1. All the news about Glenn Smith’s visit in July.
2. A piece by Shelley Roy on change. Shelley is a leading exponent of Perceptual Control Theory.

All of the other components of Perceptions are now available on the AACTA website – courses available, books etc.

Glenn Smith’s Visit

Glenn will be in Australia from July 7 to 31; his family will join him for part of that time.

Glenn is a Psychologist who for the past 20-odd years has focused on working with the people who have drifted to the margins of our society and put themselves at risk, usually by breaking the law. Working in Mecklenburg County Prison in South Carolina, he initially developed programs for prisoners which greatly reduced recidivism and violence against prison staff. Once those programs had demonstrated their effectiveness, he extended his attention to adolescent offenders and their parents to improve their chances of staying within the law. At present he is working on a book on bullying, looking at both the bully, the victim and prevention school-wide.

Glenn will be offering the following learning opportunities:

• An ACT 2/3, Friday July 11 to Monday July 14, at Liverpool Boys’ High School.
• “Tuff Teaching”, a course for teachers and school administrators, Tuesday July 29 and Wednesday July 30, at Ryde Eastwood Leagues Club, West Ryde.
• “Bullying – the Courage and Craft to beat It!” A course for parents, Thursday 31st July at Ryde Eastwood Leagues Club West Ryde, 10am to 2pm.

For more information and registration details please click here.

Shelley Roy on Change

(I know we’re going into Autumn, but the ideas still work just as well!)

Spring is in the Air!

Spring has come to Minnesota at last! Just yesterday, as I looked outside into my backyard I saw a big fat robin, one of the heralds of spring. She was pecking the ground enjoying the first seeds of the season. A warm feeling washed over me as I watched her slow progress across the yard. Then I noticed my yard was full of robins – I counted at least 30 grazing the grass. It was an amazing sight and I took a moment to pause and enjoy nature in all her glory. Seeing a robin is thought to be a sign that new growth is coming in many areas of your life. Imagine what seeing 30 must mean? I guess I’m going to see a lot of changes this year. It’s probably a good thing that change is a subject I’m very familiar with.

One of the most important things I’ve learned about change in my life is that it isn’t going away any time soon. We all experience it throughout our lives, in both small and large ways, from getting a new purse to changing careers and moving across the globe. We all need to learn to be our own personal change-agents. In fact I believe learning to manage change is a critical life skill which is second only to the skill and practice of self-evaluation. Here are 10 helpful hints that I believe can help anyone be his or her own personal change-agent.

1. View change as an opportunity for growth. Attitude is everything!
2. Create a support network, and don’t be afraid to ask for help. Don’t try to be superwoman! The Beatles had it right – “I’ll get by with a little help from my friends!”
3. Ask yourself what losses you are perceiving and how might you overcome them. Remember that to grab onto something new, you often must let go of something you are holding on to. There is a gift in every loss; find it and remember it often. As Milt Campbell says “Let your loss be your lesson.”
4. Remember it’s OK to make a mistake. Carry a personal rewind button around and use it often! As Bill Keane, author of The Family Circus, reminds us: “You can learn from your mistakes, so be sure to make some.”
5. Give yourself time! Even the Israelites wandered in the desert for forty years looking for the Promised Land. Let’s hope it doesn’t take forty years, but remind yourself you need time to reorganize.
6. Think about your relationships and connections. Ask yourself, what connections will facilitate your emergence from your cocoon as you become a gloriously new butterfly?
7. Be aware of the context in which you exist. Even the best seeds when planted in fallow ground will not grow. A little water, sunshine and fertilizer go a long way toward helping even the smallest seed to grow.
8. Think like a systems thinker: think of feedback loops, time and the whole. Systems thinkers understand the synergistic nature of change, which explains why small changes can have a big impact.
9. Remember what PCT (perceptual control theory) teaches about the change process:
   • You will probably feel out of control.
     
   • We experience change as a winding path of growth.
     
   • You may experience opposing feelings like sadness and joy.
     
   • We humans are extremely adaptable creatures.
     
   • You will eventually figure it out because that’s how we stay alive.
10. Celebrate your small successes! Because PCT teaches us that we are designed to see what isn’t working, it is especially essential during change to focus purposefully on what is working in our life.

As I watch spring come to Minnesota and think about change I am always reminded of my favorite AnaÃis Nin quote:“ There came a time when the risk to remain tight in the bud was more painful than the risk it took to blossom.” It is through change that we can live our lives in full bloom!

For more of Shelley’s wisdom, go to her website www.shelleyawroy.com, or the website for her new book, “A People Primer” www.apeopleprimer.com which offers a simple way to understand perceptual control theory.

1. Important news
2. Overseas Visitor for 2008
3. The Next ACT 1
4. The Website
5. Book Review by Don White: “Schoolwide Discipline Plan Without the Loopholes - Yeah, but a salamander is not a fish!” by Jim Fay
6. Two dingoes - something to ponder over

Important News

The newly constituted Committee has made some significant achievements. One of the goals we set for getting AACTA moving forward was to work for approval of the courses by training organizations. This has happened in two areas:

The Australian Institute of Kinesiology accepted Jenny McFadden’s application to have ACTs 1 and 2 recognised as counselling courses for Kinesiologists as follows:

The committee has reviewed your course and consider it a wonderful counselling course.

