In evaluating schools, teachers, students I’m often called upon to make an educational psychological assessment over a period of time. What normally happens is people get locked into rooms or training with me and one of the things I share with them is that I’m putting together this overall report.
In children I’m looking at the ability to not comply with directives, to not amend themselves to adults.
One school was imploding and I was called in because it was starting to make the news. So I first have 15 elementary students in a room and then 15 middle schoolers. I’m doing something not like classwork—-I actually have a few loose exercises, a few videos, some short discussions about what they want/like/don’t like. When teachers and administrators observe, it looks “out of control” to a classroom but I’m not trying to organize a class lesson.
In the Elementary group, I talked to them a little. What’s your name? What do you like about school?
Then I play a circle game where they have to Zip/Zap with hand claps at each other in a rapid-fire way—-I’m looking for abhorrent socialization issues, for cooperation, for out of control aggressiveness, or inability to concentrate. Most do fine.
There was one boy who stood out because he intentionally would try to get the other children to harm him, to physically hurt him, to punish him. He was slightly disheveled, hair unkempt, from poverty yes, but very apparently so even though the majority were. I pointed him out in my report and had discussions about his home life and school work. He presented as “problematic” to me. Not as bad but as a child probably experiencing consistent abuse where he had learned that abuse=attention.
My assessment, about 20 pages typed was to whether to shut down the school, who to replace, etc.. My suggestion was that as representative of the school, teachers bring me a random sampling of good, bad and mediocre students. Ultimately about 10% of their population would have extreme issues. By extreme I mean something that could lead to injury, etc.. I generally don’t have the luxury of surveying the whole student body so I have to do samplings and walk around the school a lot just watching.
Of the Middle Schoolers they did Zip/Zap, we watched a video, we talked a little and they proceeded to energetically have fun in the library. Some self-segregating and reading books. They were all admonished not to damage books—-the librarian looked apoplectic. One of my prescriptions for the school as a whole, particularly with the boys was that they weren’t letting them get all their boy energy out. Have two or three breaks in the day, take them downstairs to the gym, that wasn’t being used as a gym and just let them run around, play with balls, get that energy out. Then to acknowledge as a school that boys of color, acting energetically as boys, is not a danger, it’s normal—-the librarian's restrictive concern was too much.
Children are children, not little stentorian who enter rooms quietly with hands folded and politely sit and genteelly turn pages and put things back in order. That’s tight assed adults, my work with teachers and administrators often blowing their minds because they imagine this industrial line of students, when in fact, a better goal is overall control, not absolute micro-management.
The one Middle Schooler issue was they were roughhousing—-and I want to see this—-which is why I chose the library with bean bags and cushions and carpeting. I want to see if it’s normal boy-puppy aggression or truly intended violence. One of the larger boys was playing with his key chain with a smaller one and I took the larger one aside. he was worried, terrified at what was going to happen. I explained that he could roughhouse but he couldn’t use his keychain to hold or grab because he was bigger and stronger. But that he could roughhouse. He got the distinction between play and potential harm. That showed me that they were children.
In adults, I’m using a lot of Paul Ekman’s work in Facial Recognition and Behavioral Interpretation. I’m pressing them to first focus on me as a psychological guide/target and then I slowly invert the group back to each other. I want to see how they interact to each other, their “group face” then their interpersonal face.
I’ve written before about one training with a teacher where through the whole day she was deliberately obstinate towards me, the whole process. She had a doctorate, which was unusual for a Middle School teacher of English, she was White, female, going into a predominantly Latino and Black school. She was incongruous to herself psychologically—-until she could explain to me/us why she was there. But her explanation, through her obstinacy, was veiled.
By veiled, I mean there are psychological techniques, defenses, habits that people can pick up or be trained in to deflect, to nullify perception, to void themselves to perception.
I had two training teachers with me who were watching this process to come back to Columbia into my classes. Lots of people follow me. LOL Because what I’m doing is more automaticity from experience than being able to sit down with a training group and say A to B to C. No, come see why A did something, hear it from them and I’ll show you the path from there. It’s both Art and Science.
So Dr. English gives a scathing review of the training in anonymous CIQs —Critical Incident Questionnaires— I provide at the conclusion of all of my training, teachings, classes no matter age or subject. 5 Questions that ask your experience. Designed by Stephen Brookfield at Columbia. She is only 1 of 2 negative CIQs I’ve received in about 2000 of them.
