Impact Techniques in the Classroom E-Book

Danie Beaulieu

• Herausgeber: Crown House Publishing
• Kategorie: Bildung
• Sprache: Englisch
• Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2004

Seitenzahl: 211

Beschreibung

Many teachers admit to feeling that they spend the majority of lesson time doing anything and everything but teaching. Impact Techniques in the Classroom offers a variety of quick and simple activities to be conducted as a group or on a one-on-one basis (and a few with the help of the parents) that will allow you to devote more time to teaching, all the while saving your energy and keeping the attention of your students. All ages

Leseprobe

If the techniques presented in this book prove useful to you, enabling you to bring more efficiency and pleasure to your work as a teacher, then you need only “pay it forward”.

Instructions can be found in the film of the same name.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Title Page

Quick Reference Matrix

Acknowledgments

Preface

Introduction

Impact techniques using objects

Impact techniques using objects that require the student’s active participation

Impact techniques using chairs

Impact techniques using movement

Conclusion

Bibliography

By the Same Author

Copyright

QUICK REFERENCE MATRIX

The Quick Reference Matrix is designed to enable you to find appropriate techniques and tips for the particular issues you need to explore or resolve.

Please note that the numbers are those assigned to the techniques, except for the tips, in which case page numbers are expressly indicated.

Technique 1 – The worry jar

Attention and concentration

Group cohesion and bonding

Learning problems and poor grades

Class dynamics

Worries and anxiety

Technique 2 – The $20 bill

Self-confidence

Self-esteem

Rejection

Technique 3 – Traffic lights

Self-discipline

Self-confidence

Assignment instructions

Participation in class

Rejection

Technique 4 – Hidden contents

Teacher-student bonding

Worries and anxiety

Technique 5 – Opening hours

Attention and concentration

Attention and responsiveness to others (interpersonal relationships)

Negative attitude toward school

Self-discipline

Group cohesion and bonding

Distractions and agitation

Class dynamics

Worries and anxiety

Rejection

School assignments (making an effort, planning, prioritizing)

Technique 6 – Video cassette

Attention and concentration

Self-discipline

Civility and politeness

Group cohesion and bonding

Self-awareness and expressing feelings

Assignment instructions

Class dynamics

Empathy

Technique 7 – paper clips

Attention and concentration

Self-discipline

Assignment instructions

School assignments (making an effort, planning, prioritizing)

Technique 8 – Suggestion box

Student –teacher bonding

Class dynamics

Participation in class

Worries and anxiety

Technique 9 – Mixing substances

Attention and concentration

Negative attitude toward school

Self-discipline

Self-awareness and expressing feelings

Drug and alcohol use

Harmful influences

Technique 10 – Stop, pause, and go

Attention and concentration

Assignment instructions

Exams (stress)

Worries and anxieties

Technique 11 – Extension cord

Negative attitude toward school

Drug and alcohol use

Learning problems and poor grades

Harmful influences

Technique 12 – Battery

Negative attitude toward school

Compulsive achievement

Self-awareness and expressing feelings

Technique 13 – Mirror

Group cohesion and bonding

Self-awareness and expressing feelings

Class dynamics

Empathy

Tolerance

Technique 14 – Headphones

Attention and concentration

Self-discipline

Learning problems and poor grades

Distractions and agitation

School assignments (making an effort, planning, prioritizing)

Technique 15 – Microphone

Self-assertiveness

Group cohesion and bonding

Class dynamics

Participation in class

Promoting student responsibility

Technique 16 – Plug

Deprecation

Distractions and agitation

Rejection

Disruptions

Technique 17 – Brake and accelerator

Attention and concentration

Assignment instructions

Class dynamics

Participation in class

Technique 18 – X-ray

Negative attitude toward school

Learning problems and poor grades

Technique 19 – Sponge

Attention and concentration

Drug and alcohol use

Learning problems and poor grades

Failure

Self-esteem

Harmful influences

Guiding students to aid resources

Worries and anxiety

Rejection

Technique 20 – Freeway

Negative attitude toward school

Civility and politeness

Self-awareness and expressing feelings

Drug and alcohol use

Failure

Exams (stress)

Technique 21 – Master key

Aptitudes for success (reinforcement)

