NLP for Teachers E-Book

Richard Churches

• Herausgeber: Crown House Publishing
• Kategorie: Bildung
• Sprache: Englisch
• Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2007

Beschreibung

NLP for Teachers covers a wide range of practical tools that will enhance your interpersonal effectiveness and classroom delivery. Find out how both your language and your internal processing affects the behaviour of others around you; Learn some amazing tools and techniques; Take your communication skills to the next level

Leseprobe

Praise for NLP for Teachers

“NLP for Teachers is just the book I have been waiting for. It takes the complex terminology and techniques of Neuro Linguistic Programming and translates them into practical strategies for teachers in the classroom. It is packed full of excellent advice and useful activities that work on a profound level to alter behaviour and attitudes. If you follow the advice in this book and work through each section practising the techniques and using the tools, you will improve your teaching and leadership skills. If you also embrace the principles of NLP that relate to developing a high level of self awareness, rapport and flexibility you will also change your life and relationships – for the better. A must for your educational bookshelf.”

Jackie Beere OBE, Author, Educational Consultant, Trainer,AST, School Improvement Partner and Master Practitioner of NLP

“For those of us dedicated to the art of teaching, NLP brings new and deeper insights and understandings. This book gives practical, accessible approaches to help teachers and school leaders refine and develop excellent practice.”

Liz Robinson, Head Teacher, Surrey Square Junior School, London

“Richard Churches and Roger Terry have written an impressively thorough and packed guide to NLP for teachers. It is based on the authors’ extensive experience in the field, and the choice of contents is directly influenced by what teachers themselves have found most useful. It is well-illustrated, offers an engaging mix of explanation, examples and activities, and deserves to be a great success.”

“The research zones are an especially useful and innovative feature. On topics such as mirror neurons, hypnosis, eye movements and more, Richard and Roger acquaint the reader with work in other fields that is relevant to NLP. The zones include full details of sources, and provide what is often a missing link in NLP publications. They offer a distinctive resource for anyone seeking a well-informed understanding of NLP.”

Paul Tosey, Senior Lecturer in the School of Management, University of Surrey

“NLP for Teachers: How to be a Highly Effective Teacher is a rare book--unique and original ideas presented in so many different stimulating ways. You have idea sets, toolboxes, research zones, top tips, cartoons--a cornucopia of stimuli. Churches and Terry have produced something that not only will make you a better teacher, it will make any of us a better person if we soak in and act on the many clear suggestions. NLP for Teachers is at once a deeply practical and deeply theoretical book.”

Michael Fullan, Professor Emeritus, OISE/University of Toronto

“This is a powerful resource for all those who wish to extend their portfolio of strategies to support effective learning and teaching. NLP offers a systematic, coherent and well tried range of techniques to enhance all aspects of communication. The book combines lucid expositions of theory, practical and relevant examples and a range of activities which support understanding and application.”

“Education is a social process – this book demonstrates that it is no longer necessary to aspire to, or exhort, social skills – they can be developed and learnt. NLP offers a rigorous approach to personal effectiveness and enhanced professional expertise.”

“The authors provide an accessible, relevant and directly applicable resource which has the potential to help classrooms and schools become emotionally literate communities.”

John West-Burnham, Visiting Professor of Education, Queen’s University, Belfast

“For those teachers who are clinical in their search for improvement, NLP for Teachers opens up a new way of examining classroom practice. The authors summarise the NLP approach in this comprehensive and insightful publication.”

Alistair Smith author and Chair of Alite Ltd

“NLP For Teachers, by Richard Churches and Roger Terry, is a fascinating and extremely accessible book: it is full of information in a highly palatable format.

We highly recommend this book to every education professional who wants access to a set of tools that really work! - NLP - and who desires to grow his or her teaching, and - perhaps even more importantly - who really wants to rediscover what learning is truly about.”

Dee Shipman,New Oceans

“… a great resource for all in the field of education. It contains a wealth of information on NLP, including the essential background to the most important tools and techniques.

One of the main strengths of the book is that it is directly aimed at classroom practice. As such, it is jam-packed with excellent advice and useful strategies as well as motivating and practical ideas. There is a bank of tips, Just Do It activities and a wide variety of NLP Toolboxes, all of which have immediate application to day to day classroom situations.“

Use Your EdgeDecember 2007

“I work in schools and teachers often ask ‘What’s this NLP all about then?’. I can now refer them to to a book that provides a clear and comprehensive guide to how NLP can help a teacher in the classroom. It’s packed with the sorts of practical tips teachers like and I particularly like the section on running an NLP-based Inset day.”

David Hodgson, author The Buzz

“This is an excellent resource for teachers and lecturers. This book will enable teachers to learn from practical application by the authors of their desire to improve teaching and learning skills and in particular personal effectiveness. I would recommend this as an essential resource for all teachers and lecturers and those who are studying for their Cert Eds.”

John T Morris, Director, JTM Educational Consultants

“This is a book that you will want to come back to again and again whether you are an experienced or a newly qualified teacher. The authors unlock the complexities of NLP, giving practical and easy approaches in the classroom. Try out a couple of strategies, see their impact on learning and you’ll soon be back for more. I speak from experience!”

Lyn Bull, Independent Education Consultant

“An NLP book that makes you sit up and take notice! Richard Churches and Roger Terry have provided an essential service to teachers by giving them the means to become excellent role models for the children they teach. The exercises are pitched at the right level for working with kids and for having fun, and the authors provide a comprehensive survey of the neurological research to support the principles of NLP.”

