A
Publication for and by TOC for Education Practitioners
February
25, 2000
NETWORKING
(1) The Never Ending Story… Part 2, by
Kathy Suerken
(2) An Answer to Kathy’s Question: Does Anyone Have
Background on Robert Swartz’s Model of Thinking?, from
Gila Glatter
(3) Take the Challenge: Discovering Diamonds!, from
Warren R. Foster
QUOTE
(4) Albert Einstein
CONNECTIONS
(5) TOC for Education International Conference
(6) Send Contributions
By
Kathy Suerken
The
Never Ending Story, Part 1 is available in TACTics Journal, February 19, 2000
or at: www.nwfl.net/suerken/toc/.
Summary of Part 1: Up to now,
two students, Jim and Cindy, who are classmates in a TOC Thinking and Communication
Skills class, have been discussing typical student problems. Chapter one continues:
"Do these problems ever bother you?”
Cindy asks Jim, pointing to a list in the TACT student workbook:
1) People don't listen to me.
2) People don't understand me.
3) I get blamed for things that aren't my fault.
4) People don't treat me fairly.
5) People don't let me solve my own problems.
"Yes,” Jim replies, "but I don't
think this class can fix problems like those."
"Why not?" Cindy asks.
"Because the people that are causing
those problems are the ones who need these workbooks, not me."
"You mean people like parents,
teachers and ex-girlfriends?" Cindy asks with just a trace of anger.
"Well, yes."
"Oh, it's their problem, not
yours?" Cindy doesn't wait for him
to reply before continuing. "That
makes it easy for you— you don't have to do anything about it except
complain. Does letting someone else
take control of the situation make you feel good about the way you solve your
problems?"
"No, I hate feeling powerless,"
Jim says.
"So why do you feel so
powerless?" Cindy continues to question Jim.
"Because people don't listen to
me. I don't seem to have a choice. If they don't get what they want, they just
get mad and then things get worse."
"Well, let me see if I understand
you. To start with, you want to feel
good about the way you solve your problems, right? Is that the goal here?”
Cindy asks, writing in a box: Feel good about the way I solve my
problems.
"I guess so," Jim says,
wondering when Cindy became such a good listener.
"And you're telling me that in order
for you to feel good about the way your problems are solved, you must not make
the situation worse? And in order not
to make the situation worse," she continues, “you must let others take
control of the situation? You must give
in to what the other side wants?”
"But that just isn't fair," Jim
says frowning.
"So, on the other hand, in order for
you to feel good about the way your problems are solved, they need to be solved
in a fair way? And in order for them to
be solved in a fair way, you must take control of the problem? In other words, you must insist on what you
want?" Cindy restates, connecting
some more boxes:
A: Feel
good about the way I solve problems
B: Not make the situation worse
D: Give
in to what the other side wants
C: Problem
solved in a fair way
D': Insist
on what I want
"No
wonder you feel frustrated!" Cindy acknowledges. "You are caught in a
never-ending conflict between insisting on what you want or giving the other
side what they want. Does it feel like
this?” she asks Jim, pointing to a page in the workbook that illustrates a tug
of war— people pulling so hard on opposite ends of a rope that it splits in
two.
To be continued...
(Comments
welcomed!)
From Gila
Glatter, Director, Israel
Dr Robert
Swartz was in Israel last month. I participated in a two-day session with him,
in Branko Wiess Institute for Development of Thinking, in Jerusalem. He is the head of The National Center for
Teaching Thinking. He works with
teachers on infusing critical and creative thinking into content
instruction. He created some model
skills through problem based learning, engaging in complex thinking tasks,
decision making and problem solving.
You can reach his books and some more knowledge about the NCTT
activities by
Phone: 617-965-4604,
Fax 617-965-4674
Email: rjscct@prodigy.net
Web page: http/www.javanet.com/~natlctt
Books: featuring
lesson designs for teaching thinking skills, and books of infusion lessons for
use in classrooms.
When I was
sitting there I was happy and proud about TOC tools. They are much more powerful and intelligent. See it for yourself.
Last
Thursday we had our 4th club meeting. Oded Cohen gave a special performance about TOC in business. I'll write more about the goodies we had
there during this week. I hope I gave
you a tiny help with your event.
(3) Take the Challenge: Discovering
Diamonds!
From
Warren R. Foster
In
our problem-solving efforts, what we are really doing is "Discovering
Diamonds". I say this for at least two reasons:
1. When we draw a cloud to state a problem,
graphically it sort of
looks
like the aerial view of a rowboat with the prow holding the
"objective" and the conflicting "wants" in the corners of
the stern. However, when we solve the
problem, one of the "wants" goes away and the stern of the rowboat
now looks like a prow. Graphically,
this shape with two prows looks like a diamond!
2. When we state that our problem-solving
efforts are really efforts
to
"Discover Diamonds,” we achieve a focus on the positive results of our
problem-solving efforts. I've now
stated two reasons why what we really do is "Discover Diamonds." How many reasons can you add?
This
quote seems appropriate for the “Discovering Diamonds Challenge.”
“Imagination
is more important than knowledge.” —Albert Einstein
Don’t
forget to mark your calendars for the 4th Annual TOC for Education
International Conference, which will be held in Monterrey, Mexico at
the Sheraton Ambassador Hotel on August 9-12, 2000!
(6) Send contributions
to your journal via hyperlink mail to: Kay Buckner-Seal at: bucknek@resa.net
or Cheryl Edwards at: redwards@sault.com.
Thanks to all who contribute!