Wednesday 17 March 2010

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



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.

Monday 15 March 2010

New NLP course starting soon!


Resourceful Teaching courses: The Difference that Makes the Difference...
Celebrating Learning since 1998!!!


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: 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

Friday 5 March 2010

Classroom Contracts

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