TACTics
Journal
A Publication for and by TOC
for Education Practitioners
September 27, 2002
In this week’s issue:
Elementary/Secondary TACTics
(1) A Professional Goal, Manfred Smith
(2) Incorporating the TOC into College Classes, Gila
Glatter
Reader’s Feedback
(3) Michele Royan
Editors’ Notes
(4) Kay Buckner-Seal, Cheryl A.
Edwards
ELEMENTARY/SECONDARY
TACTICS
(1) A Professional Goal
From Manfred Smith, Maryland,
USA
Last year Manfred and his
student teacher created lessons plans using the TOC Thinking Process
Tools. Then they used the tools
to involve the students in constructivist learning. The results were
really exciting. Manfred shared
the lessons and the results with us earlier this year in TACTics.
My goal this year will be to
infuse TOC into virtually every lesson/unit that I
do with my classes. We will
utilize TOC for everything from working on
students’ personal goals to
writing. It may be the most ambitious attempt to
apply TOC in school anywhere. I
will be in a better position to write
something once I get a couple
of units under my belt—remind me every so
often. If I have new
revelations to share, I will forward my findings right
away.
I am keeping notes, and expect
to learn whole new ways to apply the thinking
processes. You should see what
my students could do with having read only
three pages about Jamestown.
The possibilities, and I’m talking about the
DIVERSE usage of tools for
different purposes, are (I believe) awesome! I
feel like I’m a kid in a candy
store who can’t decide what morsel to try next!
Hell of a lot of fun!
Best Premises,
Manfred
(2) Incorporating the Thinking Tools of
T.O.C. (“Theory of
Constraints”) into College Education
Courses
By Gila Glatter, TOCFE Director,
Israel
The following abstract,
describing the academic work done at Talpiot Teachers’ College, was
published in the Israeli
Educational Journal in October, 2001. One day while reflecting on her
wonderful experiences with her
TOC colleagues at the 6 th International TOCFE Conference, Gila
ran across this article and decided
to share it with us. We hope that it will give you pause for
reflection.
This article describes
processes and results of teaching and learning in
Education courses at Talpiot
Teachers’ College, which were constructed
according to the rationale and
instrumentation of T.O.C. (“Theory of
Constraints”).
T.O.C. is recognized throughout
the business world as a theory of
administration whose aim is to
effect continuous improvement of an
organization. It is a practical
theory developed by Dr. Eliyahu Goldratt,
applied successfully in many
organizational systems for over twenty years.
(Goldratt, 1988, 1992, 1995,
2000).
The direction taken in this
research was to examine the influence of the use
of the thinking instrumentation
of T.O.C. on learning necessary in teacher
training courses. The aim was
to find a systematic and attractive way of
building a quality lesson which
would integrate effective teaching, learning
and assessment, and which would
serve as a model for imitation and transfer.
The courses were planned
according to a strategy answering to three
questions involving change,
which characterize any system in need of
improvement:
1) What should be changed?
2) To what should change be
directed?
3) How can change be effected?
The courses were organized as
follows:
1) The first part was directed
to identifying the basic problem for which
the course was to provide some
answer.
2) The second part derived from
identification of the problem, followed by
brainstorming of creative
solutions based upon discussion of such problems
in academic literature.
3) In the third part, the
course participants tried out the suggested
solutions, applying structured
procedures, which enabled the construction of
new knowledge in a manner,
which was fast, focused and clear.
Dealing with the questions of
change was facilitated by means of the
following TOC thinking tools:
1) The “cloud” of conflict;
2) Integration of three
“clouds” into one generalized “cloud;”
3) Use of the “ prerequisite
tree,” an instrument for achieving an ambitious
target.
The processes, which were
observed, point to:
• Effective use of structured
strategies for identifying a basic problem,
which the course should answer;
• Systematic and successful
experience in achieving the aims of the
course, entailing an holistic
view of the optimal conditions for effective
learning;
• The observed results suggest
that use of TOC is a breakthrough in the
planning and application of
powerful learning in the field of teacher training.
READER’S
FEEDBACK
(3) Michele Royan, Michigan,
USA
I would just like to share how
excited I was to share Denise Meyer's "Who
is in Control? Using a Negative
Branch to Solve a Problem and Accept
Responsibility" (TACTics,
9/20/02) with our Middle School Principal,
Assistant Principal, Counselor
and Substance Prevention Specialist. Several
of them participated in the
TOCFE training in our building last Spring, and
have very positive comments
about how easy it is to use the techniques in
these circumstances. It is not
learning something new, but just approaching
it from a different
perspective.
Thank you, Denise, for sharing.
Michele Royan
Counselor, Northwestern Middle
School
Battle Creek, Michigan
EDITORS’ NOTES
(4) Kay Buckner-Seal, Cheryl A.
Edwards
Thanks to all for sharing with
us this week—your contributions keep TACTics
alive. To the rest of our TOCFE
family, feel free to share with us. Your
responses need not be long;
your applications to the thinking processes
nourish our minds. Send by mail
to: Cheryl A. Edwards, 2253 S. Hill Island
Rd., Cedarville, Michigan
49719, USA. Or send hyperlink to
cedwards@cedarville.net or
bucknek@earthlink.net.