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TACTics
Journal |
In
this issue:
- TOCfE, Korea from Dr. Wonjoon Choi
-
New TOCfE
Training Materials and Facilitator Workshop
from Kathy Suerken
-
Odyssey Events from Michael Demere
-
And Finally… from Alan
TOCfE,
Korea from Dr. Wonjoon Choi
TOCfE
Korea has been working hard under the leadership of Dr. Hakchun Kim and has
conducted these workshops and created these outcomes during the last 6 months:
1)
TOCfE thinking tools workshop
date: November 24th ~ December 5th, 2008 (30 hours)
venue: Jamshil Middle School, Seoul
participants: 25 teachers of Jamshil Middle School
2)
TOCfE thinking tools upgrade workshop
date: Jan 19th ~ 21th, 2009 (21 hours)
venue: Hongeun Middle School, Seoul
participants: 20 TOCfE practitioners
3)
TOCfE thinking tools workshop
date: March 7th ~ 21st, every Saturday (21 hours)
venue: Pyungtaek City Hall, Kyungki-Province
participants: 35 officers of Pyungtaek City
Pyungtaek City started to apply TOC thinking
tools for developing reformation plans for civic improvement. For better
understanding TOC thinking tools, Pyungtaek City arranged to have TOCfE
thinking tools workshop for its officers. The response from the
participating officers was great. They said that they got much better
understanding of thinking tools.
4)
TOCfE teachers' group
Five teachers of Jangwi Elementary School
formed a special group for TOCfE application in March. They got a grant
from the Seoul Education Office. They started to apply TOCfE thinking tools in
their classrooms. They are also working together to write workbooks for
subjects of Korean language and literature, Social studies, and Civic Life at
the elementary school level.
5)
TOCfE thinking tools workshop
date: May 9th ~ June 27th, every Saturday (30 hours)
venue: Yeoeuido Middle School, Seoul
participants: 30 middle and high school teachers in Seoul
This workshop is officially certified and
administrated by the Seoul Education Training Institute, which is 'the' official
organization of Seoul City for training teachers in Seoul. The meaning
that TOCfE workshop is officially certified by this organization is that TOCfE gains some
recognition from public education authorities in Korea. I hope this will be a
springboard for takeoff of TOCfE in Korea.
New Training
Materials and Workshop from Kathy Suerken
This
past year I have been very focused on writing new TOCfE training
materials. In addition to a new power
point presentation to teach the behavior application of the cloud, I have
almost finished an accompanying facilitator manual that explains all the logic
of each slide through narrative transition trees.
Perhaps
even more importantly, I am working on a series of “Thinking Across the
Curriculum” workbooks for teachers. The
Cloud and Logic Branch workbooks are now complete. Until now-- especially when teaching the Logic
Branch to teachers-- we have had to rely on training materials for behavior that
we supplement with examples of applications to curriculum. These new workbooks instead teach the TOC
processes through curriculum applications and then demonstrate how the
application to behavior is one way to use TOC as a teaching methodology to make
the learning relevant.
As
we know, students often find curriculum remote and unconnected to their lives
and the world around them. While they are
asking “why do I have to learn this?”, however, their teachers are asking “how
does anyone expect me to teach this to groups of students who have such disparate
levels of prior knowledge, skills and experience?” The new workbooks specifically address these core
obstacles to learning and teaching. Additionally, there is a chapter in the Logic
Branch workbook on the “Categories of Legitimate Reservations” –a tool that is
essential to enabling the clear thought and communication needed to
prevent misunderstandings and misguided actions.
Written
in the language of academic standards and benchmarks, the workbooks reveal the
power and effectiveness of TOC as a learning theory. As such, this application is relevant to all
who strive to educate others—teachers, consultants, parents and leaders from every walk of life.
