TACTics Journal

A Publication for and by TOC for Education Practitioners

December 1, 2000

 

CONTENTS

CONNECTIONS

   (1)   Innovation Award: TOCFE in Malaysia, Kathy Suerken

SECONDARY TACTICS

    (2)       TOCFE Content Lesson: Fugitive Slave Laws, Jane Hudak/Cheryl A. Edwards

EDITORS’ NOTES

   (3)     Kay Buckner-Seal

 

CONNECTIONS

(1)      TOC FOR EDUCATION PROJECT RECEIVES INNOVATION AWARD IN MALAYSIA!

From Kathy Suerken

 

"Some will say that hope lies in a nation, others, in a man.  I believe that it is awakened, revived, nourished by millions of solitary individuals whose deeds and works every day negate frontiers…" —Albert Camus

 

Last July, Choon Ean Khaw (Ean) began to integrate TOC into a new Transition Program for all year one students (1.4 million) in Malaysia.  The first thing she did was to involve her team in the process of identifying the obstacles (what to change).  What are the results of the thoughtful actions to achieve the IOs?  Five months later, more than 6,000 educators at 6,000 primary schools have learned the cloud, the use of the Negative Branch with students, and the Ambitious Target (PrT) process!  And, on November 25, the team of Choon Ean Khaw, Haji Mat Jaafar, and. Aliza Abd Manan received the highly prestigious Innovation Award in Education.

 

The Innovation Award is an annual award for “Quality Day” held at the ministry and division level and is funded by the Malaysian Ministry of Education, which provides an annual allocation for this event.  The award is not easily earned as indicated by the fact that it was not awarded for the past two years due to lack of qualified submissions.  The submissions have to be done with a report and to identify what is innovative, the contenders are invited to make a presentation to a team of judges appointed by the divisions (all educators/academicians/professionals) where they are required to answer questions and demonstrate what is innovative.

 

Ean writes, "Jaafar was on leave when we were called, so I had to do the presentation.  There were so many questions!  I was 'grilled' for an hour.  I presented it on two aspects of innovation i.e. how we used Ambitious Targets in TOC to enable us to carry out the project in such a short space of time and the other aspect of innovation is using TOC in the programme that will enable such a dramatic change in learning environment and learning approach i.e. Cloud Day at Raja Muda Primary School plus pilot examples of kids doing ATs for classrooms and Negative Branches as approaches to setting foundations for thinking and communication skills."

 

Ean's series of articles to share her TOC journey, which began less than a year ago, continue next week in TACTics.  In the meantime, please give some thought to your TOC journey and how your work (your examples, your questions) has contributed to this success.  The case studies, applications, ideas (even quotes) used in the seminar by which Ean learned TOC came from YOU.  And the whole process of teaching and learning through TOC has been improved by those of you who had the courage to question…to raise reservations… to make others think.

 

The continuation of the quote above from Camus reads, “…As a result, there shines forth the truth that each and every man, builds for them all."

 

SECONDARY TACTICS

(2)     TOCFE Content Lesson: Fugitive Slave Laws

By Jane Hudak, Cheryl A. Edwards

 

Subject: Social Studies (History)

Audience:            Middle School (Grades 6-8)

Text:                       Michigan Adventures in Time and Place, page 164, “1847-Should Michiganians Have Obeyed the Fugitive Slave Law?,” Macmillan/McGraw-Hill

 

1847- Should Michiganians Have Obeyed the

Fugitive Slave Law?

Michigan abolitionists worked hard to help enslaved African Americans escape to freedom.  One famous fugitive family was the Crosswhites.  In 1844 Adam Crosswhite of Kentucky was able to escape with his family from a slave owner named Francis Giltner.  With the help of some abolitionists, the Crosswhites traveled along the Underground Railroad.  They settled in Marshall, Michigan, as free people.  However, many slave owners, like Giltner, knew that fugitive slaves settled throughout the North.  These owners often sent slave catchers to arrest former slaves.

