(1)
Classroom
Teasing, Denise
Meyer
(2) Helping My Peers to Make Better
Decisions, Ana
Maria Conde, Age: 11
Quote
(3) from
Francois
Moll, South Africa
Editor’s Notes
(4) Kay Buckner-Seal, Cheryl A.
Edwards
The
following articles are from The International Anthology of TOC for Education
Case Studies compiled by Kathy Suerken.
Each article involves young people using TOC to solve their own
problems. Now that’s empowerment!
(1) Classroom
Teasing
Evonne was a child with serious
attendance problems. She was a second
grader and her mother said she didn’t want to go to school because the children
teased her and called her names. As an
administrative assistant, I was asked to go and talk to the class about this.
I went to Evonne’s classroom to talk
to the students. Evonne, as usual,
stayed at home. I told the students I
had a problem. On the board I wrote:
I want Evonne to come to school.
Evonne doesn’t want to come to school.
I asked them whether they knew why I
wanted her to come to school. They were
not long in saying, “You want her to learn stuff.” I told them that she wasn’t coming because she needed to feel
happy. I added an objective of: I wanted everyone in school to be happy and
learning. The Cloud read:
My side
A: Have
happy learners in school.
B: Evonne
to learn things.
D: I
want Evonne to come to school.
Evonne’s side
A: Have
happy learners in school.
C: To
be happy and not sad.
D’: Evonne
doesn’t want to come to school.
Then I explained that this is where I
really needed their help. Why did they
think she wasn’t happy when she came to school? I listed their reasons:
The teacher yelled at her.
The boys called her “bon-bon.”
We don’t play with her at recess.
I give her mean looks.
I listened non-judgmentally. I asked if there were some way that they
could help me. They simply said: “We shouldn’t call her ‘bon-bon’
anymore. We should ask her if she wants
to play with us at recess.”
At this point one of the girls, who
was somewhat of a mischievous class leader, asked if I could talk to her mom
because her mom said she couldn’t talk to Evonne. I talked to her after class and the reason she couldn’t play with
Evonne was that her mom and Evonne’s mom were fighting.
I said I would call her mom. I tried but couldn’t reach her that day. The next day, the child came to me and said,
“My mom said I can play with Evonne.”
She had taken care of it herself.
The power of this example is evident
if you consider the difference between someone saying to the children, “I heard
you were calling Evonne names and won’t play with her. I want that behavior to stop! You must stop calling her names and include
her in your games.”
Because the children came up with the
same solution all by themselves, they were willing to follow through.
(2) Helping
My Peers to Make Better Decisions
My Mother and Father taught me how to
make Clouds and Negative Branches and now I am teaching my friends and teachers
at school.
The first person I taught the Cloud to
was Gabriela who had a problem with her sister, Viviana. This is her Cloud.
Gabriela
A: To
be happy.
B: Do
things that are fun.
D: Play
Nintendo after homework is done.
Viviana
A: To
be happy.
C: Do
what she likes most.
D’: Play
Nintendo after homework is done.
B/D Assumptions:
Nintendo is the best.
Nintendo entertains me.
C/D’ Assumptions:
Nintendo is cool.
It is the only thing she likes to do
at the time.
When Gabriela read the Cloud to her
sister, her sister said that it would be fair to take turns by days to play
Nintendo or if someone did have homework the other girl could play. Kids want to think up their own solutions.
(3) from Francois Moll,
South Africa
"The future is not some place we are going to, but one we are creating. The paths to it are made, not found, and the activity of making them changes both the maker and the destinations." —Phillip Adams
(4) Kay Buckner-Seal, Cheryl A.
Edwards
Almost any decision brings
conflict. And, determining the
appropriate course to take when faced with a difficult decision can be a
challenge. With the use of the TOC
Thinking Tools, young people become empowered enough to identify and solve
their own conflicts in order to make decisions. Then, they are inspired to teach others how to use them as well. Hey, that is about as good as it can get!
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.
To view TACTics in its
intended formatting and to read previous issues, visit the TOCFE website at: www.tocforeducation.com