Tribes Learning Communities

As my returning families know, I use the Tribes Curriculum as a major team-building/cooperation tool in the classroom. This year, we are getting a late start on it, as I wanted to have Clara back with us. It is important that children go though this process together, as a family.

If you don't know what the Tribes curriculum is, there are plenty of on-line articles about it. In a nutshell, it is a way for children (and adults) to practice inclusion and active listening. It is a democratic group process, and is devised to promote human growth and learning.

There are four community agreements that are the cornerstone of Tribes. We practice:

* Attentive listening
* Appreciation/no put downs
* The right to pass and the right to participate
* Mutual respect

This is easy for some children - working together peacefully, taking turns, and reaching compromises, seem to come as easily as breathing. Other children find it very, very difficult to not have things always their preferred way. Tribes is valuable for everyone. Throughout the rest of the year, we will do individual and group work that allows practice of inclusion and collaboration.

The first thing I need to do as a facilitator is to group children into Tribes. This year, it seemed to make the most sense to divide into 3 different groups, with 5 children in each. A few days ago, each child got to privately hand me a note that listed their 5 top choices. I used these notes as a way to ensure that everyone got at least one or two friends in their group. Then I made sure that there was a good mix of leaders/followers, girls/boys, and first/second graders in each group.

Today was the big day - where children discovered their "family" or tribe members. I made 3 different jigsaw puzzles with names of children in each piece. Then children tried to fit their pieces together, and when they all fit, they knew they had their group!

Their first group challenge is two-fold. Now each Tribe needed to come up with a Tribe name, and to design and decorate their Tribe banner. In a future post soon, be prepared to meet our brand-new Tribes. Be prepared - when children compromise on names, they sometimes end up like this: