TACTics
Journal
In
this week’s issue:
(1) Made in the USA, Cheryl A. Edwards
(2) Reader Response, Kay Buckner-Seal
Quote
(4) George Washington Carver
Editors’
Notes
(5) Kay Buckner-Seal, Cheryl A.
Edwards
!stright By Cheryl A. Edwards
Just like other countries, the USA has its own set of obstacles to disseminating TOC within the education systems. Some are similar to those in other countries and some are very different. Even when we have similar obstacles, the best Intermediate Objectives may be different. In an attempt to find all of the obstacles and the best appropriate Intermediate Objectives, a USA Leadership Team has been established. This team’s goal is to help achieve the goals of TOCFE by providing a network of dedicated USA educators, who are willing to contribute their time and expertise. A myriad of educators and friends are working hard to help accomplish this task. I’m proud to share the recent accomplishments of a few TOCFE USA educators.
CALIFORNIA
Denise Meyer and Remedeas Kelly-Weaks continue to forge ahead
taking TOC with them as they venture into new positions in the California
education system. Denise has
established a monthly TOCFE support meeting and has published TOCFE L. A.
Reflections a TOCFE newsletter for the Los Angeles area.
She
has also written a research article based on teaching critical thinking through
the use of the Cloud that is being sent to various educational journals. In order to get documentation for this
article, she worked with 60 high school students teaching the cloud in
curriculum. Denise continues to create
materials and study guides that she uses for presentations to teachers and
parents.
Besides
giving presentations and classes to administrators and teachers in her new
district, Remedeas, teaches at the National University where she includes the
Cloud training.
Cal Haliburton is also working on an educational article for
publication and has taught a Cloud and Negative Branch class at Central Iowa
University. He also has a TACT training
scheduled for January and February 2002 through the Intermediate Service
Agency.
Mary Ellen Bourbeau and Doug Roby are responsible for training teachers and students at several schools in Michigan, including the University of Detroit Leggett, Parcell Middle, and Grosse Pointe South High. They currently have a proposal in to train the staff at Poupard Elementary. They have also presented at the Association of Michigan Counselors Conference. Doug and Mary Ellen will facilitate training for the educators at the Michigan Institute for Nonviolence in February 2002.
Larry Till has continued his work with Joy Middle School and the Guidance and Counseling Department and the Resource Coordinators of Detroit Public Schools. Larry also has several other projects in the works.
A “Michigan Leadership Team” has also been established to help achieve the goals of TOCFE by providing a Michigan network of educators dedicated to sharing ideas, discussing concerns and to working together to do what needs to be done to accomplish our Ambitious Target.
Warren Foster, in preparation for the Surgeon General’s stamp of approval on the effectiveness of TOC Peer Mediation, is preparing a proposal to employ TOC Peer mediation for the Cincinnati Public Schools. This will be offered in the second semester 2001-2002.
Beverly
Brown has been training educators and has a TACT training scheduled for February.
TEXAS
Paula
Sommer and Charles Blanton have been getting great results from their work with
several schools and school districts.
At Hutcheson, Bowie and Forney schools they have been working with
teachers who in turn are impacting their students. At Van Alstyn ISD, they are working with administrators who are
working with the teachers; at the Midlothian ISD, they are teaching the
superintendent, central office staff and all principals. Also, in several other
districts (DeSoto, Mesquite, Mansfield and Weathersford), they are involved in
conversations with superintendents about teaching their team TOC. The impact of these talks could result in
the critical mass they are looking for.
Charlie and Paula have also presented TOCFE at the Mid-Winter Conference for Superintendents, at the Texas Education Agency Technology Conference, at the Texas Association for Professional Educators, and the American Society for Quality, Fort Worth Chapter.
In addition Charlie is teaching aspiring administrators at Dallas Baptist University and Texas Women’s University the TOC effect-cause-effect planning for school and classroom planning improvement. He is also meeting with the Executive Director of the largest teacher association in the state. The target is to work on the association and through the association- a process that has taken three years.
Paula continues to upgrade the Web page for Texas that is still in the planning stages.
Barbara Riester is preparing to take the TACT, ETC class so she can help coordinate efforts in Virginia.
Jackie
Trimble is in the process of developing a TOCFE web site for her state with a
link to our international site and to others as they are developed. She is also working with her grade team
teachers on TOCFE applications in the classroom. She hopes to use the experience in these applications to write
materials for classroom use.
As
I read the reports submitted by the TOCFE USA educators, I am (more and more)
reminded of the familiar quote by Margaret Mead:
“Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens
can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has.”
(2) Reader Response
From Kay Buckner-Seal
In last week’s TACTics, Cheryl posed a question that is often raised in
connection to quality instruction and standardized testing:
If we, as educators, are going to be held accountable for the
performance of our students on standardized test, what do we need to do to help
them be more successful on these tests and still maintain the integrity of the
learning in our classroom? Is there a
controversial conflict on the best way to achieve this goal?
I
would like to begin the dialogue concerning this question. I believe that student achievement is
directly related to effective instruction.
One model of effective instruction is represented by a Venn Diagram of
three circles, which show a relationship between the learner, pedagogy and
process.
Teachers must be able to draw on 3 distinct areas of expertise:
Pedagogy— The beliefs that guide our actions in the classroom must be
grounded in high standards and be equitable to all students.
Learner— We must know our students, their abilities and needs as learners.
Process— We must understand that learning is a process that is based on
meaning.
We must always seek the most effective methods of delivering
instruction to our students. We have to
be creative problem solvers to be able to infuse our knowledge of the learning
process with various methods and procedures to meet the needs of our students.
I believe there is controversy or conflict inside the “process” circle. Many educators believe that the word “content” is best served in that circle.
(3) The 6th International TOCFE Conference
Conference dates: July 8 to July 11, 2002 (July
11 concludes at noon)
Conference Venue: University of Nottingham in
Nottingham, United Kingdom
Location: Nottingham is approximately 100 miles north of
London. A Nottingham City bus runs at
frequent intervals from the conference venue to the center of town and costs
around $1.50.
TOCFE UK Conference Committee: Galina Dolya, David Higgins, Linda Trapnell
(4) "When you do the common things in life in an uncommon way, you will command the attention of the world." —George Washington Carver (1864-1943)
(5) Kay Buckner-Seal, Cheryl A.
Edwards
Feel
free to share with us. Send your
responses, applications of the thinking processes, lessons, announcements, and
etc. 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.”