TACTics

December 10, 1999

CONNECTIONS

News from the Holy Land
by Rami Goldratt
Last week we had our second TOC Club meeting with about 35 people in attendance. Let me remind you, that the club meeting is not open for the public and people come by invitation only. The meeting went great, Gila Glatter started by giving information on the TOCFED activities currently happening in Israel. Then a skillful teacher and education instructor, Mira Grinberg told us some fascinating case studies on how she is using the cloud in various situations. Let me share one with you:

As part of an education program Mira is implementing in one of the schools she works with, Mira gave a lesson, as an example, for a 5th grade class. This class is known as a very "tough" class, with pupils who are not so "polite". Mira intended to teach them what a cloud was, and to show the teacher that every pupil can relate to a cloud, as long as it deals with a relevant issue for him/her. So, she decided to use a story, and to build a cloud from it with the pupils. She picked a story from the curriculum, so the teacher would not feel that her time to teach the curriculum was wasted. The story was about the cricket and the ant: The cricket celebrated throughout the summer while the ant gathered food for the winter. When the winter came, the cricket did not have food. So, as last resort, it came to ask the ant for help.

At this stage Mira stopped and asked the pupils if they thought the ant might be in a dilemma (conflict). The pupils answered that the ant is in a conflict: D- to give food to the cricket, D' - not to give food to the cricket. Then Mira completed the cloud by asking the pupils for the needs and the common objective.

After the cloud was completed, Mira asked the children if they also had a cloud like that. Most of the pupils said, "Yes!!!" And as an example they said: Should I give Home Work (H.W.) to a friend who wants to copy it, or should I reject hes request?" It turned out that it was a major cloud for this class. Many pupils felt they are investing a lot of time and effort in preparing H.W. and in the end they give it to a friend to copy. This makes them frustrated (especially when the teacher is asking this friend to read the H.W. and he gets all the credit). After a meaningful discussion revolving around this cloud, Mira asked them to find Win-Win solution. They gave several suggestions. The lesson went great!

We know that because several days after, some pupils faced a similar dilemma. After the teacher told them to write the cloud, they solved it. The teacher was stunned. She was used to fights not discussions. This is just an example of a story we heard, the rest of the meeting was great also, I will share it next week.

Is it a Bird, a Plane? It's…

by Cheryl A. Edwards
Kathy Suerken has taken flight again! (She's something like Jonathan?) This time she is headed to the United Kingdom where she will be involved with several Upgrades. That's Kathy-always helping others to stay on their POOGI.

NETWORKING

An Idea Too Good Not to Share
from Bev Brown, Ashland, Ohio, bevbrown@bright.net
I thought I would share something that is working for me and might work for some of you. I feel it is very important to hold support meetings for graduates of TACT. I also felt I needed some incentive to get more graduates to attend. So, I arranged with Ashland University to offer one graduate hour of credit for TACT II. In the first three sessions we reviewed the tools, practiced using the tools, shared classroom uses for the tools, reviewed handouts from the conference, etc. During the next few sessions, we are working together on an ambitious target. The group chose the target: "Find time to do everything." Now, I know that is a flying pig and so do they, but we are still working on listing obstacles. At the next meeting, we will work on intermediate objectives. We left our obstacles on the "white" board in the teachers' workroom; we are hoping other teachers will add to our list. I will let you know more, later.

One additional side note - the teachers commented that as we practice the tools together and as they see more examples from the TOC network, they are actually using the tools more in class. Thanks to Gila's* "research paper" example, one special education teacher is going to have her students write a transition tree about how to research a mythology paper.

*Gila Glatter, TOC for Education Director, Israel

ELEMENTARY/SECONDARY TACTICS

A Call for Curriculum Examples!
By Denise Meyer
"What I really need from Tactics, is more examples for curriculum. Our teachers are so stressed out over standards and test scores, they are not listening to human relations kind of stuff."

Per your request, Denise, as well as the request of others:
Clouds: A Tool to Organize Thoughts
by Linda Trapnell, Nottingham, United Kingdom
We had the situation where a little boy was, to use a good old Nottinghamshire phrase, "sobbing his socks off". No one could understand why he was crying and he wasn't saying anything. Nothing calmed him down and he continued to whine for most of the rest of the day. When his Mum came to pick him up he finally whispered to her that he was upset because she forgot to wave to him. Mum said she'd been in a hurry to visit her sister who wasn't very well.

