TACTics Journal
A Publication for and by TOC for Education Practitioners
October 2004
In this
week’s issue:
Networking
(1) TOCFE Virtual Conference, Kathy
Suerken
(2) Excerpts from: A Conversation with Eli Goldratt,
Cheryl A. Edwards
(3) The Agony and the Ecstasy, Khaw Choon Ean
Editors’ Notes
(4) Kay Buckner-Seal, Cheryl A.
Edwards
NETWORKING
(1) TOCFE Virtual Conference: OUR Saga
From Kathy Suerken >suerken@cox.net<
Our first Virtual Conference received over 250 registrations from
34
countries. We are deeply grateful to Dr. Danilo
Sirias and Saginaw Valley
State University for hosting this event for FREE--no charge to
TOCFE or
any participant.
This conference was a big, audacious Ambitious Target and, as
such, a real
learning curve opportunity to practice TOC tools on anticipated
obstacles
(such as time differences, lack of experience in the technology or
the
equipment to support it) and those unpredictable ones we call
'Murphy.'
Such as…
While upgrading their system, the SVSU server went down the day
before
our VC, and--within 12 hours of launch-- we were forced to
postpone the
event. Additionally, the previous day, Hurricane Ivan the Terrible
paid a
visit to my own local community with 135 MPH winds, causing a lot
of damage
to our homes and infrastructure…such as electricity and
significantly
inhibiting local participation.
Yet, despite all the stress and frustration (negative branches) of
such
obstacles, they led (through trims to leverage constraints!) to
some
noteworthy positive branches because of the resiliency and
collaborative
support that is so much the hallmark of TOCFE. Such as…
• By the time we were scrambling to
send word of rescheduled event,
our Philippines network was already conducting a TOCFE upgrade
session for 45 Manila educators which they had rescheduled to
coincide with our initial launch date so that they could remain
together until 11 PM to watch the conference around a single
computer…. only to find out that it was postponed a week! Did they
find a way to reassemble a week later? As a matter of fact, the
Philippine delegation was the largest national group attending at
any
one time!
• Due to the hurricane, I was
frantically making contingency plans for
my sessions in the event of no electricity. Christina Cheng called
from
Singapore to assure me she would be there to help with my first
session but when she tried to log in early as a buffer, the site
wasn't
there! Because she was so concerned to keep her promise, she
called
SVSU in Michigan and tracked down the tech guy in the middle of
the
night!
• Svetlana, our Russian TOCFE
champion, didn't let a business trip stop
her from trying to attend our rescheduled event. She even called
Danilo from
Germany for technical assistance. Francois never made it
into the chat rooms but was constantly trying, as were many
others.
And all the while, there was Danilo…steadfastly
working these issues while
assuring me he was having fun! WHAT a resourceful, servant leader.
I'd like to summarize additional IOs of our
event and validate them through
the words of participants starting with IO: A renewed and 'kicked
up' spirit
de corps and resolve within our network and BEYOND….
• From TOC BUSINESS: Alan Barnard, South
Africa, President
TOCICO: "Congratulations on a great conference and for the
wonderful presentations by each of the presenters. I learned a lot
and it has really inspired me to help promote TOCFE here in South
Africa and WHEREVER I travel.
• From TOCFE LEADERSHIP: Director, Colombia, Francis Conde: "I
will establish a TOCFE international user group to create the
collaboration needed to ensure our TOCFE goals." (Francis
achieved
this within 24 hours of announcing her intention!)
• From a PARENT: the Dad of one my 1994 "Jonah" Middle School
Students, Niceville, Florida, USA: "Kathy, I only had the
opportunity
to observe some of the seminars and I can say that all of you did
an
outstanding job in developing this conference. I see that in the
near
future, the distance will not be an obstacle for TOCFE to grow.
You all
put a lot of effort and time in making this happen. A “positive”
children education is something that is valued all around the
world;
one of the constraints is how to achieve it; and, one of the main
solutions is TOCFE. Thanks for the shared knowledge. I am very
glad
that everything is working your way and congratulations to ALL of
you
for a job well done. Miguel A. Droz,
Niceville Fl 32578
• From a PUBLISHER OF
EDUCATIONAL MATERIALS: Maciek
Winiarek, POLAND: "Hello, Kathy. The conference
was an
interesting experience for me…I got plenty of excellent materials.
I
am writing to tell you that I succeeded in getting an invitation
for you
to present TOC to the Teacher's Development Center in Poland in
November."
Another IO: We are effectively disseminating improvements to our
ongoing
TOCFE know-how and sharing their applications and impact.
• From a Research Scholar and
Professor: Danilo Sirias, USA:
"Even though rescheduling and technical constraints
significantly
impeded on-line 'chat' participation, these obstacles did not
preclude access to the pp presentations and recordings of
presentations. There were more than 2,000 hits to our SVSU
site and more than 80 participants downloaded presentations even
before the event began. "
• From a TEACHER: Judy Holder, United
Kingdom: "I now have a
really amazing collection of presentations on my computer. I
already have had some personal pay off. I'm hoping to run a
short course to help students get a very basic health and hygiene
certificate and suddenly realized that I can obviously use a
simple
if/then branch to think through effects of poor hygiene and an
AT with IOs to talk about the
development of good hygiene
practices in everyday life."
IO: We are continuously improving the TOCFE body of knowledge and
putting it in the public domain.
The interaction of live chat really pushed the synergistic envelop
in all
sessions as anticipated. That is why I didn't want just to forward
intended
presentations/papers from Serbia. As a result, a question from Eli
sparked
a real 'tipping point' for us on interdisciplinary teaching.
TOC Creator: Eli Goldratt, "How can you connect mathematics with
geography, economics, finance, psychology all at once? Let me
suggest a
starting point and see to what disciplines we can take it: In
Spain, the
average number of children per woman is 1.05. "
We will share some of such recorded sessions through future TACTics
where, as well as on www.tocforeducation.com where we will also
publish
some presentations. We intend to publish a collection of all
presentations
and recorded sessions on a CD-ROM and sell as a fundraiser.
And finally, an IO that SPEAKS TO US ALL: We have the courage,
more and
more, to enable the Future:
From a STUDENT: Ana Maria
Conde, Colombia:
"I have been thinking
about a question for Eli believe I have many in mind and then I
realize the
answers always are: USE THE TOOLS. So what can I ask Eli? What can
a
14 year-old girl ask a person that has years of experience, work
and
success? I realize that I could ask: tell the children of the
world tips or
advice to become better persons...to succeed in life and how this
must be
taken.
From the FOUNDER OF TOCFE: Eli Goldratt: "My tip is: to gather the
courage to choose an open ended goal. A goal that you are
absolutely
convinced that you do not stand a chance to reach. A goal that you
are
afraid to tell an adult because s/he will just laugh and tell you
to 'grow up";
still to follow this goal with all your might while being careful
not to use it to
justify wrong means.'
(2) Excerpts from: A CONVERSATION WITH ELI GOLDRATT AT
THE TOCFE VIRTUAL CONFERENCE
From Cheryl A. Edwards
Editor’s Note: As you read this conversation, please remember it
is from
the transcripts of our virtual conference. We have taken literary
license and
left all of the typos and misspelled words to keep the zest of the
conversation. Enjoy!
Kathy Suerken: It is my honor to
introduce our beloved TOCFE founder, Eli
Goldratt. In
honor of everyone's time, right to a question from Mike Round,
who sent one in advance—from Mike: What is the constraint in
education?
Eli Goldratt: Hi everybody. Kathy let me start with a reminder first? First
let me remind you what Mark Twain have said: "I despise
people... whose
imagination is limited to the extent... they know only one way to
spell a
word." Now lets our audience start to shoot and I am going to
demonstrate
what wide imagination I have.
