Dr. Joy Magtanong-Madrid

Yesterday my wife and I had the distinct pleasure of attending the Commencement ceremonies for the University of the Pacific, Arthur A. Dugoni School of Dentistry. One of the students who graduated, now Joy Magtanong-Madrid, DDS., was a student several years ago in a post-baccalaureate program in which I was the performance coach.  There were 12 students, like Joy, who had all recently received their bachelor’s degree, and had wanted to go on to dental school, but didn’t get in anywhere they applied. They then applied for the post-bac program, which was a year to get their grades up and improve their scores on the DAT.  What an amazing group of people!  I loved coaching them. Why? Because they were so focused. They had such strong, determined spirits. They each had a goal and were determined to reach it. As I write in the book, focus is a function of the spirit– to be and become your highest self.

Joy was determined. She went through the program. She learned what she had to learn. But when the year was up she still didn’t get into dental school. Did that stop her? No way!  She became a dental assistant, applied again, and the next year started at UoP, arguably the finest dental school in the country. When the President of the University spoke yesterday she commended Joy for managing a most unusual outreach dental program for poverty-stricken children and adults in the Philippines.  Not only that, but Joy received two major awards and one major scholarship!  Her whole family was there to celebrate her achievements. We all went out for an amazing feast at a Burmese restaurant.

Last week a colleague of mine and I were talking about being teachers. I’ve been teaching for 40 years and he’s been teaching for 50. He said, “You know, if only one or a few students really get it, then you’ve done your job.” Joy was, and is, that student for me, as were her colleagues, a few of whom also graduated this week.  Joy took what I had to offer and ran with it.  The world will be a much better place as her spirit goes forth to light the way for others.

Things didn’t work out the way he planned.  Uncharacteristically, his test performance was sub-par. He barely got through.  This was a smart,

well-prepared individual, and it was hard for everyone, the student included, to understand what went wrong.

“Here’s where the 3 legged stool came in,” the teacher said. “The student was certainly confident– he was experienced with the procedure.  That leg was strong. But although he tried to keep a good ‘game face’ and appear like everything was all right, he was quite upset about the family situation. In other words, he wasn’t calm.  But the really wobbly leg was his focus–he was thinking about the people in his family, the lost loved one, and having to catch a plane to get to the funeral. His attention wasn’t on the test.”

The teacher had performed a great service to the student by framing the test experience in this way. He elevated the discussion to a much more meaningful level than just a grade.  The teacher helped the student to look at his own experience in a way that had meaning, and implications well beyond his training. Through the lens of the 3-legged stool the teacher guided the student to understand what’s truly going on. His ability to focus was severely weakened in this particular circumstance.

In the course of our daily lives, in and out of work, we are all faced with challenges big and small. Sometimes these challenges are in the work itself, sometimes they are simply part of life. The 3 legged stool is a secure platform on which we can handle any of these challenges.  Calm, confident and focused.

Ultimately, tests are not just about learning the right “stuff,” they are about continuing to grow and live  to our full potential.

Why are we stuck listening to the negative voice?

A student I am working with has a problem. Here’s what she says about it:  “Every time on a test when I’m not sure if my answer is right, I immediately have negative thoughts, ‘You’re not going to get this right,’ ‘You don’t know the material,” ‘You can’t figure this out.’ Why do I always think these negative thoughts?”

This is a great question and something I’ve wondered about for a long time. It’s a very common situation: in a difficult or doubtful situation most of us usually veer towards the negative. What’s going on?  In a series of posts I’m going to address this issue. Today we’ll look at one cause  and one method of dealing with it.

Notice first, the student says, in talking to herself, “You’re not going to get this right.” She doesn’t say, “I’m not….”  By saying “you” she’s looking at herself from the outside.  It suggests that she’s caught up in how others think of her. This is a habit that could have one of several roots: maybe she’s received negative feedback from teachers, parents, siblings, friends in the past; or she’s afraid of being seen negatively by others.  Whatever the reason, she’s suddenly outside of herself looking in. She’s out of the present.

Another way of putting it is that she’s disconnected from what she’s supposed to be doing: answering the question and moving on.  The negative thinking is not helping her.  And that’s the significant point, and what you should remember when you’re thinking negatively: it’s not helping you now.

