TACTics Journal

A Publication for and by TOC for Education Practitioners

April 14, 2000

CONTENTS

            WIZDOM

                  (1)     Anne’s Cloud, Part II, Denise Meyer

                Elementary/Secondary TACTS     

                  (2)     Diary of a Newbie in TACT Block, Wong Siew Shan

                        (3)     Scenarios for Classroom Practice, Denise Meyer

            CONNECTIONS

                  (4)     4th Annual TOC for Education International Conference

            QUOTE

                  (5)     Margaret Mead

            EDITORS’ NOTE

                  (6)     Kay Buckner-Seal and Cheryl Edwards

WIZDOM

(1)      Anne’s Cloud, Part II

By Denise Meyer, Los Angeles, CA, USA

 

Editor’s Note:  We are publishing Anne’s Cloud, written by Denise Meyer in three parts.  In last week’s TACTics Anne’s was trying to find a way to handle a major conflict with her boss.  If you would like to read that episode in TACTics, 4/7/00, visit our website at:  www.nwfl.net/suerken/toc/

 

      As she sat there, she began to draw the “cloud,” the strategy for resolving a conflict that she was learning in the class.  She began with the "wants" boxes.  “Let’s see, she asked herself, “what do I want?  To go to my training.  What does he want?  For me to go to his stupid meeting.  I better not put stupid in the box?  Are those wants in conflict?  You bet!

      “Now to the ‘needs.’  What need am I trying to satisfy?  Why do I want that?  I want to meet a commitment to myself.  But more than that, he doesn’t seem to consider what I think or need at all.  It’s all about what he needs.  I want to feel that my ideas and opinions are valued.  She wrote, my ideas and opinions are valued in the top ‘needs’  box.  That wasn’t too hard.

      Now to the bottom side of the cloud.  What need is he trying to satisfy?  He just wants to control me.  He’s on a power trip.  She wrote ‘control me’ in the bottom ‘needs’ box.  No, I think there’s something wrong with that.  She remembered that both needs must be good.  As she thought about it she said to herself, I don’t think the need to control others is really a good need.  But what else could it be?  What does he really need?  What would he say if I asked him?  Probably that he needs his entire staff to hear what is important.  Probably that there are some issues I need to be aware of.  He probably needs to know where I am on that new reading assessment stuff and the cross-age tutoring program I’ve been working on.  I guess he just wants to have a successful meeting.  She wrote ‘successful meeting’ in his needs box.” 

      “Now for the common objective,” she thought.  “I’m so mad, I’m not sure we have anything in common right now.  Let’s see.  If I could have my opinions and ideas valued and can meet my commitment to myself, and he could have a successful meeting, what would we have together?  Hmmm… a good relationship!  Yeah, that’s it.”

     

Anne’s Cloud:

                                A:             A good relationship

B:             My ideas and opinions are valued!! and meet commitment to myself.

D:            Go to my training.

C:            Successful meeting.

                                D':            Go to my staff meeting.

 

      “Now, to check the logic,” she said to herself.  She proceeded to read it to herself the way she had been taught, “In order to have a good relationship, I must have my ideas and opinions valued and meet a commitment to myself.  And in order to have my ideas and opinions valued and meet a commitment to myself, I must go to my training.  However, in order to have a good relationship, he needs to have a successful meeting.  And in order to have that, he must have me go to his meeting.  And going to the training and going to his meeting can’t exist at the same time so they are definitely in conflict.”

      Anne was proud of herself.  It sounded good.  Now she needed to find some assumptions on each side.  First, in order to have her ideas valued and meet (the commitment to herself), she needed to go to her training because… She came up with two: (1) the training was crucial to her.  It was the only way to meet her commitment to herself and (2) learn something that was really important to her.  And meeting the commitment to herself meant she had to be there the whole time.  As she thought about the assumptions, she realized she was assuming that she couldn’t miss any part of the session.  Which led her to question that assumption.  She realized that the training usually started with a review.  Maybe she could miss the review and not miss any crucial stuff.  After all, the staff meetings weren’t usually more than two hours.  And if it started at 8:00 instead of 9:00, she could be back to the training without missing anything important. 

      She ran to see if she could talk to Mr. Alvarez but he was busy with a parent.  How long would that take!  She had to get home.  Karla, the office manager, was still there.  She asked Karla if she could ask Mr. Alvarez to start the staff meeting at 8:00 instead of 9:00.  And she left in a rush.

