TACTics Journal

A Publication for and by TOC for Education Practitioners

March 2, 2001

CONTENTS

Networking

(1)The Malaysian Experience 3,Part 2:Using the Tools for Planning, Khaw Choon Ean

Editors’ Notes

(2)Kay Buckner-Seal, Cheryl A. Edwards

Connections

(3)5th Annual TOCFE International Conference/First Annual TOCFE International Student’s Conference, Cheryl A. Edwards

NETWORKING

(1 )The Malaysian Experience 3,Part 2:Using the Tools for

Planning

By Khaw Choon Ean,Malaysia

“First we have to believe, then we believe.”

—G.H.Lichtenberg (1742-1799) German Physicist

 

If you believe in what the tools are capable of, finding out how to use them is a breeze and comes naturally.  Considering that I had had some blind hits before this TACT course, venturing now into using the tools to design a curricular program needed less courage and more invention as I was now going to apply knowledge to practice. 

 

I shall explain how we applied the Ambitious Target (AT) tool to help us create an interesting and productive workshop for the Transition Program. 

 

After using the AT tool on my own to anticipate what we would need to deal with at the workshop, I did a quickie session with Jaafar who was the desk officer of the project.  I had to explain the tool to him and as we hashed over how to activate the group to productive discussion and curriculum product, an idea developed.  It also meant that I had to slot in a quick TOC session to fine tune our workshop experts who were going to use the AT tool at the workshop.

 

Necessity is the mother of invention.  I remembered these words my own teacher once told me when I was in school.  Cliché or not, it proved true.  After studying our workshop schedule, it was apparent that I could only get a 2-hour slot on the evening of the first day of the workshop, unofficially dubbed “Input Day.” On that day, we stuff our participants with child psychology theories, information on childhood development, and experiences shared by preschool operators and primary school teachers who taught Year One (planned from an identified obstacle in planning the workshop: participants come with different background knowledge)!

 

Out of desperation, I skimmed the materials I had acquired over the 5-day course to elicit all the vital information on TOC and the tools.  My session had to be like a miniskirt, I thought, long enough to cover everything, short enough to be interesting.  I knew I had a challenging task ahead, which I relished to accomplish.  Unknown to me then, this was the germination of what in the future became the nucleus of our teacher ’s package in the Transition Program.

 

So I had set myself 2 personal tasks.  Time was not on my side.  My TACT course ended on Friday.  Our next workshop was starting on Monday morning with input sessions so that participants could start with as much similar background knowledge as possible.  My 2-hour slot was Monday evening (8 p.m. to 10 p.m.) and the workshop proper was to start early Tuesday morning, working through Wednesday.  We had to wrap up by Thursday noon with as much accomplished as possible that was to be shared on Thursday morning itself.

 

My first task was to prepare for the 2-hour presentation slot.  I started from scratch as the task was not just choosing what was necessary and sufficient and good enough, but also to prepare transparencies for projection and to translate as much as I could into the Malay language.  So hurrah for technology!  My trusty notebook that was like a right hand to me did not let me down.

 

My second task was to create an example how the AT tool could be used to design a curricular program module.  This one was really exciting and kind of do or die!  I was breaking new ground here on both counts and I think one really needs a firm belief in the workability of the tools themselves to do this.

 

Using the Ambitious Target Tool to Design A Curricular Program

 

Our Mission

 

The Transition Program was planned as a curricular program that would be implemented in all primary schools (more than 7000) in January 2001 for all Year One students.  Our job was to come up with comprehensive curricular materials in the form of modules that could be used by these schools to prepare for these students so that they could make a smooth transition from informal preschool or home learning to a formal school environment.  These materials had to be a user-friendly and useful a guide to all the important aspects for a successful transition.

 

1.      Identifying the areas of concern of the program by looking at obstacles to the main goal (A Successful Transition Program)

 

As the coordinating team for the project, we had earlier used the AT tool to work out the obstacles in achieving the goal of A Successful Transition Program.  This helped us identify the areas we needed to address in planning the program.  We had explored the obstacles before confronting our workshop participants.  We discovered that we had to deal with the following obstacles:

 

From those obstacles, our intermediate objectives helped us identify that we needed to build the following areas of concern, to start with.

a)Teacher Preparation

b)Creating A Conducive Environment

c)Role of School Administration

d)A Parent ’s Module

e)Preparation for Preschool Teachers

f)Preparation for Preschoolers

g)Planning Experiences for Year One Children

 

This step enabled us as workshop coordinators to decide how we would group our participants to work on modular material that could be used as an operational guide for schools.  It also meant that we would be ready to handle our participants productively.

 

2.Module writing using the AT tool

 

Workshop time was limited.  The big challenge here was to get a simple yet effective technique to get people to focus on the important and the relevant issues and steps.  From experience we knew that it was easy to be distracted and much time was often wasted on exploring without direction. 

 

The idea to use the AT tool for creating modular material came as a brainwave while looking at how it could help save time.  Once I had worked it out and discussed it with my colleague, Jaafar, I sat down to creating a sample.

 

First, the goal was A Successful Transition Program.  The obstacles and IOs were planned to be carried out as an Ambitious Target together with all the workshop participants.  These IOs would become our program’s areas of concern.  The IOs would be meted out as separate goals for each group, who would then use the AT tool within their groups to build their module.

 

This is a graphical explanation of the design.

 

STAGE 1

Setting the main goal to identify areas of concern for program

 

Goal: A Successful Transition Program

 

Example:

 

 

STAGE 2

This stage is for developing the areas of concern in the program into modules that were practical and took care of all the important issues.

 

Goal: Successful Teacher Preparation For Transition Program

 

Example:

 

STAGE 3

An Exercise in Prioritizing the Intermediate Objectives for A Successful Program.

 

 

 

EDITORS ’ NOTES

Kay Buckner-Seal, Cheryl A. Edwards

Next week, will feature Part 3 of “The Malaysian Experience 3.” Khaw Choon Ean will explain how the tools were used to design the curriculum needed for their Year One students. Ean, thanks for your contribution!

Share your ideas by mail to Cheryl A. Edwards, 2253 S. Hill Island Rd.,

Cedarville, MI 49719,USA.Or,send hyperlink to <redwards@sault.com>or

<bucknek@earthlink.net.

CONNECTIONS

(3 )5th Annual TOCFE International Conference/First Annual

TOCFE International Student ’s Conference

From Cheryl A. Edwards

The best way to predict the future is to create it through TOC."

TOC for Education, Inc. presents the 5th Annual TOCFE International

Conference and the First Annual TOCFE International Student ’s Conference!

Date: June 25-28,2001

Location: Detroit, Michigan USA

Hotel: Northfield Hilton

5500 Crooks Road

Troy, Michigan 48098

248.879.2100

The Northfield Hilton is adjacent to Interstate 75 at Crooks Road, Exit 72

Reservations:1.800.HILTONS

Ask for TOC for Education’s special room rates.

Single or Double Occupancy Per night $139.00 U.S.+ Tax (6%Michigan Sales Tax and 7% Occupancy Tax). This rate includes breakfast for two.

Transportation: Detroit Metropolitan Airport (DTW)