Peter Young, authorUnderstanding NLP: Principles and Practice

“NLP for Teachers combines a bright A4 format and accessible layout with detailed guidance and techniques on how to improve personal effectiveness as a classroom teacher.

Ideas from NLP have been gradually incorporated into education over a number of years, so it is good to see a book which brings the methods of NLP directly to bear upon the performance of the teacher and his or her interaction with pupils.

This is not just a compilation of practical techniques, however. It also has a substantial underpinning of theory. For those who want to probe deeper there are ‘research zones’ which include guidance on further reading, opening up the world of NLP more fully and going beyond NLP itself to the key figures who informed its development.”

Julian Gill, Hypnotherapist www.aspiretherapyonline.com

“A Perfect Textbook to be used as you prepare and plan your most challenging lessons!

“A treasure chest of a text, I only have praise for this manual. Teachers who love teaching or who want to regain the love for teaching can use this book, which offers itself as a wonderful way to reinvigorate teaching practise using NLP.

“NLP is simply a set of wonderful techniques used to change around your own thinking so you are in a position of master your own communications in your Teaching practice. Anyone involved in the communication of teaching will immediately find the value of the book. Treat yourself well, but having this sort of support workbook around as acts to remind you to keep the communication relationship are the most in your teaching. It keeps you uplifted, balancing your dreams with practical steps in this set book.

“Anyone involved in pedagogy, will see how much communication most needs your attention in your teaching career. It teaches you how to prioritise your time, the most valuable commodity you own and to place within it the most fundamental communication skills. For any teacher in training or seeking to improve their classroom practise with NLP, this book emphasises, sound practises. Chapter by chapter invites you to try out different NLP exercises, which stretch and strengthen your existing talents, skills and natural gifts into the space between you, the students, parents, and colleagues you interact with.

“What’s admirable about this manual is that it makes very clear those characteristics of effective teachers. E.g. your expectations that you have for yourself and others and how you might improve or reframe them if that is necessary. A book written with lots of respect for the teacher and the teaching experience. It redirects any teacher to put their attention on what they want to create in the class and to move on from feeling guilt or any other negative feelings generated from failed teaching sessions.

“For those who are especially sceptical, it provides lots of exercises which allow the sceptic to work things out for themselves. To test the material out for themselves. To put each section to the challenge and to notice for themselves the positive changes which occur in the classroom as a result of applying the various NLP exercises. To identify in precise and achievable outcomes, what you may want to accomplish. Chapters ask you to focus on your attitude. They each support you to put yourself into a decisive position. To decide how you want to communicate with learners. How to enjoy teaching and be generous about that too. Before further inspiring the reader to take more positive action, it shows how to plan out lessons from taking an internal approach. Lesson planning triggering and activating emotions, feelings, memories, and internal future representations teaching the teacher ho to assist them to create well formed outcomes bringing all their training together using all the inrwebL senses they have.

“Rapport, pacing and leading. Effective and aspiring effective teachers will get even more opportunities to praictse how to build rapport using specific language patterns. Known to influence learners, parents and colleagues.

“How to use praise in all its ways, is a major chapter of the book. Know how to use praise to get feedback from learners. Becoming skilled at how to use language to pay tribute to learners, parents and colleagues, increases your own flexibility to change their behaviour, language, or internal feelings about themselves. And this is all a seriously important part of learners taking action for themselves.

“Utilise everything Each chapter teaches you to harness, and utilise where you are currently at in your teaching practise. Each has something to attach importance to as you put into use your treasures. It’s a practical book, so it requires you to set up a programme of activity for yourself to learn and practice the material. It’s a real great reminder text and rather than simply give you inspiration, it then gives you the most easy to apply NLP exercises.

“Memory and Anchoring The two chapters, which show the teacher how to use the memory, and anchoring to create and recreate internal strengths, which learners can draw from, are exquisitely easy to follow and apply.

“More useful chapters! a chapter on how to use questions in teaching, a chapter on defining what you value about teaching and updating those values if necessary so you remain flexible in the classroom whilst being true to self. And a chapter on motivation, which is key to learner retention.

“Personal ‘favourite things I cherish’, about the text are its size. It’s big enough to carry around. It has jargon buster sections and its very clear illustrations that help to increase a person’s rapport with the learners, parent or colleague. More than an introduction to NLP, it is a text you can use each day as you plan your communication messages for each of your lessons. Superb.

“Highly recommended: Should be on teachers mandatory reading list.

Deborah Rose, Therapeutic Hynotherapist for Stress Free Caring In the City, a WellBeing and Training Membership organisation for Social workers and Social care workers

“Richard & Roger’s book is special in that it views teachers as thinking individuals who want the best results for their classroom while offering the “how” and not the “what” of teaching. The view of NLP offered in this book is up-to-date both in terms of NLP itself and academic research in areas that are relevant to NLP. What I really liked about NLP for Teachers is that it achieves a healthy overall balance. Theory meets practice and it is important because it is the basic concepts of NLP that can truly liberate you and give you control over your own behaviour, yet they are difficult to learn without immediately-practicable techniques. Both newcomers and experienced NLPers are given plenty to think about. The classroom is treated both as a group, with collective needs, and as a set of individuals, with specific needs. NLP is about being proficient in communication and those who will read this book and apply the concepts and techniques presented will be challenged and given the opportunity to be even better communicators than they already are.”