It still has to go before the National Committee and I will accelerate this process but you can safely advertise it as accepted by the AIK Ltd as a counselling course.

The course does not teach Kinesiology so it is not a Core Course. I would recommend it as part of the Health Science and for Continuing Professional Education.

To add to the excitement, the Institute of Teachers has approved the submissions sent in by Don White and Janet Van Der Wyk for AACTA to be a provider of Continuing Development for teachers, in categories 2, 4, 5 and 6, as below:

There are 7 elements in the Institute’s Framework of Professional Standards:

1. Teachers know their subject/content and how to teach that content to students
2. Teachers know their students and how students learn
3. Teachers plan, assess and report for effective learning
4. Teachers communicate effectively with their students
5. Teachers create and maintain safe and challenging learning environments through the use of classroom management skills
6. Teachers continually improve their knowledge and practice
7. Teachers are actively engaged members of their profession and wider community

Don and Janet are having a look at the elements not yet approved… Onya!!

Overseas Visitor for 2008

We have not yet managed to confirm a visit from an IAACT presenter for next year, but are negotiating with a very interesting person… Watch this space! And remember, whoever we invite will be asked to present an ACT 3 - so if you are interested in completing your training for Certification, think about completing your ACT 2 practicum before they come so that you will be ready!

The Next ACT 1

The open ACT 1 proposed for August was postponed, and now will definitely go ahead in January 2008 on two consecutive weekends, 12/13 and 19/20 at West Ryde. Please contact Jenny McFadden on dietnomore@optusnet.net.au if you are interested.

The Website

The Committee is convening in November led by Lily Cammaroto to prepare information for the new and lively AACTA website. If you have any ideas of what information you would like to see on it, please let us know. Here are a few things we have thought of so far:

• What is AACTA?
• What does AACTA do?
• What is Control Theory?
• How do I get accreditation - what prerequisites are there?
• Core course descriptions
• Applications
• Practitioners
• Newsletter (Perceptions)
• Books.

Schoolwide Discipline Plan without the Loopholes - “Yeah, but a salamander is not a fish!”

Jim Fay, Love and Logic Press, Golden Colorado, 2005. (available through Amazon.com or www.loveandlogic.com

If you are looking for a fresh approach to managing student behaviour this book of about 100 pages will not disappoint. With a provocative title it is bound to arouse some interest and starts off with an explanation of the “salamander” reference in the title. Jim Fay is a teacher, educational consultant and public speaker of some thirty years experience and a founding member of the Kline Fay Institute based in Colorado, USA.

The first few chapters describe the beliefs that underpin Jim Fay’s approach to discipline and support this with entertaining anecdotal descriptions of interactions between teacher and student. . He draws upon his experiences to explore some of the “chronically true facts about the chronically disruptive students”.
Jim Fay points to the two opposing approaches to discipline - one, a punitive systemic approach; the other an approach based on principles. In a previous book (Teaching with Love and Logic) Fay explores this element in some detail.

A significant chapter of the book is in Jim Fay’s description of what he calls the “Nine Essential Skills of a Classroom Teacher” which are:

• Neutralising student arguing
• Using delayed consequences
• Using empathy
• Using the recovery process
• Developing positive teacher-student relationships
• Setting limits with enforceable statements
• Using choices to prevent power struggles
• Using quick and easy classroom interventions
• Guiding students to solve their own problems

In this rather lengthy chapter Jim Fay gives many examples of how to develop these skills and how to adapt the procedures in any school.

Perhaps one of the most provocative pages is in his description of his rules for his “Love and Logic” classroom.

• I will treat you with respect so you will know how to treat me.
• Feel free to do anything that doesn’t cause a problem for anyone else.
• If you cause a problem I will ask you to solve it
• If you can’t solve the problem or choose not to, I will do something.
• What I do will depend on the special person and the special situation.
• If you feel something is unfair, whisper to me, “I’m not sure that’s fair,” and we will talk.

But a word of warning for anyone who finds these ‘rules’ seductive. Read the book first to get a sound grasp of the principles of love and logic. There are many, many useful ideas to promote Jim Fay’s approach but I think it is an approach for a teacher confident in his/her skills in behaviour management.

For me, Jim Fay’s ideas provide a refreshing approach to working with students in the school setting. It fits in well with the approach taken by Marvin Marshall’s “Raising Responsibility” model and Diane Gossen’s Restitution. All three approaches are aimed at promoting self-discipline. The onus is on the student to accept responsibility and resolve the issue. This is a book definitely worth reading.
Don White
October, 2007.

Two Dingoes - something to ponder over

Sally Berman sent me this little story. Think it over; it has a profound lesson in it.

The Two Dingoes

One evening an old man told his grandson about a battle that goes on inside people.

He said, “My son, the battle is between two “dingoes” inside us all..

One is Evil.