      Next morning, she arrived bright and early at 7:30 and asked Mr. Alvarez if they were beginning the meeting at 8:00. 

      “No!” he answered abruptly.  “We’re beginning at 9:00 as usual.”  He was seething.  And as his mood struck her, her thermostat raised considerably.

      What had she done wrong?  She had found the perfect way to break the cloud and it had failed.  What happened?  She thought about the process and remembered communication guidelines.  You do not come up with the solution;  you must let the other person come up with the solution.  “That’s it!” she thought.  “I’m the one who thought of the solution.  What do I do now?”  Anne was so upset and furious and no longer thinking straight that she did something she would never have done before.  Her hands shaking with emotion, she took the paper with the cloud on it to confront Mr. Alvarez. 

      “Mr. Alvarez, can I have a moment of your time?”  Next week’s TACTics will feature Part III:  Mr. Alvarez’s reaction!

ELEMENTARY/SECONDARY TACTS

(2)      Diary of a Newbie in TACT Block

Wong Siew Shan, Vice-Principal, Jing Shan Primary School, Singapore

 

Editor’s Note: As promised, we are publishing another entry of Wong Siew Shan’s powerful and most inspiring work.  Your thoughts are exquisite, Shan; thanks for allowing us to share them in Elementary/Secondary TACTics this week.

 

2.3.2000

      When I returned from my TACT Workshop at 12.30 PM today, I sa!!w a note on my table from my principal, who was away at a two-day course, requesting me to take his Math Enrichment class with the Primary 2 pupils.  The topic was on “Weight.”  I had barely 40 minutes to gather my thoughts about the lesson, grab the materials I needed for the lesson, and design an appropriate worksheet for the 1 hour session! 

      So, how do I engage the pupils and get them to think creatively in order to solve a problem mathematically?  Then an exciting idea came to me— the PrT lends itself perfectly to the activity that I wanted to close the session with. For the final activity for the session, I took out 3 empty boxes of different shapes and sizes.  I told the pupils that they must help me arrange the boxes in ascending order of their weights.  "How would you go about doing that?" I asked.  "What difficulties do you think you would encounter?"

      The first obstacle that a boy came up with was that there was no weighing machine.  "Well," I said, "I can't help you there.  But you could use this weighing balance here. Would it help?" 

      "Yes," all of them echoed.

      "Are there any more obstacles if you have a weighing scale?"  And together, the wonderful ones came up with the following PrT:

 

The Target of Our Activity:  We succeed in arranging the 3 boxes given, in ascending order of their weights.

 

Obstacles                                                                                   Intermediate Objectives

We don't have a weighing machine.                                Mrs. Wong provides us with a

                                                                                                weighing balance.

 

We don't know which is heavier:                                   Find out which is heavier:

      Box A or B.                                                                         Box A or B.

 

We don't know which is heavier:                                   Find out which is heavier:

      Box B or C..                                                                         Box B or C

 

We don't know which is heavier:.                                  Find out which is heavier,

      Box A or C.                                                                         Box A or C.

 

      After getting the pupils to do the above PrT, simple though it was with only 4 obstacles, we carried out the activity.  The kids arranged the boxes in order of their weights quite easily.  Then from under my table, I brought up a weighing machine and got the kids to measure the exact weights of the boxes. How they protested about my earlier “lie” that I did not have a weighing machine!  But they had the satisfaction of proving themselves correct in their earlier deductions.  What an invaluable boost to their confidence!  I may be wrong, but I sincerely believe that how well two children of equal Mathematical ability do in Math is directly proportionate to each individual’s level of confidence.

      My first attempt at using the PrT was an exhilarating experience, more so when I had so little time to actually plan a proper lesson. Never have I conducted a Math lesson, so unprepared, but paradoxically, with so much satisfaction about the outcomes.

      Still experiencing the 'high' of the satisfactory Math lesson, two boys were sent to me.  One of them was Alex, the boy who was sent to me for biting another friend on 28.2.2000 (You can read this entry in TACTics, 4/7 by visiting our website at: www.nwfl.net/suerken/toc/)  I moaned inwardly.  “I thought you handled him pretty well last week?  I thought you said the cloud was so effective,” an accusing voice jeered at me from within.  I refused to admit defeat so fast.