Georgios Diamantopoulos, Doctorate researcher in NLP

“As a practising teacher who is mid way through NLP practitioner training, I am writing to thank you for NLP for Teachers. I read this book with huge enthusiasm because it not only clarified the essential ideas of NLP, but also rendered them in eminently practical terms and contexts for teachers. I have implemented many of the practices from the toolbox sections with great success and have networked much of the thinking with colleagues. As well as this, NLP for Teachers has led me in a number of other fascinating directions, one of which is mentoring. Inspired by NLP for Teachers (and of course my practitioner training) I have now written a school-wide NLP based mentoring programme which seems to have engaged the thinking of teachers and learners alike. The programme has undoubtedly contributed to a change in the school culture where learners are now becoming increasingly solutions focussed.

“So, a huge thank you to you both. I will certainly look forward to reading more of your work.”

Ron Piper, Assistant Headteacher, Ridgeway School, Swindon

“This book is written for teachers as a practical text which provides opportunities to explore key areas of personal development and personal effectiveness. It focuses on the skills of:

Effective communication

Influencing skillsManaging emotionsSetting positive outcomesExpanding repertoire of behaviours and increasing flexibility

“Having trained in NLP (Neuro-Linguistic Programming) myself, I am impressed with the breadth and depth of this book and I would imagine appealing both to a newly qualified teacher and to those who wish to develop and hone their skills and performance.

“It provides an ‘Instant Training Day’, a glossary of related terminology and a very comprehensive research section. The authors are to be congratulated on a well-structured book which is visually appealing and full of tips and activities.”

Mary Mountstephen MA (SEN), Associate Editor, SEN Magazine

“This book aims to take the complex terminology and techniques of Neuro-Linguistic Programming (NLP) and turn them into practical strategies for teachers working at the chalkface.

“The book offers advice and activities to alter behaviour and attitudes, with a number of original ideas.

“The authors themselves say in their introduction that they are aiming to help teachers “bit the challenging mark of interpersonal and intrapersonal effectiveness”.

“The pair are speaking from experience as well, having taught NLP approaches to more than 1,000 teachers and school leaders in the past four years.

“The book covers a lot of ground, looking at how to build rapport, thinking effectively, positive rewards, words to use with care, motivation, and paying attention to body language to name but a few topics.

“The advice is backed up with fully-referenced research, top tip boxes and advice on where to begin when it comes to applying the techniques you are reading about. There is also a useful glossary common NLP terms.

“The layout and design makes what could be a tough subject matter easy to read and digest.”

Pete Henshaw, SecEd Magazine

“This book is the first of its kind to specifically tailor the powerful resources of NLP into the school context. It makes the connection with both pedagogy and classroom management, and allows easy application of the strategies. By respecting the professional craft of the teacher, this book raises the stakes, by offering teachers and school leaders another, more sophisticated look at how they are approaching learning in school. Thank goodness that we now have a resource to support the development of the interpersonal and communication skills that we all hold to be so crucial in effective practice in schools.

“The impact on learning and the work of the teacher in the classroom, to what extent and in which areas:

“In order for pupils to learn, they need to be in a “space” where that is possible. Rapport is a crucial aspect of this, and it was what the best teachers do instinctively. NLP for Teachers allows them to unpick this, expand and improve their skills, so that they can more quickly, effectively and consistently get children to be “ready to learn”.

“An proper understanding of different preferences in learning and processing allows teachers to genuinely both understand where pupils are coming from, and also to ensure that they are fully meeting their needs. This is about a profound understanding of how the brain processes and stores information, and a sophisticated approach to subtly ensuring that all pupils have the best possible opportunities to learn.

“How the resource supports or enhances the everyday life or work of teachers, pupils or schools:

“The impact of NLP for Teachers goes well beyond the actual teaching and learning. For most teachers, managing challenging behaviour in and around class is a key concern. The NLP skills of rapport, reframing and state-management are highly effective in supporting teachers to effectively manage both themselves and their students. This can have a positive effect throughout the school - how teachers and pupils relate to one another, as well as teachers and teachers, and of course teachers and parents. By avoiding conflict, teachers are empowered to build strong relationships, which ultimately benefit the students, as well as supporting a less stressful work place. ”

“Cost effectiveness in terms of educational aims and results - not just price:”

“NLP for Teachers presents a set of learnable skills which can be modelled, shared, coached on, and developed throughout the school community. My experience is that the “cascade” effect of these skills is both rapid and highly effective. Staff readily see the potential benefits to themselves, and are keen to develop the skills for themselves.”

Liz Robinson Headteacher, Surrey Square Junior School, Southwark

“I fully endorse this book.

“It is highly accessible and of immense practical use. It is one of the few books that can inspire teachers to improve their skills and an educator and classroom practitioner to become a better teacher. It is innovative in that it does not require a teacher to replace any practice but allows them to improve their effectiveness through a number of techniques.

“All the techniques are easy to grasp and have high impact on classroom practice and learning. The techniques have an immediate effect and build into creating a highly effective learning environment. The book does not require any specialist resources or any expensive associated programme materials and can be applied to any subject or phase of education. As such it provides excellent value for money.

“It is rooted in the everyday life of any educational establishment with clear explanation of jargon and areas of further research that can be explored. It takes the very complex interactive process of teaching and simplifies what can be done to improve the practice for all.

“I highly recommend this as one of the best educational books this year.”

Tony Crisp, Headteacher PRU

Contents

Title Page

Acknowledgements

IntroductionShould you buy this book?

What have you got in mind?

What you will not find in the book!