It is anger, envy, jealousy, sorrow, regret, greed, arrogance, self-pity, guilt, resentment, inferiority, lies, false pride, superiority, and ego.

The other is Good.

It is joy, peace, love, hope, serenity, humility, kindness, benevolence, empathy, generosity, truth, compassion and faith.

The grandson thought about it for a minute and then asked his grandfather: “Which dingo wins?”The old man simply replied, “The one you feed.”

• Delay in publication
• Visit by Jon Erwin
• The Next ACT 1
• The Wheel of Life

Delay in Publication

I assessed my willingness to say “Sorry!” and came up with a high level – so I’m sorry that it has been so long between issues of this Newsletter. This is the first one since Christmas last year. The main reason for the delay has been working out some way to send out the information without being caught up by the “spam” filters; I’m hoping that what we have worked out will allow this Perceptions to reach you.

Sally Berman’s visit postponed

As we had advertised that Sally Berman would be visiting us in May and here we are without her, it’s pretty obvious she isn’t coming. Unfortunately, Sally postponed her visit to Australia – she had a family health issue (care of a very elderly mother) that she wanted to see resolved before she made any plans to be out of the country for any significant amount of time. So we will be struggling on under our own steam for a while, hoping that she may be able to pick up the plans later, possibly next year.

Visit by Jon Erwin

Happily, educators will not be completely starved of good information this year – Judy Hatswell has sponsored a visit by Jon Erwin, with one- and two-day workshops entitled “Strategies Galore” in September. Jon started as a high school English teacher and has moved on to staff development, curriculum specialist and university presenter. His book “The Classroom of Choice – Giving Students What They Need and Getting What You Want” will be available for sale at his workshops.

Workshop content will be based on Glasser’s ideas, incorporating assessment of students’ instructional needs, multiple learning styles and multiple intelligences, and strategies based on utilising this information.

Jon will run workshops in Sydney, Gold Coast, Newcastle and Adelaide. Probably the most relevant dates for us are the Sydney ones:

• Sydney 2-day: Sept 20/21, West Ryde, cost $385; 1-day Sept 24, West Ryde, cost $185.
• Newcastle 2-day: Sept 18/19, 1-day Sept 17. Same prices.

For brochures or more information, contact Judy Hatswell on (02) 9872 4231.

The next ACT 1

Our training agenda has been limited this year, although we did hold a very successful ACT 2 in March, and will probably schedule another one towards the end of this year or early 2008. Please send Judy an expression of interest to help us estimate demand dietnomore@bigpond.com .

An ACT 1 will be presented by Jenny and Judy McFadden at Ryde-Eastwood Leagues Club, opposite West Ryde railway station, on Sat/Sun August 18/19 and Sat/Sun September 8/9, 2007. If you know of anyone who would like to develop their knowledge and skills in Control Theory, please tell them about the course, or send Judy their details and she will advise them.

The Three Umpires

Here’s a piece for thought. When I am working with a client, the aspect of their “problem” that always hits me forcibly is what a huge part their perspective plays in determining their level of control. Very important in relationships, self esteem, balance, you name it. Perspective is (happily) also the area of the problem over which they have most control…that’s what makes counselling such an interesting job, because there is always something that can change! So here’s a piece from Barnes Boffey’s book, “My Gift in Return”, that demonstrates the point (try and imagine the right drawly accents):

The Three Umpires

A world view is often best explained by a parable or story. Here is one of my favourites. It concerns three baseball umpires discussing how they do their job.

“Well,” says the first umpire, “It’s really pretty easy. I go to the ballpark; I get behind the plate; the pitcher winds up and throws the ball. The ball passes the batter. There are balls and there are strikes, and I calls ‘em as they is.”

“Perhaps,” chimes in the second umpire, “but I think it’s not that easy. I go to the ballpark; I get behind the plate; the pitcher winds up and throws the ball. The ball passes the batter. There are balls, and there are strikes, and I calls ‘em as I sees ‘em.”

“That’s a beginning,” says the third umpire, “but I think there’s even more. Sure, I get behind the plate. The pitcher winds up and throws the ball, and the ball passes the batter. And we know there are balls and there are strikes, but they ain’t nuthin’ till I calls ‘em.”

1. Sally Berman’s visit next year
2. The next ACT 2
3. Vision – what we want to live by
4. The Wheel of Life

Sally Berman’s visit

Sally Berman will be back in May 2007
“Brilliant trainer and outstanding leader in the field of creating quality teaching practices for engaging classrooms. Not to be missed”… Don White, Trainer and retired Principal.
Imagine….

• memorable and engaging lessons,
• enthusiastic and interested students (despite themselves!),
• high level results
• less disruptive behaviour
• real quality learning
• an excited, joyful teacher at the helm (despite yourself!)

It’s not just an ideal, it’s a real world description of your classroom. Sally’s practical workshop will give you the motivation, inspiration and tools to make this a reality.

Her latest book is called “Performance-Based Learning: Aligning Experiential Tasks and Assessment to Increase Learning, Second Edition.” and is her 7th published work.

