TACTics Journal

A Publication for and by TOC for Education Practitioners

August 22, 2003

In this week’s issue:

Connections

(1) Greetings from Serbia, Zana Borisavljevic

(2) TOC in South African Boarding School, Francois Moll

Quote

(3) Dr. W. Edwards Deming

Editors’ Notes

(4) Kay Buckner-Seal, Cheryl A. Edwards

CONNECTIONS

(1) News from Serbia

From Zana Borisavljevic

Dear Colleagues,

Having spent several months prior to the conference in Florida “lobbying”

(sounds nicer than “pesteringKathy!) for the next year’s conference to be

held in Serbia, I was nevertheless completely shocked when Kathy had

agreed. The initial shock is over and now I am rejoicing whenever I am not

panicking!

I am so happy at the thought of seeing colleagues from all over the world

here in Belgrade next year and sharing this corner of the Earth with you all

for a few days. I am even happier when I think of all my hard working

colleagues here in Serbia who will have a chance to see for themselves what

I have been describing to them: a theory which has grown into a practise of

friendship and enthusiastic sharing. I have many experiences here when I

see people’s eyes a little bit shinier at the end of the workshop than at the

beginning. And, I know they have been inspired and it makes me glad. Now I

think, “Wait until you see Gila and Galina next year, and Linda and Cheryl, and

David and Danilo, and Francois and Eleanor, and Rami and Kathy, and Ean and

the Condes!” …and the list goes on. I can’t wait until I see Eli pacing up and

down because what he carries is too big to have it kept still!

Well, we decided to give them a preview—Kathy is coming to Belgrade next

month to see the place, check the venues, meet some people in the Ministry

of Education and reassure me that there is life after the conference!

We also arranged that Kathy would be here to teach on the first day of the

training of the TOC trainers, which I will then continue teaching for the

next couple of weeks.

Last month the TOC program was accredited as a pilot program by the

Ministry of Education in Serbia as one of the three education programs for

the professional development of teachers, which will be developed by

Education Plus, a non-government not-for-profit organization that a group of

colleagues and I founded a few months ago. In a year’s time the results will

be evaluated and if they are satisfactory, full accreditation will be given.

We also managed to get some funding from the Ministry of Education to run

four three-day trainings for high school teachers in October/November.

And, we are meeting in September to start working on a project for TOC

youth training in two high schools in Belgrade.

As far as the conference goes, we will send you more information after

Kathy has been to visit. For the time being just a few bits: the plan at the

moment is to have around 350 local participants, most of whom would go

through the basic training. As far as the upgrades go, I hope there will be

many, many of you here. I am sure Kathy already has some ideas. I do, too;

and I think it would also be wonderful if you could all start thinking about

things that you would like to hear, see, have happen in the conference. We

want ideas that can help us plan this conference to be as inspiring, creative,

positive, fun, useful, meaningful learning/sharing event as it can be! So if

you have any ideas, suggestions, questions, etc., please put them on the

screen and send them to jana.b@eunet.yu and suerken@cox.net

See you soon in Serbia!

Zana Borisavljevic

(2) TOC in South African Boarding School

From Francois Moll

Because some schools in South Africa cover a wide area, there are boarding

facilities to cater to the children. The schools are called hostels and are run

by teachers at the school, who are known as hostel “mothers.”

Dear Cheryl,

I gave a presentation this evening to prospective parents of our next year’s

hostel. To my pleasant surprise I found out that on their first weekend the

hostel “mother” spends some time with the new boarders taking them

through boarding house scenarios using the TOC tools. She says it gives

them understanding of how the hostel works and how to solve problems. The

proactive approach does much to prevent problems and also provides a way

of establishing the TOC methodology in the event of future problems.

Maybe new classes starting in September should start with an Ambitious

Target for the year and then try typical scenarios to establish the rules for

the classroom for the year.

Good luck to all those with a September start to the new school year.

Love and African greetings,

Francois

QUOTE

(3) Experience by itself teaches nothing. You must have a theory and you

must take action." —Dr. W. Edwards Deming

EDITORS’ NOTES

(4) Kay Buckner-Seal, Cheryl A. Edwards

Thanks, Zana and Francois, for sharing with us. As mentioned in Zana’s

article, she needs feedback from you to make plans for the conference.

TACTics is also great venue for such correspondence. So, 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

cedwards@cedarville.net or bucknek@earthlink.net.

You may also view TACTics in its intended formatting, by visiting our web

site at www.tocforeducation.com. Click on “What’s New.”