Sears Taylor: Are you going to sell
us any Bruklin Breeges,
today?
Eli Goldratt: No darling. Much bigger and better constructions
Antoine Van Gelder (snr):
and also broeklin britches?
Kathy Suerken: What about Mike's
question, what do you think is the
constraint in education?
Eli Goldratt: the teachers
Kathy Suerken: Could you elaborate?
Eli Goldratt: Yes Kathy. We should decide how to exploit this scarce resource
and we should subordinate the whole system to that decision.
Shameem Rafik-Galea: Only the
teachers? How about the administrators?
Eli Goldratt: No, we have more than enough administrators.
Eli Goldratt: Do you still think on the constraint as something negative?
Sears Taylor:Saying that the teachers are the number one constraint in
education harks back to the 1960' where the students took over the
universities.
Judy Holder: Jonathon Holder says
it is a combination of compulsory education
and poor student motivation
Audrey Taylor: So you are saying
that teachers are a constraint because
there are not enough of them?
Beverly Brown: If teachers become
facilitators, are they still a constraint?
Eli Goldratt: Hold your horses please.
Cal Halliburton: Is the constraint a
negative? No
Eli Goldratt: the constraint is the resource we don't have enough of it
Shameem Rafik-Galea:The teachers are the
ones that create unnecessary
problems
Eli Goldratt: if we don't use the constraint properly the performance of the
whole system declines… if we waist the time of the constraint the
throughput of the system is dropping
Sears Taylor: If we agree that Mike
Round Socratic thinking can draw the
best out of students and the teacher follows this method, is
he/she the
biggest constraint to education?
Eli Goldratt: No Sears, you just proposed a way to better exploit the
constraint. Think again according to the characteristic of the
word
constraint. Not according to the conventional condemning
connotation of the
word. Now what resource is the constraint of the education system?
What
is the most important resource that every school/district wants
more of?
Cal Halliburton: The skilled teacher
Eli Goldratt: Thank you. Can we upgrade the skills of most teachers? In other
words can we find ways to better exploit the constraint?
Judy Holder:Jonathon Holder still says motivated student...that can be
achieved by a skilled teacher
Cal Halliburton: Certainly
Denise Meyer: Don't we have
teachers sitting in meetings that don't meet
their needs or the needs of their students constantly? And don't
we train
teachers in strategies that really don't teach children to think?
And don't
we have administrators who have lost touch with classroom issues
telling
teachers the best way to teach? We are certainly not exploiting
the
constraint effectively. We frequently don't ask them what help
they need.
Eli Goldratt: Judy, do you want me to comment on Holders opinion?
Judy Holder: He says yes please if
there's enough time
Eli Goldratt: If we find effective ways to cause teachers to significantly
motivate the student it will be a mammoth step of better exploitation
of the
constraint (the teacher). The students are the raw material
work-in process
and finished goods of the system. Definitely not the constraint of
the
system, the education system blaming the students is like a manufacturing
plant blaming the products
Eli Goldratt: Mike, did I answer your question?
Michael Round: Yes. Thank you!
Judy Holder: Jonathon says a raw
material has fixed characteristics and the
product is predetermined but a student can often prevent their own
education despite the skill of the teacher.
Eli Goldratt: Yes. And so many manufacturers say the same about their
material. The education system is here to teach our kids. Not to
decide
what kids they don't want to teach. I mean in general.
Beverly Brown: If the product is
consistently bad, won't the business die?
If the student is bad enough, will the system die?
Cal Halliburton: There are no bad
children
Beverly Brown: Good point.
Audrey Taylor: Sears wants me to say
that he agrees with Eli about the
students being the raw material, however, administrators must
assist
teachers in dealing with disruptive students. This is a serious
problem in
some schools.
