Dear friends,
Useless to say that my self-esteem was completely smashed (in other words word I was pissed off…) when reading my total score:

ZERO!!!

"How could I be such a failure as a teacher after so many books read about *effective communication in wizardry teaching*? Surely I’ve always loved my job and also nurtured feelings of empathy and understanding towards my pupils…"

While I was absorbed in these thoughts the spirit-in-the-book flew out of the big volume and materialized in the air like a sort of greenish cloud faintly resembling a human shape…

Gordon: “Feeling hacked off? You look as sick as a parrot!”
Witchy: “I didn’t know you were so fluent in slang… is this your *effective* way to communicate to a poor Italian witch who speaks eighteenth century standard English? Yes, I am depressed, if this is the word…”
Gordon: “Well, really you shouldn’t… because… ahem… I CHEATED!”
Witchy: “WHAAAT?!! Do you mean the quiz was nothing but bullshit!”
Gordon: “Not quite… it was scientific stuff, if you mean that. Incidentally, your slang is a bit old-fashioned… the thing is that the answers were all wrong and so they summed up to zero. I’ll explain the concept in Gordonian terms:

each answer corresponded to a communication barrier".

Witchy: “You mean that if I scold, reproach, comfort, advice, praise, etc etc…. whatever I do or say… is wrong?”
Gordon: “Not half! Oops… definitely! Now tell me: do you remember when you were a seventy-year-old teenage witch and you wanted to wear a mini-robe? How did you react when your mother scolded you?”
Witchy: “I just shortened the rim of the mini-robe until it looked more like a waist than a robe… “
Gordon: “Yes I figured you were that kind of teenager… so can you say your mother’s communication style was effective?”
Witchy: “I suppose not. And she got even more on my nerves when she told me that I behaved improperly and everybody would have thought I was not a serious witch… actually she said I looked more like a b**** than a witch. She was very frank and honest like all witch-mothers, you know… but the worst came when she tried to flatter me and said: “a long robe would add a lot to your charms… “ I think I still can hear the sneaky sound of her words in my ears!
Gordon: “How did you feel exactly?”
Witchy: “I felt as if she was trying to manipulate me, making me believe what she wanted in order to control my behaviour!”
Gordon: “You have just listed four of the twelve barriers to communication: orders, criticism, sarcasm, praise: they are all counterproductive ways of interacting, especially when the relationship is problematic.
If there’s no conflict people can tell each other virtually everything and things don’t go to the dogs… oops! Don’t get worse… but in all other cases you’d better plan carefully what you’re going to say. The other person (your pupil, in this case) could feel like getting a kick in the teeth and you’ll never realize what kind of disaster you’ve managed to do!”
Witchy: “I never thought communication could be so tricky. I’ve always been convinced it is enough to be honest and outspoken.. “
Gordon: “It’s not enough and now I’m going to give you the full list of what you have to scrub round… oops! Avoid... if you want to be an effective communicator / teacher!”

From the greenish vapour a greenish hand leant out and passed me a filthy sheet with words printed in “Times New Roman Italics 12” fonts by a Canon needle-printer belonging to the last millennium:

When I finished reading the list I felt as if a part of the ectoplasm itself had entered my mind: perhaps the genius-in-a-book named Thomas Gordon had taken possession of my brain and everything looked dim and confused. Gordon himself would have defined my mental state as “gutted” but I’m far a too well-educated witch to use such vocabulary…

Witchy: “But if I can’t say all these things, what can I say? I mean I can’t just keep my mouth shut… Well, how shall I behave if I want to communicate effectively?”
Gordon: “I apologize but, you know, as a ghost I’m not very*healthy and lively* since I only died in 2002, so now I’m *dead* tired (I can be so witty when I like… ) and I’m going back home. See you tomorrow night!”
Witchy: “Jeez! Sorry… for goodness’ sake! How can I … “ The greenish foggy ectoplasm vanished with a soft whack and He was gone.
But He did come back again (it’s not only the Farmer who comes in and out of my life as often as his whim tells him… ) and I just can’t wait to tell you the incredible ingenious things he suggested me to do in order to become AN EFFECTIVE TEEEA-CHAIR!!! (Go to Effective teachers part 2!!!)

Love from your
Hazy Hazel

P.S.: Don't forget to read the first two parts of this story!!!

The CLIL brothers part 1

The CLIL brothers part 2

And finally do the effectiveness test!!!

But if you really want to read something serious about Thomas Gordon click on the link below...
http://www.gordontraining.com/
It's ThomasGordon's official Website!!!