Tick Tack Treat

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Tick-Tack Treat: A lesson on Win-Win After years of teaching this lesson I finally wrote this for my Master’s Terminal Paper for  the University of Oregon. The introductory paragraph to this lesson, as found in my  paper, is included after the lesson. The Framing Story: Read this before the lesson/activity. Try Softer A young boy traveled across Japan to the school of a famous martial artist. When he arrived at the dojo he was given an audience by the sensei. “What do you wish from me?” the master asked. “I wish to be your student and become the finest karateka in the land,” the boy replied. “How long must I study?” “Ten years at least,” the master answered. “Ten years is a long time,” said the boy. “What if I studied twice as hard as all your other students?” “Twenty years,” replied the master. “Twenty years! What if I practice day and night with all my effort?” “Thirty years,” was the master’s reply. “How is it that each time I say I will work harder, you tell me that it will take longer?” the boy asked. “The answer is clear. When one eye is fixed upon your destination, there is only one eye left with which to find the Way.” ‘Zen in the Martial Arts’ by Joe Hyams (p.95)

The Activity: Supplies:

Tick-Tack-Treat A white or black board, pens/chalk, eraser a 5x5 checkered grid masking tape (for the grid) small wrapped candy

O O X X O X

Set-up:

Create the gird in advance. Read ‘Try Softer’. Ask for volunteers for a ‘challenge’. Sample Tick-Tack-Treat Grid Select two ‘groups’ of 4 students. These students sit on benches or on the floor in two rows in front of the checkered playing grid. One group is assigned X and the other O, and they are given the following instructions: (As described in The Debrief, your language here is important. Know exactly what you want to say and don’t take questions from the students. If students raise hands to ask questions tell them they can work out their questions as they complete the task). DavidTruss.com Source: http://www.davidtruss.com/leadership_lessons.htm

Source: http://www.davidtruss.com/leadership_lessons.htm

Look at one group, “The task for this group is to get four X’s in a row and your team gets a treat.” Look at the other group, “The task for this group is to get four O’s in a row and your team gets a treat.” The groups alternate opportunities to put a mark on the grid, and the students in each group will take turns so that they rotate who gets to place the mark on the grid. (If they are sitting in rows and rotate to the back this works best or else there is crowding at the grid and no one can see what is happening). The Lesson: What happens when a team gets four in a row? When a group gets four in a row, they get candy BUT the game keeps going! (Do not tell them this in the set-up). When no team can get more candy, send them off and pick two new groups. What usually happens is that the first group or first few groups battle one another competitively, trying to block their “opponents”. When they realize that the game continues after candy is given out, then eventually they realize that it is in their best interest not to compete but to work together to maximize how much candy both groups can get. Note: Most often it is the 2nd, 3rd, or 4th group that figures it out. Once, doing this with Grade 5’s they got it on the first attempt, Another time with parents and Grade 8’s working together I had to model it for them because the competitive nature of the adults didn’t allow them to see the win-win possibility. The Debrief: What was the goal of the activity? It is interesting what responses you will get to this question, but what you are looking for is, “To get candy”. What happened when you got candy? (The game kept going) What did the last group figure out? Note the language in these following questions- Keep this language out of the activity to enrich the discussion during the debrief. Did I ever say it was a competition? (No) Did I call you teams? (No, groups) Did I call it a game? (No, a challenge) Did I say that you had to put your own symbol, X or O, on the grid? (This is an interesting point- if you are careful in your explanation then really students could have taken turns placing four X’s in a row, two from each group, followed by four O’s on the grid. They share in completing each other’s task.) Question students about competition and why they thought it was a game with two opposing teams (Team sports, game shows, -competitive paradigm) Now is your opportunity to refer back to the framing story… “When one eye is fixed upon your destination, there is only one eye left with which to find the Way”… Sometimes we try harder instead of trying smarter. Sometimes we are so fixed on the task, (what we are doing), that we forget the goal or the outcome, (what we really want).* Introduce the concept of Win-Win, (don’t mention Win-Win before now). *In a chapter titled ‘Finding New Ways’, authors Bandler & Grinder (1979) describe ‘reframing’, or making a distinction between behavior and intention (p. 138). DavidTruss.com Source: http://www.davidtruss.com/leadership_lessons.htm

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The framing story or metaphor, “Try Softer” has more meaning to the students as a result of the challenge- Tick-Tack-Treat, and the challenge has more meaning to the students when the connection is made to the story. Win-Win. Furthermore, the challenge itself becomes an experience to understand this leadership concept, an experience far more meaningful than just explicitly explaining the concept. Also, even the spectators that don’t get to participate and ‘experience’ the challenge have a more meaningful representation of the lesson, as the challenge becomes a visual metaphor for them. ---------Think Win-Win Win-Win is a belief in the Third Alternative. It's not your way or my way; it's a better way. A higher way. (Quote taken from a motivational poster) ---------The following is the introductory paragraph to the above lesson in my Master’s Terminal Paper, (found at http://www.davidtruss.com/leadership_ paper.htm. In the paper, what you read below continues at the start of this lesson. Metaphors and Stories “A rose by any other name…” in my opinion may smell sweeter! When we discover  something hidden, something we do not expect to find, the experience can be rich and  rewarding. The use of metaphors as a learning tool is of particular interest to me.  Metaphors We Live By, by George Lakoff and Mark Johnson recognize that, “Our 

DavidTruss.com Source: http://www.davidtruss.com/leadership_lessons.htm

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ordinary conceptual system, in terms of which we both think and act, is fundamentally  metaphorical in nature” (p. 3). Later they state, “…metaphor provides a way of partially  communicating unshared experiences…” (p. 225). Metaphors are an essential learning  tool: Delozier & Grinder (1987) describe their presentation strategy, “Each day we cycled  on the same themes so that one day we might be verbally explicit and on another day  the same theme would appear metaphorically” (p. xvii). Furthermore, Berg (2004)  recognizes that, “Metaphors provide an avenue to see important elements of social support, interaction, networking, relationships, and a variety of other socially significant factors, and allow the researcher to represent action when theorizing about various explanations or relationships,” (p. 187), thus emphasizing the value or metaphors not just in running activities, but also in theorizing or identifying relationships in research. The strategy of delivering a lesson both explicitly and metaphorically is fundamental to the leadership retreats that I have developed. Furthermore, the use of reflection journals is an attempt to allow students to synthesize their experience of the explicit/literal explanations combined with the metaphorical story or activity. It may seem odd to delve this deeply into the use of metaphors and journaling but leadership skills can be difficult to teach and I believe that metaphors and reflection help get difficult messages across.  In fact, delivering a message in metaphor can actually be more meaningful when teaching leadership concepts. Like the girl in “The Butterfly Story”, (found at: http://davidtruss.com/teachingmetaphors.htm, leadership teachers can make an experience too easy for the student to complete, and then potential growth and  DavidTruss.com Source: http://www.davidtruss.com/leadership_lessons.htm

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development does not emerge beyond that experience.

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