Forums IMPORTANT: PLEASE READ PhotoReading, Memory Optimizer Studies done on Photoreading - Proof that it works?

Sandy,

What is needed is balance. On the one hand the student must take a certain amount of responsibility for the learning process, and on the other hand the teacher must also do his or her job.

I am currently at a school where the instructors and lab assistants *love* to use the line, "Learning is the responsibility of the student" because it abdicates the instructor from responsibility. A lot of crappy instruction goes on, and instead of taking criticism as feedback that can lead to improvement, more often than not instructors blurt out this line instead of doing a little bit of work and considering ... is there something of value in what this struggling student has to say?

The student you described is certainly an instructor's nightmare. How do you reach someone like that? Are they merely waiting for you to fail the impossible standards they have set for you so they can go home and think, "I won?"

That is certainly a waste of time, and I think I mentioned earlier that if I were an instructor, I'd probably say to this individual, "Look, if you want to just feel right, I can solve this problem right now. You're right, I'm wrong. I will refund your money and you can go home right now so that neither of us will have to waste any more time or effort pursuing our mutually exclusive goals."

My point is, saying that "you must believe" is really unnecessary, and it is definitely a red flag for some people. Certainly it is for me. "You don't have to believe. This stuff works. Lets see how we can get it to work for you." are ideal statements, as far as I am concerned, when approaching a student who is frustrated, having difficulty, and maybe even having problems related to beliefs. I am assuming in these situations that the student really has an interest in learning and is willing to do his or her part.

You have brought up a situation in which I would definitely sympathize with the instructor.

I witnessed an instructor handle something like that with elegance at the NLP Comprehensive Partitioner training. There was this guy from Texas in the audience, and no offense to any Texans out there, but this was a stereotypical fellow. He was loud, brash, and somewhat rude. The kind of person who, with a loud voice and heavy accent would start the conversation with, "Now, let's just get one thing clear here before we start. There are two ways, my way or the highway" while he had his thumbs stuck in his belt and his stomach jutting out. You get the picture.

The instructor was talking about the NLP presuppositions and how the training was really geared to get the presuppositions into our behavior. At this point the Texan blurted out, "Now just wait a minute. I have a hard time believin' this sort of stuff, I mean, some people go around murderin' other people. Do you mean to tell me ..."

The instructor interrupted him (basically mirroring the behavior), "You know, you're skeptical, and I really appreciate that. Some people come here and they're true believers, but not you. You're a skeptic, and you know what? People like you end up learning the most in this environment. It's ok for people to come here convinced, but they aren't going to be aware like you are. They aren't going to be testing things to see if they are true or not. They're just going to be going with the flow. So I encourage you not to believe what we're saying here. Do the exercises and really keep an eye out for what does and doesn't work, and you'll have learned the most. Even if you don't believe any of this stuff (he gestures to the presuppositions listed on the walls), you'll have learned more than people who come here already going, 'uh-huh, uh-huh.' So, I appreciate what your skepticism does for you. It serves a good purpose."

The Texan just stood there with his jaw gaping. He didn't expect that at all. The most beautifully elegant point of it was that the instructor (Gerry Schmidt, I love that guy) behaviorally demonstrated the presupposition about every behavior (the Texan's skepticism) being acceptable and utilizable as it has a positive intention. This was done with incredible finesse. There was no way the Texan could get out of the double-bind Gerry had presented him with.

In terms of my personal experience with teaching, I have *never* told someone that something wasn't working because they needed to believe in it first. If I used that argument while I was a writing tutor, I think people would look at me like I was nuts. There are ways of handling people who are recalcitrant. I am typically nowhere near as elegant as Mr. Schmidt, so sometimes I will sigh, look the person in the eyes, and have a dialogue like,

"It looks to me like you're having difficulty with this paper and process, is that why you are here?"

(If they say no, that they are here because their instructor told them to have their paper looked at by a writing tutor and that they aren't interested at all in working with me, I'll glance at the paper and say, "There, a tutor looked at it. Mission achieved. If you're ever interested in improving your writing I'll be waiting here.")

"Yes."

"Ok. So you're having difficulty and you've tried a lot of ways to deal with it but you're still stuck, right?"

"Yes."

"Then the ways you've been doing it haven't worked, right? So why not try a new way? Why fight me? My job is to help you. I am your slave or your genie, essentially. But I cannot write your paper for you, that's the rules. Why not give an honest effort to doing what I am suggesting? What is making you hold back?"

We can then have a conversation about the student's difficulties and hopefully we can move forward after discussing the objections.

If I said, "You just don't believe I can help you. That is your problem. It's not working because you don't believe in me or the process or both" it wouldn't work so well.

Does that even resemble a point that has some validity and relevance?

[This message has been edited by babayada (edited April 08, 2004).]

Now that's great communication! I've enjoyed reading your post. Toby

Balance seems to come from an attitude adjustment.

Both Sandy and babayada presented valid points showing examples how the attitude of both the student or the instructor when closed down makes it difficult to teach or learn from one who lacks the flexibility of just giving it a go. Both sides need to be open to exploring ways of learning otherwise we hit a stalemate.

It does come down to the attitude toward learning rather than the belief that it works. Believing that it works can become a hinderance to learning simply because the believer has not yet learned the methods of the skills and in his or her belief system has conceived it to work a certain and trying to teach them differently becomes a block.

