How an apple changed my world...

I’m a little uneasy writing this post.  It takes me so far outside my professional comfort zone that actually committing my thoughts to screen is challenging.  But, if there is even a grain of truth in what follows, the implications are significant...

I was intrigued when shown some isolated images from Masuro Emoto’s book “The Hidden Messages in Water”.    In essence the claims are simple - that our thoughts and words can impact upon water. When water exposed to various influences is frozen and photographed under certain conditions crystals are often visible - and there can be significant differences in the shape of these crystals. Emoto claims that positive thoughts, words and music result in well formed, balanced “snow flake” like crystals whereas negative thoughts and words produce malformed murky crystals that are not pleasing to the eye.  
The clip below provides a clever introduction to Emoto’s work.

Those who would like to see more might enjoy this slideshow via Youtube.

My reaction was one of scepticism; I dismissed it as new-age pseudo-science.  Even a layman such as myself could see flaws in Emoto’s work.  The information about how the images were captured is superficial - meaning it would be hard to replicate the work.  Only one image of each stimulus is provided.  Were all samples identical - or even similar? Were there “failures”? If so what did they look like?  How many “successful” images followed each stimulus?    These and a host of other questions flowed readily. Reading Emoto’s book did not answer these questions.  The fact that the answers to such obvious questions were not provided was, to my mind,  daming.  However, it haunted me.  What if there was some truth to it?

I soon discovered this clip which suggests that Emoto’s work may not be as obscure and off-beat as I had first thought. 

This would suggest that something odd is actually going on - unless this is an elaborate hoax, there is support for the notion that water is influenced by the people who come in contact with it.

While researching further I came across a balanced critique of Emoto’s work which asks many of the same questions that I had and is well worth reading. As worthy as the article is, the comments following  are also worth exploring. Hidden amongst the range of sceptical responses and uncritical acceptance was a link to a personal blog which showed both initiative and religious belief - in equal parts.  In a variation on a process mentioned in Emoto’s book an apple was substituted for water. Given that living things are mostly water, the theory goes, if you subject any living thing to the stimuli mentioned by Emoto then you might be able to produce an observable effect.  Quanita Rizy’s blog contains photos where the apple does in fact show such effects.  Rizy had replaced the generic positive messages with quotations from the Quran but the photos seemed to indicate that something odd was certainly occurring.  Two sides of the apple were clearly aging differently. Moreover, they provided an easily replicated procedure to test the hypothesis.
So I did just that.  I cut an apple in half and placed each half in a sealed “sandwich” bag. Then I spoke to each half - using the terminology used by Emoto himself. The positive message was “Love and gratitude” whilst the negative message was “You fool”.  (The irony of the situation did not escape me - here was me calling half an apple a fool yet I was the one talking to a piece of fruit.) The apple halves were then placed side by side in a disused room with conditions which, to all intents and purposes, were identical.Twice a day, in the morning and in the evening, I spoke the words to the fruit. After six days I asked an interested observer (you might not be surprised to see how much interest is generated when you start talking to fruit!) was asked to identify which half was in the better condition - the “Love and gratitude” half was correctly identified easily.  

This experiment now leaves me with a challenge. My small scale experiment tends to support Emoto.  I find this fascinating … and the implications are significant.  If a piece of fruit really does respond to language then how much more so is a human being affected by harsh words?  

We do not need to adopt “new age” philosophies to know that feedback that we give to students is significant. (If you need a refresher on why this is so click here.)

Regardless of the “truth” or otherwise of the water crystal belief perhaps it is timely to remind ourselves that the youngsters in our classes are more than students - they are people. Each person on the planet deserves to be valued and respected - not because it improves student outcomes, but simply because people are so much more significant than apples - or even a pretty water crystal.

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Challenge:  I will continue to “test” the hypothesis using the methods outlined above. I will also be trying a variation involving cooked rice mentioned in Emoto's book. There are examples of this on Youtube as well. I'd if I’d be REALLY interested in hearing from anyone else of a similar mind who also conducted their own investigations. “Failures” would be just as interesting as “success stories”.

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Credits.
All embedded links go to original sources.
Cover to Emoto’s book “The hidden messages of water” via Google images.
"Subway" clip via Youtube:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nWn4QF6dCwM Slide show of images from Emoto's book via youtube:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tAvzsjcBtx8 
Is emoto for real - critique:
http://is-masaru-emoto-for-real.com/
Quanita Rizy’s blog:
http://javeria.wordpress.com/2011/03/07/effects-of-quran-vs-effects-of-music-on-an-apple/
"Water has memory" clip via Youtube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ILSyt_Hhbjg&feature=related

Be kind to your mind

Rick Hanson, author of “Buddha’s brain”, has some fascinating things to say about brain neuroplasticity.

