TACTics Journal
September 24, 1999
WIZDOM
THINK
GLOBALLY, ACT LOCALLY… Catastrophes and the Learning Curve
By
Kathy Suerken
As
soon as I heard about the earthquake in Taiwan, I tried to reach Frances Su.
Assuming that electricity would be out and that she couldn't access her email,
I tried calling her instead… for 2 days!
Unable to get an international call into Taiwan, I remained concerned
until I received Warren Foster's thoughtfully forwarded email from Frances. I was both relieved and reminded that I
don't yet have a Ph.D. on assumptions after all. (This is why people call me
Twinkle Toes and not Dr. Suerken?)
Actually,
it was uplifting to receive the reassuring news about Frances through
Warren. It made me realize how really
synergistically "connected" our TOCFE family is. What a valid and inspiring assumption! So, as I sit in Niceville, Florida feeling
the aloneness of a difficult task (writing my 25th draft of a story for the new
session one), I realize that I am not alone.
And neither are you as we go about this difficult business of changing
the world- wherever we are.
What
can we as individuals do to help in the face of natural catastrophes that are
out of our control? Can we think of
some tools to enable people to cope with changing realities- to rebuild their
lives? But, what if our actions are not
local to Taiwan? Do we have to be in
Taiwan to progress toward the global objective or to help Frances-and each
other-along the way?
At
our conference, Frances gave us a gift- the most beautifully worded
"direction" of the TOCFE culture: "The TOC solutions are
disseminated through the shared vision and belief in our TOC culture and are
carried out by the cohesive team effort."
Frances further characterized this direction as the synergy of WE/ME.
Do
you THINK that the synergy of our collective individual TOC actions may someday
just possibly eliminate those preventable human catastrophes such as the church
shootings in Texas and the cultural and religious wars in Indonesia?
When
I think of you and your potential, I am reminded of something Camas wrote:
"Some
will say that hope lies in a nation, others in a man. I believe rather that it is awakened, revived, and nourished by
millions of solitary individuals whose deeds and works every day negate frontiers. As a result, there SHINES forth the
ever-threatened truth that each and every man, on the foundations of his own
sufferings and joys, builds for them all."
Every
single TOC cloud that we negate does just that. More and more, if we simply will share what we have learned with
others.
Editor's
Note: Where do you think would be the best place for us to share what we have
learned? Do you think the TACTics
Journal and its readers would benefit from your experiences? You bet!
Share with us. We know it takes
time, but please think about the GOAL!
CONNECTION
We
are all very concerned with the natural catastrophes around the world. Our TOC family is spread out all over the
world and when something happens we hold our breath and we wait. The following correspondence between Warren
Foster from the U.S. and Frances Su from Taiwan will ease some of our
fears. It is also an example of the
caring and thoughtfulness of our TOCFE family members.
Dear
Frances,
While
attending the TOCFE conference in Los Angeles, I remember your saying that you
lived South of Taipei. I hope the
recent news has not corrupted my memory, but I remember 90 miles south. That would place you near the epicenter of
the earthquake. If you'll reply with an
OK, I'll relax. But do not reply until
there is time. I am concerned but you
have really important things to attend to. Remember, do first things
first. A reply to me can wait.
I
HOPE THIS EMAIL FINDS YOU (& YOURS) WELL!!
Cordially,
Warren
R. Foster
Dear
Warren,
Thank
you for the email. First of all, my
family and I are fine. The center of
the earthquake is in the middle of Taiwan, in the scale of 7.6 or so. We are in Hsinchu, which is north of that,
we got about a scale of 5. We have
closed down schools for the rest of this week.
We were out of electricity for about 2 days; I have just got electricity
back and am anticipating being out of electricity again soon. Already the after
waves have been coming back a few times.
I
can only image the worst situation in other parts of Taiwan until I can see the
reports on TV.
Thank
you again, I am fine.
Frances
Thanks
for sharing this with us, Warren!
ELEMENTARY/SECONDARY
TACTICS
MIDDLE
SCHOOL ECONOMICS MEETS TACT!
By
Cheryl Baugh
I
had just completed teaching Session 1 of TACT, when a middle school teacher
approached me and said, "This is really interesting stuff but I still
don't see how I can use this in my teaching except for contrived
lessons." I am always careful to
end each TACT session with implications for the classroom teacher, so I was
very frustrated that my attempts had failed so miserably. I asked this teacher if she happened to have
one of her textbooks with her.
Fortunately she produced a book.
Unfortunately it was an economics book.
As I inwardly sent out a cry of distress, I opened the book looking for
a very specific way she could use the cloud in a lesson. Staring up at me from the pages of the book
was this: "Economic Decision Making: 'High Definition TV.' Followed by the question: "Should our
government support this kind of research with tax dollars?" I asked her what she thought the students
would do with this assignment and she said they would choose for or against and
tell their reasons. I pulled out a
sheet of paper and began the cloud. She
was bought in! She agreed that the
cloud gave the students a structure for thinking that would take them way
beyond any traditional activities.
Here's the lesson plan:
Economic
Decision Making
Materials: Social Studies Textbook: Fearon's Economics,
Revised Second Edition, pages 12, 13. Social
studies textbook, Fearon's Economics, Revised Second Edition, pages 12 and 13.
Objective: Students will participate in an interactive
discussion using the TOC Thinking Process the "Cloud" to understand a
specific conflict with regards to economic decision making.
Question: "Should our government support this
kind of research (High-definition TV) with tax dollars. What do you think?
Procedure:
In small teams, using the cloud, students will identify the conflict, the needs
behind the wants and a common goal.
Each team will then surface all assumptions for the wants/needs
connections. Using these assumptions
the teams will try to find one assumption they can invalidate with a new
solution to the conflict.
Evaluation: Using an overhead projector and proper communication strategies, each team will present their solution to the class.
Won't
you please share lessons you have created?
FLYING
PIG
Word
is out! Will Stentz, student at
Michigan State University, is in the process of scheduling his first TACT
class. WOW!!! Awesome! Congratulations,
Will.
QUOTES...
HERE
ARE A FEW INTERESTING AND THOUGHT PROVOKING QUOTES:
Words
of wisdom for the teacher:
"When
you make the finding yourself, even if you're the last person on Earth to see
the light, you'll never forget it."- Carl Sagan
Do
you agree? If so, what can we learn
from it that should impact our instructional methodologies?
"Assumptions
allow the best in life to pass you by." -John Sales
Hmmm…
interesting. What do you think?
And,
this one is just for us:
"You
must be the change you wish to see in the world."- Mahatma Ghandi
Are
we diligent about modeling the TOC way?
Send
your ideas, concerns and questions to:
HYPERLINK
mailto:Baughca@aol.com or bucknek@resa.com
Or
mail to:
Cheryl
Baugh
27731
Lathrup
Lathrup
Village, MI 48076 USA