TACTics Journal
A Publication for and by TOC for Education Practitioners
June 2008
|
|
TACTics Journal
A Publication for and by TOC for Education Practitioners
|
|
Join us for a joyful life changing experience!
Odyssey 2008 in the USA
Freshman: July 27 – Aug 1
(Arrival July 27 before 5
pm, departure Aug 1 after 5 pm)
Register Now: http://www.toc-goldratt.com/odyssey/register Admittance is on a first-come, first-served basis!
The information below is an excerpt from the detailed document available
at:
Costs
including accommodation,
course+materials and meals
Student Requirements
Freshman
Alumni
(Alumni and others with knowledge of the TOC Thinking Process tools that want to apply for a position as assistant in the Freshman Course , please email Odyssey-Assistants@goldrattgroup.com or Odyssey2008@goldrattgroup.com for information)
Venue
WE HOPE TO MEET YOU AND TO HAVE A
PRODUCTIVE AND FUN TIME TOGETHER!
With
kind regards,
compiled by Kathy Suerken Pennsylvania, USA: Judy Yetter, Director, Frehn Center for Professional & Organizational Development, John L. Grove College of Business, is scheduled to teach a 40 hour TOC course for teachers this summer at Shippensburg University. The seminar will be focused on the TOCfE application for communication and attending Pennsylvania teachers will receive 4 Continuing Education Units. Bogota, Colombia: Ana Maria Conde has written a 133 page thesis entitled, “TOC in the School Learning Process” to fulfill some of her high school graduation requirements and upon which she received a ‘distinguished thesis’ evaluation by the college teachers who judged her paper. Although the paper-- and a power point version-- are currently in Spanish, Ana plans to write a summary of it in English. Maastricht, Netherlands: Annemie van Dijck and Petra Pouw-Legene taught a TACT, ETC facilitator seminar to 5 trainees in May. The trainees are working out their projects for schools, families, two high schools, a sports club and intercultural communication among Dutch ethnic groups. Gdansk, Poland: Edyta Sinacka-Kubik is presenting her TOCfE research in June to the Gdansk University Psychology Institute to fulfill part of her PhD requirements. Her presentation, given at our 2007 International Conference, statistically supports improved ‘relations between asocial children and their environment and increased social adjustment’ through the TOC tools.
Dear Kathy and the TOCfE family, It is some time since I wrote to the network on South African activities. It was a pity too that I missed seeing you all at last year's conference - but personal matters prevented this. However, I hope to see many of you (both new and old) at this year's conference in Warsaw. In the meantime, here are some of the TOCfE activities in York High School in George, South Africa and also at a Writing Workshop in Cape Town. Student Leadership Training We have long felt that TOC was an essential component for every learner in terms of leadership training. Conflict resolution skills and strategic planning are essential if they are to function as effective leaders. To this end we have introduced the Ambitious Target on the Grade 10 Camp at York, giving them as their Target "I have an exceptional testimonial (resume) when leaving school". They then plan for the next three years what they need to do and how they need to behave for this target to become a reality. In addition, we use the Ambitious Target to set up the strategic plan for the RCL (Representative Council of Learners) every year. They add the names of learners in charge of the IOs along with dates and this forms the core of all their meetings. This ensures that the Council is seen as a vibrant, target-driven organisation in the school. Peer Mediation Earlier this year Louise Huddy, Armand Swart (a learner) and myself trained all the senior learners involved in Peer Mediation and Classroom Mentoring (two care/pastoral programmes) using “The Never Ending Story”. This group is working very well on an informal basis but we have yet to organize it better structurally like Will Stentz at Grosse Point! Louise Huddy is in charge of these groups and insists on two personal clouds being handed in to qualify into this group. This reinforces what is taught in the initial module and works well for us. The Sound of Music This year the school produced The Sound of Music with the South Cape Symphony Orchestra as our annual production. For the first time, I appointed two learners as acting directors while I did the music. They were hands-on from the beginning which naturally was the drawing up of an Ambitious Target. This was probably our most successful production ever and I attribute a great deal of the success to the Ambitious Target. Reviewing the process I again appreciated the following advantages/byproducts of this method
The visual power of the tool instills a growing sense of confidence Writing Workshops Thanks to the generous sponsorship of Premier Foods, I was able to travel to Cape Town and present a TOC-based writing course at the English Teachers' Festival on 16/17 May this year. It took the form of three sessions with different teachers. They had pre-selected their workshop based on the topics and on reports from the previous year. Clearly word had got out about the power of the TOC tools because my workshop was the only one that had to be presented three times and in the end some 100 teachers were trained. The success of this workshop became apparent when I found on my return to George that the chief organiser of the Festival has already invited me back for next year if I can arrange the trip! Also many teachers spoke of the hope that they now had and that they were going to try it out on Monday with their classes. One lady said that she had felt ill and had learnt nothing in other sessions but had stayed for the TOC workshop. She claimed that this was clearly why her inner voice had forced her to be there! The content was how to plan for a literary/argumentative/discursive/academic essay and how to convert the plan into the finished piece. This has long been a problem for our learners (and university students) but has become more of a burning issue since it has been added (recently) to the Second Language syllabus and since teachers felt that they were clueless as how to teach this skill. The tool involves unpacking the topic and connecting it with logic arrows to generalised statements and specific examples in a logical, ordered and structurally correct way. The strengths of TOC that really help with this are
I look forward to sharing more of this with you later. Anything that excites and inspires teachers has to be grasped and shared. Bravo TOC, and thanks once again. Love to you all from a wintry George Francois (Moll)
TOC for Education 11 th International Conference Warsaw, Poland Airport: Frederic Chopin Airport (Airport Code: WAW) Venue: The National Library of Poland You will be receiving more information very soon! And Finally ... We are always looking for articles for the TACTics Journal and welcome any contribution from you the readers. Please send anything that you would like us to consider for publication to the following address. tactics@mct-ltd.com |