The Crosswhites had lived safely in Marshall for three years.  But one day Giltner found out that the Crosswhites were living there.  He sent Francis Troutman to bring the Crosswhites back to Kentucky.  He did this because the United States Fugitive Slave Law stated that fugitive slaves could be arrested and taken back to their owners in the South.

When Troutman came to Marshall, the townspeople refused to let him arrest the Crosswhites.  The townspeople did not believe that the Fugitive Slave Law was fair.  Instead they helped the Crosswhites to escape to Canada.

 

Goals:

·         Use a TOC thinking tool to help students investigate the reasons behind specific historical actions.

·         Expose students to the TOC thinking tool: Evaporating Cloud

·         Develop the knowledge and abilities identified in the following Social Studies Standards from The Michigan Curriculum Framework:

Strand I. Historical Perspective

·         Standard I.1 Time and Chronology- All students will sequence chronologically the following eras of American History and key events within these eras in order to examine relationships and to explain cause and effect: The Meeting of Three Worlds (beginnings to 1620); Colonization and Settlement (1585-1763); Revolution and the New Nation (1754-1815); Expansion and Reform (1801-1861); and Civil War and Reconstruction (1850-1877); The Development of the Industrial United States (1870-1900); The Emergence of Modern America (1890-1930); The Great Depression and World War II (1929-1945); Post War United States (1945-1970); and Contemporary United States (1968-present). Students will understand that this event happened before the Civil War when there was no “North and South,” just the United States of America.  The law was a federal law and all citizens were expected to obey it.

·         Standard I.4 Judging Decisions from the Past- All students will evaluate key decisions made at critical turning points in history by assessing their implications and long-term consequences.

Strand VII. Citizen Involvement

·         Standard VII.1 Responsible Student Conduct-  All students will consider the effects of an individual's actions on other people, how one acts in accordance with the rule of law, and how one acts in a virtuous and ethically responsible way as a member of society.

 

Assessments:

·         Given a list of decisions from the past (already studied) students will select one, develop a cloud, and use it to evaluate the key decisions.

·         Students will conduct a mock trial: The Federal Government vs. the Marshall Townspeople”

 

TOCFE Procedure:

Obstacle:            Students are often not excited about learning history.

Need:          Students need to be able to relate to the people in this article.  They need to put themselves in the shoes of the people in the article.

Action:            I ask students to think of a time when they were asked to do something by an authority figure, that was against their beliefs.

Reason:            When students read about people, who have had the same problems as they do, they get involved and excited about learning.

Result:            Students are actively involved in the topic to be read about.

 

Obstacle:            Students are all reading at different levels and slower readers often do not complete the text or comprehend content.

Need:  All students need to be able to understand the content of the article.

Action:            I ask the students to read along as I read page 164 aloud stopping for discussions.

Reason:            Asking students to read along requires their cooperation.  Reading it myself ensures that students will not have difficulty with print.  I can explain anything that comes up that might be confusing or that I want to emphasize.

Result:        Students will have enough knowledge of the story line to be able to participate in defining the problem the TOC way.

 

Obstacle:            Students are not going to sit still for a step by step teaching of the Evaporating Cloud.

Need:        Students need to learn the cloud through an authentic application of the tool.

Action:        I guide the students through defining the problem by using the cloud.  I say, “I want you to decide if the townspeople made a good decision or if there was a better way of solving the problem.  First, I think we need to define the problem very carefully.  Who can tell me what the problem was? Should the townspeople obey the Fugitive Slave law and allowed the slave catchers to take the Crosswhites back or should the townspeople not obey the law.”

1.    I write on the board in proper cloud format: Townspeople obey the Fugitive Slave Law/Townspeople do not obey Fugitive Slave Law.  I ask, “Is this in conflict?  Can they do both things at the same time?”

2.   I point to D and ask, “Why do you think the townspeople wanted to obey the law?  Why was it important for them to do that?”  After some discussion I write the best response in the proper place for the B (Need).  I repeat the process for D’/C and continue to build the cloud.