Attention and concentration

Self-discipline

Perseverance

Technique 22 – Big stones

Negative attitude toward school

Self-discipline

Distractions and agitation

School assignments (making an effort, planning, prioritizing)

Technique 23 – Filter

Civility and politeness

Deprecation

Worries and anxiety

Rejection

Technique 24 – Magazine

Attention and concentration

Distraction and agitation

School assignments ( making an effort, planning, prioritizing)

Technique 25 – CD-ROM or DVD

Civility and politeness

Compulsive achievement

Self-awareness and expressing feelings

Participation in class

School assignments (making an effort, planning and prioritizing)

Technique 26 – Tokens

Self-discipline

Compulsive achievement

Rejection

School assignments (making an effort, planning, prioritizing)

Disruptions

Technique 27 – Curtains, blinds, or drapes

Aptitude for success (reinforcement)

Attention and concentration

Attention and receptiveness to others (interpersonal relationships)

Learning problems and poor grades

Participation in class

Technique 28 – A glass of water

Aptitudes for success (reinforcement)

Attention and concentration

Learning problems and poor grades

School assignments (making an effort, planning, prioritizing)

Technique 29 – Plant

Self-discipline

Group cohesion and bonding

Distractions and agitation

Participation in class

Technique 30 – Photo album

Group cohesion and bonding

Empathy

Technique 31 – White box and black box

Group cohesion and bonding

Self-awareness and expressing feelings

Class dynamics

Empathy

Guiding students to aid resources

Technique 32 – Sticky tape

Civility and politeness

Empathy

Promoting student responsibility

Technique 33 – Post-it Notes

Self-assertiveness

Self-discipline

Teacher-student bonding

Self-confidence

Technique 34 – Playing dice

Self-assertiveness

Self-discipline

Learning problems and poor grades

Class dynamics

Failure

Perseverance

Promoting student responsibility

School assignments (making an effort, planning, prioritizing)

Tolerance

Technique 35 – Polystyrene cups

Aptitudes for success (reinforcement)

Learning problems and poor grades

Perseverance

School assignments (making and effort, planning, prioritizing)

Technique 36 – Playing cards

Aptitudes for success (reinforcement)

Self-discipline

Self-awareness and expressing feelings

Assignment instructions

Learning problems and poor grades

Class dynamics

Participation in class

Perseverance

School assignments (making an effort, planning, prioritizing)

Technique 37 – Qualities list

Aptitudes for success (reinforcement)

Attention and receptiveness to others (interpersonal relationships)

Group cohesion and bonding

Class dynamics

Technique 38 – Screwdriver

Attention and receptiveness to others (interpersonal relationships)

Civility and politeness

Class dynamics

Empathy

Tolerance

Technique 39 – A sheet of paper

Aptitudes for success (reinforcement)

Self-discipline

Self-awareness and expressing feelings

Learning problems and poor grades

Worries and anxiety

School assignments (making an effort, planning, prioritizing)

Technique 40 – Pencil

Assignment instructions

Participation in class

School assignments (making an effort, planning, prioritizing)

Technique 41 – Radio

Attention and concentration

Disruptions

Technique 42 – Chalk, lead pencil, felt markers, and ballpoint pens

Attention and concentration

Learning problems and poor grades

Distractions and agitation

School assignments (making an effort, planning, prioritizing)

Technique 43 – Puzzle

Attention and receptiveness to others (interpersonal relationships)

Group cohesion and bonding

Class dynamics

Empathy

Participation in class

Technique 44 – Elastic band

Aptitudes for success (reinforcement)

Attention and concentration

Attention and receptiveness to others (interpersonal relationships)

Negative attitude toward school

Civility and politeness

Group cohesion and bonding

Compulsive achievement

Drug and alcohol use

Class dynamics

Participation in class

Worries and anxiety

Technique 45 – Office supplies

Attention and concentration

Learning problems and poor grades

Worries and anxiety

Rejection

School assignments (making an effort, planning, prioritizing)

Technique 46 – School desk

Conflicts and rivalry

Guiding students to aid resources

Technique 47 – Ball

Civility and politeness

Conflicts and rivalry

Participation in class

School assignments (making an effort, planning, prioritizing)

