Balance & harmony

Salinas teachers employ the ancient art of feng shui to turn their classrooms into better learning environments

By KATHRYN McKENZIE NICHOLS

knichols@montereyherald.com

Walk into several of the classrooms at Mission Park Elementary School in Salinas, and you probably won't notice anything unusual -- other than they are extraordinarily neat and well-organized.

The cut-out animal pictures don't appear to be out of place. Neither do the bright colors on the bulletin boards and walls.

But there is a method to all this, and one that is rooted in Chinese art and philosophy.

The teachers are employing the ancient art of feng shui to make their classrooms into better learning environments -- and they say it works.

Third-grade teacher Sally Mincheff said use of color has calmed unruly students.

Natalie DiTusa, who teaches first-graders, feels that by moving her desk, she has more control.

Susan Catalano and Evie Bolante, who have written a book on feng shui in the classroom, aren't surprised. After all, it's worked for them as well.

"We discovered something we wanted to share with other teachers," said Bolante, a literacy coach and former classroom teacher for Salinas City Elementary School District.

The two Salinas women recently self-published their book, "A Light Touch of Feng Shui: A Teacher's Guide for Creating Balance and Harmony in the Classroom," and said they never expected to sell a lot of them.

However, they have almost sold out their first printing, and are planning a second.

They packed a recent regional reading conference at Asilomar; Catalano and Bolante are now booked for several more lectures at different events.

All this attention was not something they had anticipated, but it's a happy surprise.

Catalano, and Bolante came around to feng shui in different ways. Bolante started experimenting with it after seeing a segment about it on "Oprah." Catalano's daughter gave her a book on the topic and insisted she read it.

Catalano, a second-grade teacher at Mission Park, said she was a skeptic until she saw how feng shui made her classroom a more harmonious place.

"It calms (students) down, and creates an atmosphere in which they want to learn," she said.

Catalano and Bolante hasten to point out that feng shui is not a cult or a religion, and that they aren't teaching feng shui to students. In fact, the kids are completely unaware that teachers are using it at all.

Feng shui uses a variety of elements in one's living space to enhance chi, or the flow of energy. Furniture placement is important, as is the use of color. The techniques originated in China more than 3,000 years ago, but are currently enjoying a renaissance in California.

It's become common for people to employ feng shui at home, and there is now an increasing interest in using such methods in the workplace. Indeed, there is a California Assembly bill under consideration, ACR 144, which would require that feng shui principles be used in state buildings.

Catalano and Bolante have been putting feng shui to the test in classrooms for the past seven years, and based their book on their own observations and other teachers' experiences.

They credit their families with pushing them to write it, and received editing and graphics help from their grown children, and legal and other expertise from their husbands.

Their version of feng shui is called "light" because it's been simplified as well as adapted for classroom use.

They developed a compass (a bagua, in feng shui-speak), included in the book, which indicates the use of color and other elements according to direction. For instance, red is the ideal color for the south wall of the class, white should be to the west, blue or black to the north, and green to the east. The various directions rule different aspects -- east is the ruler of health and family, for instance.

In Catalano's classroom, her east wall features green crates for storage, and student artwork mounted on green paper. She has a small green dragon, the animal of the east, displayed above the bulletin board.

On the south side of class, she has red mailboxes for the students to use. Since the south is believed to foster inspiration, she cut out red letters that read "Believe, Achieve, Succeed" for this wall.

"My intent is to give the students the power to believe that they can be successful in school," she writes in the book.

One of the most apparent aspects of feng shui, even to the casual observer, is the lack of clutter in the classroom. Whether or not you believe in feng shui, organization goes a long way in making items easy to find and attractive.

Furniture position also proves to give teachers a psychological advantage. Natalie DiTusa, the first-grade teacher, said she noticed a big difference simply by moving her desk from the back of the class to the front. By being where she can easily keep an eye on students, she found that behavior improved.

When DiTusa first came into her present room, the students' desks were facing the door, with their backs to the windows.

"The energy wasn't flowing in the right direction," she said.

With the change in desk direction came a change in attitude.

Third-grade teacher Sally Mincheff said she changed her desk position and also went by the feng shui use of color.

"It puts you in a commanding position, so that you're in charge," she said of sitting in front of the class. "You've got that eye contact."

As for the colors, "It feels good," she said, and being in a place that is comfortable and feels good makes students more willing to learn.

Catalano and Bolante say that feng shui isn't magic, and it isn't a cure-all. What it is about is balance and harmony -- something that all of us need.

They're happy that perhaps what they've written can help others.

After all, said Bolante, "Teachers spend more than half their waking hours in the classroom. Their environmental is critical."

For more information • "A Light Touch of Feng Shui: A Teacher's Guide for Creating Balance and Harmony in the Classroom" (Perfect Harmony Press, $12.95) • For information, e-mail perfectharmonypress@msn.com or see the Web site, www.fengshuiforteachers.com