A
Publication for and by TOC for Education Practitioners
February
18, 2000
The Never Ending Story! By Kathy Suerken
I began the new year
with a commitment to provide a forum for dialogue on the use of the cloud to
resolve problems as they begin and before they involve the anger and hurt too
frequently associated with our connotation of conflict. Originally, I had intended, as this dialogue
progressed, to share the story I have written to accompany our 'newest' session
one. Now, I have something to share
which may be of more value. It is excerpts from the 'draft' of a workbook to
teach the cloud to middle school children— the product of several months’ work
by Cheryl Edwards and myself. Our
efforts have been inspired by the courageous work of Gila Glatter and Nava
Weiss along with that of Denise Meyers, Kelly Remedas-Weekes and Judy Holder.
Like them, Cheryl and I
tried to think of ourselves as teachers rather than authors. The result for us
is a simple story with integrated workbook questions which (we hope) build
comprehension— starting with the most difficult thing of all to comprehend: Whose
problem is it?
As TOC teachers from around the world, you will
see the need to make language usage culturally correct. And, it is only through you and your reality
with children can this work be checked and improved. After all, you are also part of this never ending story.
Jim walks into his Life
Skills class on the first day of the semester and immediately zooms in on the
empty seat next to his soccer friends.
He is just in time to hear Mike complaining about the stack of workbooks
on the teacher's desk. "I heard
this was supposed to be a fun class.
Look at all those workbooks. I
HATE workbooks!"
"Why don't I ask Cindy?" Jim suggests as he notices her
working behind the teacher's desk.
"Cindy had this class last semester and she's way cool. She'll tell it to me straight. Looks like she's a teacher's aide for Mrs.
Kean."
"Oh, you're worried about the TACT— Thinking and
Communication Tools workbooks?" Cindy smiles
knowingly. "They're not your
typical boring workbooks. They're more
like reading an interesting story where you are the main character and the
outcome of the story is determined by the way you solve real problems. You know...like when your girlfriend wants
to do things with her friends and you break up over it or when the guy sitting
next to you in class is bugging you and you end up getting in trouble instead
of him."
"Yeah,"
Jim agrees, "people are always doing things to me that I don't like. Like
blaming me for things that aren't my fault.
It's not fair. That's especially
true of girlfriends."
Tyler, who has been listening intently, chimes in, "Well, the
problem with girlfriends is that they don't understand you. They only see things from their point of
view. Come to think of it," he
says reflectively, "so do friends, teachers, parents...make that everyone
else?"
"And whenever I try to explain my point of view," Jim
says, "the situation just seems to get worse. All we do then is argue."
From
JoAnn Johnson, Bloomfield, MI USA
“For
a long time it had seemed to me that life was about to begin— real life. But there was always some obstacle in the
way, something to be gotten through first, some unfinished business, time still
to be served, a debt to be paid. Then
life would begin. At last it dawned on
me that these obstacles were my life. —Alfred Souza
As,
always your contributions are what make this Tactics Journal. Please continue to share so that we may all
maintain our POOGI. Thanks
Send
HYPERLINK to:
Bucknek@resa.net
Redwards@sault.com (Note new address)