So what is this book about?

Why we wrote this book

Chapter 1What’s in a name?

Studying excellence

The presuppositions (or mindsets) of NLP

Communicating effectively

How to think effectively

Taking positive action

Chapter 2Blockbuster movies

How to plan successful lessons from the inside out and reach your outcomes

What you will learn in this chapter

Emotions, feelings and our ‘internal state’

Representations and the classroom

Memories and internal future representations

Creating your movie

Exploring the visual, auditory and kinaesthetic elements of inner representations

Well-formed outcome – bringing it all together to create your movie

Chapter 3We like like

How to build rapport and influence others

A chance encounter with an ice cream

Communication

Rapport

More advanced rapport techniques

How using your senses can help you build rapport

Using sensory preferences in language

Pacing and leading

Group rapport

Chapter 4Dolphin aquarium

How to get the relationships (and therefore the behaviour) you want from the classes you teach

What you’d expect from dolphins

After a while something amazing happened

What Bateson’s research means in relation to behaviourist theories and learning

Positive reward management

Chapter 5Don’t think about chocolate cake

How to use your language to get what you want

Presuppositions

Covering all bases

Yes sets and yes tags

Pacing and leading with language and making transitions

Words to use with care

Don’t think about chocolate cake right now!

Chunking up and chunking down

Chapter 6Streetwise body language

How to use body language to influence others in the classroom and in life in general

Building rapport with body language – and using Satir categories

Chapter 7Knowing me knowing you … aha!

How to increase your personal in interpersonal effectiveness by just seeing the word differently

Making effective use of perceptual positions

You can have too much of a good thing

Other people are mirrors of ourselves

Internal perspectives and how to use them

Metaprograms

Chapter 8Memories are made of this

How to use your inner resources effectively

Let’s go inside and explore – internal representations and submodalities

Exploring visual, auditory and kinaesthetic submodalities

Driver submodalities

Association and dissociation

Learning to use clusters of submodalities

Chapter 9Anchors away!

How to harness your internal mental resources within yourself and in your learning environment

Pavlovian conditioning

Different kinds of reflexes

Anchoring resourceful states

Spotlighting

Directing your classroom experience like a film set

Using anchors in conversation with others

Chapter 10Verbal ju-jitsu

How to be elegant with language

The power of collecting more specific language

The meta model

The art of questioning

Why?

Conversational belief change

Chapter 11The teacher within

How who you are affects what you do

Working with values

What sort of thing are we talking about?

Away from and towards values

Dealing with out of date values

Being flexible to achieve what you really want

Your hierarchy of values

Working out your values hierarchy 137

Being a leader in the classroom 139

Chapter 12You can do it … and it’s about time

How to keep motivation on target

Find your natural time processing pattern

Characteristics of people with each type of time processing pattern

Fun with your time line

Noticing whether memories are clustered or separate

The language of time

Chapter 13It’s in your eyes … among other things

How paying attention to small pieces of body language and eye movements can help you build rapport, influence and communicate more effectively

Sensory acuity

Eye movements

The NLP eye accessing cues model

Test the NLP accessing cues model for yourself

Strategies

Chapter 14The magic number 7

Understanding the limits of consciousness and the contemporary research context around NLP

How did you do that?

The magic number 7 – the limits of consciousness

The NLP communication model

Chapter 15Instant training day

How to plan and deliver your own NLP training

Getting started

Training exercise 1

Training exercise 2

Training exercise 3

Training exercise 4

Training exercise 5

Training exercise 6

Glossary of commonly used NLP terms

References

A chronological bibliography of key texts in relation to the development and publication of NLP

List of NLP toolboxes

Index

Bibliography

Copyright

Acknowledgements

Over the last four years, in conjunction with a number of fellow trainers, such as Henrie Liddiard and Lynn Murphy, we have been fortunate to have taught NLP approaches to well over 1,000 teachers and school leaders. Alongside specific training in Neuro-linguistic Programming, NLP tools have been incorporated into training delivered by trainers from Alistair Smith’s training company (Alite): Will Thomas, Sarah Mook, Penny Clayton and Nick Austin (Alite and CfBT). Some material in the book first appeared in print in Teaching Expertise magazine (Churches and Terry, 2005; 2006a; 2006b; 2006c). We are grateful to Clare Smale the then editor of the magazine for her support in developing and first publishing this material. I (Richard) would particularly like to thank John West-Burnham for always listening to some very different ideas.

Alongside training teachers to use NLP we have continually kept one eye on exploring and researching which NLP tools are of most use to teachers and school leaders. This book is the result of using applied NLP with teachers together with the feedback we have received and the follow-up research that we have done. As such it is not a complete manual of NLP but rather a collection of those NLP tools, techniques and strategies that teachers have told us have made a difference to them in the classroom. Although there is evidence to support many NLP techniques and approaches from neuroscience, psychology and education, there are some approaches that just seem to work without (as yet) any real rationale to support them. Despite this we have included all of the things that we have had positive feedback on and, where appropriate, have included research evidence which supports (or at least sits in parallel to) the NLP techniques being described in the chapter.

We are also grateful for the support and encouragement of Surrey University’s research programme in NLP and particularly to Dr Paul Tosey and Dr Jane Mathison for the access they have given us to their own research work and ideas. Also we should thank all the people at Roger’s training company Evolution Training: the employees, trainers and various teacher participants who have directly and indirectly made a contribution—particularly Ali Mobbs for her outstanding illustrations. Thanks also to all those people who have given us support, encouragement and feedback in the production of the articles that preceded this book and the production of this book: Jenni Churches, Emily Terry, Dr Geraldine Hutchinson, Nick Austin, Liz Robinson, Claire McLean, Clare Smale and Heather Hamer. We would like to dedicate this book to our children: Sam, Lucy and particularly George, Richard and Jenni’s son who died of cancer, aged 7, during the writing of this book.

