This March is blowing in like a Lion and it reminds me of those early Oklahoma days of my life when I would walk to school at a 45 degree angle, when the kite string had to be replaced with small ropes and the geese would wave as they slid past on billowing clouds of breezy skies. We have really had some wind in the costal plains of Southeast Texas this year, too..
I hope you are enjoying the warm-up and have your hats on tight. As I reflected this morning on the differenct weather systems we experience in the unique 12 months of the year, I am reminded of an article by Tony Woodlief in the Houston Chronicle, February 15, 2008. Tony noted that psychologists have identified new ways for kids to be recognized for their smartness. Besides IQ, he points out we now are able to measure mind intelligence in terms of bodily-kinesthetics, emotional intelligence, social intelligence, musical intelligence, artistic intelligence, spirituality and many others. While many of us wonder what this might all mean, in our most open and caring thoughts, I would invite us to appreciate the wonder of the "many faces" of the weather that is presented to us each month. As we appreciate it's variety, perhaps it will help us reflect on the beauty and variety of each child's presence in our lives. We at ARK invite you to see the wonder in each of their faces and enjoy the challenge of contributing to their "spring" growth in your unconditional and intentional care.

Please share our website with your friends and collagues - - The ARKGROUP's WEB site can assist you now to get to the information you need. The ARKGROUP's website provides the information that you need , about the ARK (Adults Relating to Kids) Programs and Processes for Teachers and Schools, Parents and Others who would be Intentional in the lives of Kids, both faith based and secular. Visit our site today. ARK (Adults Relating to Kids) programs and processes are here to help.

Thanks for joining us today through our newsletter.
Albert Scheitzer, a wonderful human being, Medical Doctor, Missionary, concert organists and composer once wrote:
"Constant kindness can accomplish much. As the sun makes ice melt in sprinig and the winds bring March in with great gusto, kindness causes misunderstanding, mistrust, and hostility to evaporate"......."



Bill
William R. Duffy
National Executive Director
281-537-1301

Start this Spring to commit to renewal and growth with education and networking facilitated by the ARK Program DVDs: ARK for Teachers, ARK for Parents (Faith and Secular based), ARK Facilitator Training, The ARK Group Process and an Introduction to ARK hosted by Pat Summerall. Order yours today at www.thearkgroup.org. The ARK Program has excellent lessons, DVD's, manuals, workbooks, texts and advertising materials -- they will equip you to begin ARK programs today. ARK programs provide breakthrough parenting and teaching "skills courses." With your help, we can make ARKrelationships the norm for the 21st century family, church, school and community.

For our Friends and Followers , we have had outstanding record breaking participation through March with over 70 churches in the Dallas area participating in our ARK for Parents - Church Programs . We are excited to announce that over 52 churches have also joined our numbers in Houston in March. Facilitation training can be scheduled to fit your schedule. Thanks to a wonderful gifts by kind benefactors, we are able to provide ARK for Parents Programs to Dallas area churches and in Houston. The program includes facilitator training, lessons on DVDs, books, and a host of supporting materials and services. We invite you to take advantage of this wonderful opportunity. Contact us today by e-mail, letter or by telephone in Dallas at 817- 268-2100 or Houston at 281-537-1301 to reserve these programs for your church to enable your church family to become the parents and intentional adults in the lives of children that will change the world through your care

In most of our ARK for Teacher programs, we generally ask those participating to think back and to recall those persons in their lives who left "indelible memories" in us that became an anchor for who we came to see what was possible in our lives. Dr. Brooks in his March, 2008, monthly article writes about similar questions he posed to over 1500 participants responding to his questionaires. His findings and those of the ARKgroup are remarkable similar in identifing the significant impact of a caring adult in the nurture and growth of children and students who discover an adult's belief in them as persons of worth and enabling them to view themselves as capable of becoming the persons they became.

The flip side of that finding revealed that when adults and teachers memories were recalled that had contained demeaning comments about character and abilities, those memories too impacted the future.
Because it seems , we never seem to forget our best and our worst teachers and adults experiences in our life, we might take a monent to reflect on those implications as we interact with our students and children daily.

Dr. Brooks asks several questions which each of us might answer. Since we all have access to our own "memories" which we individually believe have played a key influence in our development.

"Do you see your own "memories" as a possible guide as to how you interact with your children and students?"
" Do you act intentionally to grab those experineces of your past to interject into your care of others as a possible anchors for them in their development of self-concept, opportunity and motivation as young students in experiences of growth".
"Are you careful not to say or do things even by accident which were hurtful to you when you were a child and a student?"

Many teachers and parents tell us in ARKGroup exexcises, that reflecting in their own lives about those teachers and adults who left those deep memories in their lives which helped to shape their directions and concept-of-self, refreshed their lives and helped them to get in touch with why they became educators and for parents what it felt like to appreciate their intentional decision to be that parent they loved in their own lives.