For teachers in NSW, who are implementing the Quality Teaching initiative, Sally provides both the philosophy and the practical tools to make it come to life in the classroom.

There will be workshops in both Sydney and Dubbo for schools and/or individual teachers. Places are limited.

Unique School Opportunity: Sally will be available for a couple of one-off special school presentations so please call NOW to secure your booking.

Contact Judith McFadden 02 9477 3421 dietnomore@bigpond.com or Don White 02 4733 1937 tradon@bigpond.net.au.

The next ACT 2

An Applied Control Theory 2 course has been scheduled for two weekends, March 17/18 and March 31/April 1. ACT 2 provides an opportunity to deepen your understanding and skills in Control Theory and interviewing. You will be introduced to the Method of Levels, which is a therapy based directly on Powers’ Levels of Perception, where the aim of the questioning is to help the client bring into focus the background thought at a higher level than the one at which their conflict is being perceived. Don will also offer strategies for Conflict Resolution and for staying grounded in difficult situations.

If you have completed an ACT 1 with AACTA, or a Basic Week with the Glasser Institute, we will accept you into the ACT 2, even if you have not completed a Practicum 1. If you wish at any point to receive Certification from AACTA in Applied Control Theory, you will need to complete ACTs 1, 2 and 3 (or equivalent) and the two levels of practicum, but we are flexible about the order in which you do it.

The course will be presented by Judy McFadden and Don White. The location is not yet set, but will be in Sydney, probably at West Ryde. Price per person is $495.00 including registration with AACTA.

Vision – what we want to live by – Camp Lanakila

Barnes Boffey sent me this a couple of months ago - as a vision statement, it creates a description of an environment that in these times would offer opportunities for boys to grow into “real” men….

Lanakila creates a camp environment where boys and young men can have significant transformational experiences in their lives.

We Provide Safety, Consistency and Time

We create and maintain a consistently safe, accepting, and caring environment that allows campers sufficient time to persevere through challenges, to self-evaluate against high but reasonable standards, and to experience the joy of exceeding their own expectations.

We Believe in Ever-Renewing Love and Support

Lanakilans continually renew their love and commitment to every member of the community as we all struggle to become better people. We accept differences and create an environment that instills in campers the confidence to take risks outside their comfort zones and to test their own boundaries. In the presence of a loving and supportive community, we can acknowledge both our strengths and flaws, leading to a foundation of honesty which is the starting point for any transformational experience.

We Offer Good Mirroring

As adults, we help campers understand how their actions affect others. As mirrors, we help campers see facets of themselves they may not otherwise see without the interaction that exists in a caring and honest relationship. We help them learn to ask for feedback from those they trust and admire, knowing that this will be a significant step on the road to becoming better people.

We Provide a Clear Vision of Life Focused on Our Best Selves

We offer campers an opportunity to focus on becoming the best people they can be. We offer a life style based on principles and values rather than expediency and convenience. We offer simple truths based on honest and loving relationships that highlight and encourage spiritual and personal development. Through our everyday interactions, we strive to create a community in which individuals are encouraged to be loving, powerful, playful and free.

We Promote Good Role Modeling

We strive to embody the positive qualities that we think boys need to become men. We model an openness to learning, a willingness to make mistakes, and an acceptance of new challenges as opportunities for growth. We model integrity, consistency, discipline, reliability and compassion. We demonstrate what it takes to be a fine person and that there are many ways to be a man.

We Expect Times of Frustration and Fear

We accept that transformation only occurs when we acknowledge failure as an integral part of the learning process. We remember that falling is as important as standing, and we show children that it’s part of being human. We support each other through the necessary but difficult process of letting go of old ideas, changing routines and confronting fear. We accept that living passionately and creatively involves periods of doubt, confusion and frustration.

The Wheel of Life

You may find use for this strategy – the questions are from our work, but we have not been able to discover the originator of the wheel … so we thank them for it!

Your Wheel of Life
Imagine you are plotting your life, as it is right now, on this wheel of life.
The ideal life is one where the outside of the circle is full and round.
From the centre of the circle (being 0, the least in balance) put a cross on the line to show your fulfilment in that area of life – 10/10 is on the outside border.
Now join the crosses – how full is your circle?
Can you clearly see where there are big holes in your circle?

Are you satisfied? Ideally, how do you want your life to be?

What area of life could you work on NOW that would make the biggest difference to your life?

Ask yourself these questions….and answer them out loud…

Reflective Monologue

• What is going on?
• What do I want to see happening?
• What am I doing now?
• How is it working?
• If I were serious about being the person I want to be in this area of life, what else might I be doing?

1. Practicum Information
2. What Judy learned in China
3. Report on ACT 2 at St Mary’s
4. A Restitution Script
5. Thinkers’ Workshop postponed
6. Book Review – Creating Classrooms where Teachers Love to Teach and Students Love to Learn (Don White)

Practicum Information

On September 23rd, we are planning a special practicum session. As well as the advertised 5-hour day led by Judy McFadden, “Interviewing Difficult People,” which can be attended by people doing either ACT 1 or ACT 2 practicum, Agnes Barna and Maggy Farago will be there to add a further dimension. Agnes and Maggy have decided to work with an ACT 2 practicum group, on the special projects that are a feature of the advanced experience, as well as working on giving and/or observing a presentation including planning, observation, feedback and self evaluation.