Richard Churches

Roger Terry

August 2007

Introduction

Should you buy this book?

Teaching is about relationships as well as pedagogy. It is about feelings as well as facts and it is as much about what goes on inside your head as it is about what goes on in the heads of your students. It is about using your senses as well as your subject knowledge.

At the end of the day we all know that it is our mood when we enter the classroom that has the greatest effect on the children, our sense of motivation that drives the pace of the lesson and our abilities to relieve the tension in a difficult moment that creates the right classroom climate. Effective teaching begins and ends with our capacity to manage our internal responses and external behaviours.

There can be few jobs that require such mastery over interpersonal and intrapersonal skills, and the central importance of this area for teachers and school leader development is becoming increasingly clear (see West-Burnham, 2004; West-Burnham and Ireson, 2005). Because Neuro-linguistic Programming (NLP) is about personal effectiveness it offers teachers a range of tools and techniques to develop interpersonal and intrapersonal capacity, manage emotions and communicate much more effectively. At the same time there are specific approaches for getting in touch with who you are, so that you can truly connect to your moral purpose and values as a teacher, think deeply about what you do and have the skills to take effective action. In our work with teachers we have found that knowing what is important to you, what you want and having the personal effectiveness to act gives you the ability to link your values to your behaviours and to influence those around you to easily achieve what really matters. The link between values, behaviour and purpose is now recognised as being of key importance to effective school improvement (Fullan, 2001; 2007). We have included a specific chapter (The teacher within) on working with your values and exploring you identity. Is NLP the technology of emotional intelligence? Well, if such a thing exists, yes it probably is. It is certainly technology for developing interpersonal and intrapersonal competence.

Is NLP the technology of emotional intelligence? Well, if such a thing exists, then yes it probably is. It is certainly technology for developing interpersonal and intrapersonal competence.

In writing this book we have not sought to present a work on pedagogy or teaching strategies. There are many excellent texts already available that cover these areas. Rather our intention has been to present a practical text that gives teachers the opportunity to explore the key areas of personal development and personal effectiveness. We believe that this area is not only under-represented in teacher education and training at the moment, but is also the key (in combination with effective teaching and learning approaches) to high teacher effectiveness. In our experience, it is this area that is often lacking or underdeveloped in less effective teachers, and the reason why two teachers can deliver virtually the same lesson (in the same way) to similar classes and yet have very different results.

In this book you will learn how to:

communicate more effectively

develop your influencing skills and approaches

manage your emotions and feelings more effectively to help you to build resilience

set yourself, and achieve, positive outcomes

expand your range of potential behaviours and develop more flexibility

We have also included up-to-date Research Zones throughout the book that we hope will be of interest to the wider academic community as well as to teachers and others who work with children in a learning capacity. Chapter 1, What’s in a name? contains some background information about NLP and its core concepts; the practical tool-based chapters begin with Chapter 2, Blockbuster movies. Chapter 14, Themagic number 7, puts NLP into a wider research context in relation to what we know about consciousness and cognition and how early work in the field of NLP relates to current thinking. A final chapter, Instant training day, gives you a detailed set of training scripts to support you in delivering some NLP training yourself.

What have you got in mind?

At its heart this is a book about language and internal mental imagery, and how understanding this can transform your life and work as a teacher. Specifically it is a book about how to use the language and approaches of a group of extraordinary therapists (modelled by Richard Bandler and John Grinder in the mid-1970s) in the classroom. This early NLP research explored how therapists such as Milton Erickson, Virginia Satir, Frank Farrelly and Fritz Perls did what they did—the end result of which was the documentation of a wide range of tools, techniques and approaches. In doing this they discovered and unpacked tools, approaches and methodologies. These led to the development of specific techniques that are just as effective when used in everyday situations with everyday problems as they are when used with people in therapy. Indeed, over time, it became increasingly clear that there were specific strategies and approaches that many excellent communicators and achievers shared in common. Together these personal effectiveness and communication strategies have become part of what is known as NLP. Many of you will read this book and notice things that you have already learnt on courses and in books in recent years. The fact is NLP has been gradually being integrated into education over the last few years through the cascading and sharing of tools and techniques. This book will help you to understand where many of these ideas come from and how to use them effectively.

What you will not find in this book!

This is not a book about brain-friendly learning nor isit a book about how the brain learns. If you are looking for a work on neuroscience and how the brain learns we highly recommend The Learning Brain by Sarah-Jayne Blakemore and Uta Frith (Blakemore and Frith, 2007) and the recent publication Neuroscience and Education: Issues and Opportunities by the Teaching and Learning Research Programme and the Economic Social Research Council (TLRP, 2007). There are also many helpful texts by Alistair Smith (2000; 2002; 2003; Smith and Call, 1999), Bill Lucas (2001), Guy Claxton (2002), Tony Buzan (2001) and others which provide a practical approach for those aspiring to plan their teaching and learning in a way that supports a more ‘brain-focused’ way of working. For a scholarly review of the potential impact of these approaches we suggest you look at the recently published research report Learning to Learn inSchools (Higgins et al., 2007). As NLP is primarily about communication, with yourself and others, you will find that the techniques and tools in the book complement any and all pedagogic approaches.

