Here we are, a year later…and proud to share what’s happened in our world.

• Jeanne has recorded a new message for educators that is available on DVD or by clicking here.
• 30  US Trainers have responded to CSS to become contract trainers; they will facilitate training contracts in new districts. We are currently printing their business cards and mailing out promotional materials (cards, brochures, books, CDs, etc) so they can share with others. This new opportunity allows the trainers to network with their local and more distant professional communities to spread the word about Tribes TLC. Many of them will be contacting multiple new districts to generate interest, and consequently, will be facilitating trainings in new areas.
• CASEL (Collaborative for Academic, Social, and Emotional Learning) is conducting a two-year research project on social emotional learning and teacher education. About 10 Trainers who are professors at universities have replied and will be in touch with CASEL regarding the work that they are doing at the university level. Due to the expertise of our trainer network, we are pleased to be able to respond to many opportunities generated by CASEL, which helps Tribes to stay in the forefront.
• There are three Training of Trainers (TOTs) this summer, and one scheduled for the fall in Australia:

1. Waukesha, Wisconsin (June 20-24) has 20 well-qualified participants,
2. Vancouver (July 4-8) has 18,
3. Houston (July 11-15) has 25.
4. The cutoff date for Perth, Australia (September 26-30) is August 1st, and we expect that one to fill as well.  That will result in 90 new Certified Trainers, who will facilitate training in new districts for many years to come.

• Hawaii and Ontario hosted Tribes TLC Regional Conferences; they were both a great success. About 80 professionals attended each one, where both introductory and advanced sessions were facilitated by Certified Trainers. Jeanne Gibbs was the keynote for the Hawaii conference, and Nancy Lindhjem, one of our exceptional Staff Trainers was the keynote for the Ontario conference. A huge congrats to the planning teams (“trainer tribes”) from each area for a job well done!
• www.teachcommunity.com was one of 25 websites featured in May in the 31 Day Game, an innovative Professional Learning Game created by Canadian educator Rodd Lucier and Tribes trainer Ben Hazzard.  Staff trainer Mary Palin was the guest convener for this version of 31 Day Game.  31daygame.net features information on how to play the game, links from past games, and will be hosting another game in August.

As we continue to focus on learning and development, a caring culture, a community of learners, and student centered, responsive education – we encourage you to send us YOUR “successful moments”  or ”making a difference with the Tribes TLC process”  in your classrooms, schools, and life.

Contact us at tribes@tribes.com

Related posts:

1. Tribes Strategies and the ‘Sweet 16′
2. It’s not too late to play the 31 Day Game!?
3. International School Studies Tribes TLC

Yes.  It’s the 31 Day Game.  www.31daygame.net

And two (of my) favorite Tribes TLC strategies (from www.teachcommunity.com) are in the ‘sweet 16‘, AKA “round 2″.  Check out these links: http://teachcommunity.tribes.com/2008/06/i-like-my-neighbor/ and http://teachcommunity.tribes.com/2011/01/weekly-tribes-reflective-practice-snowball/

BTW, there are at least ten known Tribes TLC teachers and/or trainers in the game!  If you are wanting to play , but unfamiliar with the whole “Twitter” experience, contact mpalin@tribes.com for help, encouragement, a tutorial.

Initially, it was my goal to expose players to good ideas and good sites/places where they could get suggestions, prompts, and validation.  And I think that happened.  What is really insightful, and enduring, is the rich discussion in the tweeting, and therein is the magnificence of this little game…ideas worth sharing, and professional broadcasting in 140 characters or less.

No only do players get multiple resources, but they get even more from discussion with one another.  Kind of what we hope to have happen in our own classrooms and staff rooms?!

So. Fasten your seatbelts and let’s see what comes up for Round Two.  Players will continue to intensify, influence, ignite, and speak their minds and experience.  Note that not only do the learning experiences compete in structure and application, they also must appeal and relate  – academically, socially, and emotionally.

And.  It’s still not too late to play …or invite a friend to the 31 Day Game, Round Two.

