TACTics Journal
A Publication for and by TOC for Education Practitioners
In this week’s issue:
Elementary/Secondary TACTics
(1) Annotated Book List: Ambitious Target, Cheryl A. Edwards
Connections
(2) 7th International TOCFE Conference
Editors’ Notes
(3) Kay Buckner-Seal, Cheryl A. Edwards
ELEMENTARY/SECONDARY TACTics
(1) Annotated Book List: Ambitious Target
By Cheryl A. Edwards
My main objective as I develop lessons using any of the TOC
Thinking Tools
is to guide students towards a
deeper understanding of text—to go beyond
the literal, to engage them in
critical thinking.
As I researched for appropriate literature, fiction and
nonfiction, I have
found that we can use the
Ambitious Target tool when we encounter a
character or group of characters, past
or present, who have an important
goal that they want to achieve.
Depending on the application used, I have
found the Ambitious Target can be
used to guide students to:
· Learn about the obstacles characters encounter that prevent them
from
achieving their goals,
· Identify specific actions taken to overcome these obstacles,
· Determine why the actions taken were successful/unsuccessful in
overcoming obstacles,
· Gain an understanding of why a goal was not achieved by uncovering
missed obstacles or ineffective
actions that prevented success,
· Synthesize all the information to determine the necessary
ingredients
for achieving ambitious targets
and
· Bring relevancy of their new knowledge to their own lives and the
world
around them.
Guided Questions: Understanding Obstacles,
Actions, and Common Goals
Before Reading/Setting a Purpose for
Ö What is the important goal that the character(s) is trying to
achieve?
Ö What obstacles do you think the character will encounter?
During
Ö Read to confirm your list of obstacles and discover others the
characters encountered.
Ö Read to find what actions the character(s) took to overcome the
obstacles.
After
Ö Which actions caused the character(s) to successfully achieve
their
goal?
Ö Why do you think these actions were effective in overcoming the
obstacles?
AND/OR
Ö Which actions were not successful in overcoming obstacles?
Ö Why do you think these actions were not effective?
Ö Which obstacles (if any) were overlooked and prevented the
characters from achieving their goal?
Ö Why did overlooking these obstacles prevent achievement of the
goal?
Ö What would you have done differently to overcome
the obstacles?
Ö Why do you think it would have been more successful?
Making Connections: Finding Relevance
Ö Think of a person (or group of people) who recently tried to
accomplish an important goal. Discuss
using the appropriate questions
from the above list.
Ö Think of a time when you tried to achieve an
important goal, etc.
Ö Share
Other Applications: Involving students in
thinking that goes beyond
surface level knowledge
“Bad People” or “Bad Actions”?
Often we judge people (or animals) based on the actions they have
taken. Using an example from text
guide students in understanding
the thinking (logical or flawed)
behind the actions people have taken
to overcome their obstacles.
Discuss:
· the implications of the actions on others,
· the possibility of different actions that could have been taken to
assure overcoming their obstacles
while not hurting anyone,
· the perceptions we get of someone when they take an action that
benefits them but is harmful to
others,
· the implications of not thinking through how the actions we take
will affect others and
· the importance of taking responsibility for our
own actions.
Different Perceptions
If there is any disagreement, misunderstanding or a lack of
clarity in
the stated goal, then,
understandably, it becomes difficult to achieve.
Using a specific example from text, guide students, through
questioning, to an understanding of why
it is critical for everyone
involved in achieving a common goal
to have a clear understanding and
agreement of that goal.
Annotated Book List:
· Clean Your Room Harvey Moon , by Pat
Cummings
Macmillan Books for Young Readers
Before
Anyone ever face this situation?
· Chessie the
Traveling Man, by Randy Houk
Reader’s Digest Young Families, Inc.
Chessie, an
adventuresome Manatee, must successfully navigate the
dangerous waters to get back to his
summer home. What obstacles will
he encounter?
· Don’t Talk to Strangers, Pooh, by
Kathleen W. Zoehfeld
Based on the Pooh stories by A. A. Milne -Disney Press
Christopher Robin is walking to his Grandmother’s house alone for
the
first time. How can he be safe?
Great bridge for discussing safety
issues with young children.
· Protecting Themselves, by Ann Coleridge
1989 Modern Curriculum Press
Animals face danger everyday. How do they overcome these
obstacles?
· Winking Blinking, Wiggling, and Waggling by Brian Moses
2000 D K Publishing
Early elementary book about animals overcoming their obstacles.
· Build Our Nation, How Does Cooperating Make Work
Easier?
Houghton Mifflin, p. 192 and 193
Farmers team up to overcome some of the obstacles they encounter
in
making a successful living on a
farm.
· Little House Farm Days, adapted from Little House Books by Laura
Ingalls Wilder, HarperCollins Children’s Books
Pioneers face all kinds of obstacles and Laura’s family is no
different.
Find out what actions they took to overcome these obstacles and
reach
their goals.
CONNECTIONS
(2) 7th International TOCFE Conference
Today is the first day of the 7th
International TOCFE Conference, which will
be in session until May 19 at
the Ramada Plaza Beach Resort in
collegiality of TOCFE practitioners from
around the world within the
context of beautiful weather and the
sandy beach of the
Feedback on the various workshops and guest speakers will be
published in
upcoming issues of TACTics. For a view of our colleagues’ accommodations,
go this website: http://www.ramadafwb.com.
EDITOR’S NOTES
(3) Kay
Buckner-Seal, Cheryl A. Edwards
TACTics readers
would love to hear about any books or applications for the
Ambitious Target, Logic Branch or Cloud you have discovered to
help
students better think about and
understand text. 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.,
cedwards@cedarville.net or bucknek@earthlink.net.