TACTics Journal
A Publication for and by TOC for Education Practitioners
In this week’s issue:
Networking
(1) PAR2: A Student-Owned
Editor’s Notes
(2)
NETWORKING
(1) PAR2: A Student-Owned
By Belinda Small, B.S., M.Ed., Classroom Teacher,
Introduction
Perform, Perform, Perform! Higher scores,
better gains, more improvement!
My seventh grade language arts students in the Panhandle of
Florida feel
tremendous pressure to perform on
standardized test day. This is likely the
case for most every
with sweaty palms on that anxiety
stricken day in March. The test score
results are very important. Please,
don’t get me wrong; I want more than
higher test scores for my students.
My highest calling is to foster the lifelong
love of reading and learning. But
the reality in my state, and many
others, is that numbers measure
success.
Background
In January, I was approached by Kathy Suerken to do some action
research
with Dr. Danilo
Sirias from
she asked me share some
classroom experiences using the TOCFE critical
thinking tools at the 7th Annual International Theory of Constraints for
Education Conference 2003 held in
thrilled to be invited.
I had been lucky enough to be involved with the group in 1993 when
the
Theory of Constraints win-win techniques were first introduced to
a group
of educators. TOC provided
exciting cutting edge information back in 1993;
thus I anticipated this project
to be just as inspiring. I eagerly accepted
the invitation to present. Then
I decided my focus with students would be
on reading. The high-stake
reading assessment was looming in the next
couple weeks; thus, it was foremost
on my mind.
Overview
The following narrative includes a step-by-step account of my
classroom
experience using one of the TOCFE
tools, the Ambitious Target. I will
explain the student/teacher-created
reading method that resulted from
using the Ambitious Target tool,
and I will share how students benefited
from this experience. For
teachers, I have included a couple other points of
interest regarding delivery method,
future suggestions, and statistical
findings. The purpose of this article
is to share this classroom application of
the tool with those that could
not attend the conference and those
interested in effective reading
strategies.
Step 1: Defining the Ambitious Target
I defined my ambitious target as follows: “To dramatically
increase reading
test scores.”
Step 2: Raising the Obstacles
I solicited student participation, “What blocks you from
increasing your
FCAT* test scores?”
*For non-Floridian readers, FCAT is our state’s standardized test,
which is administered in
February. Students and teachers are accountable for showing gains from year
to year.
Currently, the
questions only.
Students admitted to having many anxiety-related obstacles that
kept them
from performing their best. In
fact, there were so many obstacles, that I
wanted to “hang it up” because it
was obvious that the students’ test-taking
confidence was down the toilet. They
feared it. And frankly, so did I.
Obstacle after obstacle sounded like whining and complaining.
(Sounded
like? Heck! It WAS whining and
complaining!) Some examples from the
high pitched pre-teen voices were
like, “The test is too long,” “I get stuck
and can’t remember,” and “All the answers look the
same!” One enthusiastic
participant was brave enough to tell me
the passages on last year’s test were
“all stupid.” He said that he “could not
relate to the one article about
building a bird feeder after school
because he would NEVER in his life build
a bird feeder in his spare
time!” Another braver student blurted, “(The
test) is all just a bunch of
unadulterated crap!” I had to think about that
one. I might learn something if
I allowed him to explain. However, I decided
that moving on would be in all of
our best interest. Thank you very much.
Life After Being Webbed With Tons of
Obstacles
Beneath the thick hazy list of obstacles, I began to see some
similar
patterns. My next step was to manage
the list of obstacles. I found the list
of obstacles more manageable when
I put them into two groups. Though this
is not typical step in the
Ambitious Target process, it worked for my
purpose. When I broke the obstacles
down, I saw groups. In this case, a
group dealing with insecurities
about content and a group just down right
insecure. It was clear that students
doubted their ability to perform on
test day.
Secondly, in creating the tree, I also found it helpful to break
down the
action sequence into groups and
give each group of actions a name. Later in
the process, this became very
important.
Using the ABC Method on One Grouping: Content Mastery
The students and I surfaced many obstacles dealing with their lack
of
content mastery. They became very
open with me about where they felt
their skills were inferior. In order to tackle these content obstacles, Dr.
Sirias and I began working the ABC
method with the students. I noted
practice test scores were on the
rise. Dr. Sirias and his international team
of teachers shared this ABC
method and research later during the
conference.
Step 3: Creating the Intermediate
Objectives
After we started making the intermediate objectives, attitudes
began to
shift. All of a sudden, there
seemed to some simple things we could do. For
example, “The test is too long” was
overcome by the intermediate objective
“Make it shorter.” However, this alone did not create a specific
enough
answer. Therefore, the class
discussion brightened even more when I asked,
“How can we make the passage seem shorter?” The class decided a
good
specific action would be to “Use a
pencil to divide the passage into smaller
chunks.” One by one we tacked the
obstacles.
Naming Specific and “Visible” Action Verbs
It was very important for students to take most of the
intermediate
objectives and make the phrase cause an
action that could be seen on paper.
It was not sufficient to simply say that during the “preview
stage” of
reading, a reader should “read the
title” and “look at the visuals.” The action
box seemed more effective if it
read, “Put a check after the title (once you
have read it)” and “Put a check next to all visuals (once you have
studied the
picture).” These specific verb
beginnings also helped me to see and monitor
progress during practice. This way I
could visibly see more of what students
were thinking and doing as they
read and answered questions.
Step 4: Sequencing the Actions
I handed out a sample reading passage. I helped students sequence
the
steps by asking, “What is the
first thing that we should do?” Then I led
with “If we do _______, then
what should we do?” My vocal emphasis was
placed on the words, “if” and
“then.” I plotted the map on the overhead as
we worked the logic, repeating
the “if-then” statements. All students were
engaged and took notes. All of the
original specific actions were
incorporated into our sequence steps.
Plus, students added more specific
actions that occurred in the logic
as we built the model. This was a great
asset because I could also
formulate leading questions if students were
missing important elements. Once we
began breaking the reading process
down, the class was surprised by
how much they really knew about critical
reading.
Please Note: Due to the length of this fine article, we will be
publishing it
in several parts. Be sure to
read about the “Results of Using the Ambitious
Target” in next week’s TACTics.
EDITOR’S NOTES
(2)
Wow, Belinda, your account of this process is most engaging! In
the course
of overcoming their
weaknesses…their fears, the students discovered their
strengths! There is much that teachers
and students can learn from your
experience. Thanks for sharing and we
are eager to publish the next part of
your piece in next week’s TACTics.
Several persons, who have shared their 7th International TOCFE
Conference experience in TACTics during the past few months, have
mentioned the “ABC Method” presented
by Danilo Sirias. His
presentation
must have been powerful and we
hope to publish more about it in a future
edition of our newsletter.
To the rest of our TOCFE family, give us some feedback! Send your
responses to TACTics
articles, applications of the thinking processes,
lessons, announcements, and etc. by
mail to: Cheryl A. Edwards, 2253 S. Hill
Island Rd.,
You may also view TACTics in its
intended formatting, by visiting our web
site at www.tocforeducation.com. Click on "What's New."