TACTics
Journal
A Publication for and by TOC
for Education Practitioners
January 24, 2003
In this week’s issue:
Networking
(1) The Wonderful Moment of the
Shift, Petra
Pouw-Legene
Connections
(2) Asia Pacific Conference on
Education, Kathy
Suerken
(3) 7 th Annual TOCFE Conference
Editor’s Notes
(4) Kay Buckner-Seal
NETWORKING
(1) The Wonderful Moment of the Shift
By Petra Pouw-Legene, The
Netherlands
In discussions with students or
teachers about their problems I often use the cloud. It is wonderful to witness
the shift, when the person in question discovers the underlying needs. I notice
quite often that it is not so much the outcome itself that matters, but the
deeper insight in the mechanisms and the power of our (right or wrong) beliefs
and assumptions or references.
I want to give an example,
which may be of interest to you as well.
Story: My client (let's call
him Peter) works as a music-therapist in a hospital for mentally or physically
troubled children. Peter has to attend lots of staff meetings about the
children. And that is where Peter's problem arises. On the one hand, Peter
wants to take notice of every detail of the discussions (content). He is busy
taking notes and at the same time trying to keep up with what is being said. On
the other hand, he wants to make sure that he keeps track of the progress of
the meetings and does not loose the overall view (the meta-process). Usually he
gets frustrated after a while and ends up with a headache. Peter feels that he
is not contributing as well as he could/should.
So this is his cloud:
A: To be able to function
properly during staff meetings
B: To get and to understand
every detail of the discussions
D: Register all that is said by
every member of the staff
A: To be able to function
properly during staff meetings
C: To keep track of the overall
structure
D’: Pay attention to the
meta-process of the discussion
Assumption C-D:
The course of the discussion
must make sense to me.
No steps should be overlooked.
That way, I take care of my own
feeling of safety.
Assumptions B-D’:
I do not allow myself to miss
anything.
I am supposed to pay close
attention.
I want to be accepted as a
member of the team.
I do not allow myself to make
mistakes.
I need to defend my position.
With the last assumption the
shift occurred. Peter discovered the underlying problem; he was actually
defending himself constantly against the charges of one member of the staff who
is experienced but -in his eyes-intolerably bossy and rigidly sticking to her
principles. So he had to be on guard constantly to avoid being
"overrun" by her. This underlying belief had been completely
transparent to him.
After some reflection Peter’s
injection was:
During the meetings I stay
close to my feelings, trusting my intuition and ask for more details when needed.
Besides, I taught Peter
mindmapping (Tony Buzan). I assumed that by using that tool he would be able to
keep track of the details of the discussions and of the structure of the
meeting at the same time.
This talk happened a month ago.
I met Peter yesterday. He loves mindmapping and uses it with great creativity
and pleasure. It matches his learning style. This is what he said about
himself: “I do not feel the need to defend myself anymore, so I am much more
relaxed during the staff meetings.” And perhaps even more important: “I do not
need to prove anymore that I am a worthy member of the team, because I simply
know that I am.”
Of course I am pleased with
this outcome and the power of using TOC.
CONNECTIONS
(2) Asia Pacific Conference on Education
From Kathy Suerken
<suerken@cox.net>
A notable conference for
educators will be hosted by the National Institute of Education, Nanyang
Technological University in Singapore from June 2-4, 2003. The language of
delivery will be English. There will be many strands of relevance to TOC
practitioners. If interested, presentation proposals for papers, workshops, or
symposiums will be accepted until Jan 31, 2003.
Details are available on their
web page: http://eduweb.nie.edu.sg/apace/.
(3) 7th International TOCFE Conference
Ramada Plaza Beach Resort
1500 Miracle Strip Parkway
Ft Walton Beach, Florida, USA
Hotel:
• For reservations, USA toll
free: 800.874.8962.
• Please reserve your room
under the TOCFE Conference block of rooms.
• Boxed continental breakfast-up
to two per room included.
• Blocked rooms will be held
until April 24, 2003 (afterward, reservations only if space available).
• The following prices are for
maximum of 2 people per room (additional person is $10/person per night up to
maximum of 4 per room).
Standard: $120 (plus tax) per
night.
Courtyard: $135 (plus tax) per
night
Poolside: $155 (plus tax) per
night
Beach Front: $175 (plus tax)
per night
Airport:
• Fort Walton Beach, Florida
(VPS is the airport code)..• Cab/shuttle service from airport to hotel is about
$15.
• Driving information will be
shared in a future TACTics.
Conference Fees:
• Daily Rate: $25 includes
lunch, coffee breaks and all materials.
• Full conference rate: $125
includes 4 lunches, all coffee breaks, all materials and Special
Dinner/Entertainment Event on Sunday, May 18. A Special Event is still being
planned for Saturday, May 17!
• 10% discount if registration
fees are paid by April 1, 2003
EDITOR’S NOTES
(4) Kay Buckner-Seal
Petra, thank you for sharing
with us this week. I, too, use mindmapping while taking notes during meetings
and conferences. It helps me to more easily make important connections, which
may otherwise go unseen when using a more linear style of scripting.
Next week, we will feature
another lesson from the E-Learning Series. We would love to share your feedback
on the articles published in TACTics. So, feel free to send us your responses,
applications of the thinking processes, lessons, announcements, and etc. 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.
To view TACTics in its intended
formatting, visit our web site at
www.tocforeducation.com and click on “What’s New.”