In this post on dailygood.org Hanson discusses neural plasticity - the concept that, contrary to the views of earlier generations, the brain is not permanently “hard wired” and that it changes with experience.  In brief - change the experiences and you change the brain. Few would find this a revelation.  But Hanson also suggests that changes in attitude can also change the brain / mind. It is fascinating work - and work with great significance for educators.



The post is structured around three key points:
Fact 1. As the brain changes, the mind changes, for better or for worse.
Fact 2. As the mind changes the brain changes.
Fact 3. You can use the mind to change the brain to change the mind for the better.

I’ll keep this post brief and simply encourage readers to follow this link to a more extensive discussion (which is still easily accessible and “blog” sized) of Hanson’s ideas. Both the text and the embedded video are well worth reflecting on over a cup of coffee.

Hanson suggests that we should be more mindful of our brain - and vice versa.  This may seem a little “on the fringe” for mainstream educators - but really it is our core function. We all know that the state of mind of our students impacts upon their learning.  If we can impact on their mental health in general terms we can help them become people with a positive outlook on life and their place in the world.  There is much of benefit here for students - and teachers;  some deliberate positive reflection would do much for the emotional and mental health of many teachers.

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Rick Hanson offers a daily email of practices designed to assist using the mind to change the brain.  Subscription is via his website.

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Credits:
Buddha’s Brain cover via Google images: http://t3.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcQiV3nxNEk0YYtEbHFsk_TUkLhCJ94AJf1fhWYXQXazcCAzcR1l8WM3E8zeZw
Original source = Dailygood.org

The kindness boomerang

We live in an era when success at school is defined by many as achieving high marks in exams, or possibly on the sporting field.  We live in a society that boasts “life coaches” to help individuals achieve their personal goals. We live in a time where an unstated belief in “social Darwinism” is rampant - the cream rises to the top, the rest...well, they don’t deserve to be successful.  In short, we live in a society that emphasises individual achievement and success; perhaps this would be more palatable if the meaning of “success” was broadened beyond the limits of economic worth.

However, we rarely hear of the value of simply being a decent person - of helping someone else without  thought for personal gain.  For an antidote to this mode of thinking watch this wonderful video - the Kindness Boomerang.

From an educational view point this video is clearly worth sharing with students - even students from a relatively young age could appreciate this.  Those interested in helping to make the world a nicer place one person at a time (starting with themselves) might be interested in visiting the “Random Acts of Kindness” site for some ideas. This site also has some ideas suitable for using in schools.

This site also has some ideas suitable for using in schools.  Or you might enjoy reading this as an adult - especially if you appreciate the joys of a good coffee.

Teaching students that they can be people of worth regardless of their age (and income or “status” in later life) may just be one of the most important lessons we can teach them. As Martin Luther King is purported to have said “Life’s most persistent and urgent question is, ‘What are you doing for others?’”


Those who enjoyed the video above might also like to view my post “Validate - it’s great”, which features another inspiring video well worth viewing. I challenge you to watch it without smiling...

Sometimes school is stupid

Every now and then, we all have “one of those days”. They usually start out bad and go downhill from there.   Mine usually start off without an alarm to wake me. My high-tech radio has an in-built compassion circuit - whenever it senses that I am tired enough to really need a wake-up call, it very kindly refrains from disturbing my slumber until just past the last possible moment. Then it starts going - and so do I.

It’s a quick shower, dress, breakfast,  run out to the car, discover that cars really do need a key to start, run back to the house, find the keys in yesterday’s trousers (who on earth put them there?) and speed to school. This latter practice is frowned upon by the police - one of whom invariably chooses this precise moment to discuss the merits of the demerit system with me. Thereafter, and proceeding precisely one kilometre per hour under the speed limit, I continue to the school car park. There, waiting for me like an accusation, is my vacant parking spot.

The principal, who chooses this precise moment to be wandering past my room, glances pointedly at his watch, fixes his gaze upon me and says … nothing - in a deafeningly loud voice.  Feeling only marginally better than a marathon runner at high altitude, I rush to prepare the items required for the first session. As I do so I hear the familiar sound of children arriving at school.
Needless to say, I am not at my best.

It is at times like these that only the prospect of reincarnation prevents attempts at suicide.

We have all had “one of those days”. We know only too well the effects that everyday setbacks have on our ability to function at our true level. But what of our students? Do they too have bad days? Perhaps if we could see the world through their eyes...

Sometimes school is stupid.