You will not find pedagogic approaches in this book or anything that might replace yourexisting practice or training as a teacher. Rather this book contains personal effectiveness tools and techniques with which you can easily enhance any existing good classroom skills and approaches, so that you can become highly effective in the classroom. In doing so you will find yourself becoming more influential in your delivery skills and more effective at managing yourself. This will enable you to have more energy and stamina, clarity and focus and the feeling of being completely in control of your emotions and purpose.

So what is this book about?

This book is about personal effectiveness. In a sense it is about the space between you and the students that you teach and the space within you when you are doing that. The type of knowledge that NLP represents is therefore a ‘how to’ rather than a ‘what’. In a way it is technology for your mind.

This book is about personal effectiveness. In a sense it is about the space between you and the students that you teach and the space within you when you are doing that. The type of knowledge that NLP represents is therefore a ‘how to’ rather than a ‘what’. In a way it is technology for your mind

Why we wrote this book

What our experience of using NLP with teachers tells us is that these tools and techniques can help teachers to hit the challenging mark of interpersonal and intrapersonal effectiveness more and more often. Our work over the last four years has taught us many things. In particular, we have learnt that that not every tool or technique works for everyone. This is almost certainly because we all have highly effective ways of dealing with the challenge of teaching. What is undeniable, from our experience, is that nearly every teacher we have worked with finds something that makes a real difference to them and their relationships in both the classroom and the staff room. At the end of the day the answer in teaching has to be in the territory of practitioner-led enquiry and in this spirit we invite you to work with the ideas and tools in this book and let us know what happens.

Learning NLP

Any good book about NLP should aspire to be a complement to hands-on practice and training. With this in mind we have included practical exercises throughout the book and a final chapter, Instant training day, which gives you seven interactive NLP training exercises that you can use separately or to deliver your own whole day training event in school. If you have not yet had the opportunity to attend NLP training by a recognised trainer or practitioner we would highly recommend that you do so. NLP is a set of practical skills and there is much to learn that can only ever be touched on in the context of a written text. Look out for training delivered by registered trainers of either INLPTA (International NLP Trainers Association) or ANLP (Association of NLP).

For those of you who are studying for a teacher training qualification, or who are doing a higher degree in education, we have provided Research Zones that give you useful references to research from outside of NLP that parallels and supports the model.

So should you buy this book? Yes, if you’re interested in beginning to develop excellence in classroom communication skills. Yes, if you want to learn how to use powerful tools to support your personal and professional goals. Yes, if you just want to know how to feel good whenever you want to. In fact, anyone working in a school—teachers, subject leaders, phase leaders, senior managers, learning support assistants, local authority advisors and many others-—will want to buy it.

Getting the most out of this book

As well as containing lots of information about NLP and background to the tools and techniques, there are many practical activities for you to work on.

Just do its are activities that will build your internal skills and capacity, and act as a prelude to the more advanced tools in the NLP Toolboxes.

You will notice that there is some repetition of concepts in the book. We have done this so that you can really focus on working on a chapter at a time without having to cross-reference too much.

We suggest that you take it a little bit at a time and play with the concepts and tools in your daily work, noticing how effective they can be in everyday situations. Once you have read a chapter and worked through the activities yourself, you may want to work through the activities again with a friend or a colleague. With some of the tools and techniques it is helpful to have someone read it out loud whilst you work through it. Discussing the activities afterwards can be really helpful.

Set yourself the goal of taking two or three ideas, concepts and techniques at a time and have a day when you practise that one thing. Applying some of these strategies will be much more effective than simply reading the book.

In general it is best to work through a single chapter in order as the approaches and learning become more advanced as the chapter progresses.

Research Zones add academic depth to what is in the chapters but it is not necessary to spend time on these before working through the chapters and the tools.

At the end of all the practical chapters there a box entitled More ways to start improving your classroom practice with NLP. These include a series of additional suggestions for getting started with the tools that are described in the chapter.

Remember you don’t need to absorb it all at once. Allow yourself time to work on one or two tools or approaches at a time.

Chapter 1

What’s in a name?

Studying excellence

NLP is sometimes described as the study of human excellence. NLP studies not only what effective people do but also how they go about doing it. This includes the visible external behaviours/language of highly effective people, the internal mental processes that they use and the way in which they think. By applying these approaches and thinking you can achieve the same things in your own work and life. We are only just beginning to fully understand the power of our minds and the relationship between mind and body. Freedivers who dive to staggering depths without bottled oxygen are able to reach what is called a state of static apnea. They achieve this by banishing energy-sapping stress and fear. This represents an extraordinary mind game and is the opposite of adrenalin sports. Where adrenalin speeds up the metabolism freedivers slow it down. World champions can conquer the body’s natural impulse to breathe for over nine minutes.

In NLP the process of studying the details of what people do, the ways they think, feel and behave is called modelling. Fifty years ago what differentiated an excellent golfer or tennis player from an average one was barely understood. What makes a top player has been analysed and videoed time and time again. Today you can have your golf swing or tennis grip analysed in great detail. This attention to the detail of excellence and effectiveness is what makes NLP research stand out from other studies of human behaviour and effectiveness. Out of such detailed studies came the body of knowledge that is NLP. Because NLP tools exist at the level of processes and communication skills they can literally be applied to any context to help you become highly effective, including the classroom. Today NLP is used to study the excellence and effectiveness of people in all walks of life and across all disciplines and fields. What has emerged is a wide range of approaches that are like ‘software’ for your mind.