Technique 48 – Cut flower

Negative attitude toward school

Conflicts and rivalry

Cutting class

Learning problems and poor grades

Technique 49 – Basketball

Cutting class

Learning problems and poor grades

Technique 50 – The “Snakes and Ladders” game

Aptitudes for success (reinforcement)

Teacher-student bonding

Compulsive achievement

Worries and anxiety

Technique 51 – Explosive mix

Absenteeism

Attention and concentration

Attention and receptiveness to others (interpersonal relationships)

Drug and alcohol use

Cutting class

Learning problems and poor grades

Harmful influences

Perseverance

Technique 52 – Teacher’s desk

Learning problems and poor grades

Guiding students to aid resources

Worries and anxiety

Technique 53 – Dimmer light switch

Attention and concentration

Self-discipline

Assignment instructions

Disruptions

Technique 54 – Class decorations

Aptitudes for success (reinforcement)

Civility and politeness

Group cohesion and bonding

Teacher-student bonding

Conflicts and rivalry

Deprecation

Participation in class

Technique 55 – Party balloon

Aptitudes for success (reinforcement)

Attention and concentration

Distractions and agitation

Worries and anxiety

Technique 56 – Carbon paper

Attention and receptiveness to others (interpersonal relationships)

Teacher-student bonding

Harmful influences

Technique 57 – A nail and a wood block

Attention and concentration

Learning problems and poor grades

Perseverance

School assignments (making an effort, planning, prioritizing)

Technique 58 – Light bulb

Attention and concentration

Self-discipline

School assignments (making an effort, planning, prioritizing)

Attention 59 – a drawing

Absenteeism

Teacher-student bonding

Self-esteem

Participation in class

Rejection

Technique 60 – Cardboard-man cutout

Attention and receptiveness to others (interpersonal relationships)

Conflicts and rivalry

Rejection

Technique 61 – Sparklers

Teacher-student bonding

Drug and alcohol use

Technique 62 – Pitcher and glasses

Negative attitude toward school

Group cohesion and bonding

Participation in class

Technique 63 – Cardboard

Conflicts and rivalry

Self-awareness and expressing feelings

Drug and alcohol use

Worries and anxiety

Rejection

Promoting student responsibility

School assignments (making an effort, planning, prioritizing)

Technique 64 – Investment ladder

Civility and politeness

Self-awareness and expressing feelings

Participation in class

Perseverance

School assignments (making an effort, planning, prioritizing)

Technique 65 – Rope

Aptitudes for success (reinforcement)

Perseverance

Worries and anxiety

Promoting student responsibility

Technique 66 – Backpack

Teacher-student bonding

Self-awareness and expressing feelings

Self-esteem

Guiding students to aid resources

Worries and anxiety

Technique 67 – Pairs of sunglasses

Self-awareness and expressing feelings

Promoting student responsibility

Tolerance

Technique 68 – A tissue, a sheet of paper, and a glass

Conflicts and rivalry

Deprecation

Self-esteem

Rejection

Technique 69 – Various objects

Attention and receptiveness to others (interpersonal relationships)

Group cohesion and bonding

Conflicts and rivalry

Class dynamics

Parents (meeting with)

Technique 70 – Laced shoes

Self-esteem

Parents (meeting with)

Technique 71 – Empty chair in front of the classroom

Aptitudes for success (reinforcement)

Teacher-student bonding

Self-confidence

Technique 72 – Useless chair

Self-awareness and expressing feelings

School assignments (making an effort, planning, prioritizing)

Disruptions

Technique 73 – Chairs in various positions

Aptitudes for success (reinforcement)

Self-awareness and expressing feelings

Technique 74 – Supporting chair

Aptitudes for success (reinforcement)

Self-confidence

Exams (stress)

Technique 75 – Neutral chair

Conflicts and rivalry

Self-awareness and expressing feelings

Empathy

School assignments (making an effort, planning, prioritizing)

Technique 76 – Interdependence

Attention and receptiveness to others (interpersonal relationships)

Negative attitude toward school

Group cohesion

Class dynamics

Participation in class

Promoting student responsibility

School assignments (making an effort, planning, prioritizing)

