NETWORKING
ELEMENTARY
TACTICS
(2) Cause
and Effect Tree: Pilgrims, Connie McClure
CONNECTIONS
(3) Report from the Philippines, Cora Santiago
(4) 2001: The 5th Annual TOCFE International Conference, Cheryl A. Edwards
QUOTE
(5) Peter Senge
EDITORS’
NOTES
By Eleanor May-Brenneker,
United Kingdom
“Don't be afraid to take
big steps,
you can't cross a chasm in
two small jumps.”
—David Lloyd George
Dear TACTers (sounds a bit
like “tractors,” machines that pull stuff out… in Educare: to “draw out”). In the thriving TOCFE.NL group some
reservations have been expressed quietly about underlying fears to organise and
teach a TACT course after due training, HTT.
The above quote seems appropriate.
I remember I harboured similar feelings when I was trained. One day I shared these with Eli who said,
puffing smoke from his pipe, “JUST DO IT!”
He wrote it on a napkin, which I treasure… It gave me the courage to accept that the teaching can't be perfect,
doesn't need to be perfect, as long as it's good enough. When we evaluate our actions afterwards and
give ourselves feedback and allow others to do so as well, only then will we
learn from our actions and possibly improve.
How can we improve if we don't allow ourselves to learn in the first
place?
Now, I would like to share
with you an example of the TACT Journal networking. A little while ago, I wrote about the positive branch used to
motivate students. A colleague from
Trinidad e-mailed me asking for an example, which she would like to use during
a motivation training course for teachers the next day! I responded promptly, which is rare, and
here follows the result:
"Thanks so much for
sharing with me. I used it today and
the teachers were quite excited and said they would try it with their students.
Thanks again, Carol."
Last Saturday I presented
no less than three workshops at a conference for adult dyslexics. My theme was “The Power of the Positive
Approach” and one part dealt with goal setting. Many people suffer from chronic action fatigue, the postponement
syndrome, called procrastination. They
see the goal looming up as big as an elephant, in a forest of obstacles. Talking about “not seeing the wood for the
trees”! And how do you eat something as
big as an elephant? Indeed, a bite at a
time… What better tool to use than an
Ambitious Target (AT)!
The delegates received a
sheet with space at the top, to specifically verbalise their goal. Below it were two columns, one for obstacles
and one for IOs or subgoals, to remove the obstacles that get in the way of
achieving the goal. We worked through
the procedure and the result was amazing:
Application of AT as a tool to combat procrastination.
At Utrecht University in
The Netherlands, we will be running TACT courses in January 2001, including a
HTT (How To Teach TOC) for previously trained TOC educators. Prior to qualifying for the HTT course, the
candidates will hand in a detailed sample from their own practice of an
application of each of the 5 session tools.
I've already received a few trees, branches and clouds and the scheme is
working well. They're also offered an
opportunity to cucumber on the basic TACT course. Thus they can limber up with a few practice jumps before they
leap over the chasm… (see above).
Take care and have fun
with or without TOC!
(2) Cause
and Effect Tree: Pilgrims
From
Connie McClure, Creative Learning Academy, Beaverton, Michigan, USA
Connie
McClure sent in the following lesson that was developed for the kindergarten
and first grade classes at her school.
Storyline:
Many
people that lived in England during the early 1600’s were forced to go to a
church that was not of their choice. Rather
than go to that church or chance being hanged, some chose to escape and travel
to a very far off land.
After studying this period in history the students
came up with this Cause and Effect Tree:
If
the Pilgrims didn’t go to the Church of England, then they would be hanged.
or
If
the pilgrims didn’t go to the Church of England and they escaped, then they
could be free.
If
they could be free, then they could get on a ship.
If they could get on a
ship, then they would sail away.
If
they would sail away, then they would go to a New World.
If
they would go to a New World, then they would meet the Native Americans.
If
they would meet the Native Americans, then the Native Americans would teach
them how to grow things.
If
the Native Americans would teach them how to grow things, then they would have
plenty of food.
If
they had plenty of food, then they would have a harvest feast.
