TACTics Journal

September 10, 1999

Editors' Note

It's good to hear that the Detroit Public Schools has tentatively settled their conflict.  Imagine the effect if

the negotiating teams used the TOCFE experts within the district to facilitate the solution -talk about a pig

taking flight! 

 

Remember, you can view and make excellent copies of the TACTics Journal in newsletter format by visiting the TOCFE website at: www.nwfl.net/suerken/toc/

 

Send all correspondence by hyperlink to: 

baughca@aol.com

AND

bucknek@resa.net

 

Mail correspondence to:

Cheryl Baugh

27731 Lathrup Blvd.

Lathrup Village, MI 48076 USA

 

We hope your school year is off to a great start!

POOGI Pool

The Rami Quiz

Because of the length of this week's TACTics, everyone will have another week to ponder the solution.

 

Rami Quiz # 4― Can we expose assumptions underlying the connection from the cloud B-D, by completing the sentence: "If D' exists, then B does not exist, because..."?

 

Try it!  Send in your answers, questions and thoughts.

Quotes...from Denise Meyer

This is one of my favorite quotes, which may be particularly meaningful for those of you who have had an opportunity to read The Jumping Mouse.   And, of course, we know that preparing just means that you must write that PRT. 

 

"Whether or not you reach your goals in life depends entirely on how well you prepare for them and how badly you want them. You're eagles!  Stretch your wings and fly to the sky."

Ronald McNair 

Wizdom

In last week's TACTics, Kathy mentioned the article she wrote in the Tuesday Report about her visit to James' classroom in Bogotá, Columbia.  We thought it might be beneficial to revisit it.  Through her observation, she provides key features of best practices in an interactive classroom as well as a step-by-step account of how to introduce the evaporating cloud. 

 

From the Tuesday Report, December 1, 1998

 

"We all know how difficult it is to do something the first time.  We can come up with a litany of reasons why not to start.  Even in the case of teaching the cloud the first time―whether it's to adults or children."

"Tell me how to get started?" I hear from teachers.

 

Recently, while in Colombia, I included a teaching practicum day between session 2 and 3.  Not only did I ask my TACT students to try a new idea in front of me, they had to do so during special shortened classes sandwiched in between exams.  Nevertheless, they all had highly successful experiences and as I watched students in kindergarten, 1st, 4th, 9th, 10 and 11th grade begin to learn the cloud, I realized I was also learning ideas that needed to be shared.

 

The cause and effect in one lesson given by James was so noteworthy, I began to write it down.  That evening I converted my notes into a transition tree.  What follows is a very accurate narrative version of how James got started and why it was so successful.

 

By way of background, James teaches English at a private Bilingual school in Bogotá.  The class he chose, as his "lab" was small―about 15 students (by contrast there were about 30 children in the kindergarten "cloud lab.") James introduced me to his class as the reason he had been absent from class the previous two days.  He had been attending my problem-solving workshop and now I was there to watch him teach what he had learned.

 

The first obstacle to overcome in almost every class is the preoccupation of students with other things.  Often we are distracted by conflict so James leveraged this constraint by using it to focus the student's attention: "Can you think of any conflict―any problems―you might be having with someone else, such as your family, your friends, even your teachers?" he asked rhetorically.

 

James used his excellent intuition about his student's vocabulary skills and the kinds of problems he has heard them verbalize as he called for a precise definition of a conflict, which was already at least partially framed by his opening remarks.  Throughout this lesson, James exemplified excellent Socratic questioning techniques.

 

Just exactly what are those, you and I ask of each other?  Here are some of my observations: He linked his questions with his perception of their state of readiness in the subject matter.  If he thought something was missing, he provided the missing information and logically―causally built from one thought to another, weaving the knowledge with question and answer into cause and effect.  We call it scaffolding in pedagogical circles.

 

James seemed to ask his questions with an insight of whether they were ready to answer them and focused his questions to guide them to the effects (answers) he needed.  If his first questions didn't work, he provided a little more background information through an example or story or even a more focused question.  He asked them why instead of just what and also allowed some "wait" time to allow students to think before speaking.  We know that allowing time for students to come up with thoughtful answers is more likely to ensure that you've involved most of the class (instead of just the ones who are always on the ready to jump with an answer).  Wait time is also more likely to lead to focused answers.

 

Such as the one he received: "A conflict is a problem when two people want different things and you start to argue about it."  He took some elaborations of that answer and then asked what types of conflicts can exist.  Students said, "You can have conflicts with others."  Another student noted, "Or sometimes the conflict is within inside you."  Kids are so insightful!

 

James later told me that he picked his best class to practice on.  I would define best as most receptive―in a state of readiness.  Once you get teenagers openly taking about conflicts, however, you have triggered not only their interest but their emotions.  So, you have their attention right along with an obstacle: your lesson's objectives can get buried under the examples that come to mind(s)―often shared in copious detail.  James very carefully guided them to think of just one such example that was with another person and prevented a huge potential NBr for himself by setting specific parameters, which excluded conflicts with other teachers.  The last thing a teacher needs is for it to get around that s/he facilitates complaints on hes colleagues.  Additionally, he advised the students not to raise a situation, which would be personally embarrassing if it were shared in class.