My hope is that you will share these litte "bits" of gold with the ones in your life this day and in sharing you will become that "identified person" who makes possible resillience in our children and future for our world.

Read on...Excellent Articles from Dr. Robert Brooks website

The thought of a weekend trip to the Galveston beach, for example, sounds super, when compared with a trip to the Dentist. But this comparison has little impact on the actual experience, because when we are on the beach we are chasing the waves and looking for sea shells and those experiences pulls our attention away from the alternative ... the Dentist chair. "The kinds of comparisons we're making when we are imaginaing the future aren't the kinds we make when we stick our toes in the sand".

So what does sitting on the beach have to do with our larger, more important life decisions? Dr. Gilbert points out; " once we have made a choice in life, the unchosen alternatives evaporate". Another way to think about this. "When faced with irrevocable decisions, people are happier with the outcome than when they have the opportunity to change their minds". This is a very powerful finding by Dr. Gilbert.

So let's look once more at something you do probably daily.
Driving can be very engaging when you first begin at 16 or 17. But over time, the driving experience is not engaging and your mind is free to wander to all other things you could be doing as you sit behind the wheel. Dr. Gilbert points out;"when you move into the right lane, only to have the traffic stall as the left lane speeds by, suddenly, it really hurts to be in that right lane. Your not driving, navigating, or even moving and your mind is wandering and thinking about what it could have done instead of sitting there."

The question for all of is of course, " How often do we really have that wait time in stalled traffic to reflect on alternatives?" I would suggest that in the vast majority of our experiences, the roads we don't take in life disappear pretty quickly and we find ourselves pretty happy in the moment as compared with the alternative.

Can we predict happiness. I truly don't know. Dr. Gilber's work would seem to indicate not. But I can predict that when we are intentional with our lives as regards those children and student which bring meaning, significance and joy into our present experiences, our present can build "indelible memories" which as we have the opportuity to reflect on where we have been, can give us a beautiful taste of richness of "real living".

Please share your ideas and read on...

Grey matter, the stuff between your ears, your folks chided you about, is where mental computation takes place and memories are stored. The cortex is the topsoil of the brain whose neuronal bodies are the decison making cells. Underneath the cortex, is a bedrock of "white matter" that fills nearly half of the human brain- far more than fills the brains of other animals. White matter is composed of millions of communications cables, each one containing a long individual wire (axon), coated with a white fatty substance called myelin. These connections work like telephone lines connecting one region of the brain with other regions.

Scientists now realize that the extent of white matter varies in people who have different mental experiences. It also changes as one person's brain learns or practices a skill such as playing the piano. Even though the neurons in grey matter execute mental and physical activities, the functioning of white matter may be just as critical to how people master mental and social skills.

Myelination occurs from the back spinal cord area of the brain and proceeds forward ending in the frontal cortex and is laid down until around the age of 25 to 30 or so. Science has again shown us why teenagers do not have adult decision-making abilities. I will repeat. The frontal lobes are the last places where myelination occurs. These regions are responsible for higher-level reasoning, planning and judgement - skills that only come with experience.

In the Scientific America article, numerous examples are discussed which prove that the more practice and experience provided to the young, the greater the creation of the white matter. We at ARK are thrilled by the implications of this new scientific findings in this article because of what it means for our ability as Adults and teachers in the lives of children and students to provide an environment that will make a big differenece in the capabilities we nurture.

In each child and student who blesses our lives, white matter development is the key to the types of learning that will be possible to them. Children whose brains are myelinating are in a period of their life when all things are possible and their abilities to think is limited only by the richness of their experiences, practice and learning opportunities we as adults can make available to them in a nurturing environment of care and love. For a range of intellectual, social, musical, artistic and athletic abilities, an individual can reach beyond their dreams and hopes when an adult enriches their lives with adult possibilities.

We hope that you will discover a child who will identify in you, a person who they can trust and rely on. A person who, twenty years from today, they will recognize as helping them to become a creative and contributing member of our world. A person who made possible every possble experience possible for enriching their lives and their brains.

Kids of any age love to read because the storyline, the math, english spanish, history, spelling always expands their ability to think connectively through the miracle of white matter (Myelination) and the possibility that anything can happen materializes. Pick some opportunities today to read, study and create experience with the children in your lives.

Check out the ARKGroup Website - Opportunities and Support for you

Your support of The ARKGroup, Inc. creates possibilities in our churches, community centers, and public and private schools. If you have an opportunity, idea, challenge, or destiny to fulfill through helping children to grow into their full potential, please contact us. Together we can improve the quality of life in our communities--one child, one family, one classroom, one school at a time. Helping other people lifts one's spirits and gives hope for the future.

GoodSearch - a way to support ARK while using the Internet. You can contribute to the ARKGROUP which we will invest in your favorite community services, church, juvenle justice program or school just by searching the Internet or shopping online with GoodSearch - www.goodsearch.com - powered by Yahoo!

Read on at the ARK website