If
they had a harvest feast, then they would invite the Native Americans and say
“Thank You.”
At
the end of this lesson one of the students told the class that: “If the king hadn’t told them they had to go
the Church of England, then they would have never come to America.”
Thanksgiving is a holiday celebrated in November in
the USA commemorating the first harvest of the Pilgrims in 1621.
CONNECTIONS
(3) Report from the Philippines
From
Cora Santiago, Director of TOCFE, Philippines
I recently received the following
inspirational report from Cora Santiago, Director of TOCFE, Philippines. In addition to her volunteer service with
TOCFE, Dr. Santiago is Regional Director, Department of Education, Culture and
Sports (DECS), Philippines. Cora also
serves as the chair of the UNESCO Research in the Philippines on Building
National Capacities for the Improvement of Basic Quality Education. —Kathy
Suerken
Dear Kathy,
Since the Philippine delegation arrived in the country from
Mexico, a core group headed by Lourdes Visaya, started the training of 280 key
officials of NCR in the Regional Learning Center of Metro Manila. The 42-hour live-in TOC training (per group
composed of 20 people) has been the source of inspiration and determination to
reach our goal of 2,000 people in the Philippines applying TOC skills by the
end of 2000.
The facilitators who conducted the live-in seminar for TOCFE lived
in the center for one and a half months, going home only on weekends. They are:
Mrs. LOURDES C. VISAYA - English Supervisor of Manila
Dr. NORA UY - Asst. Superintendent of Makati
Dr. NIMFA
TOLENTINO - High School
Principal
Dr. JOSIE SAN
JUAN -
English Supervisor
Mrs. ALICIA
ACOSTA - Dept. Head - Values Education
The 20 per group are composed of the assistant superintendent of
schools for instruction, division supervisors, principals and the demonstration
teachers. The 280 key people in every
division are expected to cascade TOC tools to their constituents to be used in
teaching good manners and right conduct in the elementary level and Values
Education in the secondary level.
By January, an exchange of visitations for demonstration on the
application of TOC tools in different work settings has been scheduled.
Nine key people in NCR, which includes the Asst. Regional
Director, have finished the course, applying TOC skills and reaping benefits
for the organization because:
- They
enhance efficiency and quality through the natural course of their work.
- Employees
share our mission statement and therefore are prepared to give extra time to
achieve our goals for a “nicer” NCR: N
for a sense of Now, I for Integrity, C for Commitment, E
for Excellence, R for Responsibility.
With all the negative news about the Philippines worldwide, I
somehow feel that we in TOC are doing our fair share in establishing an
empowered culture, evoking our young to be analytical in their thoughts,
creative in their search for solutions and critical of their behavior.
Regards,
Cora
(4) 2001: The 5th
Annual TOCFE International Conference
From Cheryl A. Edwards
Well,
here it is folks, late breaking news…
No, we don’t know who the president of the United States will be, but
what we do have is a TACTics exclusive!
A date has been established for the 5th Annual TOC for Education
International Conference, 2001, which will be held in the state of Michigan,
USA in the Metro-Detroit area. Mark
your calendars for the following dates:
Monday, June 25, 2001 - Thursday, June 28, 2001. Look to the TACTics Journal for more
information as it becomes available.
QUOTE
(5) “Of all the dominant institutions in
society, none is more completely a creature of the Industrial Age than the
modern school system. We stand today at
a crossroads: either we continue to try to revive the industrial age system of
education or we acknowledge the need to think anew.” —Peter
Senge
EDITORS’ NOTES
(6) Kay Buckner-Seal, Cheryl A.
Edwards
We give “thanks” to those who contributed to this
week’s TACTics. Wouldn’t it be nice to
share a “Flying Pig” in our TACTics Journal before the year is out? Send us your courageous utilizations,
successful applications, humorous connections, favorite quotes, worthy news,
and flying pigs. Send them by mail to Cheryl A. Edwards, 2253 S. Hill Island Rd., Cedarville, MI
49719, USA. Or, send hyperlink to
<redwards@sault.com> or <bucknek@resa.net.