In the spring of 2009, I began teaching the I Create What I Believe! (ICWIB) program to a small select group of gifted teachers who had agreed to actively use the program in the classroom in the 2009-2010 school year and track the results.
Our intent was to demonstrate that when a student understands of how their beliefs affect their ability to succeed and are given simple and creative ways to transform negative beliefs you will see a reduction of stress and increase in their sense of self and ability to succeed.
The pilot study is going well and we are excited to start sharing some of our teachers’ observations and stories about how this program is impacting their classroom. We will also release the results of our data collection at the end of the school year.
The students names have been changed. We will also not reveal the names of our teachers, the schools where they teach or the states where they reside. We hope you enjoy these stories.
Pilot Story
“…Josh, a sixth grader, normally would come into class, head towards his seat and sometimes sits down. Though usually, before I could get class started, he would be up again with a question, or make a sarcastic comment to another student. I then would have to take time out of class to settle down the chaos and correct his behavior. This scenario was often repeated several times a day during our forty-five minute class. It was exhausting!
When I began teaching the I Create What I Believe! Program, I immediately noticed how much Josh enjoyed the activities. He was also delighted to learn that he could do “scribble art” during class as long as he paid attention. Josh soon began to request art paper when he walked into my classroom. He also began to show more self-control.
Now Josh comes into class, gets art paper and sits down. He rarely disrupts class and is passing science. His other teachers have mentioned that his behavior and grades have improved in their classes as well…”