In this week’s issue:
(1) TOC in Curriculum Content: Social Studies, Galina Dolya / David Higgins
(3) The 6th Annual TOC for Education International Conference
Quote
(4) Ernest Hemmingway
Editor’s
Notes
(5) Cheryl A. Edwards
ELEMENTARY/SECONDARY TACTICS
Civics/Government
Galina
Dolya, Master Teacher: Director, Preschool
David
Higgins, Head Teacher and International Consultant
Moscow,
Russia
Groups
of high school students from different regions of Russia were participating in
a Eureka Conference at Avante Guarde University. In a workshop, which was a follow-up from a previous conference,
the students were tasked with designing a democratic school. Although the subject matter generated a lot
of brainstorming and debate, that approach was clearly not taking the students
to a finished product. They seemed to
have no sense of direction or focus.
We
were asked to assist in guiding the students to complete the assigned
task. In so doing, we used the TOC
process tool to achieve an Ambitious Target—in this case, a “democratic
school.”
In
TOC, we don’t start with solutions.
First, we make sure that we agree on and really understand the problem
we are trying to solve. Therefore, we
posed a question to the students to focus their thinking and to clarify the
problem: “What problems—obstacles—will
you encounter if you try to implement democracy at school?” We divided the students into two groups,
each of which developed a list of obstacles to the target.
Next,
we asked them to think of what would overcome each of the identified
obstacles. The “Intermediate
Objectives” were then listed next to the obstacles as “solutions.”
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Intermediate Objective |
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The students then sequenced this list of
Intermediate Objectives to give them a “map” of steps. They were to take this plan back to their
schools to develop a constitution.
What’s noteworthy is the effect of the TOC
process to enable them to work with such focus, collaboration and organized
results. Therefore, they were able to
complete their “ strategic” plans within 2 hours. Teachers attending other workshops stopped by to see the students
work and became so engrossed in the process we were using that many of them
stayed in our session as observers.
We were especially pleased to receive the
following letter from the Ministry of Education:
To whom it may concern:
At a recent Eureka Avant Garde
conference held in Moscow during April, over 300 teachers and 50 advanced
students had the opportunity to learn about TACT. Galina Dolya and David Higgins did a presentation workshop to the
teachers and worked with the students using the materials.
Many teachers from all parts of the Russia
Federation were so impressed with the programme and with the work that the
students produced that they wish for the opportunity to train to use the
materials.
The minister of Education was present at
the conference and wishes to support the introduction of the programme into the
regions. It encourages the regions to
bring the training to their cities and has asked Eureka to act as an agent in
this request.
Minister of Education,
V. Filippov
CONNECTIONS
(2) Khaw Choon Ean Makes Organizational Impact
From Kathy Suerken
One
of the new accelerated learning modules taught at the Detroit conference was
designed by Khaw Choon Ean of Malaysia to "Guide Students to Become
Responsible Decision-Makers and to Better Understand Academic Content by Using
the Tools of TOC." It is very uplifting
to witness how much the TOCFE network values each other's work and collaborates
to develop and disseminate it. Thanks
to this wonderful network, Ean's teaching materials are having a far reaching
impact.
Francois Moll of South Africa used them recently to teach a seminar to University students and writes:
“I based the seminar on Ean's
materials and this turned out to be a wise choice- especially due to the
amazing cross-cultural connection in the material. The seminar was highly successful and I am now starting
negotiations with the university for next year."
I also just received word from Francis and Rafael Conde that Ean's training materials have been translated to Spanish! They write:
"We send you a copy,
Kathy, because it is part of the huge TOCFE building. This translation is a plausible effort by Javier Arevalo, our
partnership in Piensalo Venezuela, to whom we thank the great job.”
We appreciate this knowledge and we are going to use it from the next week ahead on our teachers and kids. Olga Lucia Gonzalez and Luz Marina Schotborg in Colombia have been a given copy too.
Thanks to Ean for this
marvelous document which she kindly shared with her colleagues in the last
TOCFE meeting in Detroit."
And my thanks to ALL OF YOU who have made possible the
dissemination of her work. The Spanish
edition of Ean's materials is now a part of our impressive TOCFE library.
(3) The 6th
Annual TOC for Education International Conference
University of Nottingham
Nottingham, United Kingdom
July 8-11, 2002
See TACTics, October 12, 2001 for details at www.tocforeducation.com.
(4) “Never
mistake motion for action.” —Ernest Hemingway (1899-1961)
(5) Cheryl
A. Edwards
You can enjoy reading about other teaching experiences using the TOC tools from international TOCFE practitioners in the Anthology of TOC for Education Case Studies, compiled by Kathy Suerken.
Won’t you agree that we
all benefit from reading about the experiences of others? We encourage you to send in your experiences
using the TOC tools to TACTics. Let us
all learn from each other. Send your
responses, applications of the thinking processes, lessons, announcements, and
etc. by mail to: Cheryl A. Edwards, 2253 S. Hill Island Rd., Cedarville, Michigan 49719,
USA. Or send hyperlink to: redwards@sault.com, or bucknek@earthlink.net.
To view TACTics in its intended
formatting, visit our website at
www.tocforeducation.com and click on “What’s New.”