Sometimes school is stupid. Really dumb. I was late for school on Monday - but it wasn’t my fault. The bus was late. It broke down going up a big hill. It started bumping and jerking and making sounds like a dying dinosaur. We had to wait until Old Cranky the driver fixed it. And when we got to school the teacher was crabby at me for being late.
“Try to get here on time tomorrow,” she said. she didn’t smile at me all day just because I was late. But it wasn’t my fault!

Sometimes I think that teachers can’t smile before three o’clock.

And then, after break, we had to tell the time using an old-fashioned clock with hands. I hate clocks like that. First, Miss Dawkins made it say four o’clock.  I know that one, so I put my hand up - but she didn’t pick me. John got it right, then she moved the long hand to the one. I put my hand up and said “One past four”.

Wrong! If the long hand points to the one it really means five - it said five past four. And if it points to the two it means ten minutes past. Why can’t they make clocks that say what they mean? Miss Dawkins put the minute hand on the seven, so I counted by fives (all by myself) and put my hand up again and said “thirty-five minutes past”.  Wrong again! Can you believe that? Miss Dawkins said that I was right, but we don’t say that, we say “twenty-five minutes to four”. Sometimes clocks are stupid too.

After lunch, when we came back into the classroom, Miss Dawkins told me to spit out my fresh piece of chewing gum. Well, I wasn’t going to waste my new gum, so I stuck it under my desk. Miss Dawkins saw me and growled.  I couldn’t believe it! What was I supposed to do? Throw it away? Miss Dawkins thought so.

Sometimes school is stupid.

It was just lucky I had another bit of chewy under my desk left over from last week.

Then, just before home time, I made this really great castle with the construction set. It was fantastic! It had a place for horses to go in places to drop rocks on invaders and places to hide weapons. It even had a flag made out of chewing gum. It was brilliant!

Miss Dawkins didn’t thinks so. She didn’t even look at it. I couldn’t believe it! SHE DIDN’T EVEN LOOK AT IT! She just said, “Very good, but it is time to pack up now”. It had taken me ages to make and I had to pack it up just because some stupid clock didn’t say fifty minutes past two.


Tuesday I was late for school, but it wasn’t my fault. Not really. I had a bit of trouble tying my shoelaces. I can tie them, really I can, but on the laces were like slippery worms and they just wouldn’t stay done up. So I was late for the bus and Mum had to drive me to school. She was crabby at me. When I got to school, the clock said twenty past nine, but I think Miss Dawkins was crabby too, and she didn’t smile at me all day.

Sometimes shoelaces are stupid.

On Wednesday, I made it to school on time! I was wearing my brand new shoes - ones without laces - and Miss Dawkins smiled at me like she meant it. School started and it was “Show and tell”. I stood up and showed my great new shoes. No-one was interested! I couldn’t believe it! John said they were baby’s shoes because they didn’t have laces. Clare said they looked like they belonged to Bigfoot. On the way back to my spot my great new shoes accidentally kicked John and Claire. Miss Dawkins growled at me.
Don’t teachers ever get new shoes?


Next day was Thursday. My two-day-old shoes got me to the bus on time and it didn’t break down and John was waiting for me in the playground and Miss Dawkins smilled at me when she called out our names in the morning.  Igot a clock question right - half past seven. I read a book to Miss Dawkins and I got all the words right. School was going well.  And then it happened.

I was writing a story about a monster and in the story I stabbed the monster with a knife. Miss Dawkins said there was a “k” at the start of “knife”. She said it was a silent letter because we don’t say it.  She said there was another one in “knee” as well. I said it was stupid to have to put a silent letter into a word if no-one ever said it. Miss Dawkins didn’t say anything. She didn’t even say that she like the story.

And then John came up with a dumb story about a cat on a mat. Miss Dawkins said she liked it and she didn’t correct any of his mistakes. Well, only one of them - he spelled “cat” with a “k”. It sounded right, but it wasn’t really.

I think “k” is a stupid letter.


Next day was Friday. Mum lets me buy my lunch every Friday and I always have a pie with lots and lots of sauce. I didn’t get growled at all morning. At lunchtime, I got my pie and rushed outside to eat it - but I didn’t run. And then it happened.

I dropped my pie all over my three-day old pair of shoes. The sauce looked like monster blood and all John could say was it was lucky I didn’t have laces because then my hands would get messy. Miss Dawkins was on yard duty, so I told her what had happened.  She took me to the canteen and bought me a new pie - with her own money! I couldn’t believe it!

Sometimes school is stupid.  And sometimes it’s great!

Sometimes even a teacher will do.

