October 21, 2014

October 21, 2014

Written by Maximus Peperkamp, M.S. Verbal Behaviorist

Dear Reader, 

 

This writer has just read a couple of papers that were written by students from his psychology class. Each paper depicts the individual unique behavioral history of its writer, but what all these papers have in common are the positive experiences these students describe. This inspires this writer to write, but also to teach the way that he is teaching. His teaching emphasizes the importance of spoken communication. He  raises the question: what makes Sound Verbal Behavior (SVB) possible? When is it there? What happens when teaching and learning grinds to a halt, when Noxious Verbal Behavior (NVB) overtakes us? Yes, teacher and student are in this together.

Last night, when this writer came home from his daytime job, he felt so tired that he went to sleep at 6:30pm. In the morning, on his way to Red Bluff, he had been thinking about his family with whom he is no longer in contact and a he was suddenly engulfed by waves of sadness. Although he felt sad, it didn’t feel like a burden, but like a release. When he reached his destination, he felt cleansed by the emotions that troubled him for such a long time. The day went well and when he arrived home, he decided to take it easy. He slept from 6:30 till 1:30 am, which is 7 hours. Then he woke up, read some of the above-mentioned papers and went back to sleep again from 3am till 5:30am, another 2.5 hours. Altogether he slept a total of 9.5 hours. He felt fantastic that he was able to get so much sleep.  

Also, yesterday it was suddenly raining, a weather type which had reminded him of his country of origin, Holland. In addition, the night before yesterday night, he had been listening to songs by a Dutch artist he used to listen to back in the days. When he woke up from his deep sleep, something of the dream he had was still with him. In it, one of his students had said “it is not so much the information which you teach, but how this information is touching my life and the lives of many other students, which makes you an exceptional teacher.” When this writer read another paper after he had woken up, the student had written something which almost sounded exactly identical to what he had dreamed in his dream at night.