Eli Goldratt: No it will not. Thank God there is no competition. If there was,
like in industry most schools would be long time bankrupt
Judy Holder: Jonathon Holder says
I understand you now, we must work with
what we have, but a malleable product may be altered by the
skilled
workman, thank you!
Eli Goldratt: Audrey, you are absolutely right. Every section of the system
must subordinate to enable the better exploitation of the
constraint (the
teacher)
Eli Goldratt: But as you've seen in so many for profit organizations,
subordination is where they usually fail. The local optima
syndrome is
devastating
Denise Meyer: Eli, as you know, I’m
struggling with measurements. Do you
have any ideas on developing good measurements?
Eli Goldratt: Denise darling. That is probably the biggest stumbling block. How
do you measure the amount of education a student incorporated? How
do
you measure the degree s/he is better prepared for life?
Judy Holder: Eli, I have a
specific problem with some of my students right now.
They enjoy their anger, they tell me. It is much less frustrating
to lash out
than to talk through
Eli Goldratt: I have only partial answers. But I don't have the intuition you
all
have about the education system. Besides I am dum.
But you are not!!!
Judy Holder: A partial answer
would be good
Eli Goldratt: Judy. Are you surprised? Did they were like that when the
system received them? Some, maybe but the majority?
Denise Meyer: I guess I'm just
looking to see if you have any procedural
tips. I disagree with the last statement.
Eli Goldratt: Denise, I have a tip. How do you measure love?
Denise Meyer: Let me think about
that one.
Limor
Winter-Kraemer: when the happiness of another
person is necessary for
yours
(3) THE AGONY AND THE ECSTACY
(Subtitled: “Attending a Virtual Conference from Malaysia”)
By Khaw Choon Ean, Director TOCFE, South East Asia
So September 25-28, 2004 has come and gone.
I personally sat through ALL 4 days of the Conference from 10-3 o’clock
EXCEPT in Malaysia it was 10pm to 3am! And by the time I shut down
after
chatting in Track E, it would be 4am at the least, a quick snooze
and I’m up
at 6.30am doing all the rituals in the morning to get to the
office by 9 am
and sit through a full day’s work of meetings, deskwork and
planning, back to
home for dinner, do a cat-nap in front of the TV and back online
again at
10pm, sitting in 4 rooms at the same time (Madame Gadget at her
best) and
using the 5th screen
for recording or downloading AND a 6th screen to finish
an office report or work plan!. Talk about multi-tasking…. This is
the Asian
night-owl (as Kathy calls me) or ze
Sleepless One in modus operandi mode.
It had been a good experience. However, the downside was, on 29
September I was teetering around in zombie mode at my office
having
stayed up through the night of 28th, completing 2 office reports from 4am
till 7am. A full office day and I went home, ready to tape from TV
the first
broadcast of the Kids’ TV show in Malaysia (delayed a few weeks
due to
rescheduling caused by Olympic Games live broadcasts).
Everything was set up for the start of the show at 6pm on 29
September.
At 5:55 PM I
was ready, finger on the recording button of the video tape
recorder…At 6pm as the show started, I was fast asleep on the
sofa, finger
still on the button…. but I had fallen asleep without pressing the
button! No
one was at home and I slept on, waking up much, much later to see
the
credits rolling, having missed the whole historic event…the first
TV
broadcast for TOC in Malaysia! The good news is, I hear is that
the show
turned out nicely and is the start of others to come. Ah well, win
some; lose
some.
Back to the conference…
There are so many stories to tell. We had 4 presenters from
Malaysia and
many others signed up. Such heartening tales and heart-rending
ones, as
well. Technology failed when it was most needed for many.
I was mostly okay using a broadband from home. The other 3
presenters
also made sure they could get on, though being on at night over
here meant
they had to use dial-ups and the Java plug-in took ages to load.
