TACTics Journal
A
Publication for and by TOC for Education Practitioners
November 2007
In this issue:
-
An announcement by the President
-
Kathy on the conference
-
Greetings from
-
TOC4ICD – Zana Borisavljevic
-
Comments – Alan McTavish
TACTics Announcement from Kathy Suerken
As President, I would like
to take this opportunity to express appreciation to Zana for editing TACTics the last 12 months. With TOCfE practitioners spread so far, wide
and sometimes so remotely, TOCfE needs a mode of communication to connect,
encourage and inspire them. Thank you
Zana for contributing your talent and time as volunteer editor to so
effectively help TOCfE achieve those objectives. Zana has decided to pass the editor baton
and will be sharing later in the newsletter the exciting initiative toward
which her energies are now focused.
Best wishes, Zana.
Starting with this edition,
Alan McTavish will be our volunteer editor for the next 12 months. He will also continue to volunteer as the
person who both manages our list serve and uses it to distribute out TOCfE
publications—a time consuming IT task.
Alan is a TOCfE
The 10th TOCfE International
Conference
as created by all of
you and reported by Kathy Suerken
Imagine while looking at the
beautiful white beaches and emerald waters of the
Within this reality is something
much more powerful than a cast of characters in a beautiful setting. It is the realistic reflection of a better
world as seen in substantial, positive life changes such as those modeled by inmates
of Singapore jails and students considered to be ‘at-risk’ in Leon,
Mexico. It is the promise of more to
come through developing projects, budding ideas and deepening analyses that yield
endless possibilities as shared through conference presentations, late night
discussions and now through TACTics--as we attempt to
bring the conference and its ongoing effects to you now and in the future.
Maybe a good place to start
is with the opening keynote --a synergistic presentation of (not just) TOCfE constraints
and possibilities: past, present &
future. Representing a Polish team of 8 conference
attendees, Dr. Marta Bogdanowicz is Vice President of
the European Dyslexia Association, a Professor and Chairman of the Psychology
Institute at
The synergy within this
model is evident in the research of Dr. Bogdanowicz’s
doctoral student, Edyta Sinacka-Kubik,
who presented her hypothesis on the use of TOC to support children’s
psychosocial development at the 2006
No wonder the Polish
presentation baton is next passed to Maciek Winiarek, Director for TOCfE
v
Transfer
Learning to plan the project, source funding and publish materials
v
TOCfE to create
new workbooks for curriculum applications, provide initial training, and ensure
quality control, and
v
But wait!
Something is missing! Are
materials, funding and research sufficient to achieve the target? Do we need another partner that not only is vested
in TOCfE and our core values but also that can connect us to students?
The Director of the highly
respected * Mazovian In-Service Teacher Training
Centre* (MSCDN), Jaroslaw Zaroή
now steps to the microphone. He
explains MSCDN’s idealistic mission toward which it
strives through services provided to more than 50,000 teachers every year.
As he speaks, it occurs to
me that each conference speaker represents links in a TOCfE chain—links that are connected through
our core values and purpose, as
envisioned by our founder, Eli
Goldratt. These links are the people of
TOCfE—our champions who are synergistically contributing toward our goal. Contributions take many forms: research; process examples; workbooks; ideas;
projects; mentoring; and even seemingly mundane tasks. Robert Greenleaf puts this thought to
eloquent words: “I believe that it [hope] is awakened, revived, nourished by
millions of solitary individuals whose deeds and works every day negate
frontiers. As a result
there shines forth the truth that each and every man….builds for them all.”
Thus, as I hear Mr. Zaroή speak my name in connection with an invitation,
I step forward and accept it on behalf of all of you who are building
something meaningful on behalf of all of us.
Therefore, it is with great privilege that I announce the next TOCfE
International Conference, co-sponsored by MSCDN, will be held in
Greetings from
Dear
Kathy and Alan,
Happy and grateful to receive all the updates regarding the
Conference. I must say, BIG thank you to Kathy for her invitation for
the conference and as well as to my Malaysian students. We are so happy and
excited to go and join again this year conference but due to some unavoidable
reasons and circumstances, we are sorry that we can’t make this year. The children
just finished with their important examination which needed them to prepare. On
top of that, the Ministry do not allow them to go as
they had to complete few projects and assignments. The Muslims are celebrating
their Eid Fitri which will
fall on the 13th of October.
But
as much as the others, we are looking forward to join the 2008 conference.
Please do include us in your plans.
Thank
you and hope to meet all the TOCfE family members in the 2008 conference.
Warmest
regards,
Nor
Zamani bt
Abd. Hamid
Director
for
TOC for Intercultural Dialogue
Initiative
For a few years now I have been involved in programs
for inter-ethnic dialogue in Kosovo, working with young Serbs and Albanians,
and using TOC tools in this work. I find working in this field very fulfilling
and I have thought a lot about how TOC tools can be very helpful for people to
overcome the barriers that sometimes exist between different cultures.
During the last decade, intercultural dialogue (ICD)
has become an important issue in the EU. The European Commission has declared
2008 the year of Intercultural Dialogue and intercultural learning has become a
key work area in European youth training. So, Ean
from
New Editors comments – Alan McTavish,
There follows a brief
comment which I had hoped to submit to this issue of TACTics
in any case but, with the developments, I would first like to thank Zana for
what is, in fact, a year of editing the newsletter. ‘Education’ comes in many guises and Zana, it
seems, has found an area where the methodology can be put to good use and which
interests her.
Any new venture is time
consuming and this one is likely to take up a lot of her time. I wish her and her team good luck and best
wishes for a successful venture. I am
proud to follow her into the editor’s chair….
I know I’ve said it before
but WOW, what a conference! I can’t help
but compare it to other business conferences that I’ve attended. It’s amazing how Kathy can be so flexible with
the time allowed for peoples presentations and yet still fit everyone in.
This year was a real gem
with Julie (Wright) speaking over lunch and Don Lemon, bless him, doing a
‘dinner speech’.
And what a speech it
was! I mean, for a self confessed
‘novice’ in the TOCfE fraternity to pour out his heart in such a meaningful and
humorous way was wonderful. There are
few organizations in which members will admit, in front of everyone, not to
‘failure’ but at least to limited success – to not having achieved their
target. This is so refreshing.
As I said at the very end of
the proceedings, the TOCfE conference is not the Oscars. We don’t attend it to confer prizes, we
attend to admire other peoples work and aspire to their commitment and their
achievement.
And, of course, to be proud
to be associated with someone who, later in life, has so clearly made the
paradigm shift and is so keen to share his beliefs and experiences with others.
Well done all and, in
particular, well done Don!
Alan …
And Finally …
Those of you who saw Annemie
van Dijck and Petra Pouw
present an albeit unfinished S&T at the conference
and asked for a copy of the slides should email me. Annemie has kindly
made their work (still ongoing) available for distribution. There are enough attachments this month so,
if you want it, just ask.
tactics@mct-ltd.com