TACTics Journal
A Publication for and by TOC for Education Practitioners
In this week’s issue:
Reader’s Response
(1) TOC, Diversity and Poetry, Judy Holder
Editors’ Notes
(2)
READER’S RESPONSE
(1) TOC, Diversity and Poetry— Part 1
From Judy Holder, United Kingdom
In TACTics,
Constraints.” This week, we our featuring an article by Judy
Holder, who was inspired by Mike’s
contribution. Due to the length of Judy’s article, we will publish
it in two parts. This week will
focus on “diversity and poetry.” Next week, we will publish part
2, which focuses on
“demystifying poetry.”
Mike with his strong background in mathematics is able to find
understanding in poetry using
logical thinking. Judy, on the other hand, with her background in
linguistics sees poetry’s
demystification differently. Let's look at poetry from Judy's
perspective.
“Poetry is a mystery to me” —Mike Round
Introduction
I want to start by thanking Mike Round very much for his article
on “Poetry
and the Theory of Constraints.” This is not because I agree with
him! It’s
because he invited me to re-read a much loved and almost
over-familiar poem
with fresh eyes, and because he provoked a long struggle with my
own
thoughts about issues of language, logic, and learning.
Many years ago I studied English Literature, and I have from time
to time,
taught it too. I had never before thought about using TOC in
relation to
poetry, probably because TOC is for solving problems. And while I
too have
often found poems profoundly mysterious, unlike Mike, I’ve never
found that
an obstacle.
Poetry is a truly democratic form. Anyone can read it, nobody has
to read it,
everyone has their unique experience of it and everyone is
entitled to their
opinion. No one, however much skill and experience they have, not
even
Robert Frost, can tell you what to think of, how to think of it,
and how you
may or may not use it. If we want to use a poem to develop logical
thinking,
or teach the evaporating cloud, we can feel free to mind it for
content
relevant to our needs. If we genuinely want to use TOC tools to
teach
poetry, it will be a bit more difficult than that.
Diversity
Sometime last century, the psychologist and educator Howard
Gardner
proposed a theory of multiple intelligences. This was the idea
that
intelligence is not one global quality, but comes in distinct
strands. He
originally identified 7 intelligences: physical, musical,
visual-spatial,
mathematical, linguistic, interpersonal and intrapersonal, if I
remember
correctly, and later went on to add a couple more. He pointed out
that these
varieties of intelligence are unequally valued and developed in
our schools:
and also reminded us of what we all know anyway: very few of us
are equally
good at everything! If anyone wants more detail here are a couple
of links:
http://www.ed.psu.edu/insys/ESD/gardner/menu.html
http://www.pz.harvard.edu/
My own strengths were in language. Logic and mathematics came a
very poor
second. And as it happens, I think the two things are connected.
I vividly remember the first time I fully understood that people
who do
Maths inhabit an alien and incomprehensible universe. I must have
been
about 8, and we were doing word problems. You may even remember
the one:
“If it takes 5 men 10 days to dig a ditch, how long will it take
10 men?”
Twice the number of men, half the number of days. Easy, right?
Well wrong. Not easy. Not easy at all if what you are doing is
paying
very close attention to the meaning of the words. Because after
all, if you
have a ditch to dig, then you need to factor in how strong the
extra men are,
and whether or not they are keen to do the work, and whether or
not they
take the same number of breaks, and whether or not it rains during
the dig,
causing sandy soil to collapse and clay soil to become claggy. To
name but a
few of the dazzling possibilities. It wasn’t that I didn't know
which sum the
teacher wanted me to do. It was that I couldn't believe I was supposed
to
accept this as a true account of how the world works.
By the time I got to TOC, it should be fairly obvious that I have
had a fair
few obstacles of my own to deal with.
· hang-ups about logic and science
· all those little boxes with their mysterious little arrows and
their even
more mysterious siblings the bananas
· learning to create branches without holes so big an elephant could
slide
through them
· above all resisting the temptation to get caught up in the words.
