Innovation Into Schools

Posts Tagged ‘EFT’

As a teacher I am always curious to discover how EFT might work in new situations at school. It’s fun to try tapping on just about anything and notice the positive results that we get. Recently I had the opportunity to use EFT in two different ways with my class during a medical crisis.  

My students were in the gym playing floor hockey. During the game, Kevin raced in low toward the net to score and was accidentally struck with a hockey stick right above his eye. It was nobody’s fault, just a freak accident. 

Kevin was brought to the office and was attended to by one of my coworkers.  By the time I arrived, Kevin had a cloth and an ice pack over his wound.  He was obviously in pain and very upset. 

I immediately took his hand and began tapping on his karate chop point while he relayed the details of his accident to me. I asked if I could see his cut and was shocked to notice a deep, significant flap of skin come away from his forehead. 

Keeping my own feelings to myself, I asked how he was feeling and he answered quietly, “Sick, I am going to throw up.”  He was in shock: white, clammy and shaking. I thought that he was going to faint so I continued to tap on his karate chop point while someone brought him a bowl.  

While I continued to tap I asked, “Do you want me to say the words for you?” He nodded, so I added, “I’ll just tap on your finger points though, and leave your face alone.” 

By the time his mom arrived to take him to the hospital he was calm enough to walk to the car with our help.

After Kevin left I returned to my class and attempted to teach a lesson, however all of my kids wanted to talk about the accident. There had been a lot of blood on the gym floor, and they were very upset about the whole thing.  The boy who had been in net called out, “I can’t get that visual image out of my head. I was the goalie and saw everything, even the flap of skin with all that blood. It was awful!” 

So we applied EFT in an entirely new way. We called it the “Yuck Factor”. Together we tapped on the blood and all the gory details of the accident until we were ready to create new images of Kevin’s wound being healed with stitches. That helped everyone to calm down so that we could resume our day with some semblance of normalcy. No one mentioned Kevin’s accident again until he returned later from the hospital to show us his scar and seven stitches.  

Kevin’s scar has healed remarkably well. Now that he is over the shock, he has a story that he may enjoy telling for the rest of his life.  

Feeling curious about how effective EFT had been for Kevin during the aftermath of his accident, I recently asked him if he thought the tapping had helped him at all.  He responded with a big smile.

“Yes! he said, “If we hadn’t have tapped I would have thrown up for sure!”

Thank goodness for EFT!

After using EFT for over two years on a variety of school related issues, I decided to gather and record data to show how effective EFT can be for relieving anxieties in children and thereby improving academic performance and test results.

Each week my grade three and four students are given a math test in which they strive to complete 100 basic multiplication or division facts in ten minutes.

A few months ago, I told my class that because they were getting so quick at multiplication, I was going to reduce their time from ten minutes to eight. I knew this would create some anxiety.

Before the first test my students recorded and measured their level of anxiety on a scale from 0 – 10.  They completed that test without using EFT.

The second test was taken a few days later, after we used EFT to address their fears.  Before the test we tapped as a group about their worries, as well as on their stress-related physical symptoms, such as rapid heartbeat, dry throat, mind blocks, churning stomach, etc.

Here are the results of the two tests: (Student names have been changed.)

These results show a significant increase in many students’ test scores.  It is evident that once test related anxiety is addressed and released through the use of EFT, students are capable of reaching their potential in exam situations.

One of the many benefits of teaching EFT to your students is that they are able to quickly and quietly show you by tapping that they are feeling anxious or frustrated or in need of some assistance. 

I realized this shortly after I introduced EFT to my class. I had just completed a lesson on equivalent fractions and saw that I had done a poor job of it because many of my students were struggling with their work.  When I attempted to re-teach the concept I noticed several students tapping on their karate chop points. I smiled and asked, “Do equivalent fractions make you feel that anxious?” One girl grinned right back at me while continuing to tap and announced, “Yep!”

I realized then what a wonderful teaching tool EFT is. Not only does it enable children to relieve anxieties and improve test scores, it can also alert us to their need for assistance. Often the children who are the least vocal are the ones who experience the most anxiety, and tapping is a polite way for them to make us aware that they need some help or compassion.

Not long after that occasion, I noticed a boy quietly tapping while working at his seat.  This immediately made me aware of his need for some assistance, but when I asked if I could help him he responded, “No, I’m just tapping because I’m worried about the District Bike Race this afternoon.”  I invited him to do some tapping with me, but by this time the whole class was listening in. Everyone else wanted to tap as well! They all opened up about their worries and we tapped as a group to alleviate their fears.

Once we arrived at the bike race I was intrigued to notice many of my students tapping on the start line. Later, I was excited to see several of them complete the race so well. But I was especially delighted to notice the boy who had expressed the most anxiety before the race (and had incidentally taken a bad tumble off his bike while riding) come in last with a huge smile on his face.

The most important lesson for me on this day was that because I had noticed just one of my students attempting to tap away his worries, I was able to give everyone in my class the encouragement and understanding they needed, enable them to enjoy the bike race with a worry free attitude, and allow them to affirm that they were awesome kids whether they won or lost this race or finished somewhere in between.

Since then, whenever I have seen children tapping quietly their own, I have tried my best to give them the help and compassion they need and deserve.

I just concluded my first long-term supply in a local elementary school after graduating with my Education Degree. During this time I had a student that suffered from anxiety. Since I used EFT throughout by university years to reduce my own stress and anxiety, it seemed quite natural to me to want to give the benefit of EFT to my students as well. As a result of seeing Mary Stafford’s “EFT Shortcut for Children” and owning a Tappy Bear myself, doing so was quite easy. I just brought Tappy Bear into my class and did regular tapping with my students, which I called the silly dance. The silly dance was using Mary’s simple points and doing it in a fun and entertaining way. We used the silly dance before our Friday Tests and when I just felt that some of the students needed to have the benefit of tapping.
In my class, there was a student that suffered from severe anxiety. She participated in our regular class tapping and I even sent home a package to her mom about the benefits of EFT and how it can be used in so many ways. I am not sure if it was used at home but there was a noticeable difference in her anxiety levels . Until…
During the last two weeks she appeared to be really anxious and cried a lot. No one really understood why, but on the last day of school she told me she was really upset about me leaving. So right there as she hugged me, I gently tapped on the top of her head as she sobbed and told me that she was going to miss me. We tapped and did a few breathing exercises while she was totally in her sad feelings. In a very few minutes (it did feel like forever though) she told me she felt much better and was still a little sad but she knew that everything was going to be okay.
We cried together! During our sobbing, I told her that crying was sometimes a good thing and this is one of those times. She agreed!
I still spend a few minutes each day tapping her in my own mind. I believe its good for her and I know its good for me.

MKW
First Year Elementary School Teacher

One of my students was going to talk to the guidance counselor and I needed to get her there without the other children knowing where she was going.
I had the solution. The school guidance counselor has slowly been learning EFT and I had promised her, that very day, that I would give her my Tappy Bear. I would just ask the student if they would take Tappy to Mrs. ________.
When I asked if they would take Tappy to Mrs.______, her reply was, “Do you think I will get to use him?” To my knowledge she did, and she was very happy.
I am not sure if it is true, but I think many of my students wished it was them who was going to see the school counselor. Tappy just shows up in the most opportune times.
MKW

First Year Elementary School Teacher