Tolerance

Technique 77 – Steps of unruliness

Teacher-student bonding

Promoting student responsibility

Disruptions

Technique 78 – Head-turning

Perseverance

School assignments (making an effort, planning, prioritizing)

Technique 79 – The chair game

Aptitudes for success (reinforcement)

Attention and concentration

Attention and receptiveness to others (interpersonal relationships)

Self-confidence

Self-awareness

School assignments (making an effort, planning, prioritizing)

Disruptions

Technique 80 – Thumbs

Aptitudes for success (reinforcement)

Civility and politeness

Perseverance

Technique 81 – Posture

Attention and concentration

Technique 82 – Puddle

Failure

Rejection

Technique 83 – Closed doors

Deprecation

Parents (meeting with)

Technique 84 – Different perspectives

Parents (meeting with)

Technique 85 – Toy cars

Learning problems and poor grades

Guiding students to aid resources

Technique 86 – Paper, an eraser, and a pencil

Attention and concentration

Deprecation

Worries and anxiety

Technique 87 – Major disruptions

Group cohesion and bonding

Disruptions

Technique 88 – Sweets

Rejection

<Numbers assigned are to the technique, except for the tips which are expressed in page numbers>

Absenteeism

Technique 51, 59

Self-assertiveness

Technique 15, 33, 34

Tip p. 67

Aptitudes for success (reinforcement)

Technique 21, 27, 28, 35, 36, 37, 39, 44, 50, 54, 55, 65, 71, 73, 74, 79, 80

Tips p. 49, 127, 155

Attention and concentration

Technique 1, 5, 6, 7, 9, 10, 14, 17, 19, 21, 24, 27, 28, 41, 42, 44, 45, 51, 53, 55, 57, 58, 79, 81

Tips p. 69, 175

Attention and receptiveness to others (interpersonal relationships)

Technique 5, 27, 37, 38, 44, 51, 56, 60, 69, 76, 79

Tips p. 87, 119, 169, 171

Negative attitude toward school

Technique 5, 9, 11, 12, 18, 20, 22, 44, 48, 62, 76

Self-discipline

Technique 3, 5, 6, 7, 9, 14, 21, 22, 26, 29, 33, 34, 36, 39, 53, 58

Civility and politeness

Technique 6, 20, 23, 25, 38, 44, 47, 54, 64, 80

Group cohesion and bonding

Technique 1, 5, 6, 13, 15, 29, 30, 31, 37, 44, 54, 62, 69, 76, 87

Tips p. 65, 87, 97, 101, 119, 169, 171

Teacher-student bonding

Technique 4, 8, 33, 50, 54, 56, 59, 61, 66, 71, 77

Tips p. 101, 141

Compulsive achievement

Technique 12, 25, 26, 44, 50

Self-confidence

Technique 2, 3, 33, 71, 74, 79

Tip p. 97

Conflicts and rivalry

Technique 46, 47, 48, 54, 60, 63, 68, 69, 75

Self-awareness and expressing feelings

Technique 6, 9, 12, 13, 20, 25, 31, 36, 39, 63, 64, 66, 67, 72, 73, 75, 79

Tips p. 69, 105, 123, 139, 169, 171

Assignment instructions

Technique 3, 6, 7, 10, 17, 36, 40, 53,

Tips p. 97, 117, 121, 165

Drug and alcohol use

Technique 9, 11, 19, 20, 44, 51, 61, 63

Cutting class

Technique 48, 49, 51

Deprecation

Technique 16, 23, 54, 68, 83, 86

Learning problems and poor grades

Technique 1, 11, 14, 18, 19, 27, 28, 34, 35, 36, 39, 42, 45, 47, 48, 51, 52, 57, 85

Tip p. 141

Distractions and agitation

Technique 5, 14, 16, 22, 24, 29, 42, 55

Class dynamics

Technique 1, 5, 6, 8, 13, 15, 17, 31, 34, 36, 37, 38, 44, 69, 76

Tips p. 87, 97, 121, 165, 169

Failure

Technique 19, 20, 34, 82

Empathy

Technique 6, 13, 30, 31, 38, 75

Tips p. 105, 119, 123, 169

Self-esteem

Technique 2, 19, 59, 66, 68, 70

Tip p. 119

Exams (stress)

