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

May 16-19, 2003

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.”