The co-founders of NLP noticed that there were three fundamental characteristics of really effective communicators that were shared by all of the therapists, excellent communicators and influencers that they studied—these characteristics are also shared by effective leaders, salespeople and teachers. Firstly, be clear about what you are looking to achieve—know your outcome and have a grasp of what you want. Secondly, have the flexibility to adapt your behaviour and have a wide range of possible behaviours and responses. Thirdly, use your senses to notice if you are getting what you want so that you can adapt quickly and respond effectively.

The characteristics of teachers who achieve excellence in their lives and professional work

Know what youwant—Identify precise and achievable outcomes. Know what the purpose and direction of your communication and action is. Specifically have clear internal pictures, sounds or feelings which come together to create your own internal representation of you doing the future action effectively.Know if you are getting what youwant—Sharpen the detail that your senses pick up so that you develop sensory acuity. Notice the responses of others in order to provide sensory feedback for you to ensure that you progress towards your outcome.Have the flexibility tochange—Be flexible in your behaviour, language and internal feeling. Continually adapt in order to influence and involve others in your outcome.Takeaction—There is a real world out there. What goes on in your mind, and in the cinema that plays in your mind, is just a map.

Although much of NLP has parallels with recent studies from neuroscience and psychology, NLP as a form of knowledge is fundamentally a phenomenological one. As such it represents a body of knowledge about the nature of subjective human experience. NLP is best understood and learned by experience and through practice. Revisiting previous sections of the book and doing the Just do its and other exercises again will support you in this.

Many of the highly effective NLP techniques included in this book are processes and skills drawn from the world of hypnosis. Following their detailed studies of therapists and excellent communicators Bandler and Grinder concluded that ‘all communication is hypnosis’ (Bandler and Grinder, 1979) in that any time a person communicates something to someone that requires them to experience that for themselves, a ‘hypnotic-like’ state is being induced. For example, if we were to begin to tell you about our recent holiday abroad, the feeling of the sand under our feet, the sound of the waves and the colours of plants and trees, you might well begin to create an internal image yourself. In this sense whenever anyone tries to communicate anything they are attempting to induce such a state. The primary way in which this is done is with words. Of course, you are not going to be able to put your classes into a deep trance and get them all up at the front pretending to be chickens after reading this book. Hypnosis is a much wider field than we are seeking to cover here; however, the core skills of excellent communication and influence are the same.

Following their detailed studies of therapists and excellent communicators Bandler and Grinder concluded that ‘all communication is hypnosis’ (Bandler and Grinder, 1979) in that any time a person communicates something to someone that requires them to experience that for themselves, a ‘hypnotic-like’ state is being induced.

Think for a moment and ask yourself, what is it that good therapists do?

We often ask this question in our training sessions and the list that appears on flips charts is invariably something like this:

Create positive change for people

Help people to change their behaviour

Communicate effectively

Facilitate learning

Change people’s life

Help people overcome difficult past experiences

Support people to fulfill their potential

Help people manage their behaviours etc.

These are all things which you expect to see in a really effective teacher. The bottom line is that the key skills of a therapist, like a teacher, are an ability to influence with words and to use language to create change. Understanding these sorts of tools is useful for any profession in which your use of language is your primary skill—as it is in teaching.

“Neuro”-linguistic Programming—what a terrible name!

And it is a terrible name …

Any good researcher in the social sciences, or in the physical sciences, will tell you that research can only tell you about what has actually been researched. A lot of claims are made about NLP and indeed many things have been promoted under the title Neuro-linguistic Programming since Bandler and Grinder did their original research at the University of Santa Cruz in California. What Bandler and Grinder actually researched were language patterns and the internal mental representations that were often created as a result of related techniques and approaches.

Those of you who are already familiar with NLP or who may be qualified to diploma, practitioner or master practitioner, will notice that some of the ways in which we talk about NLP are somewhat different from what you might be used to. The fact is that there is a revolution happening in NLP, largely as a result of university-based research programmes and the creation of formal master’s level qualification in NLP at several UK universities. As is usually the case with new knowledge, NLP is constantly evolving and has done over the last 30 years. To be frank, NLP has taken on board some pretty wacky ideas at times. In writing this book we have been mindful to remove some things, whilst at the same time preserving those tools, techniques and ideas that in our own experience, and from feedback, we know can make a real difference to teachers on a daily basis.

Research Zone

Key influences on NLP

The term Neuro-linguistic Programming was used first by Richard Bandler and John Grinder at the University of California at Santa Cruz during the 1970s, and techniques first appeared in publication in 1975 (Bandler and Grinder 1975a; 1975b). They used the term to describe a body of phenomena and concepts which broadly support the view that humans can be seen as a single mind–body system, in which patterns of connection can be defined which link internal experience and language (the neuro and linguistic respectively) to behaviour (programming). Bandler was a student of mathematics and computer science, and Grinder a professor of linguistics. They were encouraged in their work by Gregory Bateson and the NLP model owes much to Bateson’s work. In particular NLP has, from its inception, drawn significantly from key concepts that are to be found in Bateson’s collections of writings Steps to an Ecology of Mind (1972).

NLP draws its influences from a wide range of fields most specifically: the hypnotherapy of Milton Erickson (Bandler and Grinder 1975b; 1975c), Gestalt therapy (Perls, 1969) and the family therapy approaches of Virginia Satir (Bandler and Grinder, 1975). Classical conditioning (Pavlov, 1927) is also applied in NLP and is known as anchoring.