The day will be held at 7 Brushbox Place, Cherrybrook – easy to find and not far from the Pennant Hills exit from the M2 motorway.

If you would like to attend, please contact Judy on dietnomore@bigpond.com or Agnes on agnesbarna@bigpond.com . Come along and make this a special day! It is very important to register about a week before, so that we have a good idea of how many people to provide handouts etc for.

Cost for the day is $50, preferably payable in advance, or on the day. Further information is available later in this issue.

What Judy Learned in China

In July I attended “The International Conference on Philosophy and Complexity Theory and Perceptual Control Theory”.
Probably your first question is “What the @#%%^^^ is Complexity Theory??? Answer: I never found out exactly… I think it has to do with robotics, as a lot of the Chinese presentations appeared to offer information in that area – but there were others that didn’t – so if anyone knows, that would be nice to find out.

The Conference delegates were mainly Chinese, but there was a significant group from the USA, Canada and of course one lone Aussie. It was held over three days at the South China Normal University in Guangzhou – one of about 12 Universities in that city. Plenary sessions were delivered in the presenter’s language (either Chinese or English) and translated into the other one by an interpreter.

Bill Powers, the originator of Perceptual Control Theory, was one of the main presenters, and was also honoured with an honorary Doctorate from the University – he gave his acceptance speech in Chinese, which was greatly applauded.

So what did I learn? I believe I have a much better understanding of Perceptual Control Theory, especially in the way it is applied in daily life. Constantly I heard the refrain “We control for input”. I finally understood that this means that when we behave (act), we don’t plan what we will do; we focus on what we want to perceive – both what we want to perceive ourselves doing, and what we want to perceive in the environment. Is this important? Sure is … it means that if you are working with another person, you are both control systems, both controlling for input, NOT being controlled by anything! Makes it much easier to understand why it is only possible to give another person information rather than to directly control their behaviour.

I also learned that a reorganisation system is random – reorganisation is creating behaviour when we are out of balance and want to do something different. Bill Powers has developed a computer program simulating the behaviour of E.coli, which can change direction, but only in a random way. It can also sense whether it is moving towards or away from a higher concentration of nutrients. It flips whenever it senses a decrease in nutrients, but can’t control which way it then goes – but if it senses lower nutrients, it flips again very quickly. Using this random process, it reaches its target quite efficiently. (Guess what – it controls for input, and gets it!) (It is more efficient – uses fewer turns - than a human trying to control input the same way – its “flips” happen faster!)

Probably that’s enough for one episode. I won’t forget the sight of Gary Cziko offering representative examples of controlling for input – he behaved as a bicycle, and as a car.

Other attendees, some of whose names you might recognise, were Shelley Brierley, Shelley Roy, Tony Goldston, Glenn Smith, Kenny Kitzke, Lloyd Klinedinst, Bobbie Bollman, Linda and Rick Marken. There were also three teenage boys, sons of the two Shelleys and Glenn. Many of us were also together in Hong Kong before the conference, and went on to Xian to visit the entombed warriors. I left the tour at that point, although others continued on to Beijing.

Report on ACT 2 at St Mary’s

The course was completed on Sunday 26th August. Both the Participants and the Instructors experienced deep learning experiences, especially in working using the Method of Levels as an interviewing process. We found it to be exciting in helping the client find the background thought and find the source of the conflict at the level where it was created. This meant that we worked constantly on the client’s perception of the problem in the present, with early and significant results. We experimented with a different process (which we labelled “speed dating”) described by Tim Carey in an article on the Method of Levels, where the clients talked about their issue and the interviewers moved from one client to the next at intervals. This focused the interviewers’ attention on looking for disruptions, either verbal or non-verbal, and drawing the clients’ attention to the higher level thinking possibly associated with the disruption. We also experimented with using Method of Levels questions within the regular interviewing process, with success.

Don’s work on conflict resolution tied directly into the MOL process, and offered us ways to stay grounded in difficult situations as well as things to be, say and do when confronted by difficult people.

We intend to offer another ACT 2 as soon as demand is evident – at the moment we are thinking of next year, but it could be earlier if enough people ask for the training.

Restitution Script

Here is a script of a “real” interview between a teacher and student – well done, S!!

Morning Don
I thought I would write to tell you that I had a go at Restitution yesterday. A perfect situation occurred! Nicolas had a fight on the playground and came back into class really upset. I asked the Aide to read the class a story whilst I sat in the play area with Nicolas and we talked as we wrote sums up on the board. The conversation went something like this:

S: So Nic, what happened out there? I can see you are a little upset. I’m not out to blame anyone I just want to know what happened. (Stabilising the identity)

N: Yeah, Steven punched me so I punched him back and it is not fair as I had to do a time out

S : Yeah sometimes things don’t seem fair. So it seemed like you wanted to defend yourself
(Validating the intention behind the behaviour)

N: yeap

S: It is important to defend yourself. Would I tell you not to? (Drawing the energy)

N: Nuh

S: But what do we believe at (school) about care and respect for others (Seeking the belief)

N: I know….to keep our hands and feet to ourselves

S: So do you believe in that

N: Yeah but he punched me

S: Yeap and that must have hurt, (Stabilising) but do you believe that we need to be safe?

