April 8, 2015

April 8, 2015

Written by Maximus Peperkamp, M.S. Verbal Engineer

Dear Reader, 

 

Yesterday’s class was a success, because I had given my students, who split up in four groups, different written assignments. As we were talking about development, we had covered events taking place at birth, middle age and old age. I thought it would be a good idea to address end of life issues. Each assignment was a folded piece of paper with a question. 1) In what way have you been affected by the death of a loved one? 2) How does your family deal with death? What do you think about death? 3) What do you think about a person’s right to die? 4) Give some arguments for or against euthanasia? The flood gates had been opened and everyone was talking. The discussions were incredibly sincere and there was so much to talk about that we continued our conversation the entire class. 

What was so eye-opening for me was that, although I, of course, set the stage for these discussions to take place, they happened because of a little piece of paper with just a few words on it. The discriminative stimulus was a simple written instruction and the response was enormous. It is important to acknowledge the impact of these instructions, because it was not until the students opened their assignment that they knew what they were going to talk about. In other words, although the topic was embedded in the lecture, the conversation had reliably been triggered by a question on a piece of paper.

The class was already going well and we had been watching and discussing some interesting footage about attachment. First, we saw the old Marlow study with monkeys and then we looked at related research by Ainsworth’s about attachment styles. While watching these videos the light had been dimmed and when the end of life assignment had been handed out, the lights had still not been turned back on. This created an intimate atmosphere, which seemed to get the discussion going. Initially, only a few people spoke, but gradually, everyone joined. Normally, people are not this engaged, but this time also people were talking who usually don’t say much. Moreover, they all seemed comfortable and calm about it. The conversation which went on in their groups about their different assignments was noticeably moving. 

The conversations were quiet and students were serious. Although they were sitting at their tables in rows, they had all turned to each other and were taking turns. It felt like something really important was happening. Students were so deeply involved in their dialogues that they didn’t even seem to notice that I was standing right next to them and was listening to them. I had not made up my mind at what point to end this discussion and didn’t want to break it up. I moved from group to group to hear if they were ready to round off their conversation, but they were so immersed that it seemed like the right thing to do to let them continue. On two occasions, some students took note of me standing next to them and gestured as if they were saying: thank you for letting us talk about this. I nodded and became even included in their conversations, which brought up many emotions.

The atmosphere was beautiful. I saw some students wiping tears from their eyes, others were hugging each other and everyone seemed surprised and happy that they were able to unite around this topic, which, they all agreed, is so often is avoided in regular conversation. Students addressed their own mortality and said emphatic, supportive and validating things to each other. When different cultural habits were discussed, it became once again clear that the American way of dealing with death is surrounded by a lot of denial. 

As I had moved around to the back of the class, I noticed that I had left the light dimmed after the showing of the video footage. Two of the three switches had been turned off. I only turned one back on and this noninvasive signal let everyone know the time had come to end their conversation. After I had moved again to the front of the class, there was a sense of reference in the room. I praised everyone for their participation in the talking about this important topic. Various students shared with the class what they had been conversing about within their group. There was hardly any need for me to direct the conversation which naturally flowed. The class of 30 students acted as one unit and everyone listened to what each person was saying.

Today's class felt like an awakening. We were all involved in Sound Verbal Behavior (SVB) and everyone knew it. The process had been organic and a sense of warmth and community had been created. I was so happy that I was able to come up with these four written assignments and make use of the light. As I am writing this I feel love and gratitude for my students who were doing so well. Also I feel so fortunate that I am able to teach.