In this week’s issue:
(2) Jeff,
Jackie Trimble
(3) Feedback:
“Jeff,” Cheryl A. Edwards
(4) Last Week’s TACTics, Kay Buckner-Seal
Quote
(5) Unknown
Editors’
Notes
(6) Happy
Holidays!, Kay
Buckner-Seal,
Cheryl A.
Edwards
CONNECTIONS
(1) Japanese
Edition of The Goal
From Kathy Suerken
The Japanese
edition of The Goal was published in May 2001 and over 300,000 copies
were sold in the first 3 months! Isn't
it interesting that The Goal is selling more copies there than Harry
Potter? Why do you think?
NETWORKING
(2) Jeff
By Jackie Trimble, Seattle, Washington, USA
The
following is an episode of how the tools worked with a kid that everyone had
given up on.
A follow-up: I have teachers raving
about Jeff and his improvement; the principals tell me daily about their
awe. Jeff comes to me daily 3rd period
to let me know how his day is going- good or bad. He then sees me period 5 & 6 for class. It hasn't always been perfect scores, but
when his score has been anything less than a 4 he is beside himself.
An
interesting note: One of the principals wanted to borrow the contract thinking that
it might work for another student. I
explained it was the tools, but she took it any way. I'm waiting to see how it will work/fail.
I always begin my year using the cloud to set
rules in the class. Barely a month of
school had passed when a discipline problem arose. Jeff was a student in my two-period block, who was constantly in
trouble. He would say things to other
students under his breath that would infuriate them, he would get in their
space and he spent a good deal of time out of his seat wandering during class
time. To say the least, I dreaded that
class because of Jeff. I tried many
different strategies including talking to other teachers who also had Jeff. It seemed that everyone was having trouble
with Jeff. In the first month Jeff received
many infractions and referrals, which were landing him in in-school suspension.
One day Jeff came in and proceeded to say things
to students about their mothers that had one boy ready to beat him up. I quickly removed Jeff to the office and set
an appointment the next day to conference with Jeff and the principal. I sat down that night thinking this was
futile as I felt Jeff, with his flippant attitude, would not be a willing
participant in the conference. I then
proceeded to complete a cloud that read:
Our common goal was to enjoy class.
Jeff’s needs were to have acceptance from others.
His wants were to be free to do what he
wanted. (I listed the behaviors: out of
seat, touching others, joking comments and leaving the classroom.)
My needs are to have the class free from
disturbances.
My wants would be that Jeff would comply with
class rules
I read the cloud to Jeff beginning with my side
and listed my assumptions, or (as I call them) my “becauses”: students are
angry and may hurt Jeff and everyone’s safety is my responsibility, students
are not learning, I would need more structured class time to keep everyone
focused and that was not as much fun.
I then read his side and he asked that I remove
the part in his wants that said he liked to leave the classroom and I did. We discussed his assumptions that his
comments and touching were fun, got him out of a boring class, people noticed
him, and he liked the attention.
At this point I didn’t try to solve the cloud, but
went straight to a negative branch (cause and effect tree). I basically began with, “Jeff is allowed to
do whatever he wants” and listed the effects to me including stopping class,
frustrated/angry with him, students not being taught, taking time in writing
him up, time for parent conference, etc.
Then we started another branch that showed that students would get angry
with him, may hit him, wouldn’t work with him on projects, tell on him,
etc. I had only started when Jeff began
filling in both sides of the branches and got to a point where his parents
would be very mad at him and that would not be a good thing. He began talking so fast that I had to
abbreviate and finally we just filled it out verbally.
I asked him if he had any suggestions and he said
he thought that a contract might work.
We began drawing up a contract with him, directing what to put in it
including score, comments, date, and a space for every period of the day, as he
wanted all teachers to participate. I
then spent the evening creating a chart for him to use and got his final
approval.
I have to say that I wasn’t that hopeful that
things would change, however, he has amazed the staff. He has maintained high scores daily with one
exception- a day when a teacher had a substitute. The sub gave him 2’s and 3’s (out of 5). Jeff came to me and then had to go see the
principal. He was in tears because he
had blown it (he admitted that he deserved the scores). We assured him that he had the rest of the
day to make it good and he did! He now
proudly shows his contract to the principal every day after school and takes
them home to parents who file them to take out and look at on occasion.
Reflection: Jeff had recognized the
cloud from the earlier class discussion on the gum chewing rules and also a
cloud I did with the class on excessive talking. The principal noted the process and would like to know more, but
has been "too busy" for a meeting. I will keep at him. I thought that I might work with Jeff on how
to do the cloud and have him help present it.
I think my
book will include these real life stories and tell step by step how I did
it. I still want to do some more with
teaching concepts. Partner teaching is
taking a lot of extra energy, but he is still open to more TOC.
From Cheryl A.
Edwards
Wow! What a great story! Congratulations to you and Jeff. This is a true story of empowerment. Jeff was allowed to figure out “what to
change,” “what to change to,” and “how to cause that change.” His injection ...the contract.
I think you
are right about passing along the contract.
It is what Jeff was able to discover before he decided on the
contract. Just giving someone else the
contract could not have the same impact as Jeff deciding that he wanted the
contract and developing it. It would
simply be a matter of imposing someone else's injection. Maybe you could send Jeff to the principal
and have him explain how he came up with the contract (?).
Anyway...
great work and thank you so much for sharing.
Our TACTics readers are really going to enjoy this one. Keep us posted on his continued
progress. Oh, did he have anything to
say about the way the conference with the Principal was handled?
POOGI
(4) Last Week’s TACTics
From Kay Buckner-Seal
Many of you may have
received two copies of last week’s TACTics and some of you may not have
received a copy at all! My apologies
for any inconvenience this may have made.
It is necessary that this week’s TACTics is sent from my e-mail address
and Bernie and I were conducting a trial run with last week’s TACTics. Hopefully we have rid ourselves of the
“clunks” and you are reading this text right now without any problems.
Please note that the pdf
version of TACTics is attached. You can
get a free download Adobe Acrobat Reader in order to read the attachment at www.adobe.com/products/acrobat/readstep2.html. Your feedback would be
greatly appreciated and thanks for your patience.
QUOTE
(5) “If
there is right in the soul, there will be beauty in the person. If there is beauty in the person, there will
be harmony in the home. If there is
harmony in the home, there will be order in the nation. If there is order in the nation, there will
be peace in the world.” —unknown
(6) Happy Holidays!
From Kay Buckner-Seal,
Cheryl A. Edwards
Many of our colleagues from around the world are celebrating holidays
now or in the near future. As we
reflect on the events of the past year, we would like to take this time to send
our sincere wishes for a peaceful New Year throughout our world. TACTics will take a brief holiday and return
with the January 4, 2002 issue.
—Cheryl, Kay and Bernie
As always, if you would
like to respond to any articles published in TACTics, share your ideas or
applications of the tools, send 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.”