When you catch yourself thinking negative thoughts, get yourself back in the present.

The best way to do this is to use two tools: breathing and grounding. Take a good deep breath to your belly and then feel your feet on the floor and your legs, back and butt supported by the chair.  Why is this important?  Because when you’re thinking negative thoughts you are minus-ing yourself. Taking yourself out of the present, putting yourself into what other people might think of you, and imagining the worst.

None of that is helpful.  What’s helpful is to read the question, think about it,  answer it and get on with the next one. And to be calm in the process.

Here’s a question for you:  what is your negative voice saying?  where do you think that’s coming from?  It’s helpful to do this. Here’s why. Once you frame it as something that has nothing to do with who and what you really are it goes a long way to weaken its influence on you. Besides, your responses will help me and the people who read this blog.  I look forward to hearing from you. Thanks! Go for it.

The calm, confident and focused teacher

As the health care debate nears some resolution (at least for the time being), the legislative agenda is already setting its compass to point towards education. A lead article in the New York Times titled “Obama Calls for a Major Change in the Education Law,” the President and his Secretary of Education Arnie Duncan are calling for a re-visioning of No Child Left Behind.

(see referenced article link to ‘Major Change in Education Law’)

One of the key features of the new policy is the focus on teachers and how they teach.

Quoting the article: The administration’s proposals would also rework the law’s teacher-quality provisions by requiring states to develop evaluation procedures to distinguish effective instructors, partly based on whether their students are learning.

I read this to mean: teachers are going to be tested. Big time. I don’t mean…

that they’re going to be sat down with test booklets and scantrons, but their very work itself will be under the microscope and evaluated. The test for teachers is going to focus on two questions: how are teachers going their jobs, and  effective are they?  Certainly, student performance will be an indicator of teacher success, but there will be a great deal more attention to how teachers are instrumental in making that success happen… or not.   This doesn’t have to do only with “teaching to the test,” but the way teachers carry out their jobs.  Do they instill confidence in their students? Do they motivate them staying focused so they can succeed? Do they show them how to be calm and centered in the face of ongoing challenges?

It’s the same three legged stool: calm, confident and focused. It’s the same platform for successful performance, whether you are a teacher, a student, a politician, an opera singer, or a pro athlete.

When a teacher is calm, confident and focused he or she radiates the qualities that every student needs to succeed.

Everyone wants to succeed. Everyone can learn to be calm, confident and focused. Our teachers light that light inside of each of us.

The Workbook as textbook for basic skills course

Recently I learned that Mendocino College is offering a course titled Test Anxiety and Test Taking Skills.  The course description reads:  “The mental, emotional, and physical aspects of test anxiety. General life stressors, school related stressors and techniques for eliminating or reducing anxiety. Studying for a test and test-taking strategies will be emphasized.”

A course with this title and purpose was so intriguing to me that….

I contacted the instructor, Debra Tannenbaum, and she and I had a most lively conversation. Turns out that this course is under the “basic skills” initiative: to give students the foundational tools they need to succeed.  Ms. Tannenbaum, a licensed Marriage and Family Therapist, inherited the course and the text from a former instructor. She discovered the text was out-of-print. A self-described “internet person,” Ms Tannenbaum went web-hunting and was led to my book, which she ordered. She liked what she read and it became the text for the class!  I’ve written to the class to send me their questions and stories about test taking and test anxiety.  I am very honored by Ms. Tannenbaum’s choice. And I am very happy that colleges are providing the real skills that students need to succeed– not only on tests but in life.

These discussions, Hernandez stated, gave the students “an intellectual diversion from preparing for the Maryland School Assessment, the examinations in reading and math that are a near-obsession for administrators and teachers.”

Hernandez goes on to describe the lively and engaging philosophical discussions — started by forward-thinking teacher Kathy Gregory — that students get into over lunch. To me what was most interesting was this activity is seen — at the school and by the reporter– as a balance to test prep.  After reading the article (which I recommend you do), you’ll see that in an activity like this one students are gaining exactly the foundation skills they need to be successful test takers. In other words, they are learning to be calm, confident and focused. This real life training is invaluable and it carries right over into test taking.