N: Yeah

S: So do you want to fix the problem? (Seeking Restitution)

N: Yeah I won’t do it again

S: But it has happened, so what can you do about that problem…what about when you see Steven?

N: I could say sorry

S: So will you do that?

N: Yeh

S: How will I know you’ve done that? When could you do that? (Building commitment)

N: At lunchtime

S: So what does that say about you as a person? (Seeking the Ideal Person)

N: That I am a good person?

S: I would say also that you are a responsible and caring person. (Values)

At lunch I happened to be on duty, and Nic had forgotten…I went over and gave him a gentle reminder. He went up to Steven and said sorry. Steven said sorry, and then I asked them. Is there something else you could do for each other to apologise? Could you shake hands? They did and I congratulated them on the way they resolved their conflict. I then gave them 2 bonuses each for their amazing efforts! I will write up the script to help me It was good to get practice and I was lucky that it was a pretty easy one to begin with.

See ya Don. Regards S

Thinkers’ Workshop postponed

The original dates (September 16/17) have crept up on us a bit too fast – so we are going to reschedule to a later date. The content will be mainly Perceptual Control Theory and what it means as we apply it in our own lives or with others.

Book Review: Creating Classrooms Where Teachers Love to Teach and Students Love to Learn

Bob Sornson, Ph.D. Love and Logic Intsitute, Golden, Colarado, 2005.

This is a very readable “How to” book written in a narrative style as it follows the experiences of a small, dedicated group of teachers who are attempting to apply the principles of “Love and Logic” teaching. The key to the success of these methods is in developing and expressing genuine empathy for the students in the teacher’s care. The book describes the nine essential skills for the love and logic teacher:

1. Neutralising student arguing
2. Using delayed consequences
3. Using empathy
4. Using the recovery process
5. Developing positive teacher-student relationships
6. Setting limits with enforceable statements
7. Using choices to prevent power struggles
8. Using quick and easy classroom interventions
9. Guiding students to solve their own problems

There are suggestions of ways teachers can learn these skills to implement in the classroom. Having read the book I find myself wanting to go out and apply my learning in the classroom and to share what I have read with others. This review is an attempt to do so.

How does it link with applied control theory? Well to me the book’s appeal is to that picture of the kind of teacher I would want to be and then offers some suggestions as to how I might move closer to becoming such a teacher. It’s worth the read. It may be available in Australia but you can definitely get it through amazon.com.

Don White
August, 2006.

• Future planning
• Book Review: Fearless Living, by Rhonda Britten
• Update on our ACT 2
• A Dip into Runkel – On Effectiveness

Future Planning

Probably our next overseas visitors will come in 2007. At present, we are hoping to see Sally Berman here in about April/May. This will offer a great opportunity to educators to find wonderful ways to implement the Quality Teaching initiative – Sally really knows her stuff!
The other possibility of a visit has been raised by Diane Gossen (Restitution) who is planning a visit to Indonesia and might manage a flight south while she is in the area. No dates as yet, but we’ll keep negotiating.

Book Review: “Fearless Living”, by Rhonda Britten

2001, Hodder Headline, Sydney

Review by Max McFadden

(The Editor will add comments on how the information fits with PCT.)

This book is Rhonda’s story of how she overcomes fear, limitation and traumatic events in her family, and their effects on her life.

Theme: Rhonda writes about The Wheel of Fear and The Wheel of Freedom, how you know when you are on either one, and how to get on to The Wheel of Freedom by deciding the sort of person you want to be.

ED: Runkel, in “People as Living Things”, discusses Degrees of Freedom as an essential component of good management – of our selves and others. The more degrees of freedom we have, the more choices we are able to make, the more likely we are to be able to bring our lives into dynamic balance.

How to stay on The Wheel of Freedom is just as important. Various fearbuster exercises help us to go on being who we want to be, and the support of someone or significant other people can help us to stay in control (Chapters 1-5).

The sort of behaviour, and the motivation we adopt, and our attitude or philosophy of life, (or view of the world), helps us to adopt alternative, effective behaviours in order to stay on the Wheel of Freedom. By having no false expectations, no excuses, no complaining, and not beating ourselves up, we can follow her fearless path.

ED: In PCT, the area over which we have control is our perspective! Which references we pick to control for, and the level at which we perceive information, are the elements that can make the difference between in- and out-of-balance.

Some interesting and arresting sections in the book:
In Chapter 6, Rhonda deals with her false expectations of Daniel, whom she was going to marry, and how she faced the emotional setback when he deserted her.

In Chapter 7, Rhonda deals with Kara’s excuse for not following her own dream because of her circumstances, blaming her past failures or missed opportunities, helping her claim her essential nature by forgiving herself as well as others.