Technique 10, 20, 74

Tips p. 127, 155

Participation in class

Technique 3, 8, 15, 17, 25, 27, 29, 36, 40, 44, 47, 54, 59, 62, 64, 76

Tips p. 101, 105

Harmful influences

Technique 9, 11, 19, 51, 56

Guiding students to aid resources

Technique 19, 31, 46, 52, 66, 85

Tip p. 123

Parents (meeting with)

Technique 69, 70, 83, 84

Perseverance

Technique 21, 34, 35, 36, 51, 57, 64, 65, 77, 79

Worries and anxiety

Technique 1, 4, 5, 8, 10, 19, 23, 39, 44, 45, 50, 52, 55, 63, 65, 66, 86

Rejection

Technique 2, 3, 5, 16, 19, 23, 26, 45, 59, 60, 63, 68, 82, 88

Tip p. 141

Promoting student responsibility

Technique 15, 34, 63, 65, 67, 76, 77

Tip p. 97

School assignments (making an effort, planning, prioritizing)

Technique 5, 7, 14, 22, 24, 25, 26, 28, 34, 35, 36, 39, 40, 42, 45, 47, 57, 58, 63, 64, 72, 75, 76, 78, 79

Tolerance

Technique 13, 34, 38, 67, 76

Disruptions

Technique 16, 26, 41, 53, 72, 77, 79, 87

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

I have a soft spot for pearls—I really love them. Mainly for their story of succeeding to develop such beauty, strength and brilliance from such simple materials and the labor of time. Fine pearls are rare and much sought after.

I had the opportunity of meeting one, a real one. She is called Marie-Claude Malenfant. She completed a doctorate in French literature at the University of Clermont-Ferrand, in France, and a post-doctoral fellowship at McGill University in Quebec. Marie-Claude wrote these pages for me. I gave her the cassettes containing a description of each of the techniques and she knew how to put them into words with great tact and competence. Her love of words, coupled with the perfectionist nature she has gained through experience, has given her composition clarity, simplicity, and refinement. I feel truly privileged to have been able to benefit from her professionalism.

I would also like to thank Marianne Tremblay for the book design. I greatly appreciate her ideas, expertise, efficiency, and availability.

Nadia Berghella did the illustrations in this volume. She is a great artist in my opinion and it was a pleasure to work with her.

Finally, I must offer my appreciation to the teachers and principals to whom I have provided training on Impact Techniques in the Classroom. Their varied questions and comments enabled me to add greater realism and richness to this book. 

PREFACE

I published the Impact Techniques Manual, in 1997, for interventions in psychotherapy, the helping professions, and mental health; that was my first bestseller. Whatever the audience or the profession I present them to, and in any setting, Impact Techniques are always received enthusiastically, adopted immediately, and then applied in the field with success. The positive feedback that I receive and the specific requests formulated for some years by teachers and education professionals have prompted me to draft techniques specific to the universe that is the classroom. The reason I speak of a universe is that the classroom is a microcosm in itself, a heterogeneous group of identities, both defined and developing. It is an organism that does a self-search when one of its members is missing, and sometimes, as you know, a stubborn, obstinate entity that you consider almost as a foreign body …

When consulting the index of the Impact Techniques, you will note that many of the techniques relate to classroom management, others focus on a specific behavioral or attitude problem with a student, others still are designed to offer support in dealing with a difficulty a young person is going through. However varied they are, all—without exception—contribute to nourishing and developing the emotional intelligence of your students. Whichever technique you use, whether it addresses the group or an individual student, all of my techniques reinforce one or several emotional aptitudes, be it self-control (resisting urges, delaying the satisfaction of desires), empathy (recognizing the feelings of another, understanding their feelings, and building better relationship with them) and the ability to motivate oneself (perseverance, enthusiasm for work or in actions). In the context of today, when the majority of young people spend more time at school than at home and now that teachers have a much greater feeling than before of having to “raise” their students, this aspect of learning about life plays a significant role in the classroom, alongside more formal teaching of the subject matter. Yet, you have to simultaneously educate many students on both the intellectual and emotional levels; you have little time, energy or desire to plunge into an in-depth therapy session. Your approach should therefore be directed towards results; in the context of your classroom, this means that you should quickly favor the development of feelings of confidence, well-being, acceptance, and tolerance. You then need to maintain this clean and motivating learning environment, so that each student feels welcomed and respected, and so that they can learn to welcome and respect one another.

