different to those that the actual teacher and students have. The company manager may want to see excellent progress in a really short period of time which the language course provider promises to aim for. When the teacher reaches the class, it may be evident that such progress is going to be impossible.

Among the biggest spin-offs gained from bringing our unspoken contracts into the open is that it helps us focus on what we want and whether quite elementary information has been left unsaid. Many conflicts in daily life arise when the other does not fulfil the basic terms of this agreement in a reasonable way. If the bus company fails to take me from A to B, then this is a clear breach of contract and I am entitled to my money back. But what if they take me from A to B but the 30 minute journey takes 3 hours, because the bus comes very late and then stops constantly throughout? Then, there is breach of the spirit of the contract, as any reasonable person in the street would expect the journey to take closer to 30 minutes than 3 hours. It is important therefore to establish a reasonable interpretation of the promises. What would someone neutral and independent say?
Another benefit with a classroom contract is that it directs our attention to what our roles are in the classroom. What does the teacher actually have to do? What do people understand by ‘giving’ classes, by ‘helping’ students to learn? What type of behaviour falls into ‘acceptable and useful’ for studying and what is not?
Sometimes, we become confused as to our role and this can be cleared up by a well-defined contract. Three or four years ago, the company running the Buenos Aires underground started to transform their ticket offices at some underground stations into sweet shops with the result that it could be easier to buy candy than get a train ticket or top up your magnetic card. Once or twice I saw queues of frustrated commuters waiting in line behind ‘sweetaholics’ choosing a nice selection of lollies and chocolates! The company had forgotten that their prime role and reason for existing was to transport people and this new activity was impeding a part of this first function. Fortunately, over time these candy shops have been phased out again as they were incompatible at least at the place for selling tickets.

In school, what is our role? Are we teaching and helping to learn or are we babysitting? Sometimes, teachers get the feeling that the unspoken expectation of some parents is the latter. In which case, it may be important to talk about it with them. A common expectation of students is that if they attend the course and meet the official bureaucratic requirements of attendance, then they will pass the course and in such cases it is important to establish from the beginning if this is not the case! This often occurs when the student lacks an extrinsic motivation for studying and is doing so because his parents, his boss or the law says so.

Ultimately, a classroom should be a space for co-creation where teachers and students meet and agree to undertake certain actions that will lead to the student being equipped with new knowledge and skills by the end. Whatever tools we can use to encourage this are welcome and the classroom contract would seem to be a democratic and practical example.

Among the phrases that are useful to include in classroom contracts are:

I/We agree to ….

I/We promise to ….

I/We will

In XYZ situation, I/we will ….

Each phrase should be phrased in the affirmative stating the actions to be done or the objectives to be obtained. Using verbs and stating actions make the conditions easier to do than if we just talk in abstract nouns. For example, “I will respect the study of others by speaking in a low voice in class when others are reading” is much clearer than “Respect for one’s classmates is important”.

Good luck!

© Resourceful Teaching 2010

Practitioner Certificate for 2010

2010-02-16T12:43:00.000-08:00

Learn skills and techniques to help you to …
… Be more effective in the classroom!
…Understand your learners more completely
… Set and achieve goals
… Better manage the constant changes school life brings us
… Communicate with others with elegance and effectiveness
… Discover more talents
… Live the life you want to lead

All this and very much more can be experienced on the

Practitioner Certificate in NLP for Education

Our next Practitioner Certificate course starts on April 10 and consists of 16 modules to be held on Saturdays on a monthly basis in 2010 and 2011. This first level of training involves between 130 and 150 hours of direct training in the form of practical activities and guided practice. It gives students acquaintance with the methodology and many of the techniques comprising NLP and leads to an internationally recognised certificate as Practitioner of NLP in Education.
The Practitioner certificate with Resourceful Teaching offers you the chance to get an NLP certification and practise your English at the same time!

For a course syllabus and further details see our website: www.resourcefulteaching.com.ar or send a mail to jamie@resourcefulteaching.com.ar or lauraszmuch@gmail.com

Venue: Versailles, Ciudad Autónoma de Buenos Aires
Time: One Saturday per month 9.00 – 17.00
Start Date: Saturday April 10
Investment: 260 pesos per module

The course includes written material and a full bibliography and morning and afternoon refreshments. As much as we encourage reading, the real value of NLP is the putting it into practice and our students have constant opportunities to employ what they learn in their daily work and lives.

To enroll, please contact us for an enrolment form. Your place is guaranteed upon payment of the first module.

Laura Szmuch and Jamie Duncan

NB: This course will also be offered in Spanish this year on a week day evening to be announced. If you are interested, contact Laura at lauraszmuch@gmail.com for details of timetables.

RTWeek!!!

2010-02-01T05:26:00.000-08:00

Dear teacher/educator,

One of the best ways at keeping ourselves up-to-date and enthusiastic about our work as teachers is to make sure that we learn and get to be a student as well. What we study can be directly related to what we teach or it can be something completely different that interests and in some way nourishes us. When we learn we are opening ourselves up to new knowledge and to new understandings, we are exercising our brain and perhaps our body and we are establishing new contacts with others and new relationships in the context of the study situation. We are receiving and when we receive, it means we have something to give others.

When we feel stressed and burdened by our work or other factors in our lives, we can, of course, go to the mall and spend a lot of money, pig out on our favourite junk food or sit out the sense of sloth in front of non-demanding television programmes. These solutions can work very well for a short time but strangely some of the most contented and inspired educators are those who are busy studying for themselves. Studying for themselves and not simply to get an extra certificate or diploma. Studying to satisfy their curiosity or to become more fulfilled as a person. This time and energy invested on ourselves can be very precious as it gives us the fuel to face our classes with spark and vigour throughout the whole year.

At Resourceful Teaching, we (Laura and Jamie) take these issues into consideration when planning our February training courses each year. For us, it is important that RT Week gives teachers a bright start to the year with a sense of acquiring food for the brain, the soul and the body as well as practical ideas, tips and lessons that can be transferred to each person’s teaching context. We blend the latest research of education academics that we ourselves study, with classroom common sense, new trends in language and culture, wisdom from the great cultures of the world and mix it all together with proven techniques from NLP (Neuro Linguistic Programming) of which we are trainers.

This February we will be exploring some of the following topics:

How students really learn and why much of our understanding up to now has been based on assumptions and not actual evidence.

Can the ability to read facial expressions really help us with our teaching?

Is asking questions a dying art? How can knowing the best questions to ask help open the right doors?

Do we manage time or does time manage us? The importance of self-management in using our time effectively.

The state of the English language and English-speaking cultures as we enter a new decade. Is our view of English as complete and as realistic as it could be to help guide our students?

Learning to be creative and passing this on to our students.

The importance of emotions in learning and how as teachers we can harness the emotions to extend and fix learning.

The value of being present in the classroom, whether as teacher or student. How does this improve the quality of our study and our lives.

Come and join us for a fun and stimulating week in Buenos Aires from 8 -11 February. More information about the workshops and how to enroll follows beneath.

We look forward to meeting you and learning together!

Laura Szmuch and Jamie Duncan

Start your year with inspiration!

2010-01-31T05:29:00.000-08:00

Now that you've rested over the Christmas and January break, refresh your minds and prepare yourself to be full of energy and inspiration in your teaching for 2010!

We have a week of practical, interesting workshops designed to help you prepare for the challenges of the year ahead in the classroom. All new material, tools for handling different situations in the classroom and lots of personal growth and development. We'd love you to join us!

Laura and Jamie

RT WEEK 2010
February 08 – 11
All new workshops!

Workshop programme

RT WEEK
2010 Monday 08 February Tuesday 09
February Wednesday10
February Thursday 11
February

9 to 12 How students really learn!
The Art of the Question

A 2010 map of the English speaking world
Emotions and language learning

L u n c h L u n c h L u n c h L u n c h

14 to 17 The teacher and sensory acuity… learning to observe… Time Management…
Self- Management?

Literature, creativity, learning and fun

Being fully present

Workshop details

Monday 8 Feb am How students really learn! This practical session will explore the latest classroom research on student learning and give activities based on ideas from NLP on how teachers can make the most of their classes to facilitate student acquisition.

Monday 8 Feb pm The teacher and sensory acuity… Learning to observe… A lot of people have become very interested in facial expressions, non-verbal language and other paralinguistic features, after watching “Lie to me”, the American television series that premiered on the Fox network. In the show, Dr. Cal Lightman and his colleagues in The Lightman Group accept assignments from third parties (commonly local and federal law enforcement), and assist in investigations, reaching the truth through applied psychology: interpreting microexpressions, through the Facial Action Coding System, and body language.
In this workshop we will see how to use that information in a very practical way to improve communication with our students and facilitate their learning.

Tuesday 9 Feb am The Art of the Question
Can we polish our question-making as teachers to elicit better learning? Can we help our students find questions which lead to more discovery and reflection. Through quizzes, games and other activities we will practise the skill of finding the right question.

Tuesday 9 Feb pm Time Management…
Self- Management?
In this session we will see how self-management is essential to manage time effectively and efficiently. We will delve into topics such as delegation, trust, self-motivation and motivation of others.
We will reflect on how to set priorities, how to schedule and have goals. By becoming aware of how we use our time as a resource in organising, prioritising, and succeeding in our jobs as teachers, coordinators or heads of staff, we will learn how to “save” our energy to be active and vibrant when we get home after a long day at work.
Apart from the moments of deep reflection you will be getting very practical ideas to start using as soon as you finish the workshop.

Wednesday 10 Feb am A 2010 map of the English speaking world
In these days of information overload and fast-changing technology, what can we expect our students to learn and know about the world of English language and culture? This session will combine general knowledge and language styles and registers to help us identity what is essential to know and what is purely interesting and of lesser importance for the classroom as we enter the second decade of the new millenium.

Wednesday 10 Feb pm Literature, creativity, learning and fun
In this presentation we will be working with the theory of creativity, plus specific ideas to put into practice in the classroom. Assuming creativity can be learnt, we will see ways to help both teachers and students to become aware of the creative process and its application to language teaching and learning. We will also be reading poems by Benjamin Zephaniah and we will take delight in the production of Haikus.

Thursday 11 Feb am Emotions and language learning
Damasio (1999) states that “There is nothing distinctively about human emotions since it is clear that so many nonhuman creatures have emotions in abundance; and yet there is something quite distinctive about the way in which emotions have become connected to the complex ideas, values, principles, and judgements that only humans can have ”.
In this workshop we will see how from a neuropsychological perspective, emotions are very important: they exist in our brain and are biological, apart from elaborated by culture.
We will also discuss the implications for English language teaching and learning and we will work with some very powerful ideas to tap into optimal emotional states to learn a language.

Thursday 11 Feb pm Being fully present
Apart from NLP, there are a large number of complementary therapies and energy techniques being taught in the world today. Many of them are very old knowledge that has been rediscovered.
How are they relevant to the classroom? Can teachers integrate aspects of them into their work? This session will consider a variety of these techniques and give a special introduction to that of EMF (Electromagnetic field) Balancing which helps people to become fully present in their daily activities.

Enrolment
Each workshop lasts three hours. AM: 9.00 - 12.00 PM: 14.00 - 17.00.
Venue: Gallardo 719, Versailles, Capital Federal.

Please enrol by by e-mail: rtcourses@resourcefulteaching.com.ar
jamiearg@gmail.com or lauraszmuch@gmail.com
or by phoning (005411) 4641-9068

There are limited vacancies per workshop. Enrolment is only guaranteed by payment of fee.

Fee Schedule: NB: Prices in Argentine pesos
Resourceful Teaching Week
2010 Enrolment fee

Each workshop $80
The whole week
(8 workshops) $550
Current RT Practitioner or Master Practitioner students $200

Special Discounts:
Five people enrolling together are eligible for a discount of 10% on the whole week
Students currently enrolled in Teacher Training College $30 per workshop

Note: Fees are not refundable but can be transferred to another course or to another student where applicable.