3.   I ask them what the townspeople would hope to gain by solving this problem.  Then I fill in box A: The goal/objective.  It may look something like the following:

A:        (In order to have)Freedom for All

B:        Everyone must obey the laws passed by our government

D:        Michigan townspeople must obey the Fugitive Slave Law

C:        Slaves must be given freedom or no one can be slaves

D’:        Michigan townspeople should not obey the Fugitive Slave Law

4.       Getting to the assumptions: I read the cloud as it should be read from left to right and after I finish reading the B-D connection I ask ‘why’… “Why must the townspeople obey the Fugitive slave law in order to have everyone obey the laws?”  And I write all of the assumptions down after the word because:  Examples: Because… the Fugitive Slave Law is in the best interest of all; we just can’t choose which laws we will obey; all laws are made in the best interest of everyone; anarchy would rule If we only obeyed the laws we liked; in order for all to have freedom all must agree to follow all laws; laws are made for preserving freedom.

5.       I read the C/D’ Connection and ask the same questions, and write down the assumption.  Examples: Because… freedom depends on people doing the right thing; slaves (and ex-slaves) are part of ”and freedom for all”; there is no other way to reject the law without disobeying it; the law infringed on the freedom of the slaves.

6.       I then ask them if there are any assumptions on either side that they can find fault with.  If they suggest one I would ask them how they would change it to make it right, and that leads to a solution.  For example, I took assumptions: There is no other way to reject the law without disobeying it and thought there might be a way to legally reject the law.  Maybe keep the Crosswhites at home (house arrest) while they petition the government to change the law.  Keep in mind, there are many solutions.  There are many assumptions that are invalid that can be used to create a new solution.  List all of the possible solutions.  Have the students vote on the solution that would be win/win for both sides of the issue.

 

Obstacle:            I still don’t know what the students thought of the procedure

Need:        Students must be given time to debrief on the procedure and they must feel comfortable in doing so.

Action:            I explain that I really want to know what they think about thinking through problems/conflicts in this way and I ask them please to be frank with me.

Reason:            I appeal to their sense of pride when I tell them I really value their judgements and I also thank them. 

Result: I have quotes from students about the thinking process and am therefore armed with what I need to change in future lessons.

 

Extension Activities:  Building on the Social Studies Standards:

·         Homework:

Strand II. Geographic Perspective

·         Standard II.3 Location, Movement, and Connections- All students will describe, compare, and explain the locations and characteristics of economic activities, trade, political activities, migration, information flow, and the interrelationships among them.

·         Draw a map from Kentucky, to Michigan, to Canada or of the Underground Railroad.

Strand VI. Public Discourse and Decision Making

·         Standard VI.3 Persuasive Writing- All students will compose coherent written essays that express a position on a public issue and justify the position with reasoned arguments.

·         Write journal entries of a child in a family that is afraid they will be arrested for disobeying the law.

·         Write a persuasive letter expressing the family’s position to officials of the law.

 

EDITOR’S NOTES

(3)        Kay Buckner-Seal

 

First and foremost, congratulations to the Malaysian team for such an esteemed honor in the name of TOC for Education!  Your efforts are truly making this world a better place. 

Thank you, Jane and Cheryl, for the sharing your history lesson.  It is a not only a model of the effective integration of TACT skills, but it has been correlated to social studies standards from the Michigan Curriculum Framework.  To those in the TOCFE family who are not familiar with this document, the Michigan Curriculum Framework is a resource for helping Michigan's public and private schools design, implement, and assess their core content area curricula.  The content standards provide descriptions of what students should know and be able to do in the subject areas of English language arts, social studies, mathematics and science.  Each content standard has accompanying draft benchmarks.  Benchmarks help to clarify the content standard and provide indicators of student expectations at various developmental levels including elementary, middle, and high school.  The Michigan Curriculum Framework is available at http:// cdp.mde.state.mi.us/MCF/. 

We certainly benefit when someone shares.  Remember to send your contributions to Cheryl A. Edwards, 2253 S. Hill Island Rd., Cedarville, MI 49719, USA.  Or, send hyperlink to <redwards@sault.com> or <bucknek@resa.net.