ED: This reminds me of the sayings of two of our well-known Instructors: Barnes Boffey says “Get out of the victim role” and Shelley Brierley says “Move from the Victim on the Cycle of Blame to the Co-operator on the Circle of Strength.”

In Chapter 8, do you use evidence of your past mistakes or omissions or failures as the means of complaining about what has happened? Rhonda says replace “Why?” with “How?” as a means to becoming accountable and to take action.

ED: Diane Gossen asks us to think of a mistake as a mis- take! Take 1, take 2 … looking for the positive want behind the mis-taken behaviour as a way to gain strength for positive action.

Chapter 9, “Not Beating Yourself Up”, addresses learning to defeat guilt, by asserting your self worth and by finding your own path, through an understanding of your own process of learning and handling life’s tasks.

Finally, Chapter 10 leads on to “Gratitudes”, which is a valuable philosophy of life adopted by Rhonda as a means of learning to take chances, and of using the assets which she possesses within herself and also those offered by the support and friendship of others.

Another philosophy she champions is “Do the thing you fear” as part of developing courage to stick your neck out, because it is one way to learn new skills.

It’s an interesting read … over to you!

Update on our ACT 2

So far, we have six people enrolled for the ACT 2, so it will definitely go ahead.

The ACT 2 will be offered on two weekends in August – Aug 12/13 and 26/27, with Judy McFadden and Don White as Instructors. Don is working on some new material – Collapsing Conflict – this should be a special feature of the course. You will also get some training in The Method of Levels.

If you have completed an ACT 1 with AACTA, or a Basic Week with the Glasser Institute, we will accept you into the ACT 2, even if you have not completed a Practicum 1. If you wish at any point to receive Certification from AACTA in Applied Control Theory, you will need to complete ACTs 1, 2 and 3 (or equivalent) and the two levels of practicum, but we are flexible about when you do it.

The course will be held in St Mary’s in Sydney. Price per person is $400.00 including registration with AACTA.

If you are interested please put your name down with Judy - dietnomore@bigpond.com , or 02 9477 3421.

A Dip into Runkel - On Effectiveness

Philip J. Runkel, People as Living Things – The Psychology of Perceptual Control. Living Control Systems Publishing, Howard CA 2003.

(www.livingcontrolsystems.com - a great site - well worth visiting! Includes lots of material on Method Of Levels.)

Before we begin – Runkel is a long-time associate of William Powers, and this books is a B-I-G one, offering not only the scientific theory, but also thoughts on the application of PCT.

These excerpts are towards the end of the book, on the effectiveness of organizations – based on the assertion of the importance of degrees of freedom and an account of the U.S. Government’s efforts to effect school reform in the 1960’s and 70’s by funding many innovative programs.

School reform. (p.432)

“Despite their [the government’s] efforts, they rarely found a scheme, an innovation, a program, a recipe that worked (more or less) in more than a few installations – sometimes in not more than one. When an innovation did seem to be spreading, it didn’t last long; schools gave it up after a year or two…..

“After a series of failures, the government people funded a series of investigations into the failures, with the idea that they might find what made them fail. Then, they thought, their future projects could avoid those mistakes. You will recognise this as another instance of linear thinking…. Remove the obstruction and all will be well. …”

Effectiveness (p.434)

“When people speak of the effectiveness of a plan, procedure, policy, or other program or principle, they always have some purpose in mind, though not always at the front of their minds. What seems effective to one person need not seem so to another when their purposes are not explicit….

“It does not help much therefore to adopt a purpose that may be meat to one person but poison to another….

“One can, however, adopt a sort of metapurpose; one can adopt the purpose of safeguarding the different purposes of individuals. I like what Hackman (1985, p.128) and Aoki (1984) said about effectiveness. They wrote these three criteria with work organizations in mind. They propose that we call an organization effective when:

1. The productive output of the [individual, group or organization] exceeds the minimum standards of quantity and quality of the people who receive, review or use the output.
2. The process of carrying out the work enhances the capability of the [individual, group or organization] to do competent work in the future.
3. The work experience contributes to the growth and personal satisfactions of the persons who do the work.
4. To those, I like to add my interpretation of Aoli’s fourth criterion:
5. Individuals have confidence that the work they do is helping to make their community, society and even the world a good place to live – for themselves, their grandchildren and the people among whom their grandchildren will live.

“… I offer the four viewpoints listed above merely as an aid to getting away from the widespread view of effectiveness as return on investment , units produced per person-hour, percentage of students scoring above the national average on a standardised test, and the like. They do, however, fit the PCT view that effectiveness is in the eye of the individual beholder, and cherishing those four kinds of effectiveness will help, not hinder, individuals to control their own individually perceived variables. …

“Finally, we should remain wary of the temptation to think linearly – that something causes effectiveness in an S-R manner. I will let Karl Weick (1979, p.86) remind us:
Most managers get into trouble because they forget to think in circles … Managerial problems persist because managers continue to believe that there are such things as unilateral causation, independent and dependent variables, origins, and terminations. Examples are everywhere: leadership style affects productivity, parents socialise children, stimuli affect responses, desires affect actions. Those assertions are wrong because each of them demonstrably operates in the opposite direction: productivity affects leadership style …, children socialise parents…, responses affect stimuli…, means affect ends…, actions affect desires… In every one of these examples causation is circular, not linear. And the same thing holds true for most organisational events.”