What
do you mean the words don’t have to be perfect—they just need to
be
good enough? And what do you mean, don’t put words into the
students’
mouths when I have so many brilliant, precise and expressive ones
I’m
just bursting to teach!
I still find it hard to settle for words that are just “good
enough.” On the
other hand, without a sharp nudge from my son, imperfect logic may
well just
slip past me.
If logic is a mystery to me
And I’m afraid of what’s mysterious
Then I must manage my fear:
the tools require it.
If what we fear we don’t learn easily
But use breeds ease
Then I must practice:
the tools inspire it.
Since logic improves with use,
And I’ve spent time using it
I’ve earned what I have learned:
this poem proving it.
Poetry
If Robert Frost had written a letter to an advice column asking
for help in
resolving a rather unusual boundary dispute with a neighbour, then
knowledge of the evaporating cloud would indeed have been a great
boon.
Using it (as Mike has done in his analysis) throws a clear light
on some
important elements of this poem. What’s more, the joy Mike finds
in using
the TOC tools to explore the poem is palpable.
And yet…and yet.
Robert Frost chose to write a poem.
Why?
Mike’s goal is to understand great poetry via the TOC thinking
processes.
Did he achieve his goal? Could he have come closer to it if he had
used the
tools some other way?
Let’s step back a minute. Mike himself describes his goal as an
“ambitious
target,” and perhaps that’s the clue. The first tool for achieving
an
ambitious target isn’t clouds, or branches. It’s thinking
systematically about
the obstacles.
The ambitious target tool is so user friendly, so straightforward,
so intuitive
that sometimes it doesn’t get quite the respect it deserves. As a
tool for
thinking about what we need to do to help our students understand,
or for
working out what it is we need to do to help ourselves to learn,
it can
sometimes, in its own way, be as much of a challenge as a branch.
As it happens in this case, we know about some of Mike’s
obstacles, because
he shared them with us:
· poetry is a mystery
· I rarely understand what’s being said
· I don’t know what the poem is about
· I don’t know if the words are meant literally or metaphorically,
or a
combination
· I don’t know why the poet has written the poem
· I don’t know the significance of the poem
· I don’t know how to use the poem in my daily life
· I don’t know how to use TOC to study poems
I’m going to make an assumption. Lets assume that Mike’s obstacles
are not
unique to him, but fairly widely shared. What would an English
teacher need
to do?
· provide knowledge, experience and support to help demystify poetry
· support close attention to the words
· support a focus on meaning
· support and develop understanding of metaphor
· support exploration of the purpose of the poem
· support focus on the significance of the poem
· support personal reflection on the relevance of the poem
Even before I try to sort this out with sequencing tools, I can
see there’s a
key decision I have to make. As a teacher, do I start with
demystification, or is it the end point?
A Enjoy and understand poetry
B Develop “technical” understanding
D Start with some demystification
C Develop motivation to read poems
D’ Start with some stunning experience
I think I have one of many possible variants of a generic
developmotivation/
develop-skills cloud where the specific injection and which side
of the cloud you decide to break will depend on the exact
circumstances.
I’ve read poems with difficult boys who “hate poetry” despite
never having
read or listened to any, and where I have to provide fast positive
experience
if I don’t want to risk the classroom furniture.
But that’s not the case here. Anyone still reading must be a
volunteer. And
they’ve probably already read “Mending Wall.” So let’s start with
demystification…
…We will continue with “demystification” in next week’s TACTics!
EDITORS’ NOTES
(2)
I have a new perspective on poetry: It’s a democratic form. What a
unique
description! Judy Holder, thanks for contributing to this week’s
TACTics.
It may interest you to know that there are 15 new recipients of
our
newsletter this week. They are TOC business people who represent
the
countries of
she continues to follow up on contacts from the
feel free to share your ideas with us.
If you would like to contribute responses, applications of the
thinking
processes, lessons, announcements, and etc., then send by mail to:
Cheryl A.
Edwards,
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