TACTics Journal
A Publication for and by TOC for Education Practitioners
May 7, 2004


In this week’s issue:
Elementary/Secondary TACTics
(1) A Quest for TOCFE, Mike Round
Networking
(2) TOCFE Presentations, Cal Haliburton
Reader’s Feedback
(3) Linda Lily
Editors’ Notes
(4) Kay Buckner-Seal, Cheryl A. Edwards


ELEMENTARY/SECONDARY TACTICS
(1) A Quest for TOCFE
From Mike Round, TOCFE Director, USA

The Thinking Process of The Theory of Constraints provides students the ability to learn well, to learn rapidly, and to learn with joy. One crucial element that is not measured at all in the educational “metric” system is communication in the learning process. As students, we may take a speech class, and we may participate in an after-school debate/forensics activity, and that's the extent of us sharing information with the class. K-12 typically means facing the teacher and listening to the teacher. Period.

From this “one-way” system, “experts” now classify children: learning personalities, introverts/extroverts, multiple intelligences, etc. These may all legitimately describe children, but as TOC absolutely breaks free of this entire “face-the-teacher” paradigm, we really do not know what the possibilities of children are?

The simple “if-then” branches afford the “shy” child the ability to do quality research, construct a tree, validate and improve the tree, and go to the front of the class and present with confidence—and little practice—their work! They can simply read the tree, the classroom checking and questioning the validity of the statements, and from this comes a quality dialogue with all learning well. A speech class? I think not! Speech and communication incorporated into all aspects of the curriculum? I think so!

In our quest to get some documented classroom success stories about the massive and rapid improvement possible via TOCTP, to all teachers out there: Take a subject... take just the if-then branch material, and have your students construct a tree or multiple trees. Check the work. Get them in front of the class. Does any class in this country teach like this? No way!

Here are four examples for students that afford an easy transition to the "if-then" terminology:

• WWII
Columbus and America
• Lightning and Thunder (cause, speed at which we sense them, etc.)
• Angles (acute, obtuse, right) and the relationship to triangles (scalene, equilateral, etc.)

Please let me know if you teachers can, in any way, participate in this, and, if so, if there is anything you need from the TOCFE network.


NETWORKING
(2) TOCFE Presentations
From Cal Haliburton, USA

Mike Round and Sears Taylor gave presentations at a mathematics conference this weekend in Seattle. They both might have some hot stuff for Tactics.

Also, I've had a presentation accepted for the "Idea Frontier" in Windsor on June 4-6. The title of the presentation is “Tools of Choice for Children and Adults.” You can see the total program at www.ideafrontier.org. The theme of the conference is creativity and invention. My presentation description follows:

Invent. Innovate. Create. Choose. What direction, what color, what word, what material, inside or outside, up or down, back or forth, constraint or no constraint, who to work, when to work, where to work, how to work, why work. The choices flood our senses, fill our mind, and steep for a lifetime in our soul. Tools of choice provide questions and surface assumptions to challenge, guide, and inform choices. Tools of choice present a graphical logic format easily learned by children and adults. Based on the Theory of Constraints, the tools of choice are being taught to millions of students by more than thirty-thousand teachers worldwide. Learn about and practice using the tools of choice.


Reader’s Feedback
(3) Linda Lilly

I found your email on the TOCFE website and was interested in receiving the TACTics newsletter. I'm not clear as to whether there is a charge for this newsletter, or is it mailed or e-mailed? I would certainly appreciate receiving the newsletter.

I was trained in the tools several years ago during the "Odyssey Program” and my sister, Judy Yetter, is a TOC consultant. I am planning to teach the tools to a group of homeschoolers that I am involved with. We have several outreach projects that we are beginning, and I know that these tools will be a huge benefit!

Thank you for your time.


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

Thanks to all for sharing with us this week. And, to our new TACTics reader, Dr. Eli Goldratt donates the knowledge of TOC to students and educators worldwide. The TACTics Journal serves as a communication vehicle for everyone interested in disseminating this knowledge to the education world. Like the knowledge Dr. Goldratt donates—TACTics is also free.

With that said, we certainly would love to hear from you. Mike Round in particular has requested your feedback. 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.”