It’s a self-teaching tool to inform the teacher what occurred in the silence that teachers often aren’t able to know what was happening during the class. It’s also a way for the class to be democratized and the teacher to come back and say I heard you about my going to fast in Example G or this is what I should've clarified. It’s an excellent tool that has changed my overall practice.
I immediately know it’s Dr. English and I tell the Principal, this woman as a new hire, will be a problem. I’m the target but the System, authority, control is her true enemy from not a radical, progressive or extreme liberal stance but a personal one. She was deliberately blocking me seeing her and was so upset because the last third of the training I turn the teachers to each other. They’ve trusted me the guide, to reveal their faces and now I want them to transfer that bonding to each other as a new staff. But on a higher level, I’m circling around the outer circle of 20 of them, seeing into them because their defenses are focused on each other. Dr, English was wholly unnerved by this and even physically kept her chair turned away from her peers, trying to see me whenever I moved out of her eye line.
The Principal is like, Oh, Kyle I tried to follow your psych specs to hiring, what have I gotten myself into?
I’m like—-”Ms. Cutesy Teacher who’s dress and flirtation was too much, was an error. If you can, get rid of her. (Ironically, she was the last minute Science teacher requirement fill in and quit a week later.) and Dr. English will be your biggest thorn.” But I hadn’t taught the Principal how to recognize other issues. My main push had been to get her to make a staff more male heavy.
There are 4 Psychological Perceptive Veils that Bely Beginner to Intermediate “Seeing” or Evaluating:
- Sexually abused individuals; people who have been traumatically abused because they have learned to hide their true selves, their emotions, from unpredictable abusers.
- Law enforcement (general) and Intelligence Operatives/Analysts—who learn to be deceitful as part of their professional practice in an attempt to illicit information without leaking their true intents and opinions.
- Criminals who are trying to mislead constantly and control the psychological exchange narrative.
- People who practice Non-Western religions. Their ontology, epistemology, and axiology to “reality” is wholly different than what a Westernized psychological perspective would understand. They literally see reality differently so lies, truth, etc are much more subjective. They do still, of course, maintain facial and body language cues but you have to rely on those much more to understand them.
Months later as I follow up, the Principal explains that Dr, English is yes, combative and systemic undermining, destructive, and has shared with another teacher that she was severely sexually abused.
My two training teachers were suitably invigorated to understand that what can feel like teaching failure is sometimes other people’s stuff but that I bring them to these places to show them that.
We went to another school that had a problem with gangs and my own bosses were nervous about letting me loose with gangbangers. I had a great time as did the teenagers! I wanted to do more sessions and even tackle a series of buildings in Manhattan that have enmity which includes family members. I had some long-range thoughts about how to reconcile that over time.
My seeing and listening is often my standing in a room, moving around students and teachers, I never stay at the “plane” of the classroom, the Power 25% behind or near the desk. I’m saying excuse me sometimes as I teach and squeeze among the chairs and desks. I want to be a moving target, I want to look at you and keep students focused on the fact that this is a dynamic setting.
My evaluation is also a part of my personal synesthesia where I see words in my mind’s eye as like a ticker tape and them high light in colors of emotionality and history. So in Dr. English’s words, even about mundane educational stuff, some of her words flared and I could see the flares trail back into abuse.
It works sometimes online, in the text, words are not just sounds or symbols they are also some more of psychic conveyance, a subtle undercurrent of telepathy that I think we’re brokering along with the internet, our first foray into realized telepathy. <<
So in an overly simplistic sense to the above art——I would see “yellow” as abuse, on words said aloud. So every time she was talking about something—-there were trails of yellow. The more I trained and turned the group, and I know she could consciously and unconsciously, because I’m upfront about what I’m doing, “see me seeing her”, ironically, the more yellow she gave off.
Yes, there have been times when I’ve freaked people out with perceptiveness. Which is why I’m generally more muted and quietly observing, as I should’ve been with the Principal in the interviews but my schedule precluded my being in them like I normally am.
Smile, Kyle
KylePhoenixShow@gmail.com
KylePhoenixShow@gmail.com
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