      I quickly discovered that although Alex ended up biting Jin Fei, the initial conflict that precipitated the act was different from the last one he experienced.  This time the conflict was the result of his jumping queue while playing at the playground.  I helped Jin Fei and Alex verbalise their wants, needs and objective.  They wrote them down on the template provided.  After the cloud was completed, I read it back to them. Jin Fei told me that he could have told Alex politely to go to the back of the queue next time, instead of pushing him.  To show Alex that queue jumping was not acceptable, the group could decide not to play with him.  Alex saw that by jumping queue, he was being unfair to his friends who followed the rule of the game.

      After Jin Fei and Alex had resolved their conflict, I allowed Jin Fei to return to class.  I held Alex back and asked him to do a Negative Branch for me on the cause and effect of queue jumping.  I also felt that we had to work on Alex’s habit of biting others when he was angry.  Maybe that was the only way he knew how to handle his anger.  Maybe he needed to think about other ways that he could handle his anger in future.  A cloud would be perfect for him to work through his way of handling anger to see if there were other options he could take.

(3)      Scenarios for Classroom Practice

By Denise Meyer, Los Angeles, CA. USA

 

Editor’s Note:  The following scenarios for classroom use, were published in last week’s TACTics, 4/7.  This week we are publishing possible clouds for each of them.  If you decide to use them in your classroom, send us a brief explanation on how they were used and/or share a few student samples.  We will gladly publish them in a future issue of TACTics.

 

Scenario 1—

Today the teacher plans on putting us in groups to work on a project.  He wants to put me in a group that I don’t want to work with.  Tony is in this group.  I don’t want to be in a group with him.  Why can’t we choose who we want to work with?

                A:     Have a good class

        B:      Choose the students I work with

        D:      Don’t work in a group with Tony

        C:      Students learn teaming skills

        D’:     Work in a group with Tony

Scenario 2—

I have a friend who has a very short temper.  Yesterday, when I was late and she had to wait for me for a few minutes, she got very upset.  She called me a name that I didn’t like at all.  I don’t want her to do that again.

            Possible cloud:

                A:     Be friends

        B:      Respect me

        D:      Don’t call me names

        C:      Let me know she is mad

        D’:     Call me names

 

Here are two more scenarios that you may want to use with your students. They could be used as springboards for identifying conflicts, constructing clouds, and/or surfacing needs and assumptions.  Try them, then share the results in a future issue of TACTics.  Send to:  bucknek@resa.net

 

Scenario 3—

I have a friend, he’s a guy but only a friend.  Yesterday he put his hand on me in a way that made me uncomfortable.  I want to tell him not to do that again.  I’m not sure what to say to him.  I don’t really want to lose his friendship but I also don’t want to be disrespected.

 

Scenario 4—

I got angry when Joe took my notebook without asking.  I ran after him and got it back.  A teacher saw me, but she only saw me running after him.  I got in trouble for chasing him around and bumping into someone.  The teacher wouldn’t listen to my explanation.

CONNECTIONS

(4)     4th Annual TOC for Education International Conference

Sheraton Ambassador Hotel

Monterrey, Mexico

August 9-12, 2000

Lodging: (*Room rates are based on single OR  double occupancy.)

Classic room—  $86(+tax)         For more than two people to a room, there is a $15.00 charge for each extra person.

Executive room—      $116(+tax)        For more than two people to a room there is a $25.00 charge for each extra person.

 

Reservations for conference rates must be made before July 25.  After this date, rooms will be released and on a space available basis.  Make  reservations directly with the hotel by identifying yourself as a member of TOC for Education.

           

            To make reservations from:

               Mexico — (direct to the hotel): 1.800.832.8400 

                       USA & Canada— (central reservation):  1.800.325.3535

           Nations outside of North America—(switchboard):        1.528.380.7000

 

(5)   QUOTE

“A clear understanding of a problem prefigures its lines of solution.”

—Margaret Mead

 

(6)   EDITORS’ NOTE

To our entire TOCFE Family, please continue to share so that we all may maintain our POOGI.  Have a pleasant week!

 

Send HYPERLINK to:

            bucknek@resa.net

            redwards@sault.com  NEW E-MAIL ADDRESS!

Send mail to:

            Cheryl A. Edwards

            2253 S. Hill Island Road

            Cedarville, MI 49719 USA