Related posts:

1. Creative Community Circle Strategies
2. Learning and Influence
3. Weekly Tribes – strategies, ideas, and reminders

Right now, an online discussion is tweeting:  the 31 day game.  Two educators in Canada (one is also a Tribes TLC trainer) designed a professional learning game that promotes making a choice between two educational realizations.  The first game challenged players to make a choice between two compelling videos; the current game considers cooperative learning strategies. Participants are forced to make a choice between the two.

It’s not easy!  You might think so, since both of the choices are really good.  But that’s not the hard part; what’s hard is voicing one’s opinion – out there for all to read and comment on.  That statement is ‘influence’; maybe it will influence others, maybe it will influence a retort, maybe it will influence a challenge to justify.

Just like in a classroom, there are potentially more who observe, watch, sit, or remain silent than those who actively participate, voice opinions, ask, or dispute. Inclusion is easy and inviting and comfortable.  Community is a celebration, a feeling, an event.  Influence is a challenge, a risk, and one cannot truly learn without it.

Typically, when implementing the Tribes TLC process, “influence” is identified as the opportunity for problem solving, decision making, valuing diversity and resolving conflict.  But isn’t that also reminiscent of “learning”?  When one learns, whether it is a concept, a skill, or a process, doesn’t that also involve some problem solving, decision making, valuing diversity (other ideas) and resolving conflict – both internal and external?  I can tell you from my own recent experience of learning how to ride a motorcycle that it is most certainly is about ‘influence’

I don’t want to do anything stupid or embarrassing or wrong.  But if I want to learn, then I have to risk making mistakes, being challenged, and defending my actions and reasons.

Just like those players in the 31 day game; the more we share, ask, challenge, and ‘tweet’, the richer the discussion and the more we learn from each other.

So whether it’s in the 31 day game, the classroom, on the playground, among peers, or around the dinner table; be aware that your ‘influence’ is also a potential for others’ (and your own) learning.  Plan your response, and before you say (or tweet) it, make it concise and thoughtful.

In Rodd’s (31 Day Game architect) words, “It’s a relatively simple idea that hinges on participation.  You really will learn more if you engage in conversation, than if you worry about having the right answer…”

How ‘influential”!

Related posts:

1. It’s not too late to play the 31 Day Game!?
2. Tribes Strategies and the ‘Sweet 16′
3. Are You Ready to Play?

32 cooperative learning experiences will compete in a Professional Learning Game.  The question is, “Which of the two is a ‘more effective’ cooperative learning experience?”

Learning experiences are arranged into suggested groupings of pairs, triads, groups of four, and whole class.  Use your creativity to modify, adapt, and apply to any subject or different grouping configuration.

We hope that many of these learning experiences will be familiar; they may also be a timely reminder, or just a great little strategy that you could use right about now, in May.

Whether or not you have the time and energy to hit the ground running each day in May to actually try the two competing learning experiences, by participating in the 31 Day Game you will become familiar with a multitude of websites and ideas.

And what if we run another learning experience challenge in August with some of the top finishers plus more ‘start the year’ strategies?

Well, we need you to play, participate, comment, share, and tweet.  Yes, you will need a Twitter account (takes 5 minutes) and just follow these simple instructions.

Visit http://www.31daygame.net/

You will see some ‘tweeting’ there already.  Once you have your Twitter account, join us!  Here’s how:

1)   Go to www.twitter.com then log into your account.

2)   From your home page, type #31daygame, write the strategy that you are voting for and a short message why.

3)   Then hit “tweet”.

4)   When you go to back to the home page on 31daygame.net, you will see your tweet!  We will know you are on board with us.

Your ‘tweets’ will be mostly your vote and reasons on which of the two is a ‘more effective’ cooperative learning experience.  But you can also share experience, ask questions, make suggestions or comment.  Visit the Education Video Challenge page on the site for a sample of how this plays (as well as all the links to some great videos; in case you missed the first 31Day Game…click on “Here are the results”.)

So.

Mark your calendars.

Commit to 5 minutes of clicking on some informative websites and a quick review of a cooperative learning experience.

