TACTics Journal
A Publication for and by TOC for Education Practitioners
In this week’s issue:
Readers’ Response: The Delivery Cloud
(1)
Barbara Riester
(2)
Denise Meyer
(3)
Cheryl A. Edwards
Connections
(4)
8th Annual TOCFE Conference
Editors’ Notes
(5)
Kay Buckner-Seal, Cheryl A. Edwards
READERS’ RESPONSE: THE DELIVERY CLOUD
In last week’s TACTics, Danilo Sirias
asked our readers, “How would you break this cloud?” Read
on to
enjoy our readers’ responses.
A: In
order to have effective delivery of content,
B: I must provide students with a sense of direction.
In order to provide students with a sense of direction,
D: I must present the big picture first and then explain the details.
On the other hand…
A: In order to have effective delivery of content,
C: I must create a sense of discovery (be Socratic).
In order to provide students with a sense of discovery (be Socratic),
D’: I must start with a detail and then build up to complete the big picture.
(1) Barbara
Riester
Interesting discussion. When I took my
initial Jonah training as a “business
person,” before TOC for Education
existed, the Goldratt Institute taught
everything using a Socratic Approach. Eli
firmly believed, and I agree, that
as the solutions were developed, the learning experience
was much more
“powerful” and exciting. Not being a teacher by trade, I had
never heard of
the Socratic Approach, but once exposed to it, I realized
it is perfect for
any discussion involving cause and effect ideas.
I
am also a Red Cross Disaster Instructor, and the
materials we receive (and
the teaching technique we are supposed to use) definitely
represents the
first technique outlined by Danilo.
However, I have found that for those
who are more “educationally advanced,” this technique is
“boring.” If my
class is a group of college students,
I do not need to “state” the same thing
three times!
The solution that has worked for me?
…Varying the technique depending on
your audience. To do so means the instructor must feel
comfortable with
either technique and quickly adapt to
her audience. Sometimes this isn't
possible the first couple of times I
teach a course, but the more
comfortable I am with the material, the
easier it becomes to modify my
delivery method. In fact, changing the
delivery method keeps me from
getting bored with teaching the same
material multiple times!
(2) Denise
Meyer
In
regard to Danilo's cloud, I feel there is a deeper
need for B. When I
have not begun with an overview of what we are going to
do, the audience
feels like we’re playing a trick on
them—like we are taking them for a ride
that we have decided on and they have no choice over. With
a professor or
instructor, they feel obligated to go on
that mysterious ride because of the
grade they want to get or approval
from those who set up the class. I
believe the B of the cloud is something
much deeper like: “Students have a
personal sense of purpose for the
lesson.”
One
way that I have broken the cloud is to build up enough of an interest in
what I'm going to say that they want to listen to me. To
present the
strategies in such a way that they have
lots of wonder as to how it is done
but [they] are not quite clear on what is being done.
Usually that means by
presenting my introductory information in a
cloud without telling them that
that is what we are going to learn. In other words, show
them the power of
what I will teach through modeling. In other words, I
don't show the
diagram with the wants, needs and common
objective labeled; I just use it to
talk about the problem they are there to resolve. If I am
effective in doing
that, they will want what I have to offer.
The
way I have done that in the past is to preview my audience before the
session, ask about their conflicts, and
do a generic cloud on their conflicts.
That
generic cloud—if I have been careful in building it—hits them so square
between the eyes that they want to know
more.
(3) Cheryl
Edwards
Actually,
Danilo, I do not believe there is only one “best” way to teach. I
think there are a variety of
methodologies and, depending on the learner,
the learning environment, and material to be learned, the
teacher must
select the best to meet the needs of
the whole situation. What works in one
situation may not be the best in another.
If that is true, then as teachers,
we should be constantly asking ourselves, “Is this the
best way or is that?”
Which gets us to Danilo’s Cloud.
Is it best to give the whole picture and
then break it into its parts, or is it better to start
with a small detail and
build? I agree with Danilo, that as educators,
we frequently face this
dilemma.