 

While this narrative includes a lot of explanation, the actual time, which had elapsed in class by now was maybe 5 minutes so the definition was still clear in their minds along with an example based on the definition.  In order to ensure everyone was in a state of readiness to go forward, James checked for understanding by calling for a couple of oral examples from the students.  This was also a check for himself―to ensure that he would have a good case study to use as a class exercise.

 

Now that they were ready to write a story line, he gave them clear instructions.  Repeating the definition upon which the class had agreed, he called for no more than 3 or 4 sentences to define such a conflict.  Limiting the story line to a few sentences focused on the wants providing some assurance that they would not begin to overanalyze the problem in their narratives.  The results were that as they shared a few story lines, he had some nice (and simply stated) examples of clear-cut conflicts.

 

Since he wanted to teach the process through a specific situation, he needed to come up with an appropriate class exercise.  I was surprised to hear him ask the students to pick one that had been shared―thinking this could have led to time-consuming debate.  This procedure was used in all the classes I observed however―even the 5 year-olds―and did not lead to my supposition.

 

James said later that he was not surprised at their choice because the student is a class leader and her story line was so relevant.  Martha's problem was that her brother does not wear his motorcycle helmet.  On the corner of the chalkboard James wrote, "motorcycle problem."  The class asked him to write, "helmet problem" instead.  Making the correction, James then drew a line down the center of the board and asked his students to do likewise on their paper―with  "my side" and the "other side" written in appropriate places.  He then asked the students― on their own― to think of and write the wants in boxes D and D'. Because it was so clear in their minds to write the problem as a difference in wants, every student easily wrote: Martha wants her brother to wear his motor cycle helmet/ he doesn't want to wear it.  Getting the kids quickly involved in a kinesthetic experience is also good teaching methodology.

 

At this point, James' presentation really became profound because he got these 11th grade students very clearly and succinctly to agree on the generic core problem in resolving conflicts. "What is our usual way of handling this conflict?" he asked.  "Someone makes him," came the answer.  "Ah, yes," James commented, "he loses and you win."  Everyone in the class nodded as he wrote on the board: win/lose. "Are there any other ways we traditionally solve conflicts?" he continued to probe.  "Well, you could compromise," came the response from students who are not only old enough to have experience with this reality but are also able to frame this reality with vocabulary.  James checked to make sure everyone in the class understands the specific usage of the word as compromise in Spanish has different connotations.

 

He then continued with an example, which evoked laughter:  "Yes, he could wear half a helmet."  "Or he could wear it sometimes, and not others."  He then discussed another situation in which people compromise to ensure the point is driven home.  "But is this solution satisfying to either Martha or her brother?  All the students shook their heads as one student verbalized their cumulative evaluation: "No, nobody is happy."  "Yes, in such a case we have done the seemingly intellectually correct thing and everyone is equally unhappy!" James added in humorous conclusion.

 

Within a very short period of time, he had enabled his class to verbalize the essence of the CCrT we teach in session 1 of TACT―that people's tendency to compromise often leads to lose/lose and thus prevents us from solving problems.

 

"So do you agree we need a better technique?" James cheerfully asked. "I've been learning a process which we call a cloud where we try to resolve conflicts by thinking through what needs we are trying to achieve.  Writing the word 'need? to the left of the 'wants', he continued his scaffolding process with some more knowledge.  "Let's think about the difference between wants and needs, "I need to eat. I want a pizza."

 

Because he had given them such a clear, relevant (and almost visual) example and because they had already written clearly worded opposite wants, it was easy for them to think of needs.  (As a relevant aside, I have been using the phrase suggested by Lisa Sheinkopf: "What are we trying to achieve through D or D' " to help people verbalize needs)

 

Almost everyone said, "keep her brother safe" for B.  Although class exercises always raise different perceptions of B and C, nevertheless I was fascinated by the thoughtful challenging statement of Maria who voiced "I do not feel my brother's safety is my responsibility."

 

Once again James turned the negative into a positive by asking, " who is the person most qualified to fill in B?  The logical answer easily came to mind: "The person who owns the problem.  Otherwise you're assuming things that might not be accurate!"  The students liked the idea that clouds should be personalized.  They were just filling in C with "her brother needs to be comfortable/her brother needs to look cool" as I had to leave to visit another class.

 

Although James was disappointed that he had not gotten to the assumptions in his 30 minute lesson, I was amazed at how easily and effectively he had gotten started and had prepared the logical framework to move into assumptions and to separate needs from wants by eating steak instead of pizza!  The students really liked the idea. 

 

Interested in seeing the actual TrT?  If we get enough requests we will put Kathy's TrT in TACTics.  Send us an e-mail to let us know!