Celebrate...

2009-12-31T05:19:00.000-08:00

Celebrate what's right with the world - Dewitt Jones @ Yahoo! Video

RT week Feb 2010 workshops for teachers

2009-10-30T14:35:00.000-07:00

RT WEEK 2010

February 08 – 11

All new workshops!

Once again we bring you a variety of workshops for teachers, to reflect, develop, grow and obtain ideas for the classroom!

Hoping you can join us,

Laura and Jamie

Workshop programme

RT WEEK

2010

Monday 08 February

Tuesday 09

February

Wednesday10

February

Thursday 11

February

9 to 12

How students really learn!

The Art of the Question

A 2010 map of the English speaking world

Emotions and language learning

L u n c h

L u n c h

14 to 17

The teacher and sensory acuity… learning to observe…

Time Management…

Self- Management?

Literature, creativity, learning and fun

Being fully present

Workshop details

Monday 8 Feb am

How students really learn!

This practical session will explore the latest classroom research on student learning and give activities based on ideas from NLP on how teachers can make the most of their classes to facilitate student acquisition.

Monday 8 Feb pm

The teacher and sensory acuity… Learning to observe…

A lot of people have become very interested in facial expressions, non-verbal language and other paralinguistic features, after watching “Lie to me”, the American television series that premiered on the Fox network. In the show, Dr. Cal Lightman and his colleagues in The Lightman Group accept assignments from third parties (commonly local and federal law enforcement), and assist in investigations, reaching the truth through applied psychology: interpreting microexpressions, through the Facial Action Coding System, and body language.

In this workshop we will see how to use that information in a very practical way to improve communication with our students and facilitate their learning.

Tuesday 9 Feb am

The Art of the Question

Can we polish our question-making as teachers to elicit better learning? Can we help our students find questions which lead to more discovery and reflection. Through quizzes, games and other activities we will practise the skill of finding the right question.

Tuesday 9 Feb pm

Time Management…

Self- Management?

In this session we will see how self-management is essential to manage time effectively and efficiently. We will delve into topics such as delegation, trust, self-motivation and motivation of others.

We will reflect on how to set priorities, how to schedule and have goals. By becoming aware of how we use our time as a resource in organising, prioritising, and succeeding in our jobs as teachers, coordinators or heads of staff, we will learn how to “save” our energy to be active and vibrant when we get home after a long day at work.

Apart from the moments of deep reflection you will be getting very practical ideas to start using as soon as you finish the workshop.

Wednesday 10 Feb am

A 2010 map of the English speaking world

In these days of information overload and fast-changing technology, what can we expect our students to learn and know about the world of English language and culture? This session will combine general knowledge and language styles and registers to help us identity what is essential to know and what is purely interesting and of lesser importance for the classroom as we enter the second decade of the new millenium.

Wednesday 10 Feb pm

Literature, creativity, learning and fun

In this presentation we will be working with the theory of creativity, plus specific ideas to put into practice in the classroom. Assuming creativity can be learnt, we will see ways to help both teachers and students to become aware of the creative process and its application to language teaching and learning. We will also be reading poems by Benjamin Zephaniah and we will take delight in the production of Haikus.

Thursday 11 Feb am

Emotions and language learning

Damasio (1999) states that “There is nothing distinctively about human emotions since it is clear that so many nonhuman creatures have emotions in abundance; and yet there is something quite distinctive about the way in which emotions have become connected to the complex ideas, values, principles, and judgements that only humans can have ”.

In this workshop we will see how from a neuropsychological perspective, emotions are very important: they exist in our brain and are biological, apart from elaborated by culture.

We will also discuss the implications for English language teaching and learning and we will work with some very powerful ideas to tap into optimal emotional states to learn a language.

Thursday 11 Feb pm

Being fully present

Apart from NLP, there are a large number of complementary therapies and energy techniques being taught in the world today. Many of them are very old knowledge that has been rediscovered.

How are they relevant to the classroom? Can teachers integrate aspects of them into their work? This session will consider a variety of these techniques and give a special introduction to that of EMF (Electromagnetic field) Balancing which helps people to become fully present in their daily activities.

Enrolment

Each workshop lasts three hours. AM: 9.00 - 12.00 PM: 14.00 - 17.00.

Venue: Gallardo 719, Versailles, Capital Federal.

Please enrol by by e-mail: rtcourses@resourcefulteaching.com.ar

jamiearg@gmail.com or lauraszmuch@gmail.com

or by phoning (005411) 4641-9068

There are limited vacancies per workshop. Enrolment is only guaranteed by payment of fee.

Fee Schedule: NB: Prices in Argentine pesos

*Resourceful Teaching Week* *2010*	Enrolment before November 10	Enrolment before November 30	Enrolment before December 30	Enrolment before January 30
Each workshop	$50	$60	$70	$80
The whole week (8 workshops)	$300	$380	$460	$550
Current RT Practitioner or Master Practitioner students	$100	$140	$170	$200

Special Discounts:

Five people enrolling together are eligible for a discount of 10% on the whole week

Students currently enrolled in Teacher Training College $30 per workshop

Note: Fees are not refundable but can be transferred to another course or to another student where applicable.

Updates!

2009-10-27T09:44:00.000-07:00

A magazine on Neuro Linguistic Programming in Education
No 106 October 27 2009

Dear Readers,
As spring slowly settles in, we start turning our attention not only to the end-of-the-year events but also to the beginning of 2010. In this edition you will find information on our February courses which include RT Week, our set of workshops for teachers of English and the first six modules of the NLP course given in Spanish. There are discounts for early bird enrolments so check now! We also look at The Wave, a film with plenty of things to ponder with respect to teaching and to society in general.

Do visit our blog teaching resourcefully – nlp in the classroom http://teaching-resourcefully.blogspot.com/ for regular updates and titbits on our activities and links that we find that are of use or relevance. We also have a Facebook - Resourceful Teaching page with updates too!

Thank you for reading and sharing,
Laura and Jamie
1. The Wave
2. RT Week 2010
3. NLP Course in Spanish – February intensive
4. Single celebrity recognising brain cell
5. Calendar of activities for 2009 - 2010
6. Workshops and coaching
7. Subscribing/Unsubscribing to our e-zines in English and Spanish and an invitation to visit
1. The Wave

A film recently released in Argentina and of interest to teachers is The Wave (La Ola in Spanish, Die Welle in German). It is, in fact, the latest version of a film made originally in the US and based on a real event that took place in California in 1967. German director Dennis Gansel has dusted down the story and updated it to present-day Germany which adds an extra layer of significance to its theme – that of how authoritarian societies can develop.

Rainer is a civics teacher in a German secondary school. He is allocated the course on Autocracy, when he would in fact prefer to be teaching the course on Anarchy that his rather absent-minded and conservative colleague has been given. To spice up the course, he decides to conduct a living experiment in the class by fostering the growth of an autocratic society in the classroom. He changes the seating to break up existing groups or cliques and places weak students next to strong students to create an atmosphere of helping one’s neighbour. He establishes some simple rules of discipline such as standing up when speaking, addressing him as Mr Wenger and not Rainer and he also encourages them to wear the same clothes, asks the group to find a name for itself, a symbol and a gesture, etc. He asks them to support the school water polo team to which several class members belong. All seemingly positive and or innocent moves. After all, many colleges have uniforms, promote integration of students and like to emphasise certain formalities of behaviour. The result is that the students feel included in a project rather than excluded and a sense of unity arises that was missing before. In the early scenes, one of the few grating points is that the Anarchy class is seen as “them”, a clear use of another group as “the enemy”.

Rainer accompanies these changes with discussions on how such societies begin, usually in contexts of unemployment, social injustice and exclusion and how this situation is exploited by someone who harnesses the resulting negative energy into the creation of a new movement.
Everything seems to go well at first with his experiment – even the least willing students show a much greater motivation to come to class, the principal is supportive despite the misgivings of other teachers and most of the students are proud to form part of this new group and become very creative in suggesting ideas of how to advance the movement.

As you can perhaps anticipate, the rest of the film concerns the fact that from these beginnings the group develops into something that indeed resembles an autocratic society and starts to get completely out of hand as individual members take decisions that they think are supporting the movement but in fact lead to very serious and tragic consequences.

The film is a master class for students of NLP as to how anchors can be created with groups to produce desired effects (unifying them and ordering their behaviour) in a given context. We see how the students comment on how good they feel with the simple tips for classroom etiquette and performance that Rainer teaches, the compliance with which is always praised (reinforcing anchor) by the teacher. It is also notable how group unity improves and with it academic performance as the brighter students help the others. The trouble is that when the actions spread beyond a certain fixed context, their effects may not be so desirable.

And what is given up by the students for this new-found unity? The right to be unique, to think differently, to speak and dress as an individual. Where does the balance lie between class unity and individual freedoms? Do the ends justify the means? What is the teacher’s role when dealing with students who fail to distinguish between a class project (essentially a role play or simulation) and real life? All these issues come together in the dramatic conclusion.

Films like “The Wave” are excellent teaching resources as they introduce the concepts of social organisation and the rights, freedoms and responsibilities involved in surroundings familiar to the students. This German version is especially poignant given the country’s not so distant past and the existence of strong ultra-right minorities in certain parts of Europe including Germany itself. An added feature is the use in the film of modern technology to serve the cause. The students make My Space pages and other webpages for the cause, the cellphone is also essential and as we have seen this year with the protests in Iran, even Twitter is taking its place as a tool for communication.

We may live in modern times and the models we study of authoritarianism may be from the past but “The Wave” shows that they can occur at any time or place.

© Resourceful Teaching 2009
2. RT Week 2010

Once again we bring you a variety of workshops for teachers, to reflect, develop, grow and obtain ideas for the classroom!

Hoping you can join us,
Laura and Jamie

Workshop details

Monday 8 Feb am
How students really learn!
This practical session will explore the latest classroom research on student learning and give activities based on ideas from NLP on how teachers can make the most of their classes to facilitate student acquisition.

Monday 8 Feb pm
The teacher and sensory acuity… Learning to observe…
A lot of people have become very interested in facial expressions, non-verbal language and other paralinguistic features, after watching “Lie to me”, the American television series that premiered on the Fox network. In the show, Dr. Cal Lightman and his colleagues in The Lightman Group accept assignments from third parties (commonly local and federal law enforcement), and assist in investigations, reaching the truth through applied psychology: interpreting microexpressions, through the Facial Action Coding System, and body language.
In this workshop we will see how to use that information in a very practical way to improve communication with our students and facilitate their learning.

Tuesday 9 Feb am
The Art of the Question

Can we polish our question-making as teachers to elicit better learning? Can we help our students find questions which lead to more discovery and reflection. Through quizzes, games and other activities we will practise the skill of finding the right question.

Tuesday 9 Feb pm
Time Management…
Self- Management?

In this session we will see how self-management is essential to manage time effectively and efficiently. We will delve into topics such as delegation, trust, self-motivation and motivation of others.
We will reflect on how to set priorities, how to schedule and have goals. By becoming aware of how we use our time as a resource in organising, prioritising, and succeeding in our jobs as teachers, coordinators or heads of staff, we will learn how to “save” our energy to be active and vibrant when we get home after a long day at work.
Apart from the moments of deep reflection you will be getting very practical ideas to start using as soon as you finish the workshop.

Wednesday 10 Feb am
A 2010 map of the English speaking world

In these days of information overload and fast-changing technology, what can we expect our students to learn and know about the world of English language and culture? This session will combine general knowledge and language styles and registers to help us identity what is essential to know and what is purely interesting and of lesser importance for the classroom as we enter the second decade of the new millenium.

