TACTics Journal
A Publication for and by TOC for Education Practitioners
May 21, 2004


In this week’s issue:
Networking
(1) Announcing the TOCFE Virtual Conference and A Call for Presentations, Kathy Suerken
Reader’s Feedback
(2) Rafael Conde
Connections
(3) Joyful News!, Kathy Suerken
Quote
(4) F. Scott Fitzgerald
Editors’ Notes
(5) Kay Buckner-Seal, Cheryl A. Edwards


NETWORKING
(1) Announcing the TOCFE Virtual Conference and a Call for Presentations!
From Kathy Suerken <suerken@cox.net>

I am greatly honored to announce that Saginaw Valley State University, Michigan, USA will host a TOCFE Virtual Conference Sept 18-21, 2004.

Here's how it works. All you really need is access to the Internet. Registered participants and presenters will receive detailed, simple instructions on how to participate on line. It works a lot like instant messaging. PowerPoint presentations and papers can be downloaded prior (or later) to the actual interactive presentation/discussion. Dr. Danilo Sirias will be setting up the schedule that will of course involve many time zones. Isn't that exciting!!!!!

Some of the many benefits of this type of event are:

- Allows for participation by those who would not be able to travel to an event
- Allows for interactive participation--asking questions within an international TOC audience.
- Allows for people to benefit from all tracks because you can review (download) presentations at your convenience. They will remain posted at the site.

Costs: Exact amount will be announced soon but it will not be more than $25 to participate for the 4 days. Should we be able to include some sessions for classroom children to interact, they will be exempt from any fees.

Call for Presenters/Papers. Your presentation can be a paper or a PowerPoint presentation that would need to be downloaded by session participants ahead of time.

We will be offering several tracks:
- TOC in Academic Content
- TOC in Behavior
- TOC in Administration
- Special Topics: Such as presentations in Spanish*, research projects and table discussions on certain topics. 

*Footnote: We do not have the capability to offer participation in foreign languages that do not use the Roman alphabet.

If you are interested in being a presenter, you need to submit:
- your name
- email address
- the “track” your presentation falls under, and
- an abstract of not more than 200 words by June 15 2004.
Please submit your abstract to: Dr. Danilo Sirias at dsirias@svsu.edu.

A round of applause to Dr. Danilo Sirias, volunteer research scholar, who is donating his time and expertise to make all of these arrangements. Danilo will have to handle most of the set up which he tells me has to be done well in advance of the event. So we ask your support and cooperation in answering the call for presentations at your earliest convenience. Thank you Danilo!


READER’S FEEDBACK
(2) Rafael Conde

Dear Editors,

TACTics is a wonderful publication and a very helpful tool for us to improve our skills for teaching TOCFE in schools. But the current issue from Sears Taylor is awesome; it is really outstanding. I encourage you to follow this methodology in your classroom—it puts the math world in the right place: to enjoy and learn!

We are going to translate it and will place it on our TOCFE web page in Spanish at www.tocfe.com. Thank you, Sears, for such a great contribution to improve our educational skills.

Rafael


CONNECTIONS
(3) Joyful News!
From Kathy Suerken <suerken@cox.net>

- Baby girl to Becky and Jeff Rideout, who is Co-Director of AGOAL Academy.
- Baby boy to Gerry and Christina Cheng, who is Director of TOCFE, Singapore.
- Baby boy to Miri and Rami Goldratt, who is our TOCFE mentor extraordinaire.


QUOTE
(4) The test of a first-rate intelligence is the ability to hold two opposed ideas in the mind at the same time, and still retain the ability to function."
—F. Scott Fitzgerald


EDITORS’ NOTES
(5) Kay Buckner-Seal, Cheryl A. Edwards

Congratulations to the proud parents in our TOCFE family!

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., Cedarville, Michigan 49719, USA. Or send hyperlink to cedwards@cedarville.net or kayseal@comcast.net.

Please note that the pdf version of TACTics is attached. You must have Acrobat Reader to open the file. It is freely available for download from: http://www.adobe.com/products/acrobat/readstep.html. If you have the Reader installed but still can't open the file, drag it from this e-mail to your desktop, launch the Reader, and open from the FILE menu.

You may also view TACTics in its intended formatting, by visiting our web site at www.tocforeducation.com. Click on “What’s New.”