CAGE: Cultivating Attention, Guiding Emotion — turning “ob-” into momentum
- Johan du Toit
- Sep 3
- 4 min read
Kyiv — September 3 • from a 2014 Normandy milestone moment
Eleven years ago I sketched a pillar of the JVDT Methodology I called CAGE: Cultivating Attention and Guiding Emotion. Not a trap—a stage that lifts learning above the noise.
Today’s entry clarifies the idea, refreshes the language, and offers clear, simple moves you can use without repeating yesterday’s routines. In ob-words: the idea is obvious, the language unobtrusive, the moves obtainable—with no obligation to yesterday’s patterns.
The idea in one breath
Cultivate attention → create a single, visible thread the class can hold.
Guide emotion → choose tone and timing that keep feelings working with thinking.
When attention and emotion align, information can land, connect, and carry.
A quiet etymology that helps
Many classroom disruptions wear “ob-” on their sleeve: object, obstacle, obstruct, obligation. In Latin ob meant “toward/in front of” but also “against/in the way”—and sometimes intensified an action (“thoroughly”). In English it sometimes shifts shape with the root—oc- in occupy, occlude.
CAGE treats “ob- energy” in two steps:
Name & place what stands in the way (obstacle/objection) so it stops hijacking attention.
Turn it toward the lesson (the original “toward” sense) or process it thoroughly later—by design, not by derailment.
Five fresh CAGE moves (no timers, no apps)
1) The one-line thread
Write a single sentence at the top-left of the board:
“Today’s thread: __________.”
Everything points back to this line. If talk drifts:
“Let’s face the thread again.”
2) Prosody primer (45 seconds)
Read one short line twice—first flat, then with a clear rise–fall. Ask:
“Which carried meaning better—and why?”
You’ve just guided emotion without a speech about feelings.
3) The “ob-margin”
Keep a narrow column on the board for ob-words: object, obstacle, obligation…
When one appears, write it there with a tick (✓) and say,
“Noted. We’ll return at the end.”
You’ve contained it; attention can continue.
4) Two tones, one idea
Explain the same idea once plainly (“because…”) and once cautiously (“it seems…”, “likely…”). Ask:
“Which tone fits our audience?”
Emotion is now serving precision, not spiking it.
5) Permission language
Use verbs that echo peace’s older sense of “permission/compact”:
“May we try the shorter path?” “Let’s agree on one example.”
You’re making a tiny pact so ideas can fasten and travel.
Reminder: pax (peace) → pact (agreement) → ideas that fasten and move.
pax = Latin for “peace.”
From pax comes pacisci / pactum (“to agree / an agreement”), which gives us pact and compact in English.
Many etymologists trace pax/pact back to the Proto-Indo-European root pak / pag, meaning “to fasten, make firm.” An agreement “fastens” people to shared terms.
So when you use permission language—“May we…?”, “Let’s agree on…”—you’re making a tiny pact that helps ideas fasten (stick) and then travel (apply) together.
How CAGE moves learning along the JVDT path
Information lands because the thread is clear.
Integration happens because emotion is guided (less static, more sense-making).
Comprehension shows when learners can explain why this tone/step works.
Field of Application appears when they transfer the same steadying moves to a new task or audience.
Four Keys at work:
Root (the one essential rule on the board), Context (tone/audience), with Association (prosody you can hear) and Analysis (separating thread from noise).
A teacher’s pocket checklist
Did we keep a visible thread all lesson?
Did we name and place at least one ob- distraction?
Did emotion serve the thinking (prosody, tone, permission language)?
Did we finish by fastening the idea to a new context?
CAGE remains what I intended in 2014: a small stage to stand on—where attention holds, emotion helps, and learning fastens into knowledge and, with practice, wisdom.
Love. Respect. Happiness.
Today they sound like steady voices and look like one clear line everyone can face together.
objections, obstructions, obligations, obscurities, obsessions, obscenities, obtrusions
Additions (teacher-friendly buckets)
In the way / against (blockers)
obstacle, obstructionism, obstructionist, obstructiveness, object (as a verb), objections, objectionable, obtrude, obtrusive, obtrusiveness, obnoxious, obloquy (“speaking against”)
Clouding / confusion (makes things murky)
obscure, obscurity, obfuscate, obfuscation, oblique, obliqueness
Rigidity / resistance (won’t budge)
obstinate, obstinacy, obdurate, obduracy
Pressure / duty (can crowd the learning space)
obligation, obligatory, oblige, obedience, obey
(Not inherently negative—just name it if “duty pressure” is derailing focus.)
Forgetting / erasure / decay
oblivion, oblivious, obliterate, obliteration, obsolete, obsolescence
Indecorum / content issues
objectionable — likely to offend; unsuitable for audience/context
obnoxious — offensively unpleasant; rude
obloquy — abusive public language or shame
obtrusive / obtrusion — thrusting oneself/content into attention; intrusive
obstreperous — noisily unruly; disruptively loud
obliquity (older sense) — moral deviation; “crooked” conduct
obscene / obscenity / obscenely — indecent or offensive in content
Assimilated forms of ob- (same root, different spellings):
offend / offense / offensive (ob- → of-) — to cause hurt/insult; objectionable content
opprobrium / opprobrious (ob- → op-) — public disgrace; scornful/abusive language
Helpful “ob- words” to flip the energy (solutions)
observe/observation (turn attention toward the thread),
objective/objectivity (a clear target),
obviate (anticipate/remove an obstacle),
obtain (hold firmly to the agreed rule/step),
obverse (turn toward the other side/perspective).
Tip: put the blockers on the ob-margin and pair each with a “flip” word (e.g., obstruction → observe the rule → obviate the snag).
Word-nerd corner (optional/rare but fun)
obtest (call to witness), obvert (turn toward), obfirm (make firm), obtrusion (the forcing of oneself, one’s ideas, or a topic into others’ attention without invitation; an unwanted imposition.), obsequious (over-compliant “following toward”).
Assimilated forms: oc- (occlude, occupy), of- (offend < ob- + fend), op- (oppose)—same Latin ob root shifting before certain consonants.
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