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It all started for me with Langston The Ant. After it was explained that Langston was demonstrating the theory that “quite sophisticated behavior can result from simple interaction of simple things,” my thoughts turned to the classroom reflecting on teachers/student interactions. Teachers often observe that the simple actions, behaviors, or an innocuous comment on their part sometimes result in a sudden, and sometimes unintended, change in student behavior. A prime example of the sophisticated behavior resulting from simple interaction theory is illustrated in a declaration I have heard from teachers after reflecting on an incident that they “had no idea that s/he would become so upset, I didn’t mean anything by it.”

Teachers must be constantly aware and vigilant of any and all transactions with not only one student but also the class as a whole because their interactions (teacher outputs) can illicit unintended student response or behavior not only from a student but the class (student’s behavior-learning-a new story resulting from the summary of observations of their inputs from the teacher’s outputs). It is wise for teachers to learn early in their career that when a teacher responds to one student, all of the other students learn a lesson about that teacher. This is what I refer to as the multiplier effect. All students are acutely aware of every teacher output and formulate new stories about the teacher based on these outputs.

The truly ingenious part of the course was starting with an examination of the traditional scientific model and over the course of two weeks expanding and applying it to not only our neurons/nervous system but also to the conscious/unconscious minds, ultimately ending with three continuous and interacting loops. To me, the reafferent loop is critical to the process because it is the necessary and essential link between our output and inputs. Or to view it from another lens, they could be no story telling or looping within any structure or system without the loop.

And it all started with Langston the Ant. Thanks Langston!