(1)
The Cloud:
TOC Tool to Aid in Classroom Discussions, Cheryl
A. Edwards
(2) No Gum, No Food, No Drinks, No Exceptions!, Jackie Trimble
(3) Guy Fawkes Night, Linda Trapnell
Editor’s Notes
(4) Kay
Buckner-Seal
By
Cheryl A. Edwards
Classroom
teachers from around the world regularly conduct discussions with their
students based on current events.
During this time of tragedy and grief in the USA, I couldn’t help but
think of the difficulty teachers have had in discussing horrific events such as
this with their students. My thoughts
started moving in many directions but finally settled on this:
How can we better guide students to discuss
such events in a way that is productive and not destructive?
Naturally, the TOC Thinking Process Tools jumped right out at me and I remembered using a lesson with middle school students that came directly from their textbook: Should the US support advanced technology research with tax dollars? Students were assigned to take a stand and be prepared for discussion. It is not hard to imagine the uninspired discussion that followed. Then, using the Cloud, I guided the students in a very lively discussion. They thought their way through the conflict: wants, needs, common goal and assumptions. They were also able to come up with some very inventive injections. The teacher was amazed at the direction of the discussion and depth of understanding that the students were able to verbalize as a result.
We have selected three case studies from the International TOC for Education Anthology, compiled by Kathy Suerken showing the use of the Cloud to aid in discussions. In our first example, Jackie Trimble uses the Cloud to guide a discussion with her students enabling them to establish the class rules that she could also accept. In the second case study, Francis Conde shares with us how a young lady was able to use the cloud to hold a discussion with her mother and solve a big problem. In our third case study, Linda uses the cloud to guide a discussion with an entire school.
We
look forward to publishing your stories of how you use any of the TOC Thinking
Tools to aid in student discussion.
Let’s all work towards Eli’s stated goal, “…to leaving a better world
behind.”
If
you are interested in your own copy of the International Anthology, contact
Cheryl Edwards by mail: 2253 S. Hill Island Rd., Cedarville, MI 49719,
USA. Or, you can reach us by hyperlink:
redwards@sault.com or bucknek@earthlink.net.
(2) “No Gum, No Food, No Drinks, No Exceptions!”
By
Jackie Trimble, USA
Two years ago, my school (Lake Stevens Middle School, Lake Stevens, WA) was renovated. Everything was replaced: desks, walls, carpets, ceilings, etc. The school looked so great that I decided that I needed to have some new classroom rules that would help keep the facility clean. My rules were: NO GUM, NO FOOD, NO DRINKS, NO EXCEPTIONS! With such explicit rules, I was sure there would be no problem keeping everything clean.
Wrong! I constantly had to tell students to get rid of the gum and food and to clean messes left by spilled food and drinks. The students didn’t appear to care about the rules.
At the end of the school year, I attended a TOC seminar and learned a more effective way to resolve the ongoing conflict I was having with my students. As the next school year began, I established new classroom rules by using a TOC tool, the Cloud. The food/drink/gum cloud I presented to my class read:
My side:
A: Have a good school relationship.
B: Teacher needs a neat and orderly classroom.
D: I want to have no gum, food or drink allowed in the classroom.
Student’s side:
A: Have a good school relationship.
C: Student needs to have some kind of movement/activity.
D’: Student wants to chew gum or munch food or drink beverage.
B/D Assumptions:
I am distracted when I see gum being blown into bubbles.
The room is messy enough without having food and drinks.
C/D’ Assumptions:
Chewing/drinking helps calm
Other teachers let us have food
After slowly reading this definition of the problem and the underlying assumptions that led to the problem, I stopped and waited. Almost immediately, the students started making suggestions on how to break the cloud. I think the kids could really see that I was looking at the problem from their perspective. Ideas were flying around the room like pigs in a tornado! After lots of discussion, the students found a win/win way to break the cloud. “Allow us to have food, gum, etc. and if any mess occurs or any bubbles are blown, then nobody is allowed to have food, gum, etc. for one month. And if, after the one month food ban is over and there is another infraction, then there will be a two month food ban.”
I liked the solution, but told the students the penalty was harsher than the one I would have mandated. I thought, instead, a one-week ban would be adequate. Although the cloud was broken on my side, I felt that I could accept these conditions. Six months after this cloud was written with my students, I still haven’t had a single problem with food. The students are self-monitoring the food rule. If any trash is seen on the floor, each student hurries to clean the mess regardless of who created it.
The whole cloud session with my students took less than 30 minutes. If I had created this rule without the students’ input, I doubt the students would have acted any different than before.
(3) Guy Fawkes Night
By Linda
Trapnell, England
In November, England has a traditional Fireworks Celebration, “Guy Fawkes Night.” Many families hold fireworks displays in their gardens (yards). We always do a short fireworks safety program and this year I decided to use the Cloud to get the message across. I got the whole school together and we did the Cloud on this problem:
We have a firework but it has not gone off. I want to go and re-light it. My friend says “No.”
My side:
A: I am happy
B: I need to see a firework go off.
D: I want to re-light the firework.
My friend’s side:
A: I am happy
C: I need to feel safe.
D’: I don’t want to re-light it.
The discussions raged wide as all viewpoints were considered. During this time, I managed to raise all of the safety points I needed to AND the children felt they had been involved instead of me just telling them what to do.
The eventual conclusions were to get another firework and tell an adult. Not complex, but the children owned the solution. The audience consisted of 180 five-seven year olds and the whole thing took 15 minutes. The children are experienced in doing Clouds and involvement was total, especially when I asked what could happen if we did try to re-light the firework!
(4) By Kay Buckner-Seal
This is a difficult time for many teachers in the classrooms of
the United States during the aftermath of this tragic and unprecedented event.
Teachers feel pressured in mediating the needs of their students, which are
extraordinarily diverse and complex because of the many cultures represented
within our great country. The question
raised is how can they engage students in discussions that enable everyone to
question and investigate, and to discuss and debate a highly sensitive topic in
a productive way?
I wonder how many teachers have used TOC Thinking Process Tools in the classroom at this time? The tools are vehicles that help us to transcend cultural boundaries. They help us to see that things are not as simple, or “cut and dry” as they sometime seem. And, they help us to discover that one subject can have multiple perspectives and many interpretations.
I’m sure that in classrooms all over America, students have taken
a stand and are ready to defend their beliefs at this time. Have you given them the opportunity to
use the tools to help them process their thinking? If so, why not share the results with us in
next week’s TACTics? Send your responses by mail to Cheryl
Edwards: 2253 S. Hill Island Rd.,
Cedarville, MI 49719, USA. Or, you can
send them to us by hyperlink: redwards@sault.com
or bucknek@earthlink.net.
To view TACTics in its intended formatting and to read previous issues, visit the TOCFE website at: www.tocforeducation.com