Wednesday, November 28, 2012

TRIBES


Due date: Wednesday November 28, 2012 [in -class]

You have been given time to write your response to the TRIBES model demonstration in class:

GROUP DOCUMENTATION HERE
Please create a comment to this posting and address the following:
1. Which key elements/themes/strategies in the model resonated with you?
2. What psychological lens would you use to describe the author's view of classroom management/guidance? [e.g. behavioural, constructivist - cognitive/socio cultural, humanist, social cognitive] and why?
3. Provide 1-2 examples of how you imagine integrating the key elements/themes/strategies you selected into your future practice.


5 comments:

  1. 1. I really liked the “purpose” portion and commenting on how the five different pieces are necessary. The importance of community and trust is essential for this to work and while it is really nice to say, it is HARD to do. I am thinking back to our discussions on LGBTQ and the “safe zone” posters while I write this and how necessary it is to establish your classroom as a safe space regardless of anything else. Only once that happens, will we be able to build anything else.

    2. I see a lot of the social cognitive in this approach because it acknowledges that the environment, behavior and personal are all major factors in learning and impact each other. It encourages a view of the whole child to promote learning.

    3. I mentioned using the safe zone posters in question one as a way to build the safe space for community building. I also like the idea of ice-breakers or sharing activities throughout the year, not just the beginning. In a situation with teams, I am building off of something already there and really encouraging it. If I don’t have teams, then I need to force them to branch out and not just stick with the one or two people they know well.

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  2. 1. I liked the key element of inclusion. I do think it's important for everyone to feel included in the class and creating a safe environment.
    3. I will be creating rules and responsibilities as a class at the beginning of every year. I will reference them through the year because most discipline problems come from not respecting those rules. It involves students in understanding that being part of a community requires respectful interactions. If they are part of the community they have to agree to the same rules as the others in the community. With out mutual respect the community will fall apart.

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  3. The goals resonated with me the most. I think I like to look specifically at what I'm aiming toward because I become more aware of and invested on how I'm going to achieve exactly those items. The "good" and "bad" scenarios were good to conceptually compare how to successfully conduct a good classroom climate versus a destructive one.

    I think it's all three, depending on how you implement it. It could be a very powerful tool, but it probably mostly falls under a cognitive/socio-cultural because students are aware of the process and the community of learning.

    I actually plan to use a lot of these themes and elements in my future practice. Creating a positive, safe, caring, and motivational environment is a must for me. I also am fully committed to increasing and developing my competency in literally all regards. Life long learners, right? For this one, it's a bit more of a personal goal as well. I not only want to learn, but understand others better. This will be helpful particularly for my profession. I also want to create a community in my classroom and that's where inclusion takes part. I will definitely have a lot of group work to stimulate this climate and eventually integrate more projects. To be honest, I can't tell you precisely what my classroom will look like because I'm still sort of getting a handle on all these different philosophies and strategies and such, but I am sure that it will reflect the environment that TRIBES calls for.

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  4. 1. I think Anita summed up the key element of the Tribes wonderfully. It is communication in all ways and forms. The words on the board before Alex just erased them included, trust, respect, safety, and many others. All of these can be established and maintained through good communication skills and good communication throughout your own classroom.
    2. I find it to be completely constructvist because it allows to students to take control of their environment. They help create the classroom environment and then continue to form it and allow students to develop the environment in whatever way best fits their needs and wishes.
    3. So we spoke about this portion a little as well. Teams are a wonderful way to establish this however, I was thinking of a short term project that may begin to establish communication skills, trust, and inclusion within my classroom. I think cooperative learning and group projects is and excellent way to go about this. Specifically I am thinking of the example brought up in dan's class where our guest speaker spoke about having students take a learning styles test at the beginning of the year and then grouping students with others of a different learning style. This may not establish a student wide tribe or community but I believe it to be a great start. Students would then be given roles that best suited their learning style within a project. Each student must learn from, listen to, and respect their peers in order to create the best project or simulation possible. Furthermore hopefully students will begin to see the strengths of each their peers and thus trust and communicate with them better. This maybe a completely optimistic view it was what I was picturing throughout our discussion.

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  5. 1. I really liked the goals that the group presented and how they offered ways to help achieve those goals such as listening, gaining trust, and class/team building. I think that all of the goals of the Tribe are important in a classroom in order to be an effective teacher. Kids will not want to learn from someone who they do not trust or who is not receptive to them.

    2. I think that it is a mix. The goals of a Tribe management involve behavioral aspects such as trust building and listening, constructivist bases due to the fact that students are in charge of creating the feel of the classroom, and cognitive/socio cultural because the students are aware of how everything is connected and the consequences of their actions.

    3. I want to be able to provide a classroom where students feel safe to talk and let them know that I will listen to what they have to say. I’m still not sure exactly how I will do this, still trying to figure it out, but I would definitely start with a “safe space” sign and creating rules with the class to let them know that I care about their opinions. I also plan to use a lot of group-work to foster team and class building. I also will have them switch partners (even choose partners for them) so they get out of their box and meet new people in the class. Many students are in a class together but do not know anything about each other, or even their names.

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