The following day I raised the story in a whole school assembly as if I was reading from a storybook. When we reached the end I raised the conflict:
D- I want Mum to wave to me
D'- Mum doesn't wave
B- I need to be happy
C- I need to see my sister (she's ill)
A- We need to be happy

We drew the very simplistic cloud and I asked for comments from the 160 4-7 year olds. A little voice immediately piped up, "I don't think he needs to be happy, I think he needs to know his mum loves him!" Out of the mouth of babes, I was amazed at the insight and immediately gave her a smiley face sticker! We then challenged the assumption that the only way you know your mum loves you is if she waves "goodbye" to you.
Comments were:
"She could kiss you."
"YUCK!"
"She could leave you a note in your lunchbox."
"You should know your mum loves you."

They also considered Mum's view and her worry that her sister was ill, but she could try to remember to wave if she knows how much it means to him.

This whole session took 10 minutes and the children had explored a topic that touched many a nerve. They are used to drawing clouds and accept it as the normal way of tackling a conflict/problem.

Not the most deep use of a cloud but very effective and one more step along the road to communicating.

Marcellus' Cloud
by Judy Holder, United Kingdom
Marcellus' Birthday Cake, by Lorraine Simeon (1992), London, MANTRA, ISBN 185269 286 3
Marcellus is almost six. On the morning of his birthday, he creeps down stairs to bake his own birthday cake. He doesn't quite remember the recipe and as soon as he has completely messed up the kitchen, he hears his mother's footsteps coming down the stairs…
The story is told in rhyme, and has lovely pictures, as well as a happy ending. Marcellus and his mother cleanup the kitchen, and Marcellus bakes the cake with his mother. They all eat it at his party. There is a recipe for the cake at the end of the book.

The story lends itself to at least three teaching activities: (1) Developing a simple cloud together:
Read the story to the point where Marcellus hears his mother coming downstairs. Draw from the children their knowledge that Marcellus already knows his mother is going to be angry. Develop the cloud together, using what the children say to guide the exact form.

What did Marcellus want? -> Bake on my own.
What did his mother want? -> Don't bake.
Why did Marcellus want that? What did he need? -> Show how grown up I am/show how well I can bake.

Why did his mother want that? What did she need? -> Clean kitchen/safe Marcellus

What did they both need? -> A happy birthday/ a good time together

Ask them to predict the ending: Do they think it will be happy? How will both Marcellus and his mother get what they need? If the wants are very clearly defined (as bake on my own /don't bake) it makes it easier to talk about how both Marcellus and his mother give up what they want, but still get what they need!

Injection: Marcellus bakes, but his mother provides help and of course they clean up together first.

Read to the end. The children will be pleased with themselves for getting it right!

Activities like this one fit quite neatly into the everyday teaching of the curriculum because you can hit: speaking, listening, story prediction, and story comprehension targets whilst still familiarizing children with cloud structures that you can use later to help them solve their everyday problems.

(2)Negative Branches: Marcellus tries to meet his need in the story without thinking through the consequences. His goal is to show his maturity and independence by baking on his own: he has not thought about what will happen next. Marcellus is sure he can remember nearly everything it says in the cookbook…

Stop the story just after Marcellus has gone down the stairs. Ask the children what will happen when Marcellus tries to bake… it will quickly become obvious that his good idea has some serious flaws!

It is worth noting that the young children I have met are not likely to consider that the solo baking actually poses quite a serious health and safety risk! This may well be worth pointing out to them.

Ask what Marcellus could have done to improve his idea of solo baking. They may well come up with ideas that you do not expect!

(3)Transition Trees The book comes complete with its own recipe. This will lend itself very nicely to making a simple transition tree!

QUOTES

from Denise Meyer, Long Beach, CA USA

"Most people in our society are afraid to rock the boat. But I am afraid if someone does not step forward and bring into being a new approach, a more courageous approach, a more disciplined approach, then there won't be a boat to rock."
-Rev. Bernice King

EDITORS' NOTES

Kay Buckner-Seal and Cheryl A. Edwards
Great stuff Rami, we look forward to hearing about the rest of the TOC Club meeting that you've shared with us in this week's TACTics!

Thanks, Linda Trapnell and Judy Holder. Those lessons are examples of tried and true applications of TACTs in the elementary classroom… absolutely invaluable!

Looking for gift ideas? Ask Santa for tickets (for your whole family, maybe) to Monterrey, Mexico for the 4th Annual International TOC for Education Upgrade Conference, August 9-12, 2000.

As always, your contributions are what make this TACTics Journal. Please consider sharing your thoughts, ideas and your curriculum examples. Thanks!

Send HYPERLINK to:
bucknek@resa.net
or
cherylaedwards@aol.com

Send mail to:
Cheryl A. Edwards
2253 S. Hill Island Road
Cedarville, MI 49719, USA

and/or

Kay Buckner-Seal
10230 Dartmouth
Oak Park, MI 48237, USA