When students come together to discuss important issues, on which they have to take a personal stance, they need exactly the skills described in The Workbook for Test Success. It’s a living example of the 3 legged stool.

One of the biggest problems with standardized state tests (like the Maryland School Assessment or the STAR test in California) is that many students find it very hard to be motivated for these tests. My guess is that engaging group activities in school, like the one described in the article, aren’t a diversion, they are building performance and achievement skills that can serve as a springboard for wanting to do well in other activities (like standardized tests).

Thank you Nelson Hernandez for writing about uplifting, nurturing stories like this one. And thank you teacher Kathy Gregory– and Kenmoor principal Maha Fadli — for supporting student growth, To read the article go to: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/01/03/AR2010010301690.html?hpid%3Dtopnews

Charles make the model his own

Want the best way to reduce your test anxiety?  Personalize the training model I present in the book.

I gave a talk at Oregon Health Sciences University, School of Dentistry, last week and one of the 3rd year students, Charles Nguyen, took the 3 legged stool and ran with it.

He made it about EBT (Evidence Based Dentistry), with the “legs” an integration of (1) clinical evidence, (2) clinician expertise, and (3) patient preference and needs. When all three legs are strong you get excellent health care.

When a student understands and appreciates the model and makes it his/her own, it means real learning is taking place.

Charles used his 3 legged stool in a class presentation (the same students who had been at my talk). By seeing what Charles did with it he inspired all of his fellow classmates to personalize it in their own way.

Here’s the test prep tip: if you want to reduce your test stress and lower your test anxiety, use any of the tips I offer here in the blog, and in the book, in a way that applies to your life. Then you are making sense of what you are learning in a way that will help you in your life.  It’s the best way to learn and consolidate that learning.  Make it useful to you, for you!

How are you personalizing the tips and tools?  Which ones are you using and how are they working for you?

Karen Bryant, who mentors students even after graduation, said she credits the success of the program to a relationship built on trust and respect with her students. Many of the students have remained friends of Bryant over the years.

In the ‘confidence’ leg of my 3-legged stool performance model I explore into the relationship between ‘trust’ and ‘confidence.’

The word confidence is made up of two Latin roots: con, meaning ‘with,’ and fidelis, which means ‘faith’ or ‘trust.’ A confident person has faith in herself and trusts that she can accomplish the task.

Fidelis has an additional meaning, and that is loyalty. We can interpret this to mean that a confident person is also loyal to herself. When she’s taking a test and the questions are hard she doesn’t jump ship. She believes she can work it out and stays with the process right to the end.

If you struggle with self-confidence, you probably have the opposite feeling when you take tests. When the going gets rough you feel like you want to bolt. I can’t do this, I’m out of here.

Wanting to bolt creates a problem because it means your attention isn’t fully present. It’s on its way out the door, you might say. Your mind, like your body and your spirit, is a key player on your “Team of Three.” You mind has to play its part so that you can win. You need your mind to stand by you, to support and encourage you through thick and thin, not turn against you and undermine the process. When your mind is yelling, “Let me out of here!” it is a way of abandoning you which we can certainly call a form of disloyalty. You have to train it to be loyal, to have faith in your ability and to trust that you can do the job well.

In other words, you have to know you can count on your mind.

Here’s a helpful tip to train your mind.

Your self-evaluating, talk-radio mind has two sides, positive and negative. On the positive side you are broadcasting approving and encouraging messages about yourself: I can do it. I’ve got what it takes. I am smart enough. The negative side sends out disapproving, discouraging, self-defeating noises: I can’t possibly succeed. I don’t know what I’m doing. I’m not going to make it.

Now, how do you tune into this positive side?  Start with this: what are your initials? Mine are BBB. I live in California. If I put K in front of BBB, I get KBBB. If I lived east of the Mississippi I would put a W in front of my initials and get WBBB.  Now you do it.  What do you get?  What does that sound like?  You got it: a radio station.  Your radio station.