Wednesday 10 Feb pm
Literature, creativity, learning and fun

In this presentation we will be working with the theory of creativity, plus specific ideas to put into practice in the classroom. Assuming creativity can be learnt, we will see ways to help both teachers and students to become aware of the creative process and its application to language teaching and learning. We will also be reading poems by Benjamin Zephaniah and we will take delight in the production of Haikus.

Thursday 11 Feb am
Emotions and language learning

Damasio (1999) states that “There is nothing distinctively about human emotions since it is clear that so many nonhuman creatures have emotions in abundance; and yet there is something quite distinctive about the way in which emotions have become connected to the complex ideas, values, principles, and judgements that only humans can have ”.
In this workshop we will see how from a neuropsychological perspective, emotions are very important: they exist in our brain and are biological, apart from elaborated by culture.
We will also discuss the implications for English language teaching and learning and we will work with some very powerful ideas to tap into optimal emotional states to learn a language.

Thursday 11 Feb pm
Being fully present

Apart from NLP, there are a large number of complementary therapies and energy techniques being taught in the world today. Many of them are very old knowledge that has been rediscovered.
How are they relevant to the classroom? Can teachers integrate aspects of them into their work? This session will consider a variety of these techniques and give a special introduction to that of EMF (Electromagnetic field) Balancing which helps people to become fully present in their daily activities.

Enrolment
Each workshop lasts three hours. AM: 9.00 - 12.00 PM: 14.00 - 17.00.
Venue: Gallardo 719, Versailles, Capital Federal.

Please enrol by by e-mail: rtcourses@resourcefulteaching.com.ar
jamiearg@gmail.com or lauraszmuch@gmail.com
or by phoning (005411) 4641-9068

There are limited vacancies per workshop. Enrolment is only guaranteed by payment of fee.

Special Discounts:
Current RT Practitioner or Master Practitioner students 15% on the whole week
Five people enrolling together are eligible for a discount of 10% on the whole week
Students currently enrolled in Teacher Training College $30 per workshop

Note: Fees are not refundable but can be transferred to another course or to another student where applicable.

3. NLP Course in Spanish – February intensive

Curso de Programación Neurolingüística
A cargo de: Resourceful Teaching
Directores: Laura Szmuch - Jamie Duncan

El curso intensivo comprenderá los módulos 1 a 6, y se dictará los días 8 a 13 de febrero de 2010. El curso equivale a los primeros seis módulos del curso Practitioner en PNL, para seguir siendo cursado durante el año, una vez por mes.

Módulos y temas a cubrir:

Conociéndonos más y mejorando nuestra comunicación

Canales sensoriales

Lenguaje preciso

Anclajes

Descubriendo los recursos internos

Concientizándonos de los mundos internos de nuestros alumnos y respondiendo a sus programas mentales.
Aranceles y formas de pago

El arancel de cada módulo en forma individual: $240
El curso completo (los seis módulos): $1440

Si abonan con anticipación, los participantes tendrán los siguientes beneficios:

Opción 1:
En un solo pago:
Hasta el 30 de noviembre: $960
Hasta el 30 de diciembre: $1200
Hasta el 30 de enero: $1440

Descuentos especiales:
Cinco personas que se anotan juntas tienen un descuento del 10 %

Se les entregarán a los participantes cuadernillos de trabajo.
Está incluido el refrigerio del recreo de media mañana y de la tarde (café, té, mate cocido, etc., y bocaditos dulces y/o salados).Nota especial
En caso de cancelación de la inscripción NO se devolverá el dinero, pero se lo dejará como pago en futuras capacitaciones.

Docentes a cargo del curso:
Laura Szmuch- Lilly Spillman- Jamie Duncan

¿Qué es la PNL?

La Programación Neurolingüística es una serie de principios, actitudes y técnicas que nos permiten lograr el máximo de nuestras potencialidades. La PNL describe la dinámica entre la mente (neuro), el lenguaje (lingüística) y cómo ellos influyen en nuestras decisiones y conductas. Comenzó en Estados Unidos en la década del 70 con Bandler y Grinder quienes exploraron cómo modelar excelencia en el campo terapéutico.

La PNL está siendo utilizada actualmente como entrenamiento de habilidades comunicativas en las empresas con maravillosos resultados. También en el campo del deporte y salud. Aplicada a la educación, es una herramienta espectacular para que el aprendizaje fluya en forma natural, y también en casos donde ciertos bloqueos emocionales o intelectuales impiden el normal desarrollo del proceso de aprendizaje. La utilización de las técnicas de PNL aceleran el logro de objetivos, ayudando a los alumnos a alcanzar metas que ellos mismos fijan en forma altamente eficaz.

Los resultados de la aplicación de la PNL a las clases son espectaculares, ya que combinan el trabajo del docente que sabe cómo aprende cada persona en particular y adapta su metodología de acuerdo a esto, con un alto nivel de motivación por parte del alumno. De esta manera se intensifica la capacidad innata que tenemos TODOS los seres humanos de aprender cosas nuevas, y, sobre todo,
¡disfrutar el proceso!
(adaptado del libro:Aprendiendo inglés y disfrutando el proceso de Laura Szmuch, Ed. Dunken)

Para inscribirte o para más información: lauraszmuch@gmail.com

4. Single celebrity recognising brain cell

Ever wondered why students know all the gossip about their favourite celebrity and can’t keep any of the material you teach in their minds let alone become intrigued by something new from the coursebook? It could be due to the single celebrity recognizing neuron distracting their attention. More information has been released about this brain cell that was called a Halle Berry brain cell in 2005. The latest news is that recent experiments show that we can learn to control it. Yet one more step in our understanding of cognitive processes!

See the following links among others for more details: http://www.wired.com/wiredscience/2009/10/controlling-single-neurons/
http://media.caltech.edu/press_releases/12710

5. Calendar of Activities 2009

We are publishing below a list of the main events for Resourceful Teaching for the next few months. As each date gets closer we will give you more information and we will of course be updating the calendar with new dates as they arise.
30-31 October 2009 First International House Latin American Regional workshop, San Isidro, Argentina.
8 – 11 February 2010 RT Week, Buenos Aires, Argentina
8 – 13 February 2010 Curso de PNL, Buenos Aires, Argentina
April 2010 New Practitioner courses in English and Spanish begin
6. Workshops and Coaching

If you would like a workshop or training in your city or town, please contact us soon as we have only a few dates available on weekends each year and we are now getting enquiries for 2010.
We can offer you workshops as listed in the website www.resourcefulteaching.com.ar or design something especially for your needs. In English and in Spanish. Please contact jamie@resourcefulteaching.com.ar or lauraszmuch@gmail.com if you are interested.

Laura is also available for Coaching. If you wish to advance in your career or personal life and wish to design a plan of action to do so, why not have a coaching conversation with her. Contact: lauraszmuch@gmail.com

7. Subscribing/Unsubscribing to our e-zines in English and Spanish and an invitation to visit

To subscribe simply send a mail to: rtnews@resourcefulteaching.com.ar with your name and city stating 'subscribe' in the subject box. To unsubscribe, follow the same procedure but write the word 'unsubscribe'. We only send this e-magazine to those who have expressed the desire to subscribe by the above means.

To subscribe to the Spanish sister e-zine, send a mail to Laura at en.contacto.pnl@gmail.com
NB En contacto has different articles from those which appear in RT News and they are about NLP and other associated areas.

Visit our blog teaching resourcefully – nlp in the classroom
http://teaching-resourcefully.blogspot.com/

RT® Resourceful Teaching is a registered trademark.

Updates!

2009-10-27T09:43:00.000-07:00

RTWEEK 2010

2009-10-22T08:50:00.000-07:00

February 08 – 11
All new workshops!

Once again we bring you a variety of workshops for teachers, to reflect, develop, grow and obtain ideas for the classroom!

Hoping you can join us,
Laura and Jamie

Workshop details

Monday 8 Feb am
How students really learn!
This practical session will explore the latest classroom research on student learning and give activities based on ideas from NLP on how teachers can make the most of their classes to facilitate student acquisition.

Monday 8 Feb pm
The teacher and sensory acuity… Learning to observe…
A lot of people have become very interested in facial expressions, non-verbal language and other paralinguistic features, after watching “Lie to me”, the American television series that premiered on the Fox network. In the show, Dr. Cal Lightman and his colleagues in The Lightman Group accept assignments from third parties (commonly local and federal law enforcement), and assist in investigations, reaching the truth through applied psychology: interpreting microexpressions, through the Facial Action Coding System, and body language.
In this workshop we will see how to use that information in a very practical way to improve communication with our students and facilitate their learning.

Tuesday 9 Feb am
The Art of the Question

Can we polish our question-making as teachers to elicit better learning? Can we help our students find questions which lead to more discovery and reflection. Through quizzes, games and other activities we will practise the skill of finding the right question.

Tuesday 9 Feb pm
Time Management…
Self- Management?

In this session we will see how self-management is essential to manage time effectively and efficiently. We will delve into topics such as delegation, trust, self-motivation and motivation of others.
We will reflect on how to set priorities, how to schedule and have goals. By becoming aware of how we use our time as a resource in organising, prioritising, and succeeding in our jobs as teachers, coordinators or heads of staff, we will learn how to “save” our energy to be active and vibrant when we get home after a long day at work.
Apart from the moments of deep reflection you will be getting very practical ideas to start using as soon as you finish the workshop.

Wednesday 10 Feb am
A 2010 map of the English speaking world

In these days of information overload and fast-changing technology, what can we expect our students to learn and know about the world of English language and culture? This session will combine general knowledge and language styles and registers to help us identity what is essential to know and what is purely interesting and of lesser importance for the classroom as we enter the second decade of the new millenium.

Wednesday 10 Feb pm
Literature, creativity, learning and fun

In this presentation we will be working with the theory of creativity, plus specific ideas to put into practice in the classroom. Assuming creativity can be learnt, we will see ways to help both teachers and students to become aware of the creative process and its application to language teaching and learning. We will also be reading poems by Benjamin Zephaniah and we will take delight in the production of Haikus.

Thursday 11 Feb am
Emotions and language learning

Damasio (1999) states that “There is nothing distinctively about human emotions since it is clear that so many nonhuman creatures have emotions in abundance; and yet there is something quite distinctive about the way in which emotions have become connected to the complex ideas, values, principles, and judgements that only humans can have ”.
In this workshop we will see how from a neuropsychological perspective, emotions are very important: they exist in our brain and are biological, apart from elaborated by culture.
We will also discuss the implications for English language teaching and learning and we will work with some very powerful ideas to tap into optimal emotional states to learn a language.

Thursday 11 Feb pm
Being fully present

Apart from NLP, there are a large number of complementary therapies and energy techniques being taught in the world today. Many of them are very old knowledge that has been rediscovered.
How are they relevant to the classroom? Can teachers integrate aspects of them into their work? This session will consider a variety of these techniques and give a special introduction to that of EMF (Electromagnetic field) Balancing which helps people to become fully present in their daily activities.

Enrolment
Each workshop lasts three hours. AM: 9.00 - 12.00 PM: 14.00 - 17.00.
Venue: Gallardo 719, Versailles, Capital Federal.

Please enrol by by e-mail: rtcourses@resourcefulteaching.com.ar
jamiearg@gmail.com or lauraszmuch@gmail.com
or by phoning (005411) 4641-9068

There are limited vacancies per workshop. Enrolment is only guaranteed by payment of fee.

Special Discounts:

Early enrolment
Current RT Practitioner or Master Practitioner students 15% on the whole week
Five people enrolling together are eligible for a discount of 10% on the whole week
Students currently enrolled in Teacher Training College $30 per workshop

Note: Fees are not refundable but can be transferred to another course or to another student where applicable.

