TACTics Journal
A Publication for and by TOC for Education Practitioners
In this week’s issue:
Connections
(1)
TOC is Fun, Francois Knoll
(2)
Visas for
(3)
8th Annual TOCFE Conference
Editors’ Notes
(4)
Kay Buckner-Seal, Cheryl A. Edwards
CONNECTIONS
(1) TOC is
Fun!
From
Francois Knoll,
What
a pleasant week I've just had with TOC. On Friday I took our RCL
(Representative
Council of Learners)—in other words the elected student
leaders—on
a camp to plan our programme for the year. I was aware of time
constraints
so while we were gathered around the fire making food, I subtly
posed
the questions: "What is preventing us from being a very effective
RCL?"
and "What have we not done yet that will lead to us being an effective
RCL?"
This was rather more informal than my usual approach in these
matters
but what was significant was how enthused they became with the
process.
Instead of allowing me to go to bed after supper (!), they wanted
to
carry on with the "strategic plan" (as I had called it). By the end
of the
evening
we had the plan in place with all the IOs sequenced and
responsibility
for each IO delegated in such a way that all the learners had
responsibility
for and in the plan.
Reporting
back to the school they were so proud of themselves that they
were
already claiming that they were the most effective and organized RCL
ever!
We know that the tools are very effective but what interested me
was
the emotional benefits that accrued—we know that confidence, synergy,
enthusiasm
are all essential to leadership training but we rarely find a way
of
teaching it so quickly to so many.
Yesterday,
I had the opportunity to share my discursive/argumentative
writing
tool with all the English second-language teachers in my hometown.
For
the half-hour I had to present. They were riveted and thoroughly
engaged
in the process. It is so exciting to see some fire back in teachers’
eyes!
Next, I will have the opportunity to take this throughout the region to
other
English teachers because the Departmental representative (my English
boss
really!) could so clearly see a need that was being addressed. Of
course,
I managed to drop a few hints that I had a tool that was useful for
analysing
conflicts in stories and a narrative writing tool etc.
TOC
is fun! Love to the whole network from an autumnal
some
of you in summery
(2) VISAS
for
From
Zana Borisavljevic, The
If
you are planning to attend the conference in
whether
you need a visa with the Serbian Embassy (The Union of Serbia and
we
need to send you a letter of invitation so we will need to know the names
of
the people who need visas quite soon.
That
will be the case for
colleagues
from these countries, it will be necessary to obtain the visa from
the
Serbian Embassy in
for
any other Asian country, but please double check!) Apparently it takes 3
to
4 weeks to get the visa.
The
phone number of the Serbian Embassy (The Union of Serbia and
Phone: 6221 - 314 3560
6221 - 314 3720
Fax: 6221 - 314 3613
E-mail: embajaka@rad.net.id
embajaka@indosat.net.id
My
suggestion is that the TOCFE directors in the countries where visas will
be
necessary write to me as soon as possible with the names of all the
colleagues
from their countries that will be attending the conference, so I
could
arrange for the MOE or one of our educational institutions to write
the
letter of invitation.
If
you have any questions please do not hesitate to contact me.
Zana
Borisavljevic
Phone: +381 11 427232
+381 63 853 3167
E-mail: jana.b@eunet.yu
oplus@eunet.yu
(3) 8th
Annual TOCFE Conference
Location:
Dates: Thursday, May 20 -
Conference: Intercontinental Hotel in New
Conference Fees: $50 (covers cost: 8 coffee
breaks, 4 sandwich lunches)
Accommodations: Jugoslavija Hotel
•
Single room: $42 to $62
•
Double room: $60 to $90
•
Breakfast included
• Room rates depend on how recently rooms have been renovated
• All prices are in
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
(4) Kay
Buckner-Seal, Cheryl A. Edwards
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
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
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installed but still can't open the file, drag it from this e-mail to your
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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.”