TACTics Journal
A Publication for and by TOC for Education Practitioners
In this week’s issue:
Connections
(1) A Short, True Story, Kathy Suerken
Editors’ Notes
(2)
CONNECTIONS
From Kathy Suerken (
A Short, TRUE Story
by Kathy Suerken
Prologue
“If I know how to solve
problems on my own, then I won't have
to give up on my Goal.” —Yani, THE STORY OF YANI'S GOAL
Riding the train with a “little engine
that could” to Eli’s business
conference in
delivery and release of our children’s story will
also move TOCFE
toward the goal in more substantive ways than
even I dare to dream.
A Beginning
"The question makes Yani aware of
possibilities in life of which
he has never even
dreamed." —From THE STORY OF YANI'S GOAL
As usual, the ways begin to crystallize
for me because of a question! As I
excitedly place the CD-ROM into Eli Goldratt’s
hand, he asks, “How much
time do you need to present the e-learning
package to this conference of
businessmen?” I instantly regret the limitation I
give myself with a too
hasty answer: “30 minutes.”
Can you imagine me explaining ANYTHING in
a mere 30 minutes? Is this a
scary Ambitious Target or what?!
How can I meet my responsibility to you
to share this package of TOCFE
materials so that your work, purpose and vision
for children is personified
through my mere—and succinct!—words?
I don't want to do this ALONE!
“I
get by with a little help from my friends.”
“Yani does not like being all by
himself. He begins to
think he should have brought a
friend. ‘I’m all alone,’
he says to the Teacher. ‘I need help. I want to go
back
to get a friend.’”
I don't need to look far or long for a
friend(s). After all, I am at a TOC
event! Rami Goldratt offers technical assistance and advice for the
presentation and then a “precious
present” is delivered from a new friend,
Alan Barnard, a TOC business consultant
from
“Kathy,
when I received an advance copy of the
package a few weeks ago, I presented some of it
at a company where I
am doing TOC consulting. One of these
clients asked to take the CD-ROM
home to review.”
Alan proceeds to tell me that this
client-parent doesn’t make his children
read it. This father is really Socratic!
(Good job, Alan!) As the parent
reads through the story, his children notice
and come to watch. On their
own initiative, they then use the cloud to
very effectively resolve a
conflict over a toy. The father notes that the
identification of their needs
was a real eye-opener and would not have
been possible without the tool.
As Alan shares this wonderful
testimonial, my intuition tells me this Alan
needs to be included in the presentation. As
it turns out, there is an
additional value-added comment from this
client-parent and Alan
generously “passes it on”:
“Not
only does the Yani story work with kids,” says the
client-parent, “It
also works with me. This is the first time I
ever really understood the
cloud!”
“In
learning, you will teach. In teaching, you will learn.”
“Yani, you sound just like a teacher.”
—Peter, The STORY OF YANI'S GOAL
The next morning I receive the following
note that makes me realize the
truly wonderful synergy that exists between
education and business and
that everyone at this conference is my (our)
friend. Just like Yani, I do
not need to go someplace else to find a
friend. I only need to open my
eyes! I use them to read the words of Ravi Gilani of India:
“I
compliment TOCFE for the excellent work you have done for teaching
thinking processes to the children. In fact, I
find it so useful that I intend
to use the same (Yani)
to teach the thinking processes to adults. Keep
up the good work!”
I hear his idea and enthusiasm echo from
others, including Julie Wright,
who works with the British Health Care
System and who tells me she too
plans to incorporate the Yani
story into her TOC trainings.
Thus, the supply for CD-ROMs quickly
exceeds the small supply I have with
me. In the queue for them is Rong-Kwei Li, a University colleague of
(www.tocforschools.com) and hands me a donation of (
the comment, “We love TOCFE in
A TOC Viable Vision Through
Collaboration
“Solving problems with the help of friends can be a lot of fun and
it also
helps me to do a better job.” —Yani, STORY OF YANI's GOAL
There are lot of
people from this conference who are seriously committed
to helping get TOCFE into schools and they
are already following through.
You’ll be hearing more about all of them
but here is one example e-mailed
from Satoru Murakami of
“…I
believe that your TOC for education is very good for Japanese
children and parents. I brought your CD-ROM, “Yani's Goal,” from
that this is very nice and easily understood
the way to teach the thinking
process. I strongly believe “Yani's Goal” is just fit to Japanese children…
So I think, is it possible to translate
into Japanese?”
It will not come as a surprise that the
focus of Eli’s conference is on how
to create and implement a viable vision. By
now, I am beginning to feel
very encouraged that our package will help to
unleash the needed
marketing, qualitative delivery and financial
support that will most
unequivocally ensure our TOCFE viable vision in
education.
The “package” is both a global and local
means to this vision as evident in
an evaluation from educator, Carolyn
Reynolds, who lives in…Niceville,
ages within a traditional school system. She
writes:
“The
Yani materials available for site use at the
school-based level are
exciting and unique in that all faculty members,
parents, and students
become skilled with the same problem solving
language and tools.
Communication between home and school
will be greatly facilitated while
empowering our students to take on the personal
responsibility of
problem solving in a cooperative manner.
It has been my experience that teens and
adults enjoy the delightful
interactive storybook format of teaching the tools.
It appeals to all ages
and levels of personal sophistication.”
Carolyn’s testimonial is based on the
combined Yani package, which
contains:
· 3 Units for Parents/Counselors on TOC in
Behavior
· 3 Units for Teachers on how to teach
existing curriculum through
TOC to achieve measurable academic
Standards and Benchmarks
· Yani’s story for children (of all ages),
includes content lessons
If we agree that the “vital triangle” of
students, teachers, and parents
has a domino effect on society, then…
Definitely Not the Ending!
"…And if so, then the process starts all over again."
—From Understanding The Water Cycle, A content example, THE
STORY OF YANI’S GOAL
The plot of THE STORY OF YANI’S GOAL has a moral that is:
You can
achieve your goals in life if you think through your decisions so
that
they lead to win/win actions.
As Yani learns the tools needed
to effectively learn this moral, he
develops the self-confidence to take responsibility for his own
actions…and learning. In the process of discovering what he needs
to
know to be a responsible, independent thinker, he also comes to
realize he will have a more positive influence on others and…a
more
meaningful life…if he collaborates and learns from them.
According to Yani, “If you plan well and work together as a team, you can
make almost any wish come true.”
EDITORS’ NOTES
(2)
For more information and to order, The Story of Yani’s Goal, please visit:
www.tocforschools.com.
Feel free to share with us. Send your responses, applications of
the thinking
processes, lessons, announcements, and
etc. by mail to: Cheryl A. Edwards,
to
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