Decide.  Which of the two have you tried with success, or which of the two would you like to try, or which of the two gets your head nodding?

Tweet your vote.

Participate in the second Professional Learning Game:  the 31 Day Game.

If you miss the start, or any day along the way, you can still be in the game!  Jump in any time, and no one is disqualified if “life” distracts you for a day or two.

Related posts:

1. It’s not too late to play the 31 Day Game!?
2. Learning and Influence
3. Tribes Strategies and the ‘Sweet 16′

http://thecleversheep.blogspot.com/2011/01/do-you-have-time-for-31-day-game.html

In the spirit of the March Madness tournament each spring, Rodd Lucier has cleverly created a professional learning game, where you (the participant) watch two competing videos each day, and then your vote determines how the video of choice advances to the finals.  The videos are compelling, provocative, educational, and inspiring. The game started March 1st, but it’s not too late to play – the finals are coming!

Tribes trainer Ben Hazzard has also blogged and supported the 31 Day Game.  You can read or hear his blog here: http://benhazzard.com/

Here’s the bonus: Every video Rodd has assembled for this game is also relevant to Jeanne’s message of Tribes TLC and every video has significance for staff meetings and professional learning communities at your school.  Depending on the age/grade level your teach, the videos are also (for students) talking points, writing opportunities (response to ….), and motivation for learning.  The videos range from 2 to 27minutes in length.

For easy access to all the videos and to catch up on the 31 Day Game, go here:  http://31daygame.net/

Hope to see you on the 31 Day Game!

Related posts:

1. Are You Ready to Play?
2. Learning and Influence
3. Tribes Strategies and the ‘Sweet 16′

John Goodlad wrote, “It is difficult to think of a reform initiative of significance that can proceed successfully without understanding and attention to the culture of individual schools.”

While many schools struggle to meet students’ needs, manage student’s behavior, and encourage a positive morale…the tendency seems to have become one of reaction, rather than action.  Bullying programs, the latest academic program, inspirational speakers…all costly, quick fixes that may or may not make an immediate difference, or have a chance of making a long term change.

For years, author and founder of Tribes TLC Jeanne Gibbs, has been saying, writing, and referencing noted educators that the way we ‘do school’ is outdated, impersonal, and inherently flawed.  And now it is a topic on national news!

“We need to change the way we educate students for the 21st century.”

So here it is…it’s been in your various Tribes books since the beginning of the 21^st century.

“6 Steps Toward Cultural Pluralism”  (p. 125 Engaging All…)

• Build Staff Awareness
• Develop Curriculum for Teaching Tolerance
• Celebrate Multicultural Diversity
• Integrate Classes
• Build Self-confidence and Self-worth
• Involve Parents

Chapter 5 in Discovering Gifts in Middle School is titled “A Culture for Growing Early Adolescents”.

Professional development has struggled with funding and time, but the Tribes TLC process continues to thrive in schools throughout the U.S., Canada, and Australia.

Get a book.

Get to a training.

Become a trainer.   This year, there are four Training of Trainer courses; two in the U.S., one in Canada, and one in Australia.

Join our tribe of dedicated, motivated, collaborative, and highly effective and affective educators.

No related posts.

Now, sadly, we revisit that phrase to awaken the need for a deliberate reflection in the way we behave, in the wake of the “Tucson Tragedy”.

The call for “civility” is front-page news.  Words like “change the behavior”, “work together”, “no more finger pointing”, “show respect”, and “tolerance” are now a positive expectation to be modeled by our politicians and social icons.

Inclusion, influence, community, social competence, appreciation, no put downs, respect, working together, autonomy, agreements, and resiliency are not just words, but deliberate practice in the Tribes TLC process.   The call to action we hear and read about everyday has been a “way of being and learning together” for decades for those who know and model the Tribes TLC process in their classrooms, schools, and lives.

For all of you out there who teach and train through Tribes, the ‘time is now’ to help us get the word out.  Tribes is a process that creates a culture that maximizes learning and human development. It’s not magic, it’s not a fix-it program, it’s not an add-on to an already fully packed agenda; it’s a way of being together.

