WIZDOM
(1) Think
Big!, Kathy Suerken
NETWORKING
(2) The
Miracle Happened, Gila Glatter, Israel
CONNECTIONS
(3) International TOCFE Conference 2001, Kathy Suerken
(4) Updated
Ordering Information, Evalyn and Lyman Ellis, USA
EDITORS’
NOTE
(5) Kay
Buckner-Seal, Cheryl A. Edwards
(1) Think BIG!
By Kathy
Suerken
"Our
thoughts and imaginations are the only real limits to our possibilities."
—Orison Swett Marden
Have you
ever found yourself in front of a group of people you don't know for the purpose
of convincing them to participate in something that is really important to
you? Such as a group of people who are
gathered to learn: “What is TOC?”
How do we
even start to build credibility— not only for ourselves but also for our
subject matter? Do you agree that
people like to be associated with something that is successful…and BIG? We know also that the best way to transfer
ideas is not to tell others but to let them draw their own conclusions.
Recently,
Audrey Taylor and I discussed her action to meet those needs as she stood in
front of 20 educators and 6 children in Trinidad —a TACT class of people who
really did not know: “What is TOC?” As
she illustrated the worldwide impact of TOC For Education with a brightly
colored transparency of 13 national flags, Audrey noted the eyes of the
children just lit up! They widened with
awe. It was as if they were thinking,
“I can be part of something really BIG —connected to people around the
world!"
Since TOC
For Education was not yet organized in Trinidad, their flag was missing from
Audrey's transparency and the children and teachers wanted their flag up there
too! For those who were not at our
conference, maybe it's time for a little awesome update on our worldwide
impact. Get out your mental crayons! Here are the nations where we have
developing programs as of our conference, Aug 12, 2000:
Colombia
Israel
Malaysia
Mexico
Netherlands
Philippines
Republic of
South Africa
Russia
Singapore
Taiwan
United
Kingdom
United
States of America
Venezuela
And in the
last 30 days we have added:
Trinidad and
Tobago
Yugoslavia
Ecuador
I'd like to
share a letter I just received from Jorge Arias, a businessman from Ecuador who
so much believes in TOCFE, that he acted on his ambitious thoughts. The letter is written to YOU because you are
TOC For Education.
Dear Katty:
My wife and
me have to thank you to all of you, TOCFE family, for the opportunity of
learning more about the improving possibilities in our educational system. During the last two weeks we have learned
that all the effort investing for the two idealistic ladies, Alejandrina and
Marina, have been put in fertile soil.
They seed the hope in almost 75 people who attended TACT seminar in
Ecuador. We believe that in the near
future we will see the fruits of their time.
Originally
we had planned to hold 2 seminars (one in Quito and other in Cuenca), but due
to the extraordinary result of them, the principal from another high school in
Quito asked us for a third one.
Alejandrina accepted to delay her return to Monterrey. In Cuenca, Marina caused an extraordinary
movement in the public educational authorities that at the end, she was asked
for her commitment to come back early in 2001 to hold the "How to teach
seminar.” A local newspaper interviewed
her about TOCFE philosophy.
We firmly
believe that Ecuador will accept to implement TOCFE in all levels of
educational system. That's our
ambitious target. We have the
commitment for working in that way.
Again, thank you very much for your help.
Warm
regards,
Vero and
Jorge
Because of
ambitious targets like that one and ambitious actions by the people of TOCFE,
we have impacted over two million children in the last 5 years. With that number as a frame of reference,
keep in mind that TOC— the cloud, the NBr, and PrT (ambitious target tool), is
being written into the transition program for EVERY kindergarten student in
Malaysia for year 2001! Additionally,
it is being recommended for the national curriculum for preschool students.
Therefore,
the anticipated impact of the TOC tools to prepare children for life will
therefore double in 2001 to 4 million children… Exponential growth through the
results of one nation!
Khaw Choon
Ean's achievement in bringing TOCFE to Malaysia is phenomenal and you are part
of it because she is drawing from the global bank of ideas (applications,
shared work, even quotes!) that you have contributed. YOU are part of something big and TOCFE is big because of YOU.
(2) The
Miracle Happened
From Gila Glatter, Israel
Shalom my TOCFE friends,
Last week I had a very
interesting TACT course for 4 full days and I would like to share some
experiences we shared together through the learning. There were 20 of us, all academic teachers who are working in the
teachers' collages all over our small country.