More info:

cursospnl.laura@gmail.com

jamiarg@gmail.com

http://www.resourcefulteaching.com.ar/

Making Reading Sacred

2009-09-15T17:00:00.000-07:00

Making Reading Sacred
By Frederic and Mary Ann Brussat
http://www.spiritualityandpractice.com/books/features.php?id=10900

As anybody who follows our book reviews on this website has probably guessed, we truly enjoy reading. Reading is one of the ways we practice gratitude, meaning, hospitality, openness, and enthusiasm, and we commend it to you.
You may pick up a new book seeking knowledge on a subject that fascinates you. Or you may feel like exploring an alternative world created by a novelist. When your reading also exercises your faith, fires your imagination, stirs your soul, and expands your circle of compassion, it becomes a sacred activity.

Here are some practices we’ve used to deepen our reading experiences.

• Before you open a book, take a moment to give thanks to God for gifting its creator with the time, energy, creativity, and cooperation needed to make it possible for you to read it now.

• Treat the space where you are reading as a sacred place. Try to eliminate all distractions. Turn off the phone. Close the door. Make a commitment to focus all of your divinely endowed energies of attention and imagination on the text.

• Be a good host to the author. Let go of attitudes that might limit your receptiveness. Forget what you’ve heard about the book so you don’t prejudge it. Don’t expect the author to live up to some standard you’ve established. Instead, just be open to the words, the characters, and the messages as they unfold. Allow yourself to be surprised.

• Don’t rush. Books are meant to be savored like a delicious meal. If you hurry, you may miss some of the important nuances and the subtle textures the author has worked hard to include.

• Be patient with the book. Sometimes you won’t get the author's meaning right away. Maybe, as happens when you are talking with someone, you won’t realize what was meant until you think about it later. If so, go back and reread that section of the book. There’s no rule that you only get one pass through the pages!

• Have a conversation with the author as you read. Underline passages that catch your fancy. Or, if you are reading a borrowed book or a library copy, copy favorite phrases into a notebook. Consider your underlines and notes as the equivalents of standing ovations at a musical performance. Know that a heavily notated book is one that you have taken to heart.

• As you read, notice and relish all the ways that the text speaks directly to you. It may remind you of something you are feeling, some need or yearning. More often than not, God gives us the books we need at just the right time to challenge or comfort us.

• Pause periodically, just hold the book, and allow yourself a moment of reverie. Let your senses come alive after reading a particularly apt description. Harvest the memories a turn of a story brings to mind. See if you identify with what the author or a character is feeling.

• The writings of religious and spiritual teachers, biographies of admirable people, even many novels are good medicine for our souls. They give us the courage to face the truth about ourselves, including any darkness within us, and to endure pain, suffering, and death. Consciously seek out moral mentors in your reading. Let their experiences become a source of inspiration and healing for you.

• Reading a good book is such a joy. Spread that joy around. Send a letter via the publisher to the author or the editor. Write a mini-review and post it where the book is described at one of the online bookstores such as Amazon.com, BarnesandNoble.com, or Borders.com.

• Finally, when you get together with people, talk about what you are reading. Demonstrate your love by passing on a book that is special to you. One of the very best ways to make reading sacred is to use it to create deeper connections with your family, friends, and community.

What is NLP??

2009-04-12T16:27:00.000-07:00

Let one of the big names tell you about it...
Robert Dilts with you...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MCEFD4a6524
Warmly
Jamie and Laura

Educating for the future – according to the experts.

2009-02-04T01:48:00.000-08:00

Alvin Toffler

A very interesting article was published in the supplement of La Nación newspaper of 1 February in which Alvin Toffler, futurologist and expert in social and cultural trends, talked about the world which is coming. The author of Future Shock and the Third Wave, among other books, spoke about the underground tendencies that give direction to mankind and its future on this planet. He explained that we are in the middle of a shift on Earth from societies which evolved as a result of the Industrial Revolution, societies based on the production line, on the mass migration to big urban centres, to the rise of corporations and to the prevalence of bureaucracy. The change is towards a post-industrial model of society, which he calls “The Third Wave” and which he insists will not emerge in a linear or systematic fashion. Moreover, the fact that some present societies are still adjusting from the agrarian societies of the First Wave to the industrial ones means that having then to suddenly incorporate concepts from the new model will make the transition less than easy.

Throughout the article Toffler emphasises the role of education in society and says that countries will have to reform their education systems to prepare students for the changes in work and society that have already arrived and will be occuring with increasing speed. He says that the educational models in the world have been those which gave students the tools to work in factory-like conditions and were based on the assembly line technique. He states that this model is no longer applicable either to the sorts of work and roles humans will fulfil in the future or to the needs and interests of children whose access to the world has been exponentially widened with the advent of the Internet. Schools, he feels, will have to blend what students need to learn in school (such as basic tools for learning) with what they can pick up online. The focus will be on developing skills and abilities which will be at the forefront of demand from future employers. Among these skills are the ability to assimmilate information, adaptability to change and the skill of taking quick decisions.

He envisages schools that stay will open 24 hours a day and have curricula that span across different disciplines and meet both the needs of each student and the businesses or employers who will hire them once they finish their schooling. He says that not only teachers will teach the students but also there will be much more interaction with experts in different fields who will come into school and show the students what they do and how they work in their field.

Has this new system of schooling been introduced anywhere? Toffler says with some evident regret that it has not been adopted by any country. He says many of the developing countries are either too busy integrating into the industrialised world or have not come to grips with the new realities in the world. He also suggests that teachers’ organisations are resistant to many such changes for fear of losing their jobs. Meanwhile, the changes are accelerating and students are finding that more and more of the skills they need are currently to be found outside the educational system.

Toffler interview: http://www.lanacion.com.ar/nota.asp?nota_id=1093953

Or http://yaerahoraenlaradio.blogspot.com/2009/02/el-profeta-del-manana-alvin-toffler.html

Howard Gardner’s latest book is on the “Five Minds of the Future”. In it he decribes the five cognitive skills that will be in greatest demand in coming years.
The first is the disciplined mind which needs to be learnt in school as you master the different academic disciplines. Then there is the synthesising mind which sorts out what is important from the information in a particular area, makes sense of it and can convey it to others. Third is the creative mind which helps us to innovate and make meaningful change.
The two other minds that will need nurturing in school are the respectful mind, which Gardner stresses goes beyond simply tolerating the other to cultivating respect, emotional and interpersonal intelligence to help us live in societies which contain a diversity of perspective and the ethical mind. This fifth mind is a more abstract and reflective mind which allows us to take a step back and assess our behavious in the light of our ethics and responsibilities.

More on Gardner’s latest work can be found at the following sites:

RSA lecture on the subject
http://www.teachers.tv/video/5452

Radio interview on subject http://wamu.org/programs/dr/07/07/19.php

Podcast
http://www.brr.com.au/event/1ACD/60122/27697/wmp/e39dcpuj7c

Howard Gardner (2007). Five minds for the future. Harvard Business School Press: Cambridge, MA.

February Courses - last places!

2009-02-01T07:33:00.000-08:00

RT WEEK 2009

February 09 – 12

A rich selection of workshops to develop teaching and learning skills!

Workshop outlines

RT WEEK

2009

Monday 09 February

Tuesday 10

February

Wednesday11

February

Thursday 12

February

9 to 12

Upping the ante! -

more advanced language!

A brand new workshop on the latest in native speaker use.

Creating the person you want to be

From a basis of the ontology of language, we look at how we can achieve the results we want in our professional and personal life.

The secret to inner drive and stamina

How we can enhance the motivation and enthusiasm of our students.

Transforming authentic material

Using models and ideas from the media and internet as springboards for language acquisition and practice.

L u n c h

14 to 17

Neuroscience

in action!

Ways to maximise learning and the acquisition of language based on the discoveries of neuroscience research

Let’s take a swipe! Yet more advanced language

A knowledge of culture can help us to understand subtle differences in the meaning of familiar words and expressions.

Observer or Doer?

How to use some simple NLP techniques to start becoming the protagonist of

one’s dreams.

Boosting motivation and creativity through drama

An array of ideas that will inspire even the laziest and least artistic students.

Enrolment

Each workshop lasts three hours. AM: 9.00 - 12.00 PM: 14.00 - 17.00.

Venue: Gallardo 719, Versailles, Capital Federal.

Please enrol by phoning (005411) 4641-9068 or by e-mail: rtcourses@resourcefulteaching.com.ar

jamiearg@gmail.com or lauraszmuch@gmail.com

There are limited vacancies per workshop. Enrolment is only guaranteed by payment of fee.

Curso de Programación Neurolingüística

A cargo de: Resourceful Teaching

Directores: Laura Szmuch - Jamie Duncan

El curso intensivo comprenderá los módulos 1 a 6, y se dictará los días 9 a 14 de febrero de 2009. El curso equivale a los primeros seis módulos del curso Practitioner en PNL, para seguir siendo cursado durante el año, una vez por mes.

Módulos y temas a cubrir:

Conociéndonos más y mejorando nuestra comunicación

Canales sensoriales

Lenguaje preciso

Anclajes

Descubriendo los recursos internos

Concientizándonos de los mundos internos de nuestros alumnos y respondiendo a sus programas mentales.

Docentes a cargo del curso:

Laura Szmuch- Lilly Spillman- Jamie Duncan

¿Qué es la PNL?

La Programación Neurolingüística es una serie de principios, actitudes y técnicas que nos permiten lograr el máximo de nuestras potencialidades. La PNL describe la dinámica entre la mente (neuro), el lenguaje (lingüística) y cómo ellos influyen en nuestras decisiones y conductas. Comenzó en Estados Unidos en la década del 70 con Bandler y Grinder quienes exploraron cómo modelar excelencia en el campo terapéutico.

La PNL está siendo utilizada actualmente como entrenamiento de habilidades comunicativas en las empresas con maravillosos resultados. También en el campo del deporte y salud. Aplicada a la educación, es una herramienta espectacular para que el aprendizaje fluya en forma natural, y también en casos donde ciertos bloqueos emocionales o intelectuales impiden el normal desarrollo del proceso de aprendizaje. La utilización de las técnicas de PNL aceleran el logro de objetivos, ayudando a los alumnos a alcanzar metas que ellos mismos fijan en forma altamente eficaz.

Los resultados de la aplicación de la PNL a las clases son espectaculares, ya que combinan el trabajo del docente que sabe cómo aprende cada persona en particular y adapta su metodología de acuerdo a esto, con un alto nivel de motivación por parte del alumno. De esta manera se intensifica la capacidad innata que tenemos TODOS los seres humanos de aprender cosas nuevas, y, sobre todo,

¡disfrutar el proceso!

(adaptado del libro:Aprendiendo inglés y disfrutando el proceso de Laura Szmuch, Ed. Dunken)

Para más información: lauraszmuch@gmail.com

En febrero… ¡el curso que estabas buscando!

Curso de presentaciones eficaces

16-19 de febrero

En este intensivo de cuatro días para educadores, coaches, counsellors y todo aquel que habla en público, cubriremos tanto teoría como práctica para maximizar tu potencial como presentador efectivo.

Preparación de tu presentación - diferentes estilos y posibilidades.
Nutriendo la voz
Cómo redactor propuestas para congresos y otros eventos
Comunicándonos con diferentes tipos de audiencias
Conociendo y preparándote para un determinado tipo de público
Manejo de la tecnología
Cómo manejar situaciones inesperadas y situaciones temidas
Cómo optimizar tus estados internos
Movimientos y gestos
Uso del espacio
Uso del humor
Compartiendo el scenario
Entre otros…

Presentaciones eficaces

Temario

Objetivos de las presentaciones
Tipos de presentaciones (definición y distinciones)
El presentador efectivo y no efectivo
Aspectos de una buena presentación
Adquisición de recursos
Cómo escribir una biodata
Trabajo sobre la voz y la respiración
Llamados a ponencias
Propuestas para congresos
Material impreso para participantes
Preparación de la presentación: objetivos, selección de material, manejo de tiempos, pasos
Canales sensoriales, hemisferios derecho e izquierdo
Material durante la presentación: cuadernillos, powerpoint, etc
Presentaciones individuales o conjuntas
Diferentes tipos de audiencias
Trabajo interno sobre inseguridades en el escenario
Manejo del espacio, movimientos, gestos, contacto visual, lenguaje verbal y no verbal
Manejo de la tecnología
El uso del humor
Manejo de estados internos

El curso dura cuatro días. Tiene muchísima práctica, y, sobre todo, trabajo sobre uno mismo, percepciones, creencias, postura corporal, uso apropiado de la voz.

Ideal para docentes, coaches, counsellors, presentadores en congresos, talleristas, estudiantes, y todo aquel que en algún momento tiene que hablar delante de un público.
Fechas: 16-19 Febrero 9.00 – 17.00

Para más informes o para registrar:

cursospnl.laura@gmail.com

jamie@resourcefulteaching.com.ar

Creativity (Tony Buzan)

2008-12-09T05:13:00.000-08:00

A video worth watching:

http://www.teachers.tv/video/5082

Last session of Keeping your English Alive

2008-11-11T07:22:00.000-08:00

Friday 14 November – Creative Writing for you

Writing creatively is an excellent way to expand and develop our language and a means of expressing ourselves. In this session we will practice a variety of great ideas you can use for your own pleasure or in class.

To confirm your attendance
send me an e-mail lauraszmuch@gmail.com

The rights of the reader

2008-10-13T16:34:00.000-07:00

This poster, based on a manifesto by French writer and teacher Daniel Pennac, has been a very popular talking point among educators and librarians around the world.
Josh Lacey in his review for the Guardian Books Review explains how Pennac describes the process of wanting to read and the reasons that we read or don’t choose to read. The main point Pennac makes is that people read because they want to and because it gives them pleasure. There are ways, he suggests, of coaxing people into reading as he has done with reluctant adolescent students. Among the techniques he uses is to read aloud to them to seduce them into the story and also to choose books that are not on the syllabus.
If you think there is something familiar about the poster, Quentin Blake illustrated the Roald Dahl books.

Reviews: http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2006/oct/28/featuresreviews.guardianreview28
http://www.bostonbibliophile.com/2008/09/review-rights-of-reader-by-daniel.html

Keeping your English Alive for teachers!

2008-09-30T03:51:00.000-07:00

5th session!!

6 sessions of language discovery and practice held in small groups and designed to give you lots of opportunities to use and develop your English in a fun way.

Fridays 18.30 – 20.30
Versailles, Capital Federal

Friday 10 October – Absolutely, positively postmodern!

What are the clichés and set phrases that native speakers are using these days? Do we know what they actually mean? How do they help conversation flow?

For more information or enrolment please contact lauraszmuch@gmail.com

Teacher`s Day and what it means to be a teacher

2008-09-18T04:26:00.000-07:00

In Argentina it is customary to set aside days to remember and celebrate certain people or professions. We have the universally recognised Mother's Day and Father's Day and there are days for secretaries, newspaper vendors, architects, journalists, students and the different levels of teachers and lecturers. Apart from giving us an excuse to bring a cake to class or to receive presents, and also the possibility of having a holiday, teachers often email each other to wish their colleagues a happy day - all of which is a great display of solidarity. But in a year in which the profile of teachers has been more present than ever in the media due to acts of aggression against them in Argentine schools and strikes for higher wages and better conditions, do we really stop to reflect on what being a teacher means and implies?

Even if the practical steps to help teachers in their work are not always forthcoming, there is little doubt that in the world, teaching is still regarded as a respected profession and there is a recognition of how important a role teachers play in society. We know that this may not translate readily into the sort of support and remuneration that many teachers would like, but the acknowledgement of the job teachers do, at least exists.

While we may not be able to immediately shape the thinking of others as to our role in today’s society, we can clarify our own perception of our work. How many of us as teachers are fully clear as to our importance? Apart from teaching the subject we do, do we remember that we are also teaching by our sheer presence in the classroom, through our behaviour, the model of a person we display in what we say, think and do in front of our ‘audience’?

Teaching is a very public profession. We have many eyes on us constantly. It is a profession which demands responsibility and commitment. We teachers are a significant part of our students’ lives simply by being present and are very often instrumental in their future development.

Therefore, to do our job effectively, it is not only important to know our subject area, to be able to communicate well and to be able to create the conditions for learning in our students, but also to be human beings who act with thoughtfulness, discernment and from the basis of positive moral values.

Then, we can feel that we are working to be the best teacher that we can and celebrate that fact. Then, we have the criteria to show the rest of society that who we are and what we are doing deserves a high degree of recognition. Then we know that we are living up to the faith and trust placed in us.

When we do our job in this way, which any professional should do, we get the rewards and gratitude that we have no doubt been receiving in the last few days. We also provide the foundation upon which the merit of our work can be evaluated and, if necessary, revalued.

Presentaciones eficaces, en febrero 2009

2008-09-16T09:58:00.000-07:00

Curso intensivo PNL febrero 2009

2008-09-16T09:55:00.000-07:00

Books on NLP- part 1

2008-09-11T10:38:00.000-07:00

Books on NLP – part one

In one of our plenaries at the Conference, we listed a number of books written on the application of NLP to educational contexts or books which have had an influence on the classroom. Unfortunately for us in Argentina, many of the books, especially those in English are not available here or ceased to be so after the devaluation at the end of 2001. Of course, these books can be ordered online from suppliers like Amazon and Barnes and Noble. Another option is to get the books when travelling or ask a friend overseas to purchase them. This can work well, however NLP books are still quite specialist and there is no guarantee that they will be found readily in any bookshop. A good policy is to do some research online first and maybe even e-mail a bookshop where you are going to get them to order the book so they have it when you arrive.

Some books are available from the author directly (Michael Grinder http://www.michaelgrinder.com/ , Jane Revell http://www.janerevell.com/jane/books.shtml ) and may be more difficult to obtain elsewhere. In this case, dealing with them directly is the best option.

And what about translations? So far, mainly books about NLP generally or their use in business contexts have been translated into Spanish and those bookstores that specialise in self-help books are likely to have a good selection or be able to get hold of them.

Now, an increasing number of texts are being written by Spanish speakers as well and are highly recommendable. As yet, not so many tackle education directly but this will surely change over the next few years.

In this series, we will mention some of the more important NLP books….

One author that is readily translated into Spanish and may also be available in some places in English is Joseph O'Connor.

He and John Seymour wrote Introducing NLP, (available in translation) which gives a good overview of the topic. His more recent books An Introduction to NLP with Ian McDermott and NLP Workbook also give a good basis to NLP. Among other books by this prolific author are Training with NLP, Leading with NLP and The Art of Systems Thinking.

Jazmin Sambrano is a Venezuelan author who has books based on NLP like Superaprendizaje and PNL para todos and El placer de Aprender a Aprender. Her books are available in Argentina

Ten Years of NLP and working with teachers

2008-09-11T10:37:00.001-07:00

Ten years of NLP and working with teachers

So, what have we been doing for the last ten years in Buenos Aires with NLP?

Those of you who have followed us over the years will know that we have been working with many different aspects of teachers work, helping them to become more efficient, creative and successful both in their personal and professional lives.

Apart from teaching the basics of NLP at Practitioner and Master Practitioner level, we have given many talks on workshops both nationally and internationally on topics such as: managing change, really listening, the map is not the territory, being a successful coordinator, leading with values, the help of a coach, time management, creativity, learning styles, motivation, beliefs, reaching all our students and many, many others, a list of which can be found on our website www.resourcefulteaching.com.ar

We have also run courses on presentation skills, language using techniques of NLP and other wonderful topics related to personal and professional growth, always ensuring that those attending have acquired abilities beyond mere information.

When we celebrated our tenth anniversary, and in fact, this is a whole year of celebration, we had meetings with lots of our students and former students and we evaluated the ways NLP had helped them to improve and develop both their teaching and presenting skills and their skills of coordinating.

NLP offers both information and deep learning, learning in the muscle, and we do that by working not only with recipes for success, but also with the inner landscape of our minds.

What do we do in our minds to be able to take action in this way or in another?

The most important technique and objective in NLP is that of Modelling, which is learning from those who do things well, with a high level of excellence. In many cases our students have directly modelled the skills of another person so as to be able to achieve their dreams and get what had previously seemed unobtainable.

We are always delighted to get your feedback as regards HOW you put these ideas into practice. It is very rewarding and motivating for us to hear that such and such tip or topic we dealt with, we don't know how many years ago, triggered a very positive change in your careers and life… when someone tells us, "Oh, after that session I decided to open my own institute", or "I decided to go back to University", or "I noticed what I had to do to make my institute grow" we feel we have done a good job.

We are not interested in telling people WHAT to do, but in showing a different perspective, another way to see a situation, and in this way helping them find how to do something differently and get the results they want.

NLP works with the deep structure and the surface structure at the same time.

What do we mean by this?

The N of Neuro makes sure the information gets both to the right and to the left hemisphere of your brain, that it is processed multisensorily, therefore we pay a lot of attention to how we use our senses.

The L of linguistic is connected with both verbal and non-verbal language, with conscious and non- conscious messages that we might be sending without realizing.

And the P of Programming refers to the habits, routines, assumptions, and beliefs that drive our behaviour. The software of our minds.

You already know that if we know ourselves better we have more chances to communicate with others more efficiently, achieve our goals and make a contribution to the world.

If you have started learning NLP already, you know what we are talking about. And we say "started", because the wonderful thing about it is that we never stop learning.

If this is your first approach, or one of your first encounters with NLP, one of the things you are going to love about it is that things become easier, clearer, and we get wonderful results pretty fast.

And, as we have said before, it is not a question of just reading or listening to us. It is a question of putting things into practice, "living" the knowledge.

The sooner you start, the easier it becomes. The sooner you see results.

People who have already decided to take the reins of their own growth, both in their personal and their professional lives, are a fantastic example that shows us that everything is possible if we take the appropriate steps to achieve it.

Watching the Olympics...

2008-08-13T06:38:00.000-07:00

Watching the Olympics as a Spiritual Practice
By Frederic and Mary Ann Brussat
from www.spiritualityandpractice.com

August 8, 2008: The Olympic Games are underway in Beijing, China. Millions from around the world will watch the televised events in 34 sports, cheering for the winners from their living rooms. Rather than focusing on the competition itself, we'll be remembering the values promulgated in 1903 by Baron Pierre de Coubertin (1863 -1937), founder of the modern Games: "The most important thing in the Olympic Games is not to win but to take part, just as the most important thing in life is not the triumph but the struggle. The essential thing is not to have conquered but to have fought well."

To honor dimensions of the Olympics beyond the competition itself, we've come up with some spiritual practices based on the Alphabet of Spiritual Literacy.

Here are some ways to make watching the Olympics into a spiritual practice.

• Pay attention to all the small details of an event including the efforts of the athletes to get ready or to calm down, the noise of the crowd, the environmental factors, and whatever else that you notice.
• Savor the beauty of exceptional speed, rhythm, balance, or strength. As former basketball star Bill Russell put it: "My own view is that athletics is an art form. As a fan I watch in the same way that I imagine an art connoisseur studies a painting."
• Be present as you watch each event. Realize that you are meant to be watching at this very moment. Don't multitask. Don't allow yourself to be distracted.
• Notice the connections between what is happening at the Games and what has happened or is happening in your own life. Have you ever participated in an athletic competition? Recall how you felt. Have you felt the thrill of victory or the agony of defeat in sports or outside of them? When and where? • Show your enthusiasm for the athletes' quests for excellence. Notice how the crowds in Beijing react to the events and act as if you were there in person.
• Notice all the expressions of gratitude at the games. When you hear an athlete thanking a coach or a team member, do the same for someone who has had an influence upon your life.
• Practice hospitality to all the athletes from the different countries. Try to learn a little about where some of your favorites come from.
• Make a conscious effort to be joyful for all the participants and not just for those from your country.
• Keep a diary or journal close at hand to record moments of meaning, especially honest expressions of surprise or disappointment. Notice which of your own emotions come to the fore as you watch the Games.
• A large part of the pleasure of sports is observing the athletes' enjoyment of play. Let them re-introduce you to this childlike state of being as you watch the Games.
• Regard these well-trained athletes as spiritual teachers who are exemplars of perseverance, discipline, and regular exercise. Make a commitment to care for your body during and after the Games.
• Notice and cherish the unity that is essential to teamwork in certain events. Call or write someone on your "team" and express your appreciation for your special relationship.
• Tune in to those events which most arouse you sense of wonder. What is it about them that brings about this response?
• Remember that for most participants, the Olympic Games are bigger than other sports events. Still, no matter how well each athlete has trained, anything can happen and the smallest detail can make all the difference. Respect the X factor mystery.
• Find a way to honor the yearning that has brought these men and women to the Olympic Games. Try to imagine the dreams which have been part of their everyday activities up to this moment. Dream big yourself.
• The spiritual practice of zeal means to be fully aroused by life. Irenaeus stated: "The glory of God is the human person fully alive." Keep track of those athletes who demonstrate this quality and write about them in your journal or diary. Then reflect upon what makes you feel fully alive and engage in it during the day.

Updated RT Conference speaker list

2008-06-01T17:48:00.000-07:00

FIRST LATINAMERICAN BILINGUAL CONFERENCE OF NEUROLINGUISTIC PROGRAMMING IN EDUCATION

AUGUST 8-9 2008

Instituto Santa Ana y San Joaquín

Olazábal 1440

Belgrano

Buenos Aires

Sessions in English

Susana Carballo - From other people's gardens: How NLP authors helped me improve my teaching skills
Gladys Contrafatto - NLP and Cooperative Learning
Silvana Fiorito, Laura Gallina – Circle Time: A Tool in Staff Meetings
Natalia Haller - I believe in learning adults!
Matilde Machiavello - Multisensory stories
María Teresa Manteo - Art, Cognition and NLP
Gabriela Properzi - Class Management
Patricia Ribot, Ana María Cerdá - NLP and exam preparation?
Lilly Spillman - Metaphors: The Resources Are Within Us

And just added…..

Patricia Brisindi - In-Company Teaching
Gonzalo J. Camp and Pablo Scoponi – "I know all about VAK… Now, what?"

Sessions in English

Susana Carballo - From other people's gardens: How NLP authors helped me improve my teaching skills

In this workshop I intend to share with my colleagues my experience in teaching English to executives in companies using NLP. I will explain how I use NLP for teaching English and
how I use readings from NLP authors to help students develop as professionals and as human beings.

Gladys Contrafatto - NLP and Cooperative Learning

I would like to share my experience in the use of COOPERATIVE LEARNING in the classroom because I have discovered that NLP is highly present in this methodology.
I believe that by means of Cooperative learning we prepare students for a world that increasingly demands highly developed social skills to deal with greater economic and social interdependence. To succeed, students must learn to communicate and work well with others within a full range of social situations, how to value differences and to become aware of how the use of language makes sense of their experience and how they communicate that experience to others.

Silvana Fiorito, Laura Gallina – Circle Time: A Tool in Staff Meetings
This talk is for teachers and coordinators interested in their own personal and professional development. It will open channels to understand themselves and the people they are working with and for. NLP presuppositions, the VAK, NLP models and techniques such as Life levels, Timelines and Perceptual positions are present in Circle Time depending on its aim. We also include stories, metaphors and songs to bridge gaps between the heart and the mind.

Natalia Haller - I believe in learning adults!
You've got the class planned, the materials and everything set for your grown up students... now, what's ON YOUR MIND? Do you really believe adults can learn or are you a little suspicious?????? In this workshop we'll look into why our beliefs as teachers do have a great impact on learners.

Matilde Machiavello - Multisensory stories

It is my aim to present some of the tools NLP offers to those who have never heard or experienced them, as well as to illustrate through the experience, the range of possibilities to improve communication among students, teachers and peers. By means of stories told, heard, created and recreated, the participants will get a deep insight into the basic NLP presuppositions that will surely open a window through which they will be able to perceive a brand new perspective, and encourage them to move onto their own path of discovery.

María Teresa Manteo - Art, Cognition and NLP

Through art- whatever shape it takes- we can activate abstract thinking skills such as questioning, connecting and synthesis. On the other hand, art offers attractive pathways to engage children in sensory rich contexts, where imagination and ideas run freely facilitating the flow of cognitive quests. NLP is the bridge between these two worlds. Careful messages prepare the mind and the soul to indulge in processes that trigger associations and allow ideas to germinate. Finding the right words to show the way is an art in itself - and this presentation will attempt to explore the kaleidoscope where ideas, color and sound meld to help create mosaics of thought in empowering circles of cognition.

Gabriela Properzi - Class Management

In the workshop I will refer to Classroom Management, the steps a teacher can follow to make the students' profile and integrate contents and learning in a learner centered approach. NLP tools and principles will be used to work more effectively.

Patricia Ribot, Ana María Cerdá - NLP and exam preparation?

This presentation aims at sharing with other teachers of English where, when and how to use some NLP strategies and techniques with those students who have decided to sit for a Cambridge Exam and are willing to be relaxed, confident and fluent in the Speaking Paper.

Lilly Spillman - Metaphors: The Resources Are Within Us

The rich vocabulary used in Pablo Neruda’s Ode to the Sea is by all means appealing to the listener’s representational styles: Visual, Auditory and Kinesthetic. Going through its symbolic language, the participants will explore how Metaphors work at all sorts of levels and can be used in a most beneficial way both inside and outside the language classroom.

Patricia Brisindi - In-Company Teaching

NLP gives us all the necessary resources for pre-course evaluation of adults, as well as the tools to make the learning experience effective and meaningful, thus relieving the teacher of the burden to follow a certain type of methodology and feeling like a "sinner" when they try to innovate or rather use an older method. The students who learn under these beliefs, get to know themselves better and therefore ask for what they need.

Gonzalo J. Camp and Pablo Scoponi – "I know all about VAK… Now, what?"

In this workshop, we will deal with ways of adapting activities to cater for VAK in your classrooms. How often do you deviate from the course book? Why? Why not? Come and learn creative and memorable activities that will help you enhance your teaching in order to reach all your students' needs.

Presentaciones en castellano

Lucila Barbero de Bermúdez - Posiciones Preceptuales: "Ponerse en el lugar del otro"
Graciela Daglio, Belén González – van a hablar sobre el aprendizaje y las neurociencias
Marisa D'Alessandro - Cambia la forma de ver las cosas y cambiarás las cosas que ves
Rosana M. Fernández Coto - Desarrollando la respons-habilidad emocional
Amalia Maine - Aquí y Ahora - La Celebración de una decisión.
Graciela Marchetti, Gustavo Paz - Creencias Limitantes: ¿Victimas o Protagonistas de nuestra vida?
Maria Herminia Cacheiro - “La Princesa que creía en los cuentos de hadas”: Cómo las creencias modelan las expectativas y potencian o limitan las capacidades y comportamientos. (Un enfoque desde la Programación Neuro-Lingüística)

Y nuevas agregadas….

Elsa Bengardino - Líneas de tiempo: cómo vernos a futuro haciendo algo que hoy creemos imposible
Raquel Guterman - El docente, un líder de equipos en el aula.

Presentaciones en castellano

Lucila Barbero de Bermúdez - Posiciones Preceptuales: "Ponerse en el lugar del otro"
Muchas veces escuchamos decir esa frase, pero ¿qué significa realmente? En este taller vamos a conocer las distintas posiciones desde las cuales podemos percibir los hechos, y entender como cambian los significados de la comunicación cada vez que variamos el lugar en el que nos ubicamos.

Graciela Daglio, Belén González – van a hablar sobre el aprendizaje y las neurociencias

La neurociencias nos están informando sobre el modo en que el cerebro aprende naturalmente y socializar estos resultados nos puede orientar a tomar mejores decisiones en el aula, creando las condiciones para una enseñanza balanceada, variada, apelando a los distintos estilos de aprendizaje de nuestros alumnos, contextualizada, vivencial, inclusiva, donde todas las funciones de ambos hemisferios cerebrales se despierten y aceleren con el aprendizaje.
Las recientes investigaciones y resultados de las neurociencias relacionadas al modo en que aprendemos mejor y la PNL nos ofrecen prácticas estrategias para incrementar la motivación, atención, recuerdo, comprensión y significación.
Este taller aborda el proceso de aprendizaje a través de un conjunto de principios que reconocen como opera y como aprendemos más eficientemente y sugiere estrategias que nos orienten a tomar mejores decisiones sobre el proceso de aprendizaje y enseñanza.

Marisa D'Alessandro - Cambia la forma de ver las cosas y cambiarás las cosas que ves

¿Lo que vemos, lo que sentimos, lo que escuchamos, todo cuanto nos rodea es igual para todos? ¿Qué sucede cuando observamos la misma realidad desde diferentes ángulos? ¿Somos capaces de reconocer que puede haber otros puntos de vista? Si ampliamos el marco de nuestra mirada cambia la perspectiva de la misma. El reencuadre nos da la posibilidad de corrernos unos pasos y llegar a entender mejor a ese alumno imposible, a esos padres imcomprensibles, a esos compañeros tan cerrados, a esos directivos tan testarudos y , por qué no, a nosotros mismos...
Ya lo dijo Marcel Proust hace tiempo "no es cuestión de cambiar el paisaje, sino de mirarlo con otros ojos"...

Rosana M. Fernández Coto - Desarrollando la respons-habilidad emocional

Según Daniel Goleman, el autor del libro La inteligencia emocional, todas nuestras inteligencias y habilidades son amorales (neutras), lo que significa que las podemos poner al servicio de propósitos destructivos o constructivos, según nuestro grado de alfabetismo emocional. Nuestro cociente emocional es el que determina qué uso le damos a nuestras otras inteligencias.
¿Cuántas veces vemos gente con un alto C.I. y que, sin embargo, fracasa en su vida profesional y personal? Más aún, ¿Cuántas veces vemos personas inteligentes reaccionando de forma agresiva y destructiva?
El alfabetismo emocional nos permite manejar nuestras inteligencias en forma positiva lo que nos lleva no sólo al logro de la felicidad individual (mediante el autoconocimiento y la posibilidad de resistir impulsos emocionales) sino también a contribuir al bienestar general ya que desarrolla las competencias sociales como la empatía, y la influencia social.

Amalia Maine - Aquí y Ahora - La Celebración de una decisión.

Un taller donde los participantes exploran conceptos sobre el tiempo cronológico y sus percepciones; toman conciencia del momento presente como único e irrepetible desde el cual se pueden tomar decisiones acerca de cómo vivirlo (en la temporalidad desde la intemporalidad.)

Como seres humanos que desarrollan diferentes roles en diferentes lugares, por momentos, podemos percibir que el tiempo es insuficiente.
Como educadores involucrados en el proceso de formación de nuestros alumnos, por momentos, podemos sentir que la falta de tiempo es un obstáculo para concretar los objetivos planteados.

Con el advenimiento de la Programación Neurolingüística, la auto-observación y el auto-conocimiento que surgen de la presencia testigo toman dimensiones de significativa importancia. Nos permiten “adueñarnos” del momento presente. Así, cuerpo y mente, más conscientes y congruentes, nos invitan a vivir el Aquí y Ahora de la mejor manera posible.

Graciela Marchetti, Gustavo Paz - Creencias Limitantes: ¿Victimas o Protagonistas de nuestra vida?

Cuando pensamos que no tenemos ninguna influencia sobre el resultado de nuestras acciones y que solo dependen de los demás nos convertimos en victimas de nuestro propio destino. Esta manera de actuar nos impide tomar las riendas de nuestras conductas y convertirnos en protagonistas de nuestra propia vida.
El objetivo de este taller es demostrar que esta manera de pensar incluye creencias limitantes o ideas que tomamos como verdad para emplearlas como base para nuestras acciones diarias. El ser capaces de reconocer las creencias limitantes que utilizamos nos permite cambiarlas por creencias facilitadoras que nos ayudan a llegar a nuestras metas o lograr nuestros objetivos.

Maria Herminia Cacheiro - “La Princesa que creía en los cuentos de hadas”: Cómo las creencias modelan las expectativas y potencian o limitan las capacidades y comportamientos. (Un enfoque desde la Programación Neuro-Lingüística)

El entorno escolar es campo fértil para el crecimiento de creencias potenciadoras en el niño y una de las creencias potenciadoras más necesarias para todas las personas, especialmente en el ámbito docente, es “puedo aprender”, ya que no podremos lograr un objetivo si no tenemos la creencia de que el mismo es posible. Esta creencia transforma a este objetivo en algo muy valioso y, cuando damos un valor a algo que no tenemos, ya sea un conocimiento o una habilidad, y además creemos que podemos adquirirlo, lo logramos, ya que las creencias y los valores son el combustible de la motivación. En un entorno escolar adecuado y motivante, ante una cantidad suficiente de experiencias de aprendizaje, el alumno va a adquirir las capacidades necesarias y éstas se van a reflejar en su comportamiento. Asimismo, al contar con el feedback adecuado por parte del docente (cómo le dice lo que le dice), todos estos “niveles lógicos” se alinean, y se va conformando así una creencia potenciadora: “yo puedo”.

En base a lo antedicho, se analiza “La princesa que creía en los cuentos de hadas” de Marcia Grad.

Elsa Bengardino - Líneas de tiempo: cómo vernos a futuro haciendo algo que hoy creemos imposible

Con frecuencia escuchamos frases tales como: "Nunca voy a poder escribir una buena historia", "La matemática no es para mí", "Jamás voy a recordar una fecha histórica", "Veo una computadora y salgo corriendo", "¿Reglas ortográficas, tiempos verbales? ¡imposible!", que no hacen más que exteriorizar las limitaciones que nos impiden utilizar al máximo nuestros recursos internos. El trabajo con líneas de tiempo nos ayuda a levantar estas barreras para que en el futuro no perdamos el tren del conocimiento de aquello para lo que hasta hoy creíamos no tener habilidades y trasladarlo a nuestros alumnos.

Raquel Guterman - El docente, un líder de equipos en el aula.

¿Qué es un equipo y quién es su líder? Un equipo es un sistema, y en cualquier sistema, el elemento con mayor flexibilidad de pensamiento y comportamiento tendrá mayor influencia en tal sistema. Sin embargo, ser flexible requiere de un estado mental que produce los resultados que deseamos sin importar la situación en la que nos encontramos ni el contexto. Es posible alcanzar cualquier meta considerando que todos los recursos que necesitamos se encuentran dentro de nosotros. Aun así, a veces creamos limitaciones para nosotros mismos y los demás que obstaculizan el éxito o el logro de aquellas metas.

Este taller es un viaje a través de los niveles de creencias y valores en el cual podremos liberarnos de aquello que nos limita y desarrollar la flexibilidad necesaria para transformarnos en exitosos líderes, tanto en el aula como docentes o entre colegas como coordinadores.

Todos los recursos necesarios están dentro de nosotros, a través de visualizaciones, submodalidades y metáforas intentaremos descubrir esos recursos.

List of presenters in English and Spanish

2008-05-19T14:31:00.000-07:00

FIRST LATINAMERICAN BILINGUAL CONFERENCE OF NEUROLINGUISTIC PROGRAMMING IN EDUCATION

AUGUST 8-9 2008

Buenos Aires

Sessions in English
Susana Carballo - From other people's gardens: How NLP authors helped me improve my teaching skills
Gladys Contrafatto - NLP and Cooperative Learning
Silvana Fiorito, Laura Gallina – Circle Time: A Tool in Staff Meetings
Natalia Haller - I believe in learning adults!
Matilde Machiavello - Multisensory stories
María Teresa Manteo - Art, Cognition and NLP
Gabriela Properzi - Class Management
Patricia Ribot, Ana María Cerdá - NLP and exam preparation
Lilly Spillman - Metaphors: The Resources Are Within Us

Details

Susana Carballo - From other people's gardens: How NLP authors helped me improve my teaching skills

In this workshop I intend to share with my colleagues my experience in teaching English to executives in companies using NLP. I will explain how I use NLP for teaching English and
how I use readings from NLP authors to help students develop as professionals and as human beings.

Gladys Contrafatto - NLP and Cooperative Learning

I would like to share my experience in the use of COOPERATIVE LEARNING in the classroom because I have discovered that NLP is highly present in this methodology.
I believe that by means of Cooperative learning we prepare students for a world that increasingly demands highly developed social skills to deal with greater economic and social interdependence. To succeed, students must learn to communicate and work well with others within a full range of social situations, how to value differences and to become aware of how the use of language makes sense of their experience and how they communicate that experience to others.

Silvana Fiorito, Laura Gallina – Circle Time: A Tool in Staff Meetings
This talk is for teachers and coordinators interested in their own personal and professional development. It will open channels to understand themselves and the people they are working with and for. NLP presuppositions, the VAK, NLP models and techniques such as Life levels, Timelines and Perceptual positions are present in Circle Time depending on its aim. We also include stories, metaphors and songs to bridge gaps between the heart and the mind.

Matilde Machiavello - Multisensory stories
It is my aim to present some of the tools NLP offers to those who have never heard or experienced them, as well as to illustrate through the experience, the range of possibilities to improve communication among students, teachers and peers. By means of stories told, heard, created and recreated, the participants will get a deep insight into the basic NLP presuppositions that will surely open a window through which they will be able to perceive a brand new perspective, and encourage them to move onto their own path of discovery.

María Teresa Manteo - Art, Cognition and NLP

Through art- whatever shape it takes- we can activate abstract thinking skills such as questioning, connecting and synthesis. On the other hand, art offers attractive pathways to engage children in sensory rich contexts, where imagination and ideas run freely facilitating the flow of cognitive quests. NLP is the bridge between these two worlds. Careful messages prepare the mind and the soul to indulge in processes that trigger associations and allow ideas to germinate. Finding the right words to show the way is an art in itself - and this presentation will attempt to explore the kaleidoscope where ideas, color and sound meld to help create mosaics of thought in empowering circles of cognition.

Gabriela Properzi - Class Management

In the workshop I will refer to Classroom Management, the steps a teacher can follow to make the students' profile and integrate contents and learning in a learner centered approach. NLP tools and principles will be used to work more effectively.

Patricia Ribot, Ana María Cerdá - NLP and exam preparation

This presentation aims at sharing with other teachers of English where, when and how to use some NLP strategies and techniques with those students who have decided to sit for a Cambridge Exam and are willing to be relaxed, confident and fluent in the Speaking Paper.

Lilly Spillman - Metaphors: The Resources Are Within Us

The rich vocabulary used in Pablo Neruda’s Ode to the Sea is by all means appealing to the listener’s representational styles: Visual, Auditory and Kinesthetic. Going through its symbolic language, the participants will explore how Metaphors work at all sorts of levels and can be used in a most beneficial way both inside and outside the language classroom.

Presentaciones en castellano

Lucila Barbero de Bermúdez - Posiciones Preceptuales: "Ponerse en el lugar del otro"
Graciela Daglio, Belén González – El aula compatible con el cerebro
Marisa D'Alessandro - Cambia la forma de ver las cosas y cambiarás las cosas que ves
Rosana M. Fernández Coto - Desarrollando la respons-habilidad emocional
Amalia Maine - Aquí y Ahora - La Celebración de una decisión.
Graciela Marchetti, Gustavo Paz - Creencias Limitantes: ¿Victimas o Protagonistas de nuestra vida?

Presentaciones en castellano

Graciela Daglio, Belén González – El aula compatible con el cerebro

La neurociencias nos están informando sobre el modo en que el cerebro aprende naturalmente y socializar estos resultados nos puede orientar a tomar mejores decisiones en el aula, creando las condiciones para una enseñanza balanceada, variada, apelando a los distintos estilos de aprendizaje de nuestros alumnos, contextualizada, vivencial, inclusiva, donde todas las funciones de ambos hemisferios cerebrales se despierten y aceleren con el aprendizaje.
Las recientes investigaciones y resultados de las neurociencias relacionadas al modo en que aprendemos mejor y la PNL nos ofrecen prácticas estrategias para incrementar la motivación, atención, recuerdo, comprensión y significación.
Este taller aborda el proceso de aprendizaje a través de un conjunto de principios que reconocen como opera y como aprendemos más eficientemente y sugiere estrategias que nos orienten a tomar mejores decisiones sobre el proceso de aprendizaje y enseñanza.

Marisa D'Alessandro - Cambia la forma de ver las cosas y cambiarás las cosas que ves

¿Lo que vemos, lo que sentimos, lo que escuchamos, todo cuanto nos rodea es igual para todos? ¿Qué sucede cuando observamos la misma realidad desde diferentes ángulos? ¿Somos capaces de reconocer que puede haber otros puntos de vista? Si ampliamos el marco de nuestra mirada cambia la perspectiva de la misma. El reencuadre nos da la posibilidad de corrernos unos pasos y llegar a entender mejor a ese alumno imposible, a esos padres imcomprensibles, a esos compañeros tan cerrados, a esos directivos tan testarudos y , por qué no, a nosotros mismos...
Ya lo dijo Marcel Proust hace tiempo "no es cuestión de cambiar el paisaje, sino de mirarlo con otros ojos"...

Rosana M. Fernández Coto - Desarrollando la respons-habilidad emocional

Según Daniel Goleman, el autor del libro La inteligencia emocional, todas nuestras inteligencias y habilidades son amorales (neutras), lo que significa que las podemos poner al servicio de propósitos destructivos o constructivos, según nuestro grado de alfabetismo emocional. Nuestro cociente emocional es el que determina qué uso le damos a nuestras otras inteligencias.
¿Cuántas veces vemos gente con un alto C.I. y que, sin embargo, fracasa en su vida profesional y personal? Más aún, ¿Cuántas veces vemos personas inteligentes reaccionando de forma agresiva y destructiva?
El alfabetismo emocional nos permite manejar nuestras inteligencias en forma positiva lo que nos lleva no sólo al logro de la felicidad individual (mediante el autoconocimiento y la posibilidad de resistir impulsos emocionales) sino también a contribuir al bienestar general ya que desarrolla las competencias sociales como la empatía, y la influencia social.

Amalia Maine - Aquí y Ahora - La Celebración de una decisión.

Un taller donde los participantes exploran conceptos sobre el tiempo cronológico y sus percepciones; toman conciencia del momento presente como único e irrepetible desde el cual se pueden tomar decisiones acerca de cómo vivirlo (en la temporalidad desde la intemporalidad.)

Como seres humanos que desarrollan diferentes roles en diferentes lugares, por momentos, podemos percibir que el tiempo es insuficiente.
Como educadores involucrados en el proceso de formación de nuestros alumnos, por momentos, podemos sentir que la falta de tiempo es un obstáculo para concretar los objetivos planteados.

Con el advenimiento de la Programación Neurolingüística, la auto-observación y el auto-conocimiento que surgen de la presencia testigo toman dimensiones de significativa importancia. Nos permiten “adueñarnos” del momento presente. Así, cuerpo y mente, más conscientes y congruentes, nos invitan a vivir el Aquí y Ahora de la mejor manera posible.

Graciela Marchetti, Gustavo Paz - Creencias Limitantes: ¿Victimas o Protagonistas de nuestra vida?

Cuando pensamos que no tenemos ninguna influencia sobre el resultado de nuestras acciones y que solo dependen de los demás nos convertimos en victimas de nuestro propio destino. Esta manera de actuar nos impide tomar las riendas de nuestras conductas y convertirnos en protagonistas de nuestra propia vida.
El objetivo de este taller es demostrar que esta manera de pensar incluye creencias limitantes o ideas que tomamos como verdad para emplearlas como base para nuestras acciones diarias. El ser capaces de reconocer las creencias limitantes que utilizamos nos permite cambiarlas por creencias facilitadoras que nos ayudan a llegar a nuestras metas o lograr nuestros objetivos.

The Difference that Makes the Difference!

2008-05-19T09:30:00.000-07:00

FIRST LATINAMERICAN BILINGUAL CONFERENCE OF NEUROLINGUISTIC PROGRAMMING IN EDUCATION/
PRIMER CONGRESO LATINOAMERICANO BILINGÜE
DE PROGRAMACIÓN NEUROLINGÜÍSTICA
EN EDUCACIÓN

The difference that makes the difference!

AUGUST 8-9 2008

Buenos Aires

This conference also marks the tenth birthday of RT Resourceful Teaching, training teachers in NLP

We, Laura Szmuch and Jamie Duncan, are very happy to present this inaugural conference on NLP in Education which represents the fruit of our work over the last ten years.
Many of our former students will be presenting workshops and sessions at the event showing in just how many diverse ways aspects of Neuro Linguistic Programming can facilitate and enrich our work as teachers. These are practical applications of NLP, not merely descriptions of theory and we are sure that you will go away with lots of simple and effective ideas for you to try out in your teaching and with a taste to learn more.
We are also happy to include presentations from other teachers whose work combines perfectly with the philosophy of NLP, which is based on facilitating the path to excellence.
Another important feature of this event is that it is taking place in Latin America and shows that we do not need to be in the USA or Europe to be able to develop our own ways of using this excellent tool. The workshops you are going to see are born out of the needs that teachers had to find solutions to challenges in their own classrooms or simply to fine tune and enhance their teaching. The fact that we have such a variety of fascinating topics among the list of sessions speaks volumes for the creativity and commitment of the teachers concerned. All home-grown!

We therefore extend a warm invitation to you to come to the conference and discover the world of NLP and the many marvelous ways that it can help us teach and learn and thereby help our students more.

Laura Szmuch and Jamie Duncan
Trainers in NLP

RT Conference Speakers

2008-05-18T17:51:00.000-07:00

We are pleased to announce the first group of speakers at the RT Conference on NLP in Education to be held on 8 and 9 August.

These are the sessions in English to date:
Susana Carballo - From other people's gardens: How NLP authors helped me improve my teaching skills

In this workshop I intend to share with my colleagues my experience in teaching English to executives in companies using NLP. I will explain how I use NLP for teaching English and
how I use readings from NLP authors to help students develop as professionals and as human beings.

Gladys Contrafatto - NLP and Cooperative Learning

I would like to share my experience in the use of COOPERATIVE LEARNING in the classroom because I have discovered that NLP is highly present in this methodology.
I believe that by means of Cooperative learning we prepare students for a world that increasingly demands highly developed social skills to deal with greater economic and social interdependence. To succeed, students must learn to communicate and work well with others within a full range of social situations, how to value differences and to become aware of how the use of language makes sense of their experience and how they communicate that experience to others.

Silvana Fiorito, Laura Gallina – Circle Time: A Tool in Staff Meetings

This talk is for teachers and coordinators interested in their own personal and professional development. It will open channels to understand themselves and the people they are working with and for. NLP presuppositions, the VAK, NLP models and techniques such as Life levels, Timelines and Perceptual positions are present in Circle Time depending on its aim. We also include stories, metaphors and songs to bridge gaps between the heart and the mind.
Natalia Haller - I believe in learning adults!
You've got the class planned, the materials and everything set for your grown up students... now, what's ON YOUR MIND? Do you really believe adults can learn or are you a little suspicious?????? In this workshop we'll look into why our beliefs as teachers do have a great impact on learners.

Matilde Machiavello - Multisensory stories

It is my aim to present some of the tools NLP offers to those who have never heard or experienced them, as well as to illustrate through the experience, the range of possibilities to improve communication among students, teachers and peers. By means of stories told, heard, created and recreated, the participants will get a deep insight into the basic NLP presuppositions that will surely open a window through which they will be able to perceive a brand new perspective, and encourage them to move onto their own path of discovery.

María Teresa Manteo - Art, Cognition and NLP

Through art- whatever shape it takes- we can activate abstract thinking skills such as questioning, connecting and synthesis. On the other hand, art offers attractive pathways to engage children in sensory rich contexts, where imagination and ideas run freely facilitating the flow of cognitive quests. NLP is the bridge between these two worlds. Careful messages prepare the mind and the soul to indulge in processes that trigger associations and allow ideas to germinate. Finding the right words to show the way is an art in itself - and this presentation will attempt to explore the kaleidoscope where ideas, color and sound meld to help create mosaics of thought in empowering circles of cognition.

Gabriela Properzi - Class Management

In the workshop I will refer to Classroom Management, the steps a teacher can follow to make the students' profile and integrate contents and learning in a learner centered approach. NLP tools and principles will be used to work more effectively.

Patricia Ribot, Ana María Cerdá - NLP and exam preparation

This presentation aims at sharing with other teachers of English where, when and how to use some NLP strategies and techniques with those students who have decided to sit for a Cambridge Exam and are willing to be relaxed, confident and fluent in the Speaking Paper.

Lilly Spillman - Metaphors: The Resources Are Within Us

The rich vocabulary used in Pablo Neruda’s Ode to the Sea is by all means appealing to the listener’s representational styles: Visual, Auditory and Kinesthetic. Going through its symbolic language, the participants will explore how Metaphors work at all sorts of levels and can be used in a most beneficial way both inside and outside the language classroom.

Rt conference launched!

2008-04-26T20:21:00.000-07:00

For enrolment details contact: rtconference@gmail.com or jamie@resourcefulteaching.com.ar

Smelling to learn?

2008-04-13T11:51:00.000-07:00

Want a better memory? Stop and smell the roses
By Maggie Fox, Health and Science Editor, Reuters

People who want to learn things might do better by simply stopping to smell the roses, researchers reported on Thursday.
German researchers found they could use odors to re-activate new memories in the brains of people while they slept -- and the volunteers remembered better later.
Writing in the journal Science, they said their study showed that memories are indeed consolidated during sleep, and show that smells and perhaps other stimuli can reinforce brain learning pathways.
Jan Born of the University of Lubeck in Germany and colleagues had 74 volunteers learn to play games similar to the game of "Concentration" in which they must find matched pairs of objects or cards by turning only one over at a time.
While doing this task, some of the volunteers inhaled the scent of roses. The volunteers then agreed to sleep inside an MRI tube. Functional magnetic resonance imaging was used to "watch" their brains while they slept.
At various stages during sleep, Born's team wafted in the same scent of roses.
The volunteers were tested again the next day on what they had learned. "After the odor night, participants remembered 97.2 percent of the card pairs they had learned before sleep," the researchers wrote.
But they only remembered 86 percent of the pairs if they did not get the rose smell while sleeping.
And the stage of sleep was important too, the researchers said in a finding that will add to the debate over whether people "learn" in their sleep the way some animals have been shown to.
Research has shown, for example, that rats learning a new maze will rehearse their movements during sleep, and that songbirds rehearse their songs.
Born's team said the scent improved learning when it was administered during slow-wave sleep, but had no effect during rapid eye movement or REM sleep.
The MRI showed that the hippocampus, the part of the brain associated with learning new things, was activated when the odor was wafted over the volunteers during slow wave sleep.

This article came from Reuters

http://www.reuters.com/article/healthNews/idUSN0835573820070309?pageNumber=2&virtualBrandChannel=0&sp=true

CALL FOR PAPERS

2008-04-11T08:29:00.000-07:00

RESOURCEFUL TEACHING

10TH ANNIVERSARY CONFERENCE
AUGUST 8-9 2008

First Latin American Conference in NLP for Education

CALL FOR PAPERS

To celebrate our tenth birthday, we have decided to hold a conference to mark the moment and to show the public what we have all achieved applying NLP to our work in Education.

We are therefore launching a Call for Papers for those who would like to participate by submitting a proposal for a workshop at the conference.

Sessions can be given in English or in Spanish as we intend to make this a bilingual event reaching out as well to the teaching community. Each workshop will be of one hour and there may be the possibility of repeating them.

Requirements for presenters:
Holds a recognized certificate as a Practitioner in NLP or have completed a Practitioner training with us.
To present in English, you must be a graduate of a recognized Teachers College or be a native speaker.

First step: Send us an abstract of 200 words explaining
a) what you wish to present
b) describing how it represents the application of NLP to Education
c) cite any relevant academic sources relevant to the presentation
d) indicate in general terms how you will go about the presentation

Deadline for papers 10 May 2008
Send to: jamiearg@gmail.com
lauraszmuch@gmail.com

Jamie and Laura
April 2008

More students...Resourceful Teaching Tenth Anniversary!!!!!

2008-04-09T12:20:00.000-07:00

A whole year of celebrations with our students....

Ten years learning and growing together..

Please watch this!!!!

2008-04-08T06:18:00.001-07:00

Neuroanatomist Jill Bolte Taylor had an opportunity few brain scientists would wish for: One morning, she realized she was having a massive stroke. As it happened -- as she felt her brain functions slip away one by one, speech, movement, understanding -- she studied and remembered every moment. This is a powerful story about how our brains define us and connect us to the world and to one another.

http://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/229

I really recommend you to watch this...

Laura

Teaching Resourcefully - NLP in the classroom-

RTNews 117- Labels and teachers...

NLP Practitioner Course, starting in April

RTNews 115

RTNews 114

Resourceful Teaching Week 2011

Recommended article and web page

RTNews 112

RTNews 111

RTNews 110

New Issue of RT News!

Teaching today: what else do we need to work in the classrooms of 2010?

New NLP course starting soon!

Classroom Contracts

Practitioner Certificate for 2010

RTWeek!!!

Start your year with inspiration!

Celebrate...

RT week Feb 2010 workshops for teachers

Updates!

Updates!

RTWEEK 2010

Making Reading Sacred

What is NLP??

Educating for the future – according to the experts.

February Courses - last places!

Curso de Programación Neurolingüística

A cargo de: Resourceful Teaching

Directores: Laura Szmuch - Jamie Duncan

Docentes a cargo del curso:

¿Qué es la PNL?

Creativity (Tony Buzan)

Last session of Keeping your English Alive

The rights of the reader

Keeping your English Alive for teachers!

Teacher`s Day and what it means to be a teacher

Presentaciones eficaces, en febrero 2009

Curso intensivo PNL febrero 2009

Books on NLP- part 1

Ten Years of NLP and working with teachers

Watching the Olympics...

Updated RT Conference speaker list

List of presenters in English and Spanish

The Difference that Makes the Difference!

RT Conference Speakers

Rt conference launched!

Smelling to learn?

CALL FOR PAPERS

More students...Resourceful Teaching Tenth Anniversary!!!!!

Please watch this!!!!