It’s what we need, now more than ever, not just for education, but also for our society, our culture, for U.S.

View our Newsletter Archive

No related posts.

“Weekly Tribes” is designed to take a minimum of preparation and only 10 – 15 minutes.  Add  ”weekly tribes” to your home page by following these easy steps, and you will have a strategy, idea, or reminder each week to put into your class.

Go to this page http://tribes.com/forum/

Scroll down to

Now look to the far right and press the orange Group RSS button

You will get a page with a blue bar heading:  A Place to Learn and Share about Tribes – Tribes learning Community.

Look to the right margin and find this section

Click on “Subscribe in Mail” and you should magically be directed to your mail where the Group RSS is now featured.

Wha-laa!

If there is no technological magic happening for you, email us at tribes@tribes.com and we’ll help you figure it out.

Happy New Year and may you renew, continue, and celebrate the process of Tribes TLC in your learning community.

Related posts:

1. “Weekly Tribes” is Back!
2. SEL – Teachcommunity – Weekly Tribes Forum
3. Tribes Strategies and the ‘Sweet 16′

…is unpaved, with some big darn potholes, and through the wilderness.  But it is a beautiful sight, if one takes the time to stop and see and appreciate the sights.

In this metaphor, the ‘sights’ are the students; the ‘road’ is the path educational practice and protocol has followed and stuck with, even though other paths come and go in the figurative forest of policy and procedure.

The National Council for Accreditation of Teacher Education commissioned a report that is entitled “The Road Less Traveled”.  You can read it here at the NCATE site.

An excerpt states:

A visit to many schools will show that many of today’s middle and secondary school classrooms are not settings for positive youth engagement. Youthful energy, excitement, and enthusiasm often reside in the hallways and lunchrooms — not in the classroom. Study after study reaches the same stunning conclusion: we are losing a large proportion of alienated high school students, especially in cities. Unfortunately, research also indicates that even those who do graduate often complete their school work on a superficial level, and up to one- third of students at some colleges require remedial work.

I just completed a two-week substitute assignment in Language Arts and a Leadership elective.  Some teachers I used to teach with, dropped by and sighed and said. “I remember when we used to do this…”

“This” is the various Tribes TLC strategies I was facilitating.  7^th grade Language Arts students were reviewing vocabulary (the ‘content’ vocabulary mandated by the district) through the strategies ‘I like my neighbor’ and ‘I sit in a chair with my friend’.  The pacing guide said they had to be reading and understanding the Robert Frost poem ‘Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening’.  So I prepared some index cards with words from the poem, and along with many other cards, students reconstructed the poem and then built towers to design a community of connections.  They remembered the poem; they understood the literal meaning as well as the figurative inference; they analyzed the rhyming pattern.

Yes, it took some time to move the desks and make a circle of chairs for the energizers and the poetry tower building, and yes, it takes some organizing to get at least 20 packs of various sized and colored index cards.  And yes, every student was engaged, participatory, and reflective.

If we want our students to have ‘settings for positive youth engagement’ and we want our schools to be a culture for caring and learning, we need to find the road less traveled, follow the signs and directions, and reflect on our students’ and our own learning.   I think it should look like this:

Empower your staff with the process of Tribes TLC.

No related posts.

Teachcommunity (http://www.teachcommunity.com/) is a webpage with Tribes TLC learning experiences (TLE).  Each TLE included a social/emotional component and a content learning standard.  TLE’s are sorted by various categories, like subject or grade/age level.  Visitors and members (it’s FREE!) are invited to submit and/or request a TLE.  The goal is to have a resource for educators as well as a real time stream of support, ideas or reminders.

Additionally, there is a forum page called “weekly Tribes” (http://tribes.com/forum/weekly-tribes-for-the-2010-2011-school-year/) that features a quick, easy, and timely idea or reminder for including the Tribes TLC process in your busy school schedule.

Related posts:

1. “Weekly Tribes” is Back!
2. The Tribes Community Forum
3. Weekly Tribes – strategies, ideas, and reminders