This
is how I worked through the Delivery Cloud that Danilo presented. I
am not going to list all of the assumptions that I
generated; only a couple of
the ones I can invalidate.
B/D
In
order to provide students with a sense of direction we MUST:
Present
the big picture first and then explain the details.
B/D
Assumptions:
•
There are no other ways for students to see the “big picture” besides
telling them and then explaining
details. (Hmmm…really? Why?)
•
We must explain the details after presenting the big picture. Why? Is
telling students the details really
necessary for them to get the big picture
and a sense of direction?
Can’t
we find a way to present the big picture (agenda, graphics, etc.) to give
a sense of direction, and then let them discover the
details? Do we really
have to give them the details to provide them with an
overall idea of the
concept to be learned?
C/D
In
order to create a sense of discovery (be Socratic) we MUST start with a
detail and then build up to complete
big picture.
C/D
Assumptions:
•
Students will only learn if they are allowed to build understanding—build
up to the big picture—the concept to be learned.
•
A sense of discovery is in finding the details. (Hmmm…)
Because, IF I
give all the details there is nothing left to discover? (Hmmm, Really?)
BUT is there more to discover? Couldn’t students learn through guided
discovery the “whys” behind each detail fulfilling the need for a sense
of discovery?
In this case wouldn’t they be learning the basis for the
working of the process or the theory
behind the concept? Isn’t that what
we really want—students who have the skills to
understand rather than just
to memorize, students who are able to independently get
to deep knowledge?
So,
I think, based on these assumptions that I would solve the conflict by
presenting the students with a big picture,
along with the necessary prior
knowledge, and after analyzing the whole
situation I would continue with one
of the following that would be the most appropriate:
•
Give the details and guide students through discovering the reasons
behind the details, helping them to
build deeper knowledge. Or,
•
give students a starting point (big picture) and send them on a voyage of
discovery to find the details and then
guide them to use this new
knowledge to build toward an understanding
of the concept/process.
If
you’re teaching the cloud you’re teaching a process. IF you present the
basic cloud (defining the problem)
aren’t you providing students with the big
picture, a sense of direction? They see
the graphic and understand they are
learning a process to define and solve a
problem/make a decision, etc. The
teacher can then Socratically
guide the students toward discovering the
rest of the steps AND the “whys” behind each step. Would
you agree that
discovering these “whys” is what makes the
learning more than just
memorization? Learning is so effective that
students have enough
knowledge of the concept to be able to use
it in other situations whether in
academics, business or the latest
disagreement with their best friend,
significant other, or child.
Letting
the students find their own “ahas” creates more than
a sense of
discovery it also provides motivation for
and a love of learning.
CONNECTIONS
(4) 8th
Annual TOCFE Conference
8th
Annual TOCFE Conference
Location:
Dates: Thursday, May 20 -
Conference: Intercontinental Hotel in New
Accommodations: Jugoslavija
Hotel
If
you would like to book rooms at the Jugoslavija Hotel,
you can do that
through the Miross Travel Agency.
The person to contact is:
Ms.
Dobrila Puzic
dobrila@miross.co.yu
Miross Travel Agency
Svetogorska 4,
Tel/Fax:
+381 11 33 44 945
+381
11 33 44 510
+381
11 33 44 529
EDITORS’ NOTES
(5) Kay
Buckner-Seal, Cheryl A. Edwards
Thanks
to all for sharing your perspectives on Danilo’s
“Delivery Cloud” this
week. However, there are a lot of other assumptions that
could be broken.
Won’t
you please share your thoughts 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 kayseal@comcast.net.
This
week’s TACTics includes a Cloud graphic, which can be seen in its pdf
version. Please note that the pdf version is attached, however you must
have Acrobat Reader to
open the file. It is freely available for download from:
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If you have the
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installed but still can’t open the file, drag it from this e-mail to your
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You
may also view TACTics in its intended formatting, by visiting our web
site at www.tocforeducation.com. Click on “What's New.”