(1) Clouds in Literature, Denise
Meyer
Connections
(2) News
from The Netherlands, Eleanor May-Brenneker
(3) 5th Annual TOCFE International Conference/First Annual
TOCFE International Students’ Conference, Cheryl
A. Edwards
(4) Kay Buckner-Seal
(1) Clouds in
Literature
From Denise Meyer
I have just completed a
booklet entitled “Clouds in Literature.”
It is designed to teach students to analyze dilemmas and conflicts in
literature selections using the Cloud.
Because I only go into the classroom for short periods and don't develop
a whole unit on any piece of literature with them, I had to select short
stories or chapters that had some appropriate dilemma or problem. I began by feeling quite frustrated by the
lack of "conflict" in the stories I was reading. As I delved deeper into it, I began to see
the implied conflicts everywhere. The
first selection I chose was a book by Maya Angelou. Here is a brief description of the first few paragraphs:
Maya
tells how her grandmother used to send them to the well (warm or cold) to wash
up before bed. They didn't like it
because it was dark and cold. If they
didn't do a very good job and the bottoms of their feet were still dirty, their
grandmother would wake them up by hitting the bottom of their feet as they
slept in bed. They then had to get up
and wash all over again.
At first I completely
skipped over this section looking for the obvious conflict. But then I realized that there are many
conflicts in this simple narrative:
• Send them out in the cold to wash by the well / Don't send them
out in the cold to wash by the well.
• Wash
carefully / Don't wash carefully.
• Hit
the bottom of their feet / Don't hit the bottom of their feet.
What surprised me more
than my discovery, was that the students had no trouble and seemed to enjoy
finding the conflicts in such simple narratives.
There is a term that I
hear all the time in listening to "lay" persons talking about
conflict resolution programs—"managing conflict." Students who function in schools as
mediators are often referred to as conflict managers. I think it's called this
because that's how people see conflict.
As something to be managed not resolved. It's the living with it that makes it sometimes so difficult to
see.
It's quite amazing, some
of the clouds that come out of these simple selections, like the "hit them
on the feet / don't hit them on the feet" one. It gets children to look at the whole philosophical question of
punishment.
CONNECTIONS
(2) News from The Netherlands
From
Eleanor May-Brenneker
Dear TOCFE Friends
Worldwide,
Some news snippets about
TOCFE in The Neth!erlands:
• I've just received detailed evaluation
sheets on the TOCFE sessions 1, 2, and 4 over 3 days training, followed by 2
practice days given at Utrecht University NL January 8-12 '01. The course organiser, Geerte van de Goep,
designed excellent evaluation sheets, compiled the responses and worked out the
ratings. Candidates considered written
answers to 11 questions and rated 7 aspects of the course on a scale, resulting
in an overall 83% quality product. The
ratings criteria follows below:
The
content of the course met my expectations:
86%
The
course structure enabled me to work well and with pleasure: 92%
The
standard and level of the course was right for me: 86%
I've
encountered unexpected experiences and discoveries: 80%
The
course will influence my functioning at school: 72%
Facilitation
during the course by Eleanor: 92%
I
found the material good to work with:
74%
The
written responses were very encouraging and full of praise for the course, the
set up, the role of the cucumbers, the prospects for the future of TOCFE in NL,
and the workability of the course content.
This thorough evaluation result will enable us to improve or POOGI the
course next time round.
Part
2 of the course (sessions 3 and 5) will take place 15/16 May '01, also in
Utrecht. Because of the resounding
success of this course so far, many inquiries on TOCFE and requests for more
courses have poured in. The result is
that a new course will run in Utrecht again in Sept. '01. Rotterdam University has a department that
re-trains teachers and they will organise their first TOCFE course, also in
Sept. ‘01. Discussions are held to list
TOCFE as an optional module on the teachers' training course in Rotterdam. An article written on the Jan. ‘01 course will
appear in June in a highly regarded education magazine called “Educare.” It is written by one of the course
candidates who works as a planning officer for International Youth Relief Work
(Kosovo, Sierra Leone etc.).
To
illustrate the success on the shopfloor with one example: Whenever there's the slightest conflict in
the offing at Carl's school, pupils now say, “You know what? You two had better go and see Mrs. Carl; she'll
help you to help yourselves to sort out your problem.” Overnight the number of conflict situations
has decreased in Carl's school and the TOCFE cloud method is famous! I reckon they're ready to set up a Peer
Mediation structure next......
Running
alongside the basic TOCFE days in January, mentioned above, was a “How To
Teach” held in the evenings. Candidates
for this course will hopefully be in a position to qualify as trainers once all
the necessary requirements have been fulfilled after they have attended the
second part mid in May '01. There will
be enough cause for double celebrations then— new TOCFE teachers and new
Teacher-Trainers. The champagne has
been ordered!
• I've just returned from
a most successful and tiring conference in York where I presented a very well
attended workshop on TOCFE with specific Dyslexia applications. Many delegates stopped me following this
workshop and expressed their appreciation with remarks such as, “Such a simple
and elegant way to clear conflicts out of the way… It seems totally
non-invasive… No judgements seem to be passed on student's behaviour… When
will you run your next training course?”
I've had an invitation from Sweden to consider running a summer
course in August. A colleague from
Barbados will be next. Then there are
the Dutch courses lined up for September.
There's a lot to discuss when I will finally see you all again in June.
The York Conference organisers invited presenters to email their
'paper' to them to compile a CD-ROM for worldwide publication. In the last 4 days I've worked round the
clock to add a professional modern technology touch with the help of some
friends, so that I could meet the deadline which has left me dead beat!
Yet no time for the wicked.
I still need to prepare some overhead transparencies in Dutch for the
course in May. (Next week, I'll be away
for a break for I've worked 7 days a week for the last 7 weeks.) One day before the Dutch course our TOCFE.NL
group will attend a one-day course on Socratic teaching in Amsterdam. We want to teach TOCFE more explicitly
Socratically and we'll add this as an additional feature to our training. There's great demand for this in the
Netherlands and “Socratic” is the buzzword.
I've already ploughed through 4 books on the subject and it's not
particularly bedtime reading either!
My eyelids need matchsticks right now, so till soon. Good luck with the conference preps and the
anthology. (Kathy, I'm working on that one too!)
Love and thanks,
Eleanor May-Brenneker
(3) 5th Annual TOCFE
International Conference/First Annual
TOCFE International Student’s Conference
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)
(4) Kay Buckner-Seal
For those who are
planning to attend the 5th Annual TOCFE International Conference in
Detroit, I am sure you will enjoy a visit to Detroit’s Cultural Center. The Detroit Cultural center is home to the
Detroit Institute of Arts, a magnificent museum that contains the fifth most
comprehensive fine arts collection in the United States. It also features the Children's Museum, the
Museum of African-American History and the Detroit Historical Museum where you
can stroll back in time through the cobble-stoned streets of "Old
Detroit."
Nearby is the Detroit Science Center, which features
"hands-on" exhibits ranging from experiments with optics and sound to
models of some of America's space achievements, including authentic space
capsules. The Detroit Science Center's
domed Omnivax Theater is popular with adults and children alike.
Denise and Eleanor, thanks for sharing in this weeks TACTics. For those who wish to share with us, send
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.
To
view TACTics in its intended formatting and to read previous issues,
visit
the TOC website at: www.tocforeducation.com