It is an adult characteristic to trivialise the traumas of childhood.  Since we have “real” problems like bank managers, telephone bills, police speed checks and clock-watching principals, we tend to dismiss the dilemmas of childhood as quaint, possibly amusing, but definitely
trivial. But for a young child, many aspects of life are seen from a different perspective. Even if we get carpet burns from walking on our knees we will never again truly see life from their viewpoint. Perhaps we shouldn’t even try - adults who try too hard to be childlike usually only succeed in being childish. But we can recognise when our children need a friend.

Sometimes, even a teacher will do.



The story behind this story.

I wrote the piece above a quarter of a year ago to reflect what, to me, was a personal epiphany...

We’ve all had students like “Wayne”.  He was in my grade two class in my first posting and, at the risk of making the ultimate understatement,  he was hard work.  He came from what today would be called “socially disadvantaged circumstances”.  It is fair to say that “Wayne” did not find much about school enjoyable - it was a foreign place with different rules and skill sets that had no meaning to him.  He struggled to learn using the techniques in common practice at the time.  Being so young, he no doubt associated me with school and rules and frustration ... and perhaps failure.  Our relationship was complicated by the fact that he had an unpleasant medical condition - and it was my insistence that something be done about it that led to several meetings with social workers, school psychologists,  senior staff, doctors and, eventually,  two weeks in hospital.  When his family moved at the end of the year he wasn’t sorry to go.

I myself transferred at the end of the year to another school in the district.  I scanned the class list before school started and there was a familiar name - but as “Wayne” was a common name did not think too much of it.  Then, on day one, “Wayne” came through the door.  His neutral expression became something less as he saw his “new” teacher.  It was then that I first really understood that students are not just learning profiles on legs.

I wrote this article in response to that situation.  It was originally published in “Classroom - the magazine for teachers”, issue 6, 1990.

Image credits: http://www.jenniferherndon.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/08/bad_day-300x268.jpg

Validate - it's great!

It is no secret that a great deal is expected of schools. Our curriculum documents overflow with worthy content - and even some content that is perhaps less worthy.  Even if the teaching of academic skills and knowledge were all that was expected of schools the task of the teacher would be daunting. However, all educators know that much more is expected of teachers than “merely” teaching content matter.  Teachers are also required to nurture their students in areas other than the strictly academic.  

There is an almost universal belief that self-esteem and success at school are linked. Surprisingly, there is actually some debate about this - the impact of high self esteem on school success is, statistically speaking, only weakly positively correlated. (Those wishing to peruse the evidence for such a claim may like to follow this link.)    However, even if this is true and self esteem is not strongly related to academic success, the question should be asked - does it need to be? Isn’t having students feel good about themselves a valid end in itself - rather than simply a by-product of “achievement”?

There are many that think so.

For the sake of avoiding repetition of previous blog posts I will refrain from discussing the vexing issue of schools actively contributing to low student self esteem by an excessive emphasis on test scores, the requirement for standardised rates of progress, the “everyone must learn the same material” issue - regardless of student interest, and the whole “school as factory” model of education in general.

Fortunately, making students feel good about themselves isn’t always hard. Simply smiling at a student, knowing them and treating them as an individual rather than a learning profile may be all that is required.  Effective teachings strategies provided by the US based National Drop Out Prevention organisation to enhance student self esteem include;

·         knowing the students as individuals

·         greet students by name and useing it often

·         individualise instruction as much as possible

·         view mistakes as learning experiences

·         individualise instruction

·         avoid using grades to separate or categorise students

·         group heterogeneously and

·         create a sense of group and cohesiveness amongst the class

(Those interested in reading further for more recommendations and discussion should click here.)
In other words - having an interest in students as individuals and providing an instructional program based upon their needs is likely to lead to enhanced results - and if it doesn’t actively increase academic results directly it is likely to make the process more enjoyable for all concerned.  Even the sceptics have been unable to provide evidence that making students feel good about themselves decreases achievement.
To remind ourselves just how important it is to have a healthy sense of self esteem I’d recommend watching this video - “Validate”.  It  is a coffee-break length video of the “feel good” genre - and it doesn’t mention schools at all.  However, it is well worth watching - and considering the impact of our actions and comments beyond the realms of academic learning.  The impact of a meaningful compliment or observation can have a significant impact on our students … and our colleagues.





(Those wishing to explore the impact of emotional considerations on student performance are invited to click here to view an earlier blog dealing with Alfie Kohn’s “Feel - Bad Education”.  
Those wishing to explore the impact of mental attitude on student performance are invited to click here to view an earlier blog dealing with Carol Dweck’s “Growth Mindset”.)

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If you enjoyed this video you might enjoy one with a similar "feel good" theme here.