References:
Hackman, J. Richard (1985). Doing research that makes a difference. In E.E. Lawler III and Assoc. Doing Research that is Useful for Theory and Practice. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.
Aoki, Ted T (1984) Interests, knowledge and evaluation: Alternative curriculum evaluation orientations. In T.T. Aoki (Ed.) Curriculum Evaluation in a New Key. Edmonton, Alberta, Canada: Dept of Secondary Education, Faculty of Education, University of Alberta.
Weick, Karl E. (1979). Social Psychology of Organising (2nd Ed.) Reading MA: Addison-Wesley.

• Comment on Shelley Brierley’s visit
• Key Components of healthier relationships
• Practicum update
• Opportunity to complete an ACT 2
• Thinkers’ Workshop

Shelley Brierley’s Visit

We did an evaluation of Shelley’s visit, and were satisfied that there was nothing left undone – we were sorry that the ACT 2/3 didn’t have enough takers to be viable, but we are offering another opportunity later in the year. All of the courses Shelley conducted received positive comments, and there has been some call for Shelley to return – we hope to arrange this within our schedule.

At the “Blame to Balance 2” seminar, Shelley promised a more detailed copy of her handout on the key components of healthier relationships and here it is:

Key Components of Healthier Relationships
Original by Brierley & Gossen, 1986/Brierley updated 1999

1. Each person knows what they want/what their limits and beliefs are, and what is important to them and can verbalise these in a situation where there is no external emotional load.
2. Each person is able to verbalise his or her wants/limits and beliefs, and what is important to them in the current situation.
3. Each person is able to hear and paraphrase the others’
   wants/limits/beliefs and what is important to them, with the other person.
4. Each person negotiates how to get some of what they want/need and have their limits respected, what they value honoured with the other person while honouring their own beliefs and respecting their own limits.
5. If “no” is the answer to # 4, each person is then responsible to figure out a way to be true to who they want to be in relation to their beliefs, outside of this relationship in a manner, which ideally, does not damage this relationship.

839 200th Street, Langley, BC V2Z 3B8 Canada
Ph: 604-532-0680 Fax: 604-532-0623 email: info@thecircleofstrength.com

Practicum Update

As you will have read in the previous issue of Perceptions, we have decided to trial a new form of practicum, where once you have completed an ACT 1 you can choose, from a number of dates during the year, three days that will suit you either for content, facilitator or convenient date. The first date is fast approaching – on April 1st! It will be facilitated by Agnes Barna, with Eddy Fracarossi and hopefully Lesley Errington in support, and will be held at 7 Brushbox Place, Cherrybrook. Please ensure that if you want to come, you let Agnes know as soon as you can, and definitely before the day. If there are no enrolments, the day will be cancelled.

The topic for the day is Open Choice, so if there is something that you would particularly like to cover or revise, tell Agnes beforehand. Her email address is agib@triode.com.au . You can commence either an ACT 1 or an ACT 2 practicum.

At the meeting, you will receive a list of ideas on what you could work on for your practicum, plus a record sheet that will indicate both the tasks and the face to face hours you have completed.

For more information on other dates etc, please look at the information later in this issue of Perceptions.

Opportunity to Complete an ACT 2

In order to ensure that there are opportunities to continue training at higher levels, an ACT 2 will be offered on two weekends in August – Aug 12/13 and 26/27, with Judy McFadden and Don White as Instructors.

If you have completed an ACT 1 with AACTA, or a Basic Week with the Glasser Institute, we will accept you into the ACT 2, even if you have not completed a Practicum 1. If you wish at any point to receive Certification from AACTA in Applied Control Theory, you will need to complete ACTs 1, 2 and 3 (or equivalent) and the two levels of practicum, but we are flexible about when you do it.

The course will be held in St Mary’s in Sydney. Price per person is $400.00 including registration with AACTA.

If you are interested please put your name down with Judy - dietnomore@bigpond.com , or 02 9477 3421.

Thinkers’ Workshop

During Shelley Brierley’s visit, a few people interested in understanding more about Perceptual Control Theory and Powers’ Method of Levels therapy, came together informally to see what they could learn from each other. It was so successful that we have decided to continue the process, opening it up to people who have completed at least three intensive courses and who also have an interest in becoming more conversant with Powers’ ideas.

We have set aside a weekend in September (16/17th) for the workshop, planning a cooperative learning experience so that we all can both contribute and advance our understanding. By then at least one of us will have attended the Control Systems Group conference in GuangZhou in China in July, so we may be a bit more up to date on recent thinking and the application of PCT.

Cost of the workshop will be to cover costs and add to the AACTA bank balance, so the contribution will be held to a low level.