For a number of years the field of NLP has been contentious. However, recent advances in neuroscience, as a result of fMRI research, have helped to put NLP into a wider research context. In particular, cognitive theories of hypnosis (e.g. Brown and Oakley, 2004) support the effectiveness and process of hypnosis and the effectiveness of hypnotic language and hypnotic approaches. Likewise, wider NLP tools and approaches are supported by research into mirror neurons (Rizzolatti et al., 1996), memory reconsolidation (Miller and Matzel, 2000), the effect of positive mental imagery (Neck and Manz, 1992) and work on micro facial expressions (Ekman, 2003).

A more detailed Research Zone that covers academic definitions of NLP can be found at the end of Chapter 14, The magic number 7.

Bandler, R. and Grinder, J. (1975a) The Structure of Magic I: A Book about Language and Therapy, Palo Alto, CA: Science and Behaviour Books

Bandler, R. and Grinder, J. (1975b) Patterns of the Hypnotic Techniques of Milton H. Erickson, M. D. vol i, Cupertino, CA: Meta Publications

Bateson, G. (1972) Steps to an Ecology of Mind, London: Paladin, Granada Brown, R. J. and Oakley, D. A. (2004) An integrated cognitive theory of hypnosis and high hypnotizability, in M.

Heap, R. J. Brown and D. A. Oakley (eds), The Highly Hypnotisable Person: Theoretical, Experimental and ClinicalIssues, London: Routledge

Ekman, P. (2003) Emotions Revealed, London: Phoenix

Miller, R. R. and Matzel, L. D. (2000) Memory involves far more than ‘consolidation’, Nature Reviews Neuroscience: 1: 214–216

Neck, C. P. and Manz. C. C. (1992) Thought self-leadership: the influence of self-talk and mental imagery on performance, Journal of Organizational Behavior, 13:7:681–699

Pavlov, I. (1927) Conditioned Reflexes, London: Oxford University Press

Perls, F. (1951) Gestalt Therapy: Excitement and Growth in the Human Personality Verbatim, Moab, London: Souvenir

Rizzolatti, G., Fadiga, L., Gallese, L. and Fogassi, L. (1996) Premotor cortex and the recognition of motor actions, Cognitive Brain Research, 3:131–141

The presuppositions (or mindsets) of NLP

Have you ever noticed another teacher talking about a class or a student and noticed that they have a completely different view of the student to you? Have you ever noticed this happen and realised that it was that teacher’s expectations, beliefs and ways of thinking about that child or class that were probably at the heart of the problem?

Often in schools the way in which we think about things affects our behaviours and therefore affects and influences others around us. Over the last 30 years NLP has defined the critical mindsets that successful people adopt to help them achieve their potential. These are often referred to as the presuppositions of NLP. These have evolved within the field and from original modelling of therapists and successful people in general. You will find these presuppositions expressed in different ways in various books, depending on the context that is being explored. The ten presuppositions that we have found to be most helpful for highly effective teaching are listed below. At the heart of these ideas is a fundamental principle: we can’t change anyone else’s behaviour, we can only change our own. This applies to children just as much as it does to adults, teachers, parents, friends and anyone else that we interact with. We can’t always be sure how our changes in behaviour will affect others. However, being sensitive to the sensory feedback we get, and subtle signs and signals that we receive from others, we can become more adaptable and respond effectively to the behaviour of others.

We can’t change anyone else’s behaviour; we can only change our own.

Spending a few moments to reflect on these presuppositions will be helpful before you begin your journey through the practical chapters that follow.

Communicating effectively

We are always communicating Everything we do in front of the children we teach in the classroom communicates in some way:

the words we usesmall changes in our facial expressionthe way we standhow the way we arrange our classroomwhere we stand, etc.

Recognising this enables us to explore the details of our communication and the effect it has others. In fact it is impossible not to communicate, and even saying nothing will communicate something.

The meaning of your communication is the response you get In many ways this is one of the most challenging ideas for teachers. It means that we cannot simply blame the lack of understanding about what we want on others. On first inspection this may seem a bleak idea, but in truth it is a liberating and powerful way of seeing the world in a different way. Knowing that it is ourselves that we need to change allows us to take full control of the only aspect of life that we truly have any control over—our own behaviour. Think about it, how do you get anyone else to do anything? The reality is that you have to act first.

Resistance is the result of a lack of rapport When you encounter resistance or challenge ask yourself—what sort of relationship do I have with this child, parent or colleague? Almost always, if there is not the mutual feeling of trust and relationship, that is rapport, resistance follows. Learning to build rapport is one of the key skills in NLP. In this book you will learn key skills that will enable you to build rapport effectively and quickly, whatever the situation or circumstance. Often teachers are approaching the classroom from the perspective of tasks, strategies and skills; children are operating at a much more fundamental level—the level of identity. They are usually more interested in who you are and what is important to you and they look for protection and nurturing. Being able to develop rapport effortlessly can help you to communicate on this level and transform the way you think, feel and behave.

How to think effectively

The map that we create in our mind’s eye is not reality

We are all acting and responding to our own internal maps of the world. These are the result of our experiences and the emotions associated with those experiences. Our maps are full of values, beliefs and memories. Some of these are helpful and some of them are not. The first step in the process of learning to have the flexibility and skills to communicate effectively and achieve your goals is to become aware of what is in your map and to recognise that it is just that, a map.