The fact that PhotoReading works has been around for centuries. Many people have demonstarted this skill. The question really isn't "does it work?" The question is "Can it be taught?". The answer to that question now is, Yes, it can. Are you willing to be a learner of PhotoReading?

Alex

[This message has been edited by Alex K. Viefhaus (edited April 09, 2004).]

Wow Alex.

You read my mind.

I was going over what was written by everyone, and I was thinking to myself, "This isn't so much about belief ... this is about attitude!"

I didn't want to write about it because I felt that it might be seen as mincing words. But you are absolutely correct.

The speed-reading teacher I had this summer mentioned that some of her students developed the ability to "read a page at a glance." Would you conisder this a form of PhotoReading which can be discovered but not taught? Or is that something different entirely?

-CameronJ

quote:

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Originally posted by Alex K. Viefhaus:
Many people have demonstarted this skill. The question really isn't "does it work?" The question is "Can it be taught?". The answer to that question now is, Yes, it can. Are you willing to be a learner of PhotoReading?

Alex

[This message has been edited by Alex K. Viefhaus (edited April 09, 2004).]

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You cannot read faster than 800wpm. While they may be able to make that claim in some countries it is 'verboten' in the US because of this established 'fact'. That anything faster than 800wpm is skimming no longer reading.

As you will have noticed with superreading and dipping you are relying on your awareness of the information that you got from photoreading to notice where to dip in order to build conscious comprehension of the text. You may also have noticed that you 'knew' a lot without directly reading it.

An accomplished photoreader will notice an awareness of knowledge from glancing at the pages but guess what... activation is still required whether it be spontaneous or manual... the individual will have to start processing the information consciously in order to know that he or she knows it.

Can someone who photoreads the pages of a book have an awareness of what they just saw? Absolutely. How do we know? Evidence comes from...Direct Learning experiences, Suddenly knowing or having detailed information about a subject where prior to merely PhotoReading a book had no knowledge, Passing exams after only having PhotoRead the material because time didn't allow for regular study techniques.

So in answer to your question I must respond in two parts.

Yes we can perceive and gain an intricate awareness of the information viewed in that quick glance.

No, they have not actually "read" it.

AlexK
Alex

quote:

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My point is, saying that "you must believe" is really unnecessary, and it is definitely a red flag for some people. Certainly it is for me. "You don't have to believe. This stuff works. Lets see how we can get it to work for you." are ideal statements, as far as I am concerned...

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You said it all very nicely. I couldn't agree more. Your experience with the Texan is a good one. I'd rather deal with an intellectually honest skeptic instead of a blind believer any day. Did the Texan make progress in the class?

That Texan turned out to be one of the best, friendliest people I've ever known.

I actually felt, while he was saying what he did the first day, that this must be a very brave and eager man. While he was being disruptive and confrontational, he was also opening himself up to the instructor and entire crowd. He was showing how deeply he cared about the subject matter and that he was more than a little intimidated by some of it. This is my interpretation of it, anyway.

Towards the end of the course he asked if he could address the group, and he got up and said that we were some of the best people that he's ever known and that he made tons of progress. That for the first time in his life he felt safe enough to realize that he had been using achievement as a way to push aside his feelings of inadequacy and being unable to relate to others. Since very young, he felt alone and afraid and couldn't relate. He started to cry as he said this. He thanked us for allowing him to be able to see this and letting him know that he didn't have to hide anymore.

It was really freaky hearing this from such an apparently strong man. And there was a lot of suffering there.

Later on he had a heart attack (at home). For some reason, I wasn't surprised. I think sometimes that happens when there is a big conflict inside the heart. The body just decides that it needs to tell a person that, really, you cannot live a certain way ... and bam. Heart attack, or some other illness.

I was told that after the heart attack he slowed down and had changed things and was doing ok.

It wasn't the first story I've heard of some high-powered individual going to a seminar, making tons of changes, and going back to their lives and having a heart attack. I wonder how common this sort of thing is with type-A personalities who make these kinds of changes?

Anyway, so yeah ... he made tons of progress. We all did. I saw people and my perceptions of people change right before my eyes. It is so weird to witness someone else and yourself doing a 180 in a matter of minutes. It gives me a lot of hope.

I really miss that seminar.

Sometimes I go back and bring the feelings with me to try and recapture some of that magic.

I remember being on the phone with my mom and just communicating with her in a new way. She was pouring this overbearing, motherly advice on me over and over, and I just allowed myself to accept her intention. Instead of trying to prove that I was a capable person and not a child, I calmly said, "Yes, you're right. It's important for me to be safe, and I appreciate you wanting everything to work out for me." She fell silent on the other end, stammered a little bit, and said, "Well, ok." I then made small talk to ease the sudden awkwardness. She didn't have any behaviors to handle the way I was responding to her. All that forceful energy was just swept away, lovingly.

Ahhh, those were the days.

I also remember hearing an argument between two people. It was very heated. I could tell that one person was trying but unable to see the viewpoint of another in a way he could accept. I figured he should at least be able to look at it and make up his own mind about it. I could suddenly feel some words in a language pattern appear before my eyes. I walked up to him as he was talking and said, "Well, you might want to think of it this way ..." I don't remember what I said but I got all of the non-verbal unconscious processing signals. De-focus of the eyes. Flushing of the face, slightly. His posture changed. And then all of a sudden everything eased. He looked back at me and said, "Thank you."

The argument was over. All the fire was gone.

It was pretty amazing. Ahhh, those were the days.