We came from a variety of academic fields and diverse sectors. The number of men & women were equal and
I was very pleased about that.
We were working on 3 TOC
tools: the Cloud, the PrT and the NBr.
I was a bit scared, facing these very smart people, who are considered
the best in their field. Each one of
them has a lot to say about teaching and education. And indeed, as I assumed,
during my introduction to TOC philosophy, I was disturbed many times. Almost everyone had something smart to say
or argue about. I asked them to delay
their responses, but my pleas were neglected.
The time went very fast and I was worried about loosing the people,
but the miracle happened. All of a
sudden, I found myself lecturing in front of very interested and cooperative
people. The participants were listening
very carefully. The new way of
operating that I was offering to them for organizing information touched their
intelligence and made them curious to exam the tools to see if they would be
effective on the relevant issues with which they were dealing.
How to combine theory
with meaningful implementation in instruction was the most relevant issue for
all. Putting the polemic words and
thoughts into a cloud diagram, made the big problem as one clear, bright,
focused and understood issue. It was
amazing how they were interested to learn more; asking questions and not
letting me go for recess. Getting your
colleagues' attention, and appraisement, is a big deal in the academic milieu.
The next day most of the
people came up with their conflicts, sharing their reflection on the process
they had gone through. Someone said she
did not know if the tool is genius or just simple. We know that genius makes things simple... Working on content texts has shown almost
everyone, how we can make the textbooks relevant to our lives, examine the
solutions toward a win- win action, and invent better injections if
needed. We also worked on defining Ambitious
Targets that are relevant to our milieu like:
• "I build an interesting introduction
course in the university"
• “The student does not have discipline
problems through her/his lesson."
• "School is clean from drugs.”
• "I write a quality research paper
which is highly evaluated. "
• "I know how to build a good
lesson."
Now, I have a bank of
relevant targets that I can use in many classes.
We tried to build a
questionnaire for a research: checking the worth of using the PrT as a tool for
building a strategic plan, and comparing it to a group who works on a plan
without the PrT. The elements of the
questionnaire were not easy to come up with, but we have at least a start
up. We’ll see what will happen in the
coming days. By the end of the 4 days
we have the feeling that we're going to be keeping in touch, joining the
growing TOCFE family, breaking through the way for more leaders in education.
Take care,
Gila
(3) Ambitious Target: International
TOCFE Conference 2001
From Kathy
Suerken
Speaking of
ambitious targets, plans are already underway for next year's conference. We know TOC is about honestly looking at
obstacles that might prevent the target of a successful next
conference…Hmmm. The first one that
comes to my mind is the success of this year's conference… How to improve on
that!?
To do so, I
borrowed an idea from the TOC global bank!
It was contributed by Galina Doyla and shared at Conference 2000. Therefore, I am EXCITED to announce the 5th
International TOC For Education Conference and the 1st TOC for Education
International Children's Conference will be held concurrently in Detroit,
Michigan USA in summer 2001.
We have many obstacles to overcome in establishing the best date for
our event in order to ensure Eli's participation as well as high (local and
international) attendance and to coordinate that with venue availability etc.
You will know as soon as we have achieved all the IOs to the “most effective
date.” In the meantime, I wonder how
BIG we'll be by next year! It's up to
all of us!
(4) Updated
Ordering Information
Evalyn
and Lyman Ellis, USA
To order audio or
videotapes of The Fourth International TOC for Education Upgrade
Conference, request an order form from:
Phone or Fax:
909-866-8987 or 800-262-0429; ellisbigbear@earthlink.net
The order form for the tapes of the
conference is posted on the TOCFE web page under "What's New.” Readers are able to print it out and go from
there!
EDITORS’ NOTE
(5) Kay
Buckner-Seal, Cheryl A. Edwards
To all of our TOCFE
family, in next week’s TACTics look forward to reading more about: The
Malaysian Experience, by C. Ean Khaw from Malaysia and exploring Scientific
Thinking Study, Using the Theory of Constraints, by Dr. Rami Kallir and
Maya Kallir from Israel.
Do
you a have a special quote, a lesson design, a flying pig, or just a great
experience you would like to share? If
so, send hyperlink to:
<bucknek@resa.net>
or
<redwards@sault.com>.
Or,
you may send it by mail to:
Cheryl
A. Edwards
2253
S. Hill Island Road
Cedarville,
MI 49719 USA