Poor Faridah spent a fortune phoning
long-distance to her daughter for help
when her Java plug-in took one and a half hours to load. After
trying to get
on unsuccessfully for days she landed in a discussion room on the
last day
because we could see her name listed, but strangely “silent”, not
even
responding to private messages. We found out that she was looking
at a
blank discussion room somehow “alone”. Technology failed her here
but she
was thankful to be able to download the slides and files and the
recordings.
Faridah was
deeply disappointed, as she wanted to get on the AGOAL
Academy slot on behalf of her son, Ariff
who was away at boarding school.
Then, there was Minnie registered in as Lee Min, Chong who is a newbie in
TOC having attended a short session I had given some time ago. She
sat
fascinated, quietly online “listening” and in her own words “learning
a lot,
sometimes a bit lost” for 3 whole days and missed the last day
because she
was leaving for Hong Kong. She sent me a message that she would
love to
teach TOC for counseling in Cantonese. I think eventually she
will.
I spoke to Dr Shameem, S. C. Ling and Sarina about their experiences. They
found the new “virtual” experience fascinating. Well we have not
been
unfamiliar with the chat medium but using it as a conference was
an
altogether different feel.
Dr. Shameem felt it was really
interesting and being able to download files
and presentations was good as we could take our time after to look
through
and ponder. Mr. Ling felt that at certain points when a lot of
questions were
asked the presenter could get distracted and lose his pace. Some
presenters paced themselves very well and I think the majority was
mostly
unfazed by whatever happened.
Sarina, whom I
shall call the “newly involved”, though she had previous TOC
exposure even when she was doing her graduate studies in New
Zealand,
enjoyed giving her brief presentation and participating in the
conference.
She has been enlightened by the sessions on literature and hopes
to
incorporate TOC tools in studying the texts for The Prisoner of Zenda and
Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, books we use in school here. Sarina, by the way,
works in the English Language Unit of the Curriculum Development
Centre,
MOE, Malaysia.
As for myself, I had a grand time being able to be on 4 tracks at
one go,
something I wouldn’t have been able to do in a real physical
conference with
breakout sessions. Sitting in 4 rooms in cyberspace was great and
no one
could really tell which room I was in, hah, not even myself! And
the great
facility of being able to send a private message allowed all the “whispering”
to take place during the presentation without disrupting others.
Sarina sends
kudos to Danilo and his team for what she says was a
logically
arranged set-up that was as simple as it could be to use. I guess
she should
add when one can “get in” as I have many others who don’t know
what she’s
talking about as they were hampered by technology from the login!
I have heard from Toshio Sasaki from Japan who could not find his
way in to
make his presentation and who sent his apologies and the great story
from
Philippines as Jenilyn sent me a note
before the VC that 45 of them would go
to a school (at midnight, presumably) and all be in front of the
computer
whilst they log on as “Victoria,” “Cora” or “Jenilyn”.
I think the Virtual Conference is a great idea and I am echoed by
my fellow
Malaysians that this sort of meeting should be on a regular basis
and a way
to keep in touch and update regularly without involving phenomenal
travel and
accommodation costs. Congratulations to all those who have made
the VC a
reality and “see” you all at the next one, hmmm, hopefully with
audio and web
cam (says Dr. Cora from Philippines), though I can’t imagine I
would want you
to really see how I had attended the conference, in my old T-shirt
and
shorts, with my feet up on the table while the old spouse softly
snores in
deep sleep a short distance away…hey, it WAS the middle of the
night and
the wee hours of the morning, folks!
EDITORS’ NOTES
(4) Kay Buckner-Seal, Cheryl A.
Edwards
The TOCFE Virtual Conference not only gave “attendees” the
opportunity to
learn from conference presenters from the convenience of home, but
it gave
them the opportunity to interact with the presenters and
dynamically shape
the course of the presentation. TOCFE Virtual Conference planners
and
presenters should be proud.
Our next issue will be published on Friday, November 5, 2004. So
that
means any submissions should reach us by Monday, October 25, 2004.
Please
send your articles 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.
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