(1) TOC for Education Progress Report, Kathy Suerken
(2) Qualitative
Training Opportunities, Cheryl A. Edwards
(3) TOC: Michigan School Social Workers
Association, Mary Ellen
Bourbeau
(4) 5th Annual TOCFE International
Conference/First Annual TOCFE International Student’s Conference, Cheryl A. Edwards
Quote
(5) Phillip
Bakker
(6) Kay
Buckner-Seal, Cheryl A. Edwards
WIZDOM
(1) TOC for Education Progress Report
“…The end or
just the beginning?”
from Necessary, But Not
Sufficient, by Eli Goldratt
As educators, we know how difficult the dilemma is to measure progress,
especially arbitrarily- as on any one day (say, at the end of the year?). After all, most of us have work in progress,
which is not yet quantifiable (in this case, on New Year's Eve).
In TOC we try to measure our momentum through results which are on
a process of ongoing improvement. Still,
we can't appreciate how far we've come if we don't somehow quantify the
measurements. Starting at the
beginning…
Looking back to the end of 1995, TOC for Education, Inc. had just
begun. In the first 6 months of its
existence, 4 TOC seminars, called "MSW," had been taught to educators
in 2 countries (UK and USA). The
potential impact (a "guesstimate") on children was probably less than
10,000.
In 1999, TOCFE taught over 60 seminars (now called TACT) in 8
countries (add Republic of South Africa, Israel, Philippines, Taiwan, Mexico
and Colombia) and we were just starting to teach some one-day cloud events,
which significantly strengthened the rate of impact (bumping it to well over 1
million children). About 100 people
attended our 4-day conference that year in California.
In 2000, TOCFE taught over 100 TACT seminars in 15 countries (add:
Netherlands, Singapore, Malaysia, Venezuela, Trinidad, Ecuador and Yugoslavia)
as well as conducting well over 50 additional one-day events in 16 countries
(add Russia). 500 educators attended
our 4-day conference in Mexico, which was so effective that by October,
Alejandrina Gonzalez and Marina Rodriguez of Mexico began to report an average
of 9 TACT seminars per month!
Are we part of something BIG?
Something even bigger than can be quantified by numbers of
seminars? After all, teaching seminars
is not our ultimate goal. The numbers
of trainings are a means to the end.
What is our ambitious target? We
simply (smile) want exponential numbers of children to be better prepared for
life... to learn more effectively so that they can have better lives.
This vision motivates all of us and is exemplified in the
Philippines by 50 facilitators (now led by Cora Santiago) who overcome daunting
obstacles to actively team teach more and more TACT seminars each year. Numbers of TOC trainings, however, are
"necessary, but not sufficient" to achieve our ambitious target. It has been necessary to develop some
“silver bullet” qualitative improvements.
After all, “What is TOC if not a collection of silver bullets? (Eli
Goldratt). Such as:
TOC Student Workbooks.
Gila Glatter and her team in Israel have produced several student
workbooks on the cloud and the PrT, which have been translated to English. Cheryl, in the USA, and I thought that was
such an effective idea that we also wrote a student
workbook in 2000. the Never Ending
Story has been translated to Spanish, Russian, and, most recently, Chinese,
thanks to Francis Su of Taiwan.
TACT Materials. In 1999, TACT materials were made more relevant to education and
are now available in Spanish, Hebrew, English and, as of 2000, in Dutch, thanks
to Eleanor May-Brenneker. Galina Dolya
is in Moscow right now working with a translator to complete the TACT
translations to Russian (and yes, I just crossed the line into the future!)
New Training Module. A new training module, developed in 2000, will be shared at
our International Conference, June 25-28, 2001. Khaw Choon Ean has created a 2-day workshop to enable Malaysian primary school teachers to
teach the cloud, the negative branch and ambitious targets to their
students. This seminar has been
delivered, along with appropriate “prepared packages of materials” (currently
only in Malay) to 30,000 Malaysian teachers as of November. As a result, the total number of our TOC
training events in the year 2000 exceeds 7,000 events for educators!
And
now “back to the future”! In January 2001 these
30,000 teachers will teach TOC to EVERY year-one child in Malaysia- over 500,000 children! As phenomenal as our progress was in 2000,
the Future Reality Tree of TOC for Education is incredibly enticing. After all, YOU are creating it.
A
Happy New Beginning to us all!
CONNECTIONS
(2) Qualitative
Training Opportunities
From
Cheryl A. Edwards
Speaking of
the future, two new qualitative training opportunities are being offered by
TOCFE:
“HOW TO IMPROVE A SYSTEM USING TOC”
Dates: February 22, 23, 24
February 27, 28
Location: Detroit, Michigan, USA
Facilitator: Rami Goldratt
"HOW TO IMPROVE THE DELIVERY OF ACADEMIC CONTENT THROUGH TOC"
Date: March 5-9
Location: Detroit, Michigan, USA
Facilitator: Dr. Danilo Sirias
(3) TOC:
Michigan School Social Workers Association
From Mary Ellen Bourbeau, Grosse Pointe, Michigan,
USA
Last month Doug Roby and I had the opportunity to
teach Conflict Resolution using TOC to the Michigan School Social Workers
Association and Parcells Middle School Parent Network. Both presentations were well attended and
the comments were very positive. After
the session with the social workers, we were told that everyone was talking
about TOC!
Our parent program was a lively interaction with
middle school parents looking for a way to resolve conflicts and increase
communication with their children. Our
goal was to teach the cloud so that these parents would feel comfortable enough
trying it at home. Our school
newsletter wrote, "A wonderful workshop on conflict resolution. Many of the people who attended have
successfully used this technique at home.
Their proven solutions really work!"
(4) 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)
(5) From Philip Bakker
"Think
happy thoughts… then you can fly!" —Peter Pan
(6) Kay
Buckner-Seal, Cheryl A. Edwards
Thank you Frances Su, TOC for Education Director from Taiwan, for
translating …the Never Ending Story into Chinese. It is the “never-ending” dedication of our
TOC for Ed folks that keeps us moving toward our goal. Now …the Never Ending Story can be
read in English, Spanish... and Chinese!
Happy New Year, TOCFE family!
We can celebrate the progress made during the year 2000, reflect in awe
at the impact we’ve made since 1995, and with the process of ongoing
improvement, we can meet the challenges of the future. This year, make a resolution to share some of
your wonderful results, experiences and ideas in TACTics.
Send
your contributions to Cheryl A. Edwards, 2253 S. Hill
Island Rd., Cedarville, MI 49719, USA.
Or, send hyperlink to <redwards@sault.com> or <bucknek@resa.net.