I
will give a facilitator’s training on the new logic branch workbook July 30 and
July 31 in Nottingham, England. The
venue is the University of Trent and local airport is East Midlands. All TOCfE facilitators are welcome to attend
but please know that seating is limited to 20 participants. For information on accommodation at the
venue and to register, please contact Debi Roberts who is kindly handling these
details. Debi can be reached at: debiroberts@hotmail.co.uk.
Meanwhile,
here is a short excerpt from the new Logic Branch workbook which is copyrighted
to TOC for Education. The workbook is
organized using the structure of the three questions and therefore has a self
contained buy-in starting with:
What to Change?
It is well known that students need critical thinking skills in order to
apply what they learn, make good decisions and to be competitive in an
increasingly global marketplace. Yet,
in spite of all current best practices and the good intentions of talented and
dedicated teachers, many students do not demonstrate a desired level of higher
order thinking skills, such as abilities to:
v
Analyze
--rather than memorize-- events, concepts and information
v Effectively question and interpret information
v Draw inferences (deductive
analysis)
v Evaluate the validity of
inferences, hypotheses and opinions
v Support a position using logic
v
Apply what they are
learning to other subject matter and to….
v
Make reasoned, responsible decisions
Is it
because teachers do not have time to teach critical thinking independent of
required subject matter?
Is it
because-- even within programs that foster critical thinking-- there is a lack
of sufficiently concrete, practical strategies and tools to enable teachers to
effectively integrate thinking skills with required subject matter?
Is it
because critical thinking discussions
are open ended which can
take classroom discussion too easily
off track and, as a result,
drain precious time away from required
subject matter upon which students are tested?
Cloud
To summarize:
Teachers earnestly
strive to be good educators and, in order to do so, their students must learn
prescribed subject matter upon which they are tested. After all, teachers are held accountable for
student performance measurements. Therefore teachers must prioritize and
focus their classroom resources—especially time—on subject matter (content)
needed to meet these objectives.
On the other hand,
students also need higher order thinking skills and, in order for students to
develop them, teachers must focus classroom resources on teaching critical
thinking skills (process). Let’s put
this problem into a graphic organizer:
No wonder teachers feel
so stressed and frustrated! They
feel pulled in two different directions…. like in a tug of war.
Is there a way to
resolve this conflict without compromising the need to teach required subject
matter or the need to prepare students to think critically?
What if there were a
thinking tool –a process--to teach students required subject matter in a way
that:
ü Develops their critical
thinking and communication skills at the same time,
ü Enhances attainment of
desired academic standards & benchmarks,
ü Engages student
participation in discussion focused on learning objectives,
ü Makes learning relevant,
and
ü Is transferable to
responsible decision making?
If
such a method actually existed, do you think teachers would use it?
Odyssey Events from Michael
Demere
International Odyssey Freshman Program (July 27-July 31) and Odyssey
Alumni Program (August
1-3), Nottingham, United Kingdom.
The
Freshman Program will be facilitated by Alan Barnard and Michael Demere and the
Alumni Program will be facilitated by Eli Goldratt.
German Odyssey Program -- German language only
(July 5-9) Wald-Michelbach, Germany.
During the Freshman Odyssey Program, participants
will learn how to apply the TOC Thinking Process Tools to systematically
identify and overcome “constraints” to achieving a goal and or making a key
decision in their life. The Odyssey experience will expose participants to the
TOC tool to help you find the answers to:
· What to do with the rest
of my life?
· How to set and or achieve
ambitious life goals?
· How to prevent mistakes
or overcome obstacles in your life plans before they occur?
Group
1: Just leaving school - you might be going into College, or
choosing to work.
Group 2: At College or working - uncertain in
either your major subject or career choice.
Group 3: Working or Post Graduate - you have a
chosen direction in life, or are involved with a subject.
For
more information on these events and to register: www.theodysseyprogram.org
And Finally
…
Well, I’m really looking forward to seeing some of you again in
Nottingham at the end of July. it
promises to be a good summer this year here in the UK so that will make it even
more enjoyable.
Please send anything that you would like us to consider for publication in
Tactics to the following address….
Alan …