Your mind has a 24/7 personal talk radio that is sending positive messages to you. You can count on it. Just don’t flip the dial. And if you hear noises, chatter and static, fine tune the receiving frequency. The voice of your spirit is always there to guide you.  Always.

Let me know how your personal talk-radio is working.

I remember a high school student  brought in by her parents. I asked her, “Do you know why you are here?” She immediately replied, “Yes. My parents want me to get higher SAT score. And I don’t want to work for it.”

Then the three of them leaned in. All eyes were on me…

I took down a glass bottle of gold glitter from my shelf. I shook it up and down and said to her, with a small smile, “This is magic dust. Take it home. Every night before you go to sleep, sprinkle it over your head. Your scores may go up.”

She laughed heartily. Then we began working together. I gave her some tools to practice with.

At our next coaching session she came in and shrugged, “I didn’t do any of the things you said.”

I was patient and understanding. Again, at the end of the second session I gave her some tools to practice with.

She came back and again, the same thing, “I didn’t do any of the things you said.”

I looked her in the eye and said, “You are a bright kid. But I can’t work with you anymore. This is a waste of your time, my time, your parents’ money.”

She was shocked. We started a dialogue. I found out there was a school that she wanted to go to. But to get into that school she needed to get her SAT to a certain level.

Bingo! In that moment she got it. She wasn’t doing it for her parents. She was doing it to get to where she wanted to go.

From then on she really worked with me on the performance model. And she got into the college of her choice.

This is what President Obama said about his daughter Malia doing better on a test, “what was happening was she had started wanting it more than us. Now, once you get to that point, our kids are on our [sic] way. But the only way they get to that point is if we’re helping them get to that point.”

If your child is facing and important test, talk about the test together. Make sure that the goal of a higher score is your child’s goal, not just yours. Help them see that it’s about their future and what they want for themselves. There’s more for you in Chapter 9: Help for Parents.

Send in your experiences and questions.

I asked Sophie to explain what she meant by “freak out,” she described the intense static going on in her mind while she attempts to answer the questions. “I keep thinking, I don’t understand the question … I didn’t study the right things … I don’t remember anything … I’m not going to get this answer right … My scholarship won’t be renewed.” Her voice trailed off. She looked discouraged and dejected as she whispered, “It’s a mess.”

Rings a bell?

Sophie was describing one of the worst experiences a test taker can have: losing self-confidence during the test. When you are trying to figure out an answer and your mind starts broadcasting negative thoughts, I don’t know this… I can’t work it out… I’m so stupid, you’re all tied up in negativity—in “nots”: I’m not remembering anything. I’m not going to pass. I’m not smart enough. Of course, all this negativity makes you feel horrible about yourself. The self-doubt kicks up dust-loads of fear—that you’re going to fail, of what will happen if you don’t perform well, and fear of what others will think of you if you do poorly. The anxiety and self-doubt quickly turn into a self-fulfilling prophecy. Suddenly, you can’t remember what you studied, you aren’t sure about your own reasoning and judgment, and the answers to the questions elude you completely. With all this negativity, your stress level soars and your performance suffers, no matter how well prepared you are.

If you want your performance to show off all the hard work you put in, you need confidence—positive feelings about yourself. You have to believe that you have what it takes to succeed, that you are smart enough, that you do understand the material, and that you can figure out an answer. It’s the same self-fulfilling prophecy I mentioned just above, but this time in a positive direction. When you believe in yourself you are much more likely to perform well.
Self-confidence seems mysterious to many peop

This means you have to train yourself to listen to your positive, affirming inner voice. It’s there, everyone has it. We have just become trained– habituated–to hearing and believing the negative voice. Your positive voice is sending you encouraging messages all the time — “You’ve got what it takes. You can do it. You’ve handled difficult experiences before.”

Train yourself, when you are challenged on a test, to turn to the positive voice. In my book, Chapter 5, How to Be Confident, goes into this process in detail. I encourage you to check it out.

I’m speaking this afternoon in New Orleans at an exciting convention: the Fall Forum for the Coalition for Essential Schools. It’s a terrific group of progressive educators from all over the country. The topic of my talk: How to Make Testing Empowering. I’ll talk all about tuning into the positive inner voice.

Send me your questions and experiences.