How do you go about creating a collective space, arousing the desire to participate within every student and thus establish the best conditions for transmitting knowledge? The Impact Techniques that I suggest diversify the means of creating such an environment, using objects, proposing experiments, suggesting movements and offering some tips—that is, more succinct, rapidly applicable techniques, which set about reinforcing the dynamics and synergy of the group. In reading the following pages, you will quickly identify the type of intervention with which you feel most comfortable, but I would also ask you to consider the needs of your group as well as its “nature”. You may well question whether a technique that works well with an elementary school class made up mostly of girls, would produce such powerful effects with adolescents at the end of high school education. Besides the standard applications, you will occasionally have to adapt a technique more specifically to your environment or try it out with a young person you know before implementing it with your group or with an individual student.

Remember that the only way to become truly at ease with your interventions is to dare, or maybe even, to dare without knowing the precise results that will be achieved. Your classroom, as I said earlier, is an organism, an entity in its own right, whose reactions can’t be easily predicted. Each young person you encounter also has their own way of interpreting your approach, which may vary from mistrust to complete confidence, depending on the type of relationships you have established with him, what he has learned to believe etc. Bear in mind that the important thing isn’t so much to multiply the number of techniques you use, but rather to ensure that you frequently benefit from the ones that you have used effectively, through repeated reminders and brief allusions. Accordingly, I recommend a little flexibility and inventiveness in the application of these techniques and a detached attitude in … the lions den!

INTRODUCTION

You teach. Therefore, at one time or another, you have wished with all your heart that your students would suddenly develop a spontaneous, automatic, and lasting ability to record everything you teach them: instructions, the principles of living with others, and the subject matter that you teach. Often, upon reflection, it’s not so much the lectures on the subject matter that you find yourself repeating again and again, but rather everything relating to the exhausting and never-ending task of classroom management. You remain continuously on the lookout to ensure discipline within the group and watch even more closely certain students who need to be regularly—and so often!—told to be quiet or whose attention needs to be re-activated at regular intervals. You have also developed a hypervigilance to channel the effervescent energy of certain “free electrons” who must constantly be brought back to order—who move, talk, giggle, get up, and walk around …

In short, many teachers have admitted to me that they feel that they spend the majority of the lesson time doing anything and everything but teaching. With Impact Techniques in the Classroom, I offer you a variety of activities to be done as a group or on a one-on-one basis (and a few with the help of the parents) that will allow you to devote more time to teaching, all the while saving your energy and quickly capturing the attention of your students.

Impact Techniques will allow you to make progress toward these objectives through simple and easily applicable activities. They’ve been designed to exploit and apply the current knowledge about how the brain and memory function. Using an Impact Technique is like giving your teaching efforts a sort of learning amplifier, which multiplies the anchors in the students’ minds, allowing them to integrate new knowledge (whether intellectual or emotional) more quickly, more deeply, and with greater intensity. The effectiveness of Impact Techniques—which, as you will see, is immediately noticeable in the classroom—is a result of a combination of many factors. The underlying principle is that, because these techniques are not limited to verbal language and because they appeal to many senses, the information that they transmit lodges in several areas of the brain and thus constitutes a global message that is loaded with possibilities for recall.

In addition, by using objects, images, and movements, these techniques target the student’s implicit memory—the form of memory that decodes information through intuition and experience. This form of memory functions outside of the person’s conscious control, as demonstrated in a recent experiment involving subjects who had undergone a resection of the  corpus callosum, the thoroughfare that assures communication between the two cerebral hemispheres (a procedure that is usually performed to control severe epilepsy).1 With the aid of an apparatus that projects an image to only one hemisphere, the researchers were able to observe that, in fact, as expected, an image perceived by the left hemisphere—which dominates on the verbal level—can be clearly described by the patient. On the other hand, and rather more surprisingly, images presented to and perceived by the right hemisphere—that of musical